
Massachusetts
11/1/2026 | 4m 9sVideo has Closed Captions
Harvard freshman Doug adapts to the East Coast, and the idea of choosing home.
Doug is in his freshman year at Harvard. A native Californian, he is learning to adapt to the East Coast as he settles into the rigors of Ivy League studies. Despite being split between two states for four years, Doug believes you make a place your home simply by choosing it. Filmed in 2009.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
States of America is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television

Massachusetts
11/1/2026 | 4m 9sVideo has Closed Captions
Doug is in his freshman year at Harvard. A native Californian, he is learning to adapt to the East Coast as he settles into the rigors of Ivy League studies. Despite being split between two states for four years, Doug believes you make a place your home simply by choosing it. Filmed in 2009.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Where to Watch States of America
States of America is available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS app.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(Boys choir music) - So this is my first time living away from home.
I've lived in California my whole life, except obviously this past year.
(soft music) That is my house flag, Lowell House, the best house.
(Church bells) That's my house.
Ring them bells!
I'm so glad I'm here.
I feel so lucky, and as much as I love California, I'm glad I'm not going to school there.
I█m glad I'm getting a different experience.
Being accepted at Harvard, all of a sudden I had to stand out from my peers just as much as I did back then.
You know, in high school I knew almost everybody, and everybody knew me.
Here I have a few good friends but not too many, which partly is a function of me not going to all the parties.
In my housing application, this is a direct quote.
I wrote, "I do not drink, smoke, do drugs, or have sex.
"This is very important to me."
So I tried to make it clear that I would like roommates who want the same thing, and... ...uh at least a few of them are like right on me in that aspect.
There was definitely kind of an awkward moment when we were supposed to discuss what would happen in the event of an overnight romantic encounter.
Just had to tell them I'm not really comfortable at all with that, but you know they've been generally pretty okay with it.
When tourists are walking by, people tell them it's good luck to rub the toe.
But among Harvard students, the tradition is to pee on the toe.
It's hilarious when you watch a group of tourists walk by and they all want to touch the toe or take a picture touching the toe and you're just thinking about the drunk dude you saw peeing on it last night.
Mostly I just know people from school, the majority of whom are not native.
The stereotype I have in my head is some large man with a big bushy beard who only drinks Sam Adams beer and hasn't missed a Patriots game since he was five, but you know not so many people are actually like that.
If you chose to you could not care about meeting new people, you cannot care about building relationships because you figure they're all going to go.
You know I'm going to graduate, never see my roommates again, that kind of thing.
Knowing that I'm not going to be here for very long, I could choose to make it a good thing or a bad thing and I try to choose to make it good.
(Boys choir music) What makes you a Massachusettsian, or a Californian, it really just is whether or not you decide to be one.
The California part of me will never leave, but the more time I spend here in Massachusetts, the more I feel like I belong here and the more I love it and more that will be a part of me.
I think that I'll just become a hybrid of sorts.
I'll never be completely one or the other.
(Splash) Nice!
(Yelling) That's uh, that's Boston, that's Massachusetts.
(Boys choir music)
New Episode- News and Public Affairs

Top journalists deliver compelling original analysis of the hour's headlines.
New Episode- News and Public Affairs

Today's top journalists discuss Washington's current political events and public affairs.
New Episode


New Episode
New Episode

New Episode
New Episode
Support for PBS provided by:
States of America is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television