Abundant snow and information

Well it’s official; this is the worst snow that anyone has seen at Harvard in five years. My classmates in the Trade Union Program attribute it to Fate’s effort to give us the truest appreciation of life in the land of the Nor’easter.

It is set to snow this week too; information which tends to run counter to what the locals describe as the “January thaw”. Since it has snowed at least once a week since we started, it seems only right.

We are half way through now with three more weeks to go. At times the flow of information has been akin to trying to drink water from a fire hose.  The oft told joke here is that the program coordinator ran into a former student from five years ago in the airport and he told her, “I’m just about finished with the reading from class.”

Snowman Cambridge Mass

Harvard Trade Union Program Week 1

10 -14 Jan 2011 Opening Week

A 05:00 wake up to be at the airport for a 07:30 flight which was, naturally, overbooked but (despite the counter clerk’s siren song offering money, lunch and future discount travel) I made it aboard for a slightly late departure.

My single serve friend (that’s the person you sit next to a on a plane, train or bus who you will never see again in your life thus “single serve” friend) was the mother of a Marine and the soon to be mother-in-law to a Navy helicopter pilot. She was going to New Hampshire for a funeral. We chatted and napped and read politely the entire uneventful flight.

When I got to Boston I took a cab to Cambridge (which in Houston terms is down the street). There was a kind of mad dash to get settled in before things kicked off the following day. I was signed in, got an apartment and an id card before walking around a bit in hopes of getting the lay of the land... Suffice it to say there’s more walking around in my future.

The class is made up of Labor leaders from Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and across the U.S. We have class daily. An assembly of  instructors from Harvard, MIT, and other Ivy League schools teach us various classes every day. There is an incredible amout of reading material. So far it's a thrilling experiance.