I was lucky enough to have the chance to attend Harvard University as a vising undergraduate student (VUS) during the spring term this year by applying for the Global Exchange Program (GEP). For me, Harvard is a symbol of the outstanding higher education in U.S. and is everything that I’ve ever dreamt of.
Funny thing is, as someone who has been longing for Harvard for so many years, the first time I stepped into Its yard, I didn’t even realize I was already inside the very campus that I was about to spend the next few months in, for the fact that the yard is extremely small, ordinary looking, at the time, it was covered by snow and it somehow looked less impressive in comparison to most of the universities in China.
But that was just the beginning of me getting to know Harvard. Under this seemingly plain look, the spectacular academic achievement and a college life full of variety are the things that Harvard is famous for.
On the orientation day, the manager of the visiting undergraduate students, who is also a sociology professor of Harvard University, told us that life in this reputed university is more about activities and socialization than academia. These words, especially when coming from a professor, sounded strange to us at first. But as our time in Harvard went by, we started to understand that it was really the case.
Harvard was thoughtful enough to arrange a campus ambassador and an academic advisor for each one of the VUS to get us to better adapt to both the academic and extracurricular activities of the college life. Before I started my courses at Harvard, I had all those concerns that I might not be accustomed to my life there. I was afraid of me being frustrated by the large amount of workload every single week. I worried about getting shocked by the knowledge and competence of my classmates every now and then and as a result, feeling self-contemptuous because of that. I even feared that I might feel depressed because of the terrible blizzard weather in Boston that had been going on for months.
But everything turned out just fine. Although the educational system at Harvard is quite different from the one at WHU, I never found myself having any trouble getting involved into the academic life. I took three courses this term, including two econ courses and one government course. I met some amazing professors and TFs (i.e. teaching fellows) who constantly answered my questions during lectures, sections and office hours. Among all those beloved faculty members, Professor Jeremy Stein, who was a former Governor of the Federal Reserve System, was the one that inspired me most. With heavy workload which consisted of reading a great number of materials, weekly assignments and seminar-like lectures, his course, the Financial System and Central Banks, was undoubtedly the most challenging course I’ve ever had. However, it is this very course that I managed to make the most out of my time at Harvard and I realized that we should never underestimate our potentials.
The extracurricular life at Harvard is surprisingly rich and colorful. There are all sorts of activities spread out through Facebook, college email and publicity board. The activities range from Ivy League Masquerade Ball, Fashion show, Harvard housing day to Red Sox baseball game, Super Bowl night, to Asia Business Conference, Harvard China Forum and public address by Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan. During my time at Harvard, I joined an association named the Harvard Association of U.S.-China Relation (HAUSCR). We organized most of the activities concerning China at Harvard, such as China Thinks Big Harvard Conference (CTB) and the Harvard Summit for Young Leaders in China (HSYLC). I made a lot of friends and met with all kinds of entrepreneurs, scholars, and political figures throughout those activities. It was somewhere I could truly widen my horizon and enrich my experiences.
If there’s one thing for everyday life that I’ve learned at Harvard, is that I should be never be afraid to ask. Harvard students are nothing more than some ordinary 20-year-old young adults. They are special not because they know better than the rest of us, but because they are always ready to ask, ready to learn new things. Chinese students always appear introverted and reluctant to speak out during classes. We are afraid of asking questions, afraid of making fools of ourselves. On the contrary, Harvard students never hesitate to ask and to put forward their own opinions. For them, college life is about exploring and discovering. During this process, it is completely normal if you encounter something that you cannot handle on your own. They are wiling to try and devote themselves to things that they are truly eager to explore. It was this spirit that supported me throughout the semester and helped me balance my time between academic and extracurricular life.
Harvard yard had never been more beautiful than on the day I left. It looked stunning under the spring sun. People were sitting on the steps of the Memorial Hall; students were busy going in or coming out of the Widener library; tourists groups were still gathering around John Harvard’s statue hoping to get a lucky touch of the left shoe.
It’s really a privilege to have spent one semester at Harvard. I will always be grateful to everyone that had helped me, to those who have always been there for me during these few months and have made my life at Harvard more comfortable and enjoyable. I will always remember the 4am library with everyone in it were still widely awake and busying typing their final papers. I will always cherish these memories.
(Zihan Song is a sophomore from the Economics and Management School of Wuhan University.)
(Edited by Sijia Hu & Diana)
