<p>DVK: A timely article is in the Crimson about the co-op:
[Undergrads</a> Seek A Room of Their Own | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/3/12/coop-living-students-house/]Undergrads”>Undergrads Seek A Room of Their Own | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>My son lives in Quincy and LOVES it! Of course the kids are very loyal to their houses, but he really does like it. Good food and good location. The room configurations are great. </p>
<p>Your student will love it! Congratulations on being a parent of a “penguin” :)</p>
<p>Marite- What does the"crimson house" refer to? My kid will be at Lowell next year.</p>
<p>Hi all, its been a while for me since I last checked in. Son had funny housing story, Thursday morning they are sitting in their room and they get a knock on the door and its representatives of a certain house who say congrats and hand them t-shirts and a letter. Wasn’t a bad house but son was really upset as his sister was in that house and although he likes her he wasn’t crazy to share the same house! Then about 20 minutes later some people from Eliot came up and knocked on the door and said congratulations you are in Eliot, Son’s group was confused but soon found out that the Lampoon had gone around with false t-shirts and letters telling them they were in different houses. They didn’t realize how funny it was by choosing my daughters house! Anyhow, they are all estatic about the housing assignment and son is glad he is down the street from sister!
Gadad, I have been told I do what your daughter does. Not sure if its a New England thing, (Am originally from the area), or an intelligence thing (that would be a nice excuse) or just a desire to have people who talk more slowly than I to get to the point! Hopefully its just a passing phase!</p>
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<p>It probably means it was the House where many of the writers and editors of The Crimson lived. The lottery has long since abolished the ability students to congregate in any one house based social factors (or any factor), but many Houses still retain their old reputations as the Jock House, Artsy (read gay) House, the Party House, etc., even though they are no longer true and all Houses now have a pretty good mix of everything.</p>
<p>Smoda61- I tried to PM you about housing, but your mailbox is full.</p>
<p>Curious77 - I got the message and, after a day I won’t bore you all with, I read it wrong. I wrote Coureur stating that I missed their message. I think my eyes were not focusing. 
Anyhow I did some cleaning and you can send messages now. Sorry Coureur and Curious77, I am curious about what you have to say. TTYS</p>
<p>Curious: coureur’s explanation is right.</p>
<p>I have been to Lowell House to attend a Southeast Asia night with my S (I think it’s an annual event that takes place some time in April). It was lots of fun. The students served food from a variety of Southeast Asian countries and then performed skits and dances. I think the money raised from tickets goes to various charities. I’ve seen a sign advertising the Lowell Opera House’s performance of Tosca not long ago. Lowell House certainly seems to organize many different events!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your thoughts on the Co-op. I did read The Crimson article (of course, my son asked if I had read it , too). I still don’t know if it would be the best situation for him. I do appreciate your comments.</p>
<p>Marite:</p>
<p>Lowell Opera House’s performance of Tosca not long - I have herad it was a excellent event for a very cheap ticket price $20-$40. The Orchestra was exceedingly elegant and opera singers were professionals who were simply outsatning. For the price my daughter paid, she thought the Lowell people should have charged more tha > $100 if they were perfroming in NY City. My duaghter saw it and she loved it.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I saw the ad too late to go. What a shame!
Dunster House also has an opera society; one of S’s former schoolmates was its director for a year. Another schoolmate was involved in the Harvard Early Music Ensemble.
There are so many excellent student concerts at Harvard. Some of the concerts are even free to the general public; others are quite affordable.
A couple of years ago, we listened to Stefan Jackiw perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto; so different from David Oistrakh and yet very compelling. A couple of months ago, we heard Ryu Goto (brother of Midori) play Paganini’s violin concerto.
We have also enjoyed concerts by the Krokodiloes, Veritones, Din and Tonic, the Harvard-Racliffe Orchestra, Bach Society…
Sanders theatre also hosts performances by professional orchestras. Living in the neighborhood, we are really spoiled.</p>
<p>I truly hope that after freshmen year, the health of students improves. As you may recall, D and various friends dealt with mono earlier this year and in general D has had colds and such repeatedly (this is a girl who had 1 sick day from grades 7 - 12). Tuesday, her boyfriend was diagnosed with pneumonia. It seems like every few days I hear of another friend’s illness. In your experience, does it get better after the first year or is this just normal college life?</p>
<p>This is the last thread I ever thought I’d be privileged to post on, but my son was just admitted to Harvard Divinity School, so I thought Id say hi. In a way, Im posting under false pretenses because hes two years out of college and no longer under my roof or dependent on me for tuition (yay!), so I wont be too involved in the nitty gritty details. I do know, however, that he is just beginning the search for a place to live, so if any of you have any advice in that regard, it would be most welcome. (He looked at the Harvard-owned housing, but wow, is it expensive.)</p>
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<p>In my experience it depends on the kid. Some learn early on to eat a better diet and, more importantly, get more sleep. Others take a little longer to learn this lesson. The illnesses almost always clear up once they do.</p>
<p>^ sleep has certainly been an issue.</p>
<p>Smoda, so sorry to hear your D has been sick so often. There are so many students ill at any one time and the germs just seem to circulate through the houses. Too little sleep is a real culprit, as well as the close quarters of dining halls, bathrooms and classrooms. </p>
<p>We’ve encouraged the usual preventatives: sleep, fruits, veggies, daily multi-vitamins, Purell, outdoor exercise & avoiding the space of ill students. However, after every break there seems to be a new round of viruses introduced. It seems sleep deprivation just increases with higher level classes and increased EC commitments. Sounds bleak, but spring and sun may soon improve the situation!</p>
<p>At this moment, she is fortunately healthy but has multiple friends who headed into spring break with some illness. We’ll see how long this healthy stretch lasts. In the fall, she was sick about every 2-3 weeks being capped off with being diagnosed with the mono just as she returned for second semester. I think she came down will a cold or something one time since then.</p>
<p>PS Brother graduated from college last year having been notably sick once in the 4 years. He was talking with his sister the other day about her sleep habits. He said how he got between 7 and 9 hours every night. D runs on VERY few hours and then tries to catch up with sleep when she can.</p>
<p>Yep, brother’s seven to nine hours of sleep must have been the key–H kids would be in much better shape if they could log those numbers!</p>
<p>Just terrific news for those here paying full freight:</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> College Hikes Costs Past $50,000 | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/3/18/percent-increase-year-tuition/]Harvard”>Harvard College Hikes Costs Past $50,000 | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>Have to say that with kid #2 we are really leery of going down this path again. Not in an economy like this. And not when medical and law school tuition will also be driven by parent income.</p>
<p>Regarding sleep and Harvard. It was a worse issue freshman year when son had some roommates who were extreme night owls. We do think he consumes far too much caffeine. And we tend now to object to him sleeping round the clock when he’s home on break. That just reinforces the problem when he goes back. Slowly but surely he seems to be coming to the conclusion that regular hours are a good idea. And endless coffee is not. Working a regular 40 hour work week after sophomore year also helped his general sleep habits. For smart kids, they can be slow learners on some key issues!</p>
<p>^^Just terrific news for those here paying full freight:
Thank goodness my kid is a senior. Of course medical school is even more expensive.</p>