Fall Surprise Holiday

Perhaps the most speculated day of the term, is the triannual Surprise Holiday. Once a term, the House and Senior Prefects announce the Surprise Holiday and Mr. Maqubela dons the green jacket that is a staple of the tradition.

It becomes a sport between students to guess when the day will arrive. Some are so convinced it will be Surprise Holiday the next day that they roulette and don’t do their homework. (I don’t recommend.) This year, Surprise Holiday was highly anticipated as the term dragged on with no end in sight. Many failed guesses later, the day finally arrived.

On November 4th, students filed out of morning chapel only to see a green golf cart across the Circle, slowly approaching. Buses to Boston, Cambridge, and the local mall transported excited students overflowing with energy. I found myself on an Upper School bus to Boston for the first time with many of my friends. Despite the windiness that day, we persevered through the cold and made our way throughout Boston. We started on Newbury Street, shopping, snacking, and laughing, while pretending to not feel the wind whipping our faces. When the cold set in, we looked towards Copley Place for a warm lunch. We ended up in a newly-opened restaurant tucked away in the corner called Parm. After stuffing ourselves with pasta, Caesar salad, and Shirley Temples, we wandered around meeting up with other Groton students and enjoying our free time. Another bus ride later, we found ourselves back on campus, relishing the leftover freedom of the past day and already counting down the days until the winter Surprise Holiday.