Yesterday I wanted to get some more insights on Harvard’s history and traditions so I signed up for the Harvard Historical Walking Tour starting at Harvard Square.
In the tour, a Harvard undergrad student will take you across Harvard Yard and some nearby sights and tell you all about the Harvard traditions, prophesies, celebrity students and other fun insights. I really enjoyed the tour and highly recommend it for visitors but especially new and prospective students. If you are interested in doing the tour it’s $12 per person and you can either book in advance on TripAdvisor or just show up on Harvard Square and get on the next tour (goes every 30 minutes).
I was extremely satisfied with the tour who was managed by a 3rd-year Harvard film student called Branson (Didn’t get his full name). He looks like a young Dicaprio with wits and to the point humor and definitely made the tour more satisfying. If you see him around campus, I highly encourage a hug, high-five, buying him a beer, ice cream or anything that might convince him to do a private tour. Then pay him extra for it. This person is going places and you will regret not getting him on tour. In fact, anyone that can catch him with a selfie on campus has earned himself a 30 min private drink with me on campus at a bar of their choosing. This guy is awesome.
1. The John Harvard Statue is the 3rd most photographed photo in the United States (#1 is the Statue of Liberty, and #2 is The Lincoln Memorial). Students refer to the statue as the “Statue of three lies” because the inscription underneath the statue reads “John Harvard, Founder, 1638.” The three lies are:
People consider it to be good luck to rub the toe of John Harvard Statue. (It’s probably, even more, luck if you wash your hands afterwards considering its popularity!)
2. Harvard’s Main Gate should only be passed through twice by students. Once when they first arrive on campus during their Freshman year, and a second time after they graduate. It’s considered bad luck and you will get a “curse” if you pass it through more often.
3. The Widener Library is the largest private library in the world. It’s named after Harry Elkins after his death in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The library cannot be altered and therefore decided to expand underground. It currently holds 57 miles (92 km) of shelves, along five miles (8 km) of aisles on ten levels, comprise a “labyrinth” which one student “could not enter without feeling that she ought to carry a compass, a sandwich, and a whistle.” The library is only for students but luckily for me, husbands and wives on campus are also welcome to get a library card.
4. Harvard doesn’t seem to change rooms of celebrities into museums as they easily could. Hundreds of names could be mentioned here but just to name a few actors like Natalie Portman, Matt Damon, heads of state like Felipe Calderon, Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy or computer geniuses like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates all attended Harvard (Mark and Bill actually quit before graduating to start Facebook and Microsoft).
Me outside the Kirkland House where “The Facebook” was started. If desired by Harvard I wouldn’t be surprised if this will be turned into a museum on its own similar to what Google have done with their “starting Garage”, considering that more than a billion people use Facebook on a daily basis.
5. People who graduate from Harvard are called “Harvardians”. This is definitely one of the top negative things about Harvard.
6. People from Boston pronounce Harvard as “Hahvahd”, skipping the “r”. If you really want to fit in or get discounts on local bars, this is the appropriate way of pronunciation.
