Visiting Harvard Yard to Celebrate Friends

This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate the academic successes of two of my colleagues and friends, Kelly and Le Shaun, as they became Harvard fellow alumnus. I am so proud of them. It was an honor to hear about their research and to learn more about their studies as they completed their fellowship projects. One of their cohort members did a fun PowerPoint presentation during which he described each of the members of the cohort. He described Kelly as one of the friendly people and Le Shaun as one of the articulate. I totally agree with his assessment!

While in Cambridge, I was also able to visit my friend Stephanie. She has recently moved back east after living on the west coast of the United States for the past few years. It was great to see her and to reminisce about past friends from Qatar and other parts of the Middle East. Stephanie is a world traveler and she motivates me to keep traveling. This trip to Harvard was too quick and we didn't have enough time to really catch up so I hope one day soon to be able to come back to explore more of the area around Cambridge and Boston and to visit with my good friend.

The day after graduation I spent the early morning exploring the campus. By 8:30am there were few people on campus and I can only assume that many of them were either in classes or still asleep. I sat on the stone steps of the library for a while then moved to sit in one of the chairs set up in the grass of Harvard Yard's quad. This is one of my favorite places. Harvard Yard is the oldest part of Harvard's campus. The grass quad is surrounded by the dorms, the church, library, and the large gated entrance. There is something so academic feeling about the quad and the old stone and brick buildings. As someone who appreciates colonial American and Georgian English architecture, I am just loving the chance to soak in all the "brainy atmosphere".

The insides of the buildings are just as impressive. Portraits of famous alumni are hanging on the walls in almost every building we entered and it was amazing to think that my friends were joining their ranks. Graduation was held in the Harvard Natural History Museum and we were given the chance to see many of the exhibits. My favorite exhibit was the glass plants. It was amazing how realistic many of them were. I especially liked the mountain laurels. They reminded me of my childhood summer vacations in our rustic cabin on the Delaware River. The hillside between the cabin and the river was often covered with laurels and later in the fall with tiger lilies.

Well that's enough sharing for now. I hope you too will have time this summer to celebrate good things with your friends and family.