It was your typical Sunday mid-afternoon. Bleary-eyed freshmen dragged themselves to Annenberg, recounting stories from the night before. However, upon entering the Berg, they were transported. White tablecloths dressed each table, roses adorned the room, and John the expert card-swiper was sporting a beret. Confused, the freshmen surveyed the situation. No, they weren’t still drunk – all of the dining halls had been transformed into French bistros for the afternoon. After enjoying crêpes, brie, and baguettes, the students left Paris and re-entered Cambridge. Personally, I assumed the brunch was some bizarre isolated event for HUDS.

However, something miraculous happened the next Tuesday. Excited chatter echoed throughout Annenberg. After receiving multiple texts about the event, I immediately rushed to the Berg. I weaved my way to the center table, wondering, “Could it be?”  Yes, it was true – Annenberg had fresh fruit. Freshmen swarmed the table, startled by the fruit salad, blueberries, grapes, pineapples, and strawberries. These items felt so foreign and valuable. I piled my plate with pineapple and skeptically surveyed the hall – what was going on?

It turns out these weren’t one-time inexplicable events. Spring semester has breathed new life into the dining halls. Trying to create more diverse selection of meals, HUDS has tweaked their menu and added exciting new options.

Here are just a few of the new items to check out:

1. Make-Your-Own Korean Barbecue
2. Fresh Fruit Tuesdays
3. New fro-yo flavors (Wild blueberry and pomegranate? Wild is right.)
4. Muffin Make-Over (Fewer calories and more exciting flavors like Orange-Cranberry.)
5. More vegetarian options

If all of this is too much for you to handle, don’t fret – there will always be Tofu Parmesan and Obscure Chickpea Mush to make you remember the value of a home-cooked meal.

but yeah, this is cool. I’ll end it here to let you guys figure this one out for yourselves.

Also, for a little history: Check out this video from Housing Day way back in ’04*. Channel 7 hilariously reported that students outside of Annenberg for Housing Day lunch were protesting the war. Failz and lulz aplenty:

*We previously had it listed as from ’06, but apparently that’s just the date the video was posted on youtube.

Damn son.

Ron and Harry never had to wait in line at the Great Hall, right? Omnomnomnom!

image credits: Heidi Lim and HarryPotterGIF.tumblr.com

(Video by Daniel Garber ’13. Accessed May 26th, 2010.)

For someone like me, the phrase “Annenberg card-swiper” conjures up frightening, embarrassing and (slightly) painful memories of being turned away at the door for having forgotten my Harvard University ID for the umpteenth time. For Nolan Pollock ’13, however, an Annenberg card-swiper named Francine inspires romantic verses.

Earlier this month, attendees of Annenberg’s hot breakfast were treated to an impassioned and dramatic recitation of Nolan’s 4th-winning entry in the Harvard Slam Poetry Competition, entitled “Oh, Francine!” Nolan stood atop a table, bathed in the yellow light of ‘Berg’s Harry-Potter-esque chandeliers, looked into the eyes of Francine and sang her praises in a way that would make Shakespeare proud.

Here are Voice’s favorite parts, even though pretty much every line is quotable.

“As I wait in line for my chance to dine,
All I can think about is making her mine
[...]

Oh, Francine!
For you, I must stop and thank the Dean
You’re like something out of a magazine
When you swipe my card, it’s almost obscene!
[...]

How can you resist my youthful zeal?
What do I have to do? Get down and kneel? (cute kneeling action)
YOU are an orange that I must peel!
[...]

This is not some emotional lie
Know that I am your guy!
I think about you always, in PhySci
I think about you always, in LifeSci
I think about you always, and inside.

Oh, Francine!
YOU, are my Annenberg dream.”

Awwww <3 The procrastination bit is a very nice touch. Extra brownie points for keepin’ it real.

In his response to Voice, Nolan expresses that his biggest fear was “to lose the crowd’s attention,” and he was relieved to find that everyone loved it. Nolan wrapped up his poem amid maddening applause from the ‘Berg crowd. The reaction of Francine herself was priceless. “She gave me a great big hug and a kiss afterward and was apparently talking about it to staff members all day. She even asked for a copy of the poem to show to her kids,” Nolan recalls. I can testify to this because by dinnertime that day, Oh Francine!-related chatters still abounded among HUDS staff in the servery. Also, Facebook reports that Nolan, who is a member of the Harvard Heavyweight Crew, is single, in case anyone was wondering.

Everybody loves a random, cute act of romance in Annenberg. (Remember the dude who asked his girlfriend to the Snow Ball from the balcony, complete with giant poster boards? Those kids are still nauseatingly in love, much to the chagrin of their lovelorn and cynical blockmates. JK!) And this act deserves to go into the history book of the Class of 2013. (Sex on the balcony, proposals from the balcony and slam poetry atop a ‘Berg table. It is a tough job keeping up with this class.)

Voice approves! <3 Almost makes me wish I could wake up in time for breakfast every once in a while.

ETA: The original version of this post misstated the owner of the Youtube video to be Daniel Goldhaber ’13. My apologies to both Daniels! I blame the 102 degree weather. I really do.

How much of a Harry Potter fan are you? Think you have what it takes to be a Quidditch hero? We have Annenberg resembling the Hogwarts Dining Hall, why don’t we have a Quidditch Pitch to go with it? Good news. Muggle Quidditch has come to Harvard.

Quidditch is the fastest growing college sport in world, and Stacy Rush, a visiting undergraduate student from Toronto, is doing her part to continue its growth at Harvard. Founded in 2005 by a Middlebury student, Muggle Quidditch, as it has been dubbed, made a breakthrough with last year’s fifteen-school tournament. Colleges such as Middllebury and Vassar, who faced each other for last year’s Quidditch crown, already have competitive teams that have been featured on the evening news and in international magazines for their adaptation of the sport originally conceived by J.K. Rowling in her Harry Potter books. Yes – like the Hogwarts version, it is played on broomsticks, though regrettably the technology is not quite up to par with magic, and these brooms do not fly. While it may seem that without the element of flight, Quidditch loses its immediate appeal, the founders of the sport have worked to keep it as close as possible to the magical version—there is even a student whose sole post during the game is to run around and act like the snitch—the golden ball that must be captured by the seeker to win the game. Other than the seeker role made infamous by Harry Potter himself, other players are responsible for the making up the field positions of beater, chaser, and keeper, and the rules are similar to the regulations laid out in the popular series of books—only without magic, everyone must play into a bit of adolescent make-believe.

This year’s Quidditch World Cup will be held at Middlebury College on October 25. If you think that you have what it takes to be a keeper or seeker, the first ever meeting of the Harvard College Quidditch team is this Thursday, 8:30-9:30 at Harvard Hillel, Rabb Hall.