Those College Days

After finishing my last-ever college assignment on Thursday, I took the long walk to Mt. Auburn cemetery on the border of Watertown. What an enclave! The enormous landscaped cemetery has multiple lakes, classical architecture, castle towers, willow trees and cherry blossoms, and a Sphinx statue. Robert Creeley and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's spirits also grace the scenery.

I successfully made and ate my first Veritaffle for breakfast in honor of my last day of Harvard dining hall food. It was veritably delicious.

To celebrate finishing my German final, I paid my first visit to the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. It lives up to the hype. Aside from the magnificent courtyard, I loved all the tapestries and mirrors and was duly impressed by the art collection that includes Titian, Botticelli, and Giotto.

Before the mayhem in Boston last month, I studied with my friend Wendy at the Boston Public Library. The building is more elaborate than I'd imagined, and the library even features a European-style courtyard with archways and statues.

Earlier in April I spent an afternoon at Harvard's Natural History Museum. The Glass Flowers are the museum's most famous exhibit, but I was drawn to the taxonomy rooms where entire jungle populations inhabit a few glass cases. My favorite fun fact from the visit: frogs do not have green skin. They have yellow skin with grooves that reflect blue light. Our human eyes detect their yellow pigment mixed with this blue light, and abracadabra: we see green.

Spring in Cambridge has officially arrived! Cherry blossom trees are in full bloom, I'm walking around without my leather jacket, and the colorful chairs in the Yard are filled with students.

I had a mini-reunion with my Venice friends Natalie and Mike at our favorite Italian servery: Basta Pasta. The menu there is bountiful, and the place is full of Italian spirit. Three years ago we were planning weekend trips around Europe. Now we're planning for our post-graduation lives.

I saw the most incredible student dance show at Farkas Hall last night. My favorite number was choreographed by Andrea Miller, purportedly "one of the most sought-after young choreographers in the world right now." Dancers were climbing on railings, playing very adroit tag, and plastering themselves to walls.

I attended an Anne Carson reading in Cambridge last night. She was a significant influence on my thesis, so I was eager to hear her poems and lyric essays in her own voice. I found myself thinking a lot about the music of prose, and also about Carson's stage persona, which combined pretend moroseness with quiet wit.

I visited the Boston Athenaeum last week and was most amused by the 10 1/2 street address. There's not much you can do inside if you're not a member, but I was able to browse an art gallery on the first floor with some beautiful ceramic vases.

I was walking in Boston Commons on Tuesday and made the spontaneous decision to go ice skating on Frog Pond. It was wondrous. I had to reteach myself how to skate (I'd taken a five year hiatus after my knee surgery in high school), but after a few wall-clutching laps I found my old rhythm. I have a newfound appreciation for serendipitous ice adventures and the skill of figure skaters.

I turned in my English thesis today! The department had a champagne reception for all the seniors, complete with hors d'oeuvres and congratulatory professors.

Set up in Toscanini today to write a paper on Emily Dickinson. Nothing that says "Because I could not stop for Death" like a scoop of mocha ice cream.

Our design editors have just finished uploading the final issue of The Advocate that we're producing as a team. The theme of this winter issue is Origin, and the line-up of contributors is outstanding: Geraldine Brooks, Martin Amis, D.T. Max, David Ferry, and the list goes on. Watch for updates at theadvocateblog.net.

Back in action for spring semester. Spending the Boston blizzard inside reading The Metamorphoses, the mythological epic by Roman poet Ovid. Nymphs become trees, men turn into wolves, and the gods transform mortals into constellations.

Saw the Nutcracker in Boston last night with my friend Natalie. Of course the ballet was delightful, and for the first time, I felt like I understood the artistic impulse behind the performance: How do we project our fantasies onto the world in miniature, and what happens to us when these fantasies grow life-sized and eclipse our reality?