‘Butterflies in My Stomach’: Undergraduates Return for First Day of Class

Harvard undergraduates posed for pictures, reunited with old friends, and enjoyed sunny Cambridge weather as they streamed across campus to attend their first classes of the semester on Tuesday.

“I think everyone just has a bubbly, excited energy to be back at school,” Kyle L. Mandell ’25 said.

For the class of 2028, Tuesday also marked the beginning of their academic college experience. Several freshmen said their first glimpses of college coursework abated their first-day jitters.

After attending the first meeting of “Life Sciences 50: Integrated Science,” an intensive freshman biology course, Bob Guan ’28 said he would describe his first day as “exciting” and “exhilarating, even.”

“I’m feeling that butterflies-in-my-stomach sensation, in a sort of prolonged fight or flight response,” Guan said. “But you can take that in the best way you can.”

Annika N. Krovi ’28 said she was pleasantly surprised at the small size of her Government 20 class, adding that she particularly enjoyed meeting Government professor Steven Levitsky.

“My professor — it’s Levitsky, so he’s obviously awesome, read his book before. It’s crazy to be face-to-face with him,” Krovi said. Just after delivering the 12 p.m. lecture, Levitsky and other Harvard faculty wrote in chalk next to the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard to protest the University’s updated campus use guidelines that explicitly ban chalking on University property.

Several other freshmen pointed to their first college classroom experiences as a highlight of the day. Dillon Dukes ’28 said Michael Sandel’s course titled “Justice: Ethical Reasoning in Polarized Times” was “very different” from his high school coursework.

“I think that’s the most I’ve thought on a moral and ethical sense than I’ve ever even experienced for one second in high school,” Dukes said.

Across Tercentenary Theatre, students walk to and from their classes. By Selorna A. Ackuayi

As seniors began their final year at Harvard, many students said they were eager to make the most of their remaining semesters.

Anthony J. Malysz ’25 said he is “excited to see what a new semester holds.”

“Nerves are for previous years,” Malysz said. “Now there’s no nerves.”

Thor N. Reimann ’25 said he did not have any classes on Tuesday, but he still decided to sit in the Yard to “take it in, enjoy it.”

“I’ve seen a lot of people that I haven’t seen in a while, walking through. It’s nice to say hi,” said Reimann, a Crimson magazine editor. “Sometimes in the summer, you can feel so anonymous, because a lot of people are in new places with non-Harvard people.”

For Samantha C. Graisen ’25, this first day of classes was “just another day.”

“This has been a weird year for me, because I used to care so much about my outfit and getting ready,” Graisen said. “Especially freshman year.”

As students lined up to take photos on the steps of Widener Library with signs that read “First Day of 13th Grade” and “Last First Day,” some said they noticed an unusual amount of formal attire among their peers.

“I’ve seen some people wearing heels, and I know that that’s not going to happen for me,” Samantha A. Jackman ’25 said.

“As you get closer and closer to finals, sweatpants start coming out,” Jackman added. “And that’s how it should be.”

Some undergraduates said the first day sparked an increase in school spirit across the student body.

“I got my ‘H’ on today,” Dukes said, pointing to the Harvard logo on his sweater.

—Staff writer Madeleine A. Hung can be reached at madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.