The Voice wishes you a happy new year!

Photo credit: bestrated

by Ricardo Ramirez Garcia Rojas ’13
December 2009 Issue

“So, what are you going to do for J-term?”

Between the Fall and Spring Semesters falls the all too dynamic January Term, or as Harvard students have abbreviated it – “J-Term.” Essentially, students have to opportunity to go home to celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Louis Pasteur’s birthday or simply the fact that they are together with their family. Some students take up internships. Some students work jobs. However, there are a select group of students that go a little against the grain when it comes to “J-term” plans.

Road Trips

With a car, company, a “twenty-hour play list,” and a good route, Will Rafey ’13 and Sophie Angelis ’13 plan to go on a “chill” 700 mile road trip from San Jose, California to Seattle, Washington. Read the rest of this entry »

The Voice asked its staff what they’re up to or what they hope to accomplish over J-Term. Here are the results.

• Read at least five books and catch up on The Office, Gossip Girl, and Mad Men. – AR
• Cure myself of S.A.D. Oh, and go to DISNEY WORLD. - SP
• Take a bubble bath! (to get out the stench of Lamont) – GS
• Go see the Nutcracker (and then be inspired to dust off my violin!) – AS
• Get that marriage annulled - KF
• Hopefully put these seven years of Spanish to use and hold actual conversations with my seven year old Mexican cousins that don’t include commentary on the weather or discussions on our favorite colors. – SB
• Look really happy when my aunt gives me another goddamn green sweater for the 5th year counting (“It’s your favorite color, right?”), dodge questions about my personal life, play guitar with the volume set to 11, read a shit ton. – IP
• Actually read the novels I bought for my seminar this semester, re-learn the guitar, hang out with my younger brother, sleep, pick spring classes, party it up with high school friends. – GS

Have a safe and happy holidays, everyone! Check Noice for occasional updates over J-term. We’ll be back in full swing again after! (HarvardFML will, for the most part, be updated regularly. As long as you keep uh, F’ing your L’s.)

Leverett House courtyard

So. Much. Snow.

Flights cancelled.

SNOW.

Name: Jens Jacob Fredriksson, foreign exchange student ’10
Where: Leverett G-Tower, near his room

Scarab-Beetle Hat: POC
Watch: Omega
Jeans: Evisu, bought in Berlin
Glasses: Porcshe, Swedish brand
Shoes: Gucci
Shirt: Magically appeared in closet one day
Neon Belt: Marc Jacobs

by Crystal Coser ’12
December 2009 Issue

Ah, L’Espalier. The name alone sends a tingle down from my palate and fills me with a sense of deep-seated longing, but the “$$$$” listing tends to keep this food lust at bay. Fortunately, my mom was recently in town, and like all savvy college students, I knew how to maneuver myself into a fabulous meal.

Charged with anticipation, my mother and I strode to 774 Boylston and arrived at large metal doors. Past the entrance, we found ourselves greeted by a host in a miniature elevator foyer. We were directed to take the elevator up to the dining room. This was not just any old elevator – it was a glass elevator à la Willy Wonka. Talk about perfect prelude to my dining fantasies.

Immediately upon arrival, I was filled with a sense of sophisticated homey comfort that comes only with an exquisite interior designer. We arrived in a marble lobby adjacent to an area that very much resembled a family room, a magnum of Dom Perignon on ice and all. Well, more like family room of my dreams.

After having been seated at a wonderful window-side table overlooking Boylston, my mother and I eagerly awaited the bread service. It may seem frivolous to recount what can be a negligible preface to a meal, but at L’Espalier, every facet of the dining experience, including the bread, is exquisite. A tray of bread was brought to our table with warm Kalamata olive and sourdough, and was served with soft peaks of butter. I need to pause here for a second to talk about this butter. This wasn’t just any old mass-market variety- this was butter that would make Ina Garten and Paula Deen fall to their knees. We used the bread merely as a vehicle on which we could pile this soft, unimaginably creamy, rich, and salty primrose pleasure.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yep. We’d say that’s a pretty accurate reaction to finals. The end is near though! God speed, everyone.