How Many Yaleys Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?

Each day is better than the last, and today was in no way an exception.  The train ride to New Haven was relaxing, and the scenery gave me some good opportunities to take cool pictures.  I had heard so much about New Haven being ugly and not a good city, evidenced by my favorite “How many blanks does it take to change a light bulb” joke, which I shall refrain from sharing on this blog, that I was expecting, well, and ugly and not-good city!  When we arrived, I have to admit that I was underwhelmed.  The outskirts of the city are exactly what I was expecting.  But once we got to the area around the college, the city got nicer.  Around campus is some pretty architecture, not to mention the school’s beautiful buildings, and there are lots of little niche restaurants that looked really good.  The place we went for lunch was one of those, and it did not disappoint.  The lunch was amazing.  It was way too much food, but it was amazing.

I also really enjoyed meeting up with the Columbia cohort!  I’m friends with the three of their cohort who go to El Cerrito High, and it was really fun hanging out with them today.  The only downside was that I had to leave them again.

Yale was not what I expected.  Being such an expensive school, I expected the students and atmosphere to feel uptight and snobbish, but it was the complete opposite.  It seemed really laidback, and the people were really fun.  They talked about how relaxed everyone on campus was and how the residential colleges really promoted the social aspect of the school.  I was actually very surprised, and it made me reconsider Yale, a school which I, to be honest, had absolutely no interest in attending.  I also had no idea that Yale was a big research school in terms of science, which is a big draw for me.

The campus itself was beautiful, and I took more pictures today than I did over the past two days.  724 to be exact, and you can see my favorites below.

After getting back from Yale we went to a dinner with a Brown alum and a Brown administrator.  We went to Capital Grille, and it was amazing.  I had a tenderloin steak with two lobster tails, and I would be hard pressed to say I’ve had a better steak.  The admin, Mercedes, was really interesting, and Niels and her and I had a long conversation ranging from different majors to politics to the future to different foods.  I really enjoyed myself, but I regret not talking to Guy, the alum, as he was sitting at the other end of the table and the restaurant was really loud.  I feel like I’ve gotten the bulk of the trip out of the way, even though I still have three weeks left.  These last three days have felt like weeks, and I have a feeling the class will fly by.  We shall see.