What Concentration to Declare, Based on Free Trips

Remember that feeling of uncontrollable excitement you had when your fourth-grade teacher announced the class field trip to the city zoo? Now take that emotion and multiply it by approximately six billion. Why, you ask? Because FM has news for you: Your field-tripping days have only just begun. As long as you take the right classes and/or choose the right concentrations, you can travel the globe on Harvard’s dime. FM is prepared to share the inside scoop and make your wildest dreams of adventure possible. There’s no time to waste—concentration deadlines are right around the corner. So get those study cards signed, and then get packing!

First Stop: the Caribbean with the Integrative Biology Department

Are you interested in sponges, mollusks, and arthropods? (Follow-up question: Do you even know what they are?) If yes, join OEB 51 and prepare to learn a LOT more about invertebrates—while enjoying the glowing sun, crystal blue waters, and soft white sand of the Caribbean for a week over spring break. In the interest of full disclosure, FM can confirm that there might be snorkeling. If snakes are more up your alley, opt instead for OEB 167 (Herpetology) and cozy up to some reptiles in Costa Rica.

Next Stop: An "Ocean Cruise" with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Geology doesn’t sound so boring after all! EPS concentrators take their travels seriously. Many concentrators are given the opportunity to sail the seas and investigate Atlantic currents. Feel seasick just thinking about it? No worries: EPS also offers sponsored travels to Hawaii and the Canadian Rockies. Just one heads up—the Hawaii trip does include a visit to an active volcano. So there’s that.

Third Stop: The South and Southwest

Instead of spending your J-Term with Netflix, spend it with fellow ESPP concentrators on the trip of a lifetime. Politics? Mother Earth? What’s not to love here? Plot twist: The department’s January 2016 destination has thus far been kept under wraps. Still, checking out some of their past excursions will definitely get you excited. Most recently, ESPP students have journeyed to Florida’s Key West, sailed across the Gulfstream, and explored the Rio Grande corridor as well as the Colorado Plateau.

Last Stop: literally the entire world thanks to History of Art and Architecture

Are you just not the science type? Has all this talk of rocks and lizards got you down? Never fear—Harvard will still take you on vacation. Even better, you can go ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET. OK, maybe not anywhere. But various HAA classes have ventured to everywhere from Teotihuacan, Mexico, to Dunhuang, China. Amsterdam, the Netherlands! Florence, Italy! Istanbul, Turkey! South Africa! Switzerland! If you’re feeling some international love, HAA is the thing for you.

With that, FM wishes you bon voyage and happy declaring! And when all the new Ec and CS concentrators (a.k.a. everyone else you know) ask why you’re smiling smugly, whip out that travel itinerary and watch their jaws drop.