So Close, Yet So Far

Included in today’s ceremonies are a few who will be back next semester, despite following the motions of graduating.

For Max R. Morange ’03, a semester spent harvesting grapes and olives on organic farms in France and Italy means he will have to return in the fall to complete his requirements.

But traveling abroad was part of the deal he struck with himself in deciding to go to college so close to his hometown of Acton, even if he would not be able to receive academic credit.

His experiences in the fall of 2001 included working on one of the world’s only farms that milks donkeys and living in a castle in Tuscany purported to be haunted by a ghost.

“I wouldn’t exchange my time in Europe for another four years at Harvard,” Morange says. “Mentally, it was far more stimulating being away in Europe than anything I’ve done here.”

Morange says he plans to treat next semester as a transition between college life and the real world. To that end, he plans to live off-campus with two of his graduating roommates.

“I’m really looking forward to having one foot in and one foot out,” he says.

But even though Morange is satisfied with his decision to spend a semester abroad, Morange says he’s less than thrilled about today’s ceremonies.

“The whole graduation thing is a little bittersweet. When it all comes down to it, it’s a blank diploma.”

—Staff writer Daniel P. Mosteller can be reached at mosteller@post.harvard.edu.