Is it just me, or was J-term a complete waste of time for most of you?

When Harvard first announced that it had changed its calendar to make room for a month-long winter break, I rejoiced. A whole month? Of doing like, nothing? That’s heaven. No longer would we envy our friends at state schools and other schools who had a nice three weeks of winter vacay because we got a whopping four and a half.

J-term, at least for me, promised to be a time of uber productivity, filled with internship applications, course shopping, career pondering, book reading (for pleasure), on top of seeing friends and family. Did it prove to be productive? Not really. This graph painfully but accurately describes my month of January:

Yeah. Something like that. Needless to say, filling out Dean Hammond’s survey which was sent out to the entire student body in order to evaluate time spent during J-term, was pretty simple for me. What did I do during the break? I…relaxed. Check. Saw friends. Check. Kindofsortof thought about internships. Check. Annnd yeah…I think that’s about it. The other options made me feel pretty worthless (volunteer positions? internship? what?).

So what was the problem? One solution that I put forth in my 500-word-ish-long spiel in the survey was obviously to provide students with more options for staying on campus during J-term. I mean, as much as I love my family, staying with them for 4.5 weeks is just begging for someone’s blood pressure to skyrocket. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy frolicking about in a kind of empty campus? Spending J-term on campus with more student-led programming or offering quirky not-for-credit classes would be a fantastic option for students. See MIT’s Independent Activities Period, which is a program that has been successfully running for four decades! MIT students are given the option to take either for-credit or not-for-credit activities during the month of January. You can take a “Art and Architecture Tour of the Boston Public Library” or attend the “32nd Annual Science Fiction Marathon” or take an introductory language course in Japanese. Such diverse programming without the pressure of grades or credit would give students a truly relaxing yet intellectually stimulating winter break. It would definitely be a nice change from the unfortunate amounts of Hulu and junk food I consumed over J-term.

What do you think? Was J-term fruitful for you? What suggestions do you have?

Well, it appears I have been given my own, personal outlet for my obsessive compulsive internet behavior. This will never be one topic, and it’s not always going to have to do with Harvard, but I’m going to do my best to keep this as interesting as possible. Much more interesting than my current daily life in Texas this J-Term, for example, which has largely consisted of nursing my sleep-deprivation within the confines of my University of Texas themed snuggie, playing “Words with Friends” on my iphone (Kfrench90…add me), or watching every episode of the first season of Starz’s “Party Down” (which if you haven’t seen, get a NetFlix free trial right now and watch it. Seriously. Now. It’s the funniest show. Ever). So, for the sake of my sanity and other snuggie-wearers out there, this little blog-a-baby hath been born. It weighs a lot, this is the internet, so I’m not going to publish that because we don’t want it to look back one day and feel self-conscious–but don’t worry all the parts are there/intact/correct.

As a brief intro, since you probably don’t know me, I’ve been writing for The Voice since the beginning of the semester. Yes, I am a freshman. No, that’s not a downside–I’m an old soul. (See Kathleen’s 1st birthday: demanded with infant gestures that a fork was necessary for cake. Other babies did not follow suit. Classy). I broke my pinkie finger this fall in a spirited game of Inter-mural Ultimate Frisbee. We still won. I received Ed Hardy glass cups at a White Elephant party this break and am still waiting for the inevitable Jersey Shore party to bust them out. I aspire to be the next Carles. I’ve spent a large amount of time today watching this: Puppy vs. Mirror. So, get ready for fun times young folks.

Like, that dress is soooo pretty.

I wish I could say that I am having a productive or even semi-productive J-term. But I’m not. Did I just watch an entire season of The City? Yes. This show is addicting, okay? There ought to be more reality shows about perfectly polished, matte-skinned girls out there. What am I going to do now? I am tempted to write an ode to Whitney Port’s parted, pouted mouth or Olivia Palermo’s strangely angular and small face. In the meantime, I’ll have to watch reality shows about perfectly tanned, pouf-haired girls.

What shows have you been watching this J-term? I need recommendations to further the rotting of my brain.

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.