What Harvard Gave Up to Watch "House of Cards"

Season two of Netflix’s hit series “House of Cards” is about 11 hours long. What did Harvard students give up to binge-watch the entire series last week? Flyby has compiled a list of the things Harvard students gave up and which “House of Cards” character would do the same.

Health (The Frank Underwood)

“There are two types of pain. The sort that makes you strong and the useless pain.” Inspired by Frank Underwood’s way-too-regular trips to ‘Freddy’s BBQ Joint,’ some students are prepared to ignore the advice of their pre-med peers and give up going to the gym to keep fueling their addiction. After all, Frank Underwood hates that stupid rowing machine his wife got him. For added Underwood-like health direction get addicted to cigarettes. (Do not actually get addicted to cigarettes. That is a horrible idea.)

Sleep (The Doug Stamper)

They say you can have sleep, a social life, and academics at Harvard, but only two of the three. Last week Harvard students replaced sleep with obsessively following the life of fictional character Frank Underwood. How very Chief-of-Staff Doug Stamper-like, already clearly sleep-deprived, poor Doug is most certainly overworked but like so many Harvard Freshman, keeping up with the Underwoods is more than worth it.

Social life (The Zoe Barnes)

Forget to meet up with friends because you needed to watch that next episode? No worries, young Zoes, there are far more important things than a healthy private life. It’s all about getting through the series before anyone else can.

Midterms (The Peter Russo)

Like so much of the series, “we're in a very gray area. Ethically.” But there will certainly be more midterms, and there is only one season two of House of Cards. Sometimes life should be lived intensely and for the sole purpose of enjoyment. What could possibly go wrong?

Essay grades (The Remy Danton)

How much does lateness kill a grade? 1/3rd of a grade for every 3 hours? While we’d never encourage it, calculating students can cover half of the series for only two-thirds of a grade deduction. It’s all about tradeoffs and priorities.

Daylight (The Linda Vasquez)

Similar to White House Chief of Staff, Linda, a lot of vitamin-D has been sacrificed to Netflix. But it’s winter anyway, right?

Meals (The Frank Underwood pt. 2)

“There are two types of pain. The sort that makes you strong and the useless pain.” Giving up meals to watch HoC may make you physically weak and malnourished, but it will make you mentally stronger and more able to manipulate the world around you. That’s the goal, isn’t it?

Nothing (The Claire Underwood)

For those perfect, Claire Underwood-esq jugglers of life. Elegant, balanced, and ruthless with time management, these people can seemingly do it all. Be careful, though, there may be some hidden fire behind this person’s cool facade.