What to do when you're on Harvard Square

After arriving at 2 p.m. in the Logan International airport, my very gracious roommates Mika and Ilana took me back to Somerville, where I'll be living for the summer. As soon as they pulled up, I was quickly greeted with a thoroughly frustrated, overweight, tan-skinned man honking his horn, who immediately got out and started yelling in some weird accent about how we shouldn't be in this lane.

Maybe that's how they say "welcome" here in Boston.

Anywho, it's about 73 degrees and sunny with a constant breeze --- terrible conditions, I tell you. I quickly got a guided tour of the area from my roommates, showing me how to get to the Berkman Center on Everett Street and also a few touristy things. For example:



This building looks so breathtaking that it's hard to describe, especially when you combine this beautiful stained-glass window with the size of the tower that greets you from the front:



Freshmen apparently eat lunch inside this building, in a very Hogwarts-esque atmosphere. If anything speaks for all you probably thought Harvard would be, it's something like this structure -- head-spinning size and intricacy, decadent but somber to the point of intimidating, yet so magnificent you just have to stare at it.

After a walk through Harvard Yard we went to the Square, where I ran into Click and Clack from Car Talk and begged them for an autograph and photo to send to Terry.
They had to make fun of me for actually knowing who they were, but still agreed to not only sign him an autograph, but take a photo, too.



As I slowly try to settle into my new, temporary home, I still can't fight this surreal feeling at the pit of my stomach that someone like me isn't supposed to be in a place like this. Can a Kentucky girl from Cardinal Valley -- not exactly upper class living, let's just admit it -- fit in ok in a place like this? I still haven't figured out if that's possible but my roommates did make a soothing point. Nearly EVERYONE who comes to Harvard wonders that same question. Did the admissions office make a mistake? Did they really want me to come here?

Yes. They did. And if so, then you WILL fit in here, like everyone else. And truth is, if you didn't get that feeling, that "Surely not. You can't mean me?" feeling, then you probably will be one of those people no one likes anyway, so who cares what they think?

I hope they are right. I'm wearing my UK gear regardless, and if you hear my Kentucky accent, so be it. I'm here to be part of an awesome media law project at the Berkman Center and learn all I possibly can, so somehow or another I'll find my vein away from home.