<p>Do Harvard students get tired of the tourists coming through? Do they ever feel hemmed in by the thronging streets of Cambridge? Just curious. D visited last week and she liked the school a lot but is wondering about privacy and just a general sense of living in a fish bowl. Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>Freshman year can feel a little like that but you're still fresh enough to the school that it's kind of nice. Once you move to the houses the feeling basically goes away because you only walk through the yard to get to class.</p>
<p>For me, it was an irritant, but nothing more.</p>
<p>You should search for the corollary threads from visitors who are angry because they weren't allowed to see the dorms, the dining hall, the library, etc. on the tour. Harvard does a pretty good job of keeping the tours out of the buildings, sometimes to the detriment of its own PR interests.</p>
<p>When I was a student and first got to Harvard, I thought it was funny to be on a campus that was a prime tourist destination. It was a nice reminder about how impressive the college is.</p>
<p>After a while, however, one doesn't even notice the tourists. You're too busy living your life, and being at Harvard has gotten to be your norm.</p>
<p>Initially, I was surprised to find that there are no benches on the walkways around the Old Yard. If you're waiting for your student to come out of their dorm, you either stand or sit on the steps. But eventually I came to realize that if they put out benches, the benches would be full, but not full of students.</p>
<p>The tourists become a blur when you get used to it.</p>