11/21 - 11/22/2008
Friday11.21.2008
The first day of Harvard-Yale weekend dawned crisp and
clear. But, before heading off to Cambridge with a group
of fellow Yale alums/students, I had some business to
attend to around campus first.
James Kim and I ran some errands and kicked it in the
afternoon.
Fitting? nah, right.
Then, around midafternoon, Gina Choe came to town!
Seconds after seeing her for the first time in a year.
James and I walked Gina around campus for a while,
then he split; I stuck around, then headed back home
briefly to pack my bags for the weekend out of town.
Sunset from my kitchen window.
After linking back up with Gina for a few hours and
hanging around campus, I headed over to Trumbull to
meet up with the group heading up to The Game.
Chris, a fellow alum c/o 2008 (well, 2007 for him, but
that's just because he's bright) was in town - ironically,
not to head up to the game, but because a work trip
diverted him to NYC.
During dinner, I found out that Chris is taking a year
to work in Cleveland, where I would be heading in a
few days for Thanksgiving. We exchanged numbers
and promised to kick it when I hit OH.
And with that, we were off.
At a rest stop along the way, we pulled in across from
some familiar-looking Peter Pan buses: we were neck-
and-neck with the Yale convoy.
Nancy, certified driver for the weekend.
Rich & Mitch(ell).
Mitchell's girlfriend from Duke was hanging with him,
so she came up with us.
An hour later, we were all on our cell phones with
various local connections, making plans as we arrived
on Harvard's campus.
My first stop that night was at my Beijing homegirl
Yichen's crib, Adams House. Yichen and I met when
we were both studying at the 哈佛北京书院, and got
to know one another through a mutual Bible Study
and church attendance (props to BICF). Ever since,
every time I roll through Cambridge she and I link up
and kick it like Freddy Adu.
The Harvard Lampoon, from the steps of Adams House.
Berryline, Harvard's premier (yea?) frozen yogurt hut.
Ay, good times foreal.
I get money, money I got, sure.
Saturday11.22.2008
After spending all night hanging with Yichen and some of
the underclassmen from her college Christian fellowship,
I woke up bright and early, just in time (well, just only a
little late) for breakfast with my high school buddy Sheel,
Harvard '06, now back in Cambridge as an MIT PhD
candidate and Harvard resident. Confused? I just think
of him as a friend in high academic places.
Yichen's residence a/k/a The X-Mansion.
During breakfast at Sheel's new residence, Quincy
House, who did I bump into but this dude again:
View from Sheel's crib.
After some time kicking it over breakfast food and a subsequent
inspection of his digs, Sheel and I, along with several of his alum
friends, headed out across the Charles River to the Harvard stadium.
Bidding farewell to Sheel, I wandered around looking for other Yale
alums and students, bumping into familiar faces every few steps.
Still, despite the obvious allure of so many close friends,
I knew there was only one place that would be kicking
the game off proper-like, and I knew only one homeboy
who always can got that hookup with what up, what's
haapnin.
Deji and I been homies since Superman drawers (c)
Obie Trice, and so I navigated my way through a
horrendously gutted-out cell phone network to kick
it with him at the Harvard BSA tailgate, blasting hip-
hop and R&B.
(you'd think Harvard would know by know to warn
Cambridge service networks to be on the lookout for
the massive influx of Harvard/Yale alumni and Yale
undergrads)
Pretty much describes the scene at the tailgate.
After dancing (yea, dancing, you all missed it - ha) for an hour to
an admittedly-banging lineup of regional music (Bay Area, NYC,
Cali, etc.), Deji and I wandered our way back to Cambridge. As I
hadn't planned to watch the game, I had no ticket, and Deji not being
a fan of sub-freezing temperatures, we made our way back across
the Charles and hit the town, looking for someone to whom we could
pass his ticket.
Fortunately, first thing we saw as we neared Harvard Square was
these three hanging around in the Dunkin Donuts. I knew that Joe
was scouting out for tickets, having missed his opportunity to cop a
Yale student ticket, so the hand-off was made real natural.
Deji and I hit some shops... Concepts was full of overpriced hypebeast
gear (as usual), but in The Tannery I got a chance to take a flick of the
new Air Max 90 Current Infared... joint is pretty fly (and so is the price,
owwww).
Deji's homeboy hit him on the cell to let him know that he was at a
local bar watching the last few minutes of the game, so we decided,
after an afternoon spent in avoidance of football, to head over and
see what was to be seen.
Harvard 10, Yale 0. Owwwwwwww.
For the record, that's 7 out of the last 8 Games that have gone
against us... not a good look, New Haven.
Rolling out the bar, we headed over to the Spee Club,
one of Harvard's legendary(ish) Finals Clubs, to grab
some quick (free) food and see how Cantabrigians live.
Answer: lavishly, but kinda wack.
One last photo before the cameraphone battery started
dropping precipitously low: Wen and Emchen's brief
reunion outside the Dunkin Donuts as Mo ran to a bus.
Chea!
After spending all night hanging with Yichen and some of
the underclassmen from her college Christian fellowship,
I woke up bright and early, just in time (well, just only a
little late) for breakfast with my high school buddy Sheel,
Harvard '06, now back in Cambridge as an MIT PhD
candidate and Harvard resident. Confused? I just think
of him as a friend in high academic places.
Yichen's residence a/k/a The X-Mansion.
During breakfast at Sheel's new residence, Quincy
House, who did I bump into but this dude again:
View from Sheel's crib.
After some time kicking it over breakfast food and a subsequent
inspection of his digs, Sheel and I, along with several of his alum
friends, headed out across the Charles River to the Harvard stadium.
Bidding farewell to Sheel, I wandered around looking for other Yale
alums and students, bumping into familiar faces every few steps.
Still, despite the obvious allure of so many close friends,
I knew there was only one place that would be kicking
the game off proper-like, and I knew only one homeboy
who always can got that hookup with what up, what's
haapnin.
Deji and I been homies since Superman drawers (c)
Obie Trice, and so I navigated my way through a
horrendously gutted-out cell phone network to kick
it with him at the Harvard BSA tailgate, blasting hip-
hop and R&B.
(you'd think Harvard would know by know to warn
Cambridge service networks to be on the lookout for
the massive influx of Harvard/Yale alumni and Yale
undergrads)
Pretty much describes the scene at the tailgate.
After dancing (yea, dancing, you all missed it - ha) for an hour to
an admittedly-banging lineup of regional music (Bay Area, NYC,
Cali, etc.), Deji and I wandered our way back to Cambridge. As I
hadn't planned to watch the game, I had no ticket, and Deji not being
a fan of sub-freezing temperatures, we made our way back across
the Charles and hit the town, looking for someone to whom we could
pass his ticket.
Fortunately, first thing we saw as we neared Harvard Square was
these three hanging around in the Dunkin Donuts. I knew that Joe
was scouting out for tickets, having missed his opportunity to cop a
Yale student ticket, so the hand-off was made real natural.
Deji and I hit some shops... Concepts was full of overpriced hypebeast
gear (as usual), but in The Tannery I got a chance to take a flick of the
new Air Max 90 Current Infared... joint is pretty fly (and so is the price,
owwww).
Deji's homeboy hit him on the cell to let him know that he was at a
local bar watching the last few minutes of the game, so we decided,
after an afternoon spent in avoidance of football, to head over and
see what was to be seen.
Harvard 10, Yale 0. Owwwwwwww.
For the record, that's 7 out of the last 8 Games that have gone
against us... not a good look, New Haven.
Rolling out the bar, we headed over to the Spee Club,
one of Harvard's legendary(ish) Finals Clubs, to grab
some quick (free) food and see how Cantabrigians live.
Answer: lavishly, but kinda wack.
One last photo before the cameraphone battery started
dropping precipitously low: Wen and Emchen's brief
reunion outside the Dunkin Donuts as Mo ran to a bus.
Chea!
