OK. This Is Fine for Now.

"I'm going to be in Spain." "I'm biking through Italy." "I'm working in DC." "I can't wait to go home." When summer plans have come up lately, I am forced to sheepishly admit that I am going to be in Cambridge for nine out of the twelve weeks of summer. Somehow, it doesn't have the same exotic cache as Madrid--where one of my best friends from high school will be--or the romantic appeal of Florence--where my other best friend from high school will be. They're planning to meet up at the end of the summer in England. I'm not even privy to the upward political mobility that Washington, D.C.--the summer of home of my best friends at Harvard--seems to hold.

Summer activities are currently the topic of choice for brief conversations with acquaintances I run into. And they have fallen into a familiar, and humbling, pattern.

Acquaintance: Hey what's up?

Me: Not much, how are you doing?

Acquaintance: Not too bad. I have (two labs, three papers, five exams, insert concentration specific but always heinous workload here), but I want to go out this weekend so I have to get stuff done. And I haven't even started the paper for my core class.

Me: That sounds rough--but I guess summer's almost here. That's encouraging.

Acquaintance: Yeah, I'm really psyched about that. I'm going to be in Australia doing research on coral reefs. I can't wait. What are you doing?

Me: Oh, I'm going to be in Cambridge, doing community service and hopefully doing some research.

Acquaintance (looking at watch): That sounds interesting--look, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later.

Me: Okay, bye.

So, over the last few days I've realized that staying in Cambridge doesn't make the best topic of conversation when it comes to summer plans. It's not exotic, it's not influential, and it certainly isn't romantic.

But, even without those attributes, there are hidden advantages to being at Harvard during the summer, I tell myself and my acquaintances. "Like what? More people in the pit cause it's warm?" one skeptical friend said the other day. Okay, maybe there will be more people in the pit, but more people in the pit probably means more people outdoors in general, which could be nice.

I've also always thought that being at Harvard without a problem set or a paper or an exam to worry about would be great. And the few days before classes started this year were among the best I've spent anywhere.

But, says the skeptic, what makes Harvard great is your friends, not the

architecture of Leverett Towers, where you might be living under the auspices of PBHA.

While that's true, it's also true that a lot of my friends are going to be here this summer. Without too much work to do, I'll be able to catch up with people other than my blockmates, who I see every day multiple times a day.

But what about going home? I'm a Californian by birth and heritage, and I have spent enough summers in California to know that the locale can be heaven on earth. Why give that up? Why unnecessarily antagonize my parents by seeing them for a total of only five weeks in 1999? (While that might seem like a lot of time, it really isn't for an only child who talks to her parents every other day.) Because I want to eventually live in California, for me it represents the past and the future, but not necessarily the present.

In the final analysis, while staying in Cambridge this summer doesn't give me something to discuss at cocktail parties (but how many cocktail parties do I really go to?) I think that might be part of its appeal.

All year, most Harvard students (perhaps including myself) are moving onward and upward, working hard on papers and problem sets, gaining leadership in campus organizations and keeping their eyes on the future. But for me, this summer will be about the present. It will be a time for me to live in the moment at Harvard--a luxury that I often don't have during term time. I won't have to worry about the next assignment, the next Crimson deadline, or the next SAA event. I'll have the autonomy to do things I've always wanted to do, from finding out why the Wonderland T-stop is so named, to eating sandwiches by the river with my friends when I take a break from learning to cook. Or maybe just mooching off my friends who already know how to cook (Gaurav, Uttam, and Navin, that means you).

After two years at Harvard I finally have a summer when I can leave my work at work and do what I want when I get home. I want to people watch and work with people my age and go out every weekend. I now know Boston and Cambridge well enough that I know of many things I'd like to explore. I'm glad I'm taking the chance to do it.