A Harvard student had finally achieved his longtime dream of floating in a giant pumpkin across the Charles River in Boston over the weekend. What happened: Benjamin Chang, a senior at Harvard University, successfully paddled across the Charles River in Boston on Saturday aboard his 1,500-pound (680.3 kilograms) pumpkin that he picked up from a farm in New Hampshire. Chang reportedly started paddling from the Cambridge side of the river to the Boston side before going back to his starting point.