This Semester Has to Be Better, Right?

Last semester was a special kind of hell. Don’t believe us? Repressed it from your memory? Let us recount for you:

Mankiw made buying the newest edition of his Ec10 textbook mandatory. (In response, Flyby made a list of things that your $132 could have gone to instead.) The men’s soccer and cross country teams were implicated in sexually explicit reports on their female counterparts. Mohamed Ali passed away. So did Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, and a score of other celebrities. Mumps returned to plague Harvard, though at least we managed to give it to Yale too. And, speaking of Yale, that community college up in New Haven beat Harvard in football for the first time in nine years.

We need our future to be as bright as Memorial Church at night. By Megan M. Ross

The list could go on and on. The good news? We’ve likely hit rock bottom by this point, so there’s nowhere to go but up. To get everyone pumped up for second semester and to get over the pains of the last, Flyby has compiled a (non-exhaustive) list of things to look forward to this semester.

The Events

Harvard Square Chocolate Festival (1/27-1/29) It’s soon, too. The words “free” and “chocolate.” What more do we need to say?

Chinatown’s Year of the Rooster (2/12) Looking for an excuse to get off campus for a day? Hop on the Red Line, take it to Downtown Crossing, and head over to Boston’s Chinatown for a celebration of culture that is sure to be filled with food and fun.

Ariana Grande in Boston (3/2) By March, you might be tired of dancing side to side while the song “Side to Side” blares at yet another final club/frat/suite party. Why not get a ticket and go to TD Garden to dance in the presence of the “Queen of Pop” herself?

Housing Day (3/9) Arguably the ultimate can’t-miss event of the spring semester. Hello, 7 a.m. pregames and dressing up like your house mascot. Unless you’re one of those poor souls who has to take the SLS 20 midterm, you will definitely remember the joy that is Housing Day.

Passenger in Boston (3/10) Sometimes you just need to let her go. And by her, we mean the woes of last semester. Passenger is coming to the House of Blues the Friday before spring break, so if you book your flight out of Harvard on Saturday, you really don’t have a reason not to go to what is sure to be a super chill concert.

Boston Marathon (4/17) Go cheer on your super fit friends (or volunteer at the event, if you’re feeling like community service). Or, if you are the super fit friend of your blocking group, go crush that marathon and check it off your Boston bucket list.

Yardfest (late April) Either the “CRJ for Yardfest” or the “Chainsmokers for Yardfest” camps will be extremely disappointed. We can’t really predict the outcome of this because the College Events Board is very good at secrecy.

Formal Season (read: reading period) It may be far off but formal season is one of the best times of the year. You get to dress up and ignore the fact that you have real schoolwork piling up on your desk! A word of advice from those of us who have tried and failed: never endeavor to go to Lamont right after a formal.

The Little Things

Your friends

Admit it—we all went into finals season hibernation in the last days of the fall semester. Sure, maybe you were able to see your friend for a quick second between when she finished her last exam and hopped in an Uber home, but when was the last time you had an engaging, in-person conversation?

Snow (and cute Instas)

Think of how good a snowy Harvard Yard pic would look on your Instagram feed. #doitfortheinsta

Being done with summer applications

We’re writing this article when we really should be submitting the last of our summer applications. For those of you who went through the rush of consulting recruitment in early fall, this doesn’t quite apply to you, but for everyone else, godspeed. Just think about how relaxed you’ll be after you submit that final application.

For seniors: graduating. For everyone else: going home.

Logically, what comes after the spring semester is SUMMER! And yes, this is very, very, very far off, but if you work hard this semester you can truly relax over summer break knowing you just finished a kickass term.

Stay strong, Harvard! Things are looking up.