Monday, June 18, 2007

HAHVAHD Unofficial Tour

On Tuesday June 12th, my children and I with Mega and her mother, took the unofficial tour of Harvard; which was organised by Unofficial Tours - a recently Harvard approved, Student-Run, Student-Owned company. Go to their website at http://www.harv.unofficialtours.com/ and take a look at how the company was started; the beautiful pictures in their on-line brochure and the graphical image map of Harvard Square will give some idea of the route taken during the one and half hour experience. The tour time sounds long - especially on foot! - but the Dual Tour Guide System managed to satisfactorily highlight Harvard hot-spots through their in-depth knowledge, exciting history, side-splitting jokes, and exclusive accounts of student life; making the unforgettable journey oblivious to passing time. Without even using hailers our Tour Guides captured all of their 'followers' attention with fluid flowing 'scripts' on Harvard's (pronounced as HAHVAHD) lingo & terminology, Harvard's buildings & architecture, Harvard's known rivalry with the City of Cambridge and last but not least Harvard's Student Admission and their life in the historic campus. To get enrolled in Harvard is of course not easy; one must be either a top A student, or obtained incredibly high SAT scores, or musically inclined, or.. having very rich parents with none of the above! (The picture on top right with the Memorial Hall behind us was taken by Tom - the bigger size Guide, from a secret vantage point buried deep in Harvard Yard!). The tour starts immediately outside of main Harvard MBTA station, by the Cambridge Info Kiosk in the middle of Harvard Square, and ends in front of the gate along Massachusetts Avenue. As a note: the Tour Guides do not have regular income from the company - I guess because it's 'Unofficial' - so, they get paid through the visitors sincere contributions ( an amount mentioned as an equivalent to a movie show with popcorn ) at the end of the tour. So, if ever you're in Boston, don't miss strolling through Harvard Square & experience the Unofficial Tour of Harvard - which is said to be by far better than the officially run tours!
Cool

4 comments:

Nina said...

Ohh Kak Ainal.. mommy rocks la.. i would never imagine an IT savvy mother. Its so cool!:)

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Thank you Nina for reading...will try to update often..:)

RusminahAbuBakar said...

Kak Ainal..tak dapek le nak pi tour ni nanti..nak pindah kan! Galat betoi...New England is the best place to stay compare tu west coast kan??

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

memang.. but i hear San Jose's weather is mild thru out the year..not sure..too short a time the last i was there....we'll see..

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