"My roommates and I were working one night in our small Dunster room when two of our blockmates barged in singing Run River North with a couple of sombreros, a guitar, and some shakers and proceeded to walk out -- I don't think this happens any other time in life.."
Lynette Bye
"I'm going to hella miss my friends. Hugs to the wonderful human beings and fascinating minds I love here."
Milly Wang
"There are so many Harvard memories, it's really hard to choose one. The things that I remember best from these four years are surprisingly all of the little things - all the fun times with friends, all of the funny moments and the laughs, the great memories that we made, and of course - all the study breaks, which in retrospect, I definitely wish that I’d gone to more of them when I had a chance to!"
Michael Ledecky
"It’s easy to laugh at tourists who pet John Harvard’s foot, but I want to approach my last few weeks here with a similar sort of appreciation and awe. Harvard’s a special place, and I’ve tried not to lose sight of that during my four years. I’m going to miss the nights in the Cube, the practices at Blodgett, and the hockey media road trips with some of my best friends."
Chesley Ekelem
“Kirkland House Secret Santa Week is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced at Harvard. Just before finals Kirklanders drop everything they are doing and their top priority is to make their Santee have the BEST week ever. It is a week filled with selflessness, love, and sacrifice. It is a beautiful thing to experience and reminds us to focus more on our peers than our psets and papers.”
Samantha Lo
"I held the elevator in Claverly Hall for an old man one day during my sophomore year. We were both headed for the fifth floor, though we didn't converse on the way up. But as I pulled out the key to my room, he raised his fist to knock - and this is how I met the man who occupied my room fifty years ago. And as this man paced my common room and described how the floors actually used to be level fifty years ago, how he and his roommates had strategically placed their desks facing opposite walls so they wouldn’t distract each other as they studied, how he had snuck his now-wife-of-fifty-four-years in through the back door because opposite genders hadn’t been allowed in the same room then, I saw what it meant to come home to Harvard."
Lucy Guo
"My favorite memories of Harvard revolve around the people and little moments that mean so much. I will miss the 5 am conversations, laughing so hard my sides hurt, the weekly 4 AM Felipe’s run (+ deceptively potent frozen margs) that is so quintessential to our college experience, the spontaneous drop-ins from our neighbors, the dhall conversations that go well past dinner, even the moments of brief despair as the shuttle pulls away only to realize how special it is to walk the unforgiving cobblestones of Cambridge. The Harvard bubble as we know it will surely be missed, but it's the many faces that has made this place home that I will miss most."
Martina Salander
"What I will miss the most are all the amazing friends that I've met here. As an international student, I experienced a major culture shock when I moved to the United States, but I was overwhelmed by how helpful everyone was in facilitating the transition. Although I still haven’t learned to embrace peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I will certainly miss this place that I’ve called home for the past four years."
Serena Wang
"On one of the surprise snow days of last year's winter from hell, my blockmates spontaneously decided to go out to margaritas at Border (the only place that was open). It was so impulsive, but so needed - we reconnected that night after being gradually separated in our own day to day work."
Kate Freedberg
"What I'll miss most about Harvard is being around my friends and classmates all of the time. There is something amazing about living within a 10-minute walk of so many incredible people."
Mark Natividad
"The summer after freshman year, I was in Boston for the Outside the Box music festival. My friends and I decided to go see Augustana and we managed to get front row spots. We stayed to watch Boys Like Girls perform, and after the band performed their song "Life of the Party," frontman Martin Johnson asked who was the life of the party in the crowd. I screamed and jumped as much as I can, but he noticed me particularly for my "conservative" outfit of striped longsleeve and white shorts. I jumped onstage and "danced" ridiculously while they performed the song. On my way to another concert a few months later, people still recognized me as the guy who danced onstage."
Francesca Annicchiarico and Tabata Amaral de Pontes
"What we'll miss most about Harvard is perhaps the opportunity to surround ourselves with people who are so different from us in their beliefs, passions, and aspirations and yet so similar to us in the intensity of their commitment to those beliefs, passions, and aspirations. We've been dreaming about different things, but we've dreamt together."
Isaac Alter
"One of my favorite Harvard memories was the opening night of a production of a musical called [title of show] that I music directed. It's a four-person cast, and four of my best friends and I, along with a producer and a stage manager, rehearsed and put together the entire show in 3 weeks. It was an intense but a magical process, and it meant so much to go out on opening night and perform with some of my closest friends."
Annie Lu
"I love it when random conversations in the dining hall drag on for much longer than anticipated, but no one wants to leave just yet. Or when my friends and I are out in Boston on frosty winter nights and have to huddle together as we walk (and collectively complain) in order to stay warm. Or when I got to stand on stage during my last year of Harvard National Model United Nations at our staff brunch and gush about how extraordinary each of my fellow seniors is and I couldn't stop crying, because I can't even begin to imagine how life will be next year without them. The people here will always be my favorite memory about Harvard."
Dominika Kinga Sarnecka
"The invigorating feeling that nothing is impossible is what I will miss the most about Harvard. The four years here gave me more than I could describe in words. Along with friends and memories, I gained the confidence to dream big and experiences which have made me the person that I am today."
Tiffany Song
"One of my favorite Harvard memories is the time some friends and I went to the Science Center observatory late at night on a whim. While stargazing and looking at the Boston skyline, we ended up talking for hours up there— everything from childhood stories to hopes and dreams to random musings. These are the kinds of moments and memories that I'll cherish and miss the most!"
Jessica Barzilay
"It’s almost impossible to choose just one favorite memory at Harvard—sledding down Widener Steps in the blizzard of freshman winter, the Harry Potter-reminiscent thrill of getting “sorted” on Housing Day, dancing in Ghungroo with 20 new friends, playing volleyball with my blockmate at the Dunster Goat Roast, running barefoot down Mount Auburn Street with my roommate after formal, heels in hand, welcoming freshmen to campus during Opening Days, and the triumph of winning our fourth consecutive Harvard-Yale Game all compete for top billing. Senior Champagne Brunch is definitely close to number one though, for the way it brought so many friends and friendly faces into one space. It brought into focus one of the things I’ll miss most about Harvard: living within walking distance of all my favorite people!"
Keziah Imbeah
"My favorite Harvard experience was when I finally realized that this place had become a home with a family. As someone who is extremely close to my family back home in California, every goodbye was hard. But one spring reading period I was laughing with my friends the dining hall and I realized that leaving them for three months would feel like leaving family. That's when I knew that Harvard had given me something special."
Hayley Price
"And, my favorite Harvard memory: It's so difficult to pinpoint one specific memory that captures how Harvard has become my second home in the past four years. While I am eternally grateful for the boundless opportunities and academic inspiration present here, the thing that defines Harvard for me is definitely the people here - some of the most compassionate, down-to-earth people I've met in my entire life. My favorite memories include all of the great times spent having the most engaging and hilarious conversations late at night in the dining hall or at Noch's (over awesome pizza), with the best friends I could ever ask for."
Anne Nonnamaker
"My favorite memory would have to be Sunday brunch in the Kirkland dining hall my Junior Spring, hanging out for hours, talking at a table full of friends, and just relaxing every week. We had some pretty ridiculous conversations, but it was so great to just hang out with each other, and lox days are always the best."