<p>Perfectpixie- You are already showing your talent at using the amazing resources of the Harvard community (via CC)! Thank you for acknowledging that our enthused ramblings do indeed benefit young Crimsonites–that helps justify our continued time here. </p>
<p>Best of luck in your exciting future!</p>
<p>Congratulations perfectpixie and welcome. Although this is the Harvard Parents thread, we do try to help out everyone, even students. Harvard is an amazing place - I am sure you will do marvelous things.</p>
<p>Thank you for the warm welcome lousyanamom, guitars, fauve and hat!</p>
<p>lousyanamom, thank you for sharing the link! I probably shall be interested in participating with them in college. I’m also sure that I shall be doing “Ghungroo” (I dunno if you know of it, it’s a yearly event celebrating Indian classical dance and music).</p>
<p>lousyanamom, so does that mean I should bring a lot of traditional clothing with me? I hadn’t thought there would be many days I could wear them without standing out but if the SAA celebrates all major festivals…?</p>
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<p>Yes, totally! I think this thread would be of immense help to anyone interested in learning more small yet interesting and sometimes important yet often overlooked facts (like buying a fan for instance!) about Harvard before they go to college (and I also got some good goop on Garduation, but that’s far far away!).</p>
<p>Like just about all the cultural celebrations on campus, Ghungroo attracts students from outside the culture to perform on stage with the students whose culture is being shared. My (non-South Asian) daughter has loved being part of the cast, and the show is a blast, even to someone who doesn’t get all the nuances of the skit jokes about Indian parenting. :)</p>
<p>I haven’t written on this thread in ages, but I have been reading the posts of fellow Harvard parents since my S1 was admitted in 2008. And now I know I will continue reading even after he graduates next year as S2 has been admitted to the Class of 2015! I am thrilled! How wonderful that they will overlap a year, share the same school breaks, and have each other for company on the long trips back home (we live in the Philippines). I am also happy to think that I will be accompanying my second son to Cambridge in August and will once again get to “park the car in Harvard Yard”! 
Thanks everyone for all the interesting tips, helpful advice, and thoughtful comments.</p>
<p>perfectpixie, my daughter takes two Indian outfits a year-one is for the soiree in the spring which is usually held downtown. It"s not too dressy, the girls usually wear a pretty churidaar or salwaar. The other one is for Diwali, where they dress up.
For ghungroo, I think they get similar outfits ordered for everyone. She had been selected to perform at ghungroo, and really wanted to participate, but she was involved in many other things at that time, so she dropped out. She has more Indian friends at Harvard than she has ever had in her life. She has an incredible group of friends-both Indian and of other cultures. I think with the Indian kids, they do connect about the similarities their parents share. I can imagine her telling her friends, “Oh, my mom would totally react like yours!”
Also, there is a group called Dharma which meets on the weekends. My D, I think went once or twice, but we’re not too religious, and she doesn’t understand the Sanskrit songs, so she was left smiling at another friend in the same position. She mentioned the kids raised in NJ and NY have had a lot more exposure to Indian culture. Sometimes, they’ll watch Hindi movies together.
Overall, it has been a wonderful experience. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Perfectpixie, so excited for you and the wonderful adventure you are about to embark upon!
dvk, glad you are joining in. My third Daughter also has been accepted to 2015 so I may have 3 at Harvard-very unreal to me! She also got into Yale SCEA so she is deciding between the two. Older siblings are pushing hard for Harvard and are hoping that Visitas this weekend is the push they need. D3 is actually on the fence as being an SCEA she has had a lot of wineing and dining from Yale. (Actually glad Harvard is reinstating theirs for next year!) Will let you all know what she decides after this weekend. And perfectpixie, think you would be an awesome roommate for my daughter…lol, who knows!</p>
<p>Hey Perfectpixie - Congratulations! My daughter is one year out of Harvard - well, almost - May will be a year! So glad that this thread has been helpful - do let us know if we can help you with anything else. My daughter has lived in several dorms in Harvard Yard (LOL she tried to live in all of them!) due to summer programs that she participated in. At any rate, best of luck to you! :)</p>
<p>I have a question for all of you. If my D decides to attend Harvard, I will probably have to choose when to visit: either at move-in (August) or at the Freshman Parent Weekend (October). Which event do you think is the most interesting *for parents *who have never visited Harvard before?</p>
<p>dignified1, we visited both times, but I thought we were most helpful during move-in. We purchased a small refrigerator, went and picked up all of her stuff from BB&B, and some stuff from Target.We also made a trip to the coop and between myself, my hubby, and my friend who lives there, we helped carry the stuff upstairs, while hubby helped set up her study table, computer, printer and stuff, we unpacked, got the fridge going etc. All of her suitemates parents were there, and I’m glad both me and my husband were there for her. Parent weekend is a good time, but she was sick then and I actually postponed my flight by 2 days and took care of her in the hotel room.</p>
<p>Freshman Parents Weekend would be
. You can sit in on classes, attend performances by many of the great student groups, there are some special lectures for the parents, etc. No argument with lousyanamom that you are more useful to your child at move in, but that is not what you asked. There will be plenty of people willing to help your child with move-in if you can’t do both. Many of the kids will actually have been on campus a week beforehand if they participate in one of the freshman preorientation programs. My daughter’s roommate had already moved in when we arrived because she had done dorm crew. We went for both weekends and the parents weekend was clearly more fun.</p>
<p>I second the vote for Parents’ Weekend. There are marvelous lectures, art gallery and library tours, a parents luncheon, and much to see in Cambridge and Boston. Your D will know her way around campus by then, and be ready to spend some time with you. At move-in, the students are very focussed on meeting other students, and generally in a hurry to separate themselves from parents.</p>
<p>That’s a tough call dig 1. Part of if depends upon how much stuff your kid has. Our S had sports equipment, musical instruments, computer, printer, clothes, bedding, towels, school supplies etc., so it was good to have a car on move in day. If you are far away and fly in, I would suggest having her bring the minimum, ship the rest, and come for parent weekend. It’s especially enjoyable if your kid is in one of the many performances or sporting events that are scheduled at that time. On the other hand, keep in mind, because of students’ work load and extracurriculars, many parents have found their kid had little time to spend with them over parent weekend.</p>
<p>Depends on what you are trying to accomplish - have an interesting Harvard experience or help your kid get properly settled in? Going to Parents Weekend would be more interesting for the parents. Going at Move-in would be more benficial for the kid.</p>
<p>Agree with Coureur as to which is more interesting for whom. That being said, I have been fortunate to attend both for both kids D who is junior now and S who is sophomore. I personally from a Mom standpoint enjoyed move-in more. During freshman move in I was able to meet all my childrens roomates and parents which was a nice starting point for the year. We all went out to dinner together and got to know each other (both times). My kids both had larger rooms with 4 and 6 roommates so it was busy. The moms and dads helped organize space (more-so for the son) and I think this was a lot of fun, and quite funny at times when stuff didn’t fit and we’d ask the men to “just try it here”! For me as interesting as all the things were at Parents weekend. I enjoyed the people aspect of Freshman move in day, at Freshman Parents weekend I personally tended to just hang out with my kids and their friends and attend their EC events and didn’t take advantage of the classes etc. Also some of the parents of roommates didn’t come to Freshman weekend, so I ended up taking out friends who didn’t have parents present to dinner and around for the weekend. This was fun and I encourage all parents to look out for the kids whose parents for whatever reason couldn’t come to either move in or to Freshman weekend. Good luck, its a difficult decision!</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the advice. It definitely won’t be easy to make a decision on just one. :(</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice on traditional clothing lousyanamom! I don’t think I shall be very interested in Dharma though. I have taken Sanskrit for five years, but there’s so many more new things to try out! 
I heard that for the cricket finals the Sri Lankan and Indian cricket fans got together to watch the match too!</p>
<p>EAO, it would be great if your daughter and I get to room together, haha. Are internationals generally roomed with other internationals?</p>
<p>twinmom, thank you for the kind wishes! It’s a very interesting idea to try and live in all the dorms. :D</p>
<p>“I hadn’t thought there would be many days I could wear them without standing out but if the SAA celebrates all major festivals…?”</p>
<p>Perfectpixie, there are a lot of formals at Harvard, and some South Asian students wear traditional outfits to those formals. (Like the Patil twins at the Yule Ball – one more way that Harvard is like Hogwarts!) I have seen Chinese and African students do this as well.</p>
<p>I ADORED seeing students in their national costume at formals, so I hope you will consider bringing some and give them a whirl outside of a cultural-festival context.</p>
<p>DVK - Mabuhay!</p>
<p>S is Filipino/Chinese, Class of '14. I am local in Boston; let me know if you need help/info, whatever.</p>
<p>Is there anything for parents at Visitas, or do we just hang out in the hotel?</p>