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.