Flyby Everywhere: My Passport Probably Thinks I'm Dead

My passport probably thinks I’m dead. Yes, you read that right. I have a brand new shiny passport gathering dust in a file somewhere in my closet. As an international freshman, my feet have yet to step on Cambridge soil — the closest I’ve been to Harvard is through Snapchat stories during Virtual Visitas. So naturally, instead of spending my Saturday night doing a math pset due the next day, I spent two hours Google Earth-ing Harvard Yard. I even went on a virtual tour of Harvard’s campus. So whether it's going on a coffee date or procrastinating another assignment, here are some cool and interesting places at Harvard to visit, you know, virtually.

The Harvard Arts Museum

The Harvard Arts Museum is one of the 14 Harvard museums around campus. The museum offers live virtual student guide tours, which are interactive tours led by fellow Harvard students in a variety of disciplines. These 30-minute tours are offered each Thursday and Saturday and are free to all students. Other really interesting exhibits are the world famous pigment collections, (yes, it’s literally watching paint dry but like, it’s ~art~) and the Japanese fans from the special exhibition Painting Edo. Other fun interactive activities include the Ancient Egypt colouring book (I know, mind blown) and take cutesy courses in sculpting, pottery, and even leaf decoration. If you’re into photography, art collection, art history, or just beautiful paintings, this is definitely a place you should check out.

Widener Library

Ever heard of a Lamonster? No? Yeah, me too. Lamonsters are the poor, unfortunate souls who pull all-nighters at Lamont Library (and according to Google, also the name of a garage in Missouri). While I regularly pull all-nighters to attend club meetings and office hours (gotta love that time difference), I do it in the comfort of my home. We may not be on campus to experience Lamont, but maybe we can try to recreate that stressed student aesthetic at Widener.

Widener Library offers a 360 degree virtual tour of the library using thousands of photographs of Widener. The tour offers really cool views from skylights of the Loker Reading Room to the personal collection and bookshelves of Harry Widener. Grab a few friends, daresay your blockmates and explore the architecture and history of Widener. Widenerster anyone?

The Harvard Museums of Science & Culture

STEM and Social Sciences people, this one’s for you. The Harvard Museums of Science and Culture includes the Collection of Historic Scientific Instruments, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Ancient Near East and the Peabody Museum of Archeology. With four different museums under one, there is something for everyone. The museums offer programs at the intersection of science, culture, history and art through virtual tours of their galleries and exhibitions. From presentations such as “Black Is Queen” to “What Spiders Have to Say” to “Dia de los Muertos,” you’ll definitely get the opportunity to learn a lot about Harvard spaces.

With all these options, you have no reason not to plan out a solo museum date, Zoom hangout with friends or Zoom date and get to know campus a little better. Go forth and explore!