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Okay, so I typed up some of my summer entries and will, eventually, get around to posting them. Possibly friendslocked.
This was a pretty good weekend. Yale has us drowning in alcohol--for the last two weeks, I've had alcohol every day but three. All the grad activities involve free food, and there were special Grad Night Out activities planned every day last week, so all the new students got horribly drunk. It was wonderful. Now, if only Yale would pay for our booze....
Orientation is kinda crazy. It's mostly just plain overwhelming. There's so much information, and so many new people, that my poor little California brain is having a hard time just figuring out which side the ocean is supposed to be on. The people here are amazing. The faculty and administration are actually helpful, and I'm pretty sure they actually care about us. The incoming students are amazing, too. Everyone here is so smart and motivated and well-rounded and interesting, and no one is pretentious. I bet the undergrad is different... but the grad school is pretty awesome. So far I love it. Still not sure how the hell I got here, but I love it.
Anyway, this weekend was good. We drank, I slept, and yesterday a small group of us went climbing. I hadn't been since June, so I'd already gone through the painful withdrawal and was just sort of wimpering sadly at the thought of not climbing in Connecticut, when I met a guy who said he climbed. And he knew a girl. And she had a roommate. So the four of us piled into my car and drove an hour to Stamford yesterday morning (the drive was sooooo worth it). We spent most of the day climbing, despite the fact that none of us had been on a wall in AGES and we all sucked horribly. We took a break for lunch and then got back on the wall, which was awesome, because it was totally a climber addict thing to do. I don't know how climbing is so addictive, but it is. And yesterday was an awesome day. We completely wore ourselves out, then drove back in the late afternoon. This morning, it hurts to lift my coffee cup. Yes! That's how you know you had a good climbing day. I feel awesome.
As for how I'm feeling about New Haven, please see my icon. (Which, for Zach, says, "If you find yourself lost in the woods, fuck it. Build a house. Well, I was lost, but now I live here. I have severely improved my predicament.") I may be homesick for Santa Cruz, but Santa Cruz isn't getting any closer. You want to feel at home? Then you better start making New Haven home.
Today there's more orientation/advising stuff going on. I have exactly ten minutes with a panel of faculty members, and I'm supposed to ask them any questions I want. Gee, what will I do with a whole ten minutes? I could almost ask two questions! Supposedly ten minutes is all they need, based on previous years, but I'm dubious. On the other hand, perhaps this means I won't have to deal with idiot administrators anymore--the ones at UCSC always took three times as long as you would predict. Mostly because they were dumb. Sorry... that was mean. I'm gonna try to start being nicer.
Anyway, I'm gonna go be Rory and read through the course listings and see how many I can attend during shopping week. I kinda like the idea of going to all the classes you want and not signing up until two weeks in. It definitely appeals to my Rory side. I can't wait to get back into classes!
This was a pretty good weekend. Yale has us drowning in alcohol--for the last two weeks, I've had alcohol every day but three. All the grad activities involve free food, and there were special Grad Night Out activities planned every day last week, so all the new students got horribly drunk. It was wonderful. Now, if only Yale would pay for our booze....
Orientation is kinda crazy. It's mostly just plain overwhelming. There's so much information, and so many new people, that my poor little California brain is having a hard time just figuring out which side the ocean is supposed to be on. The people here are amazing. The faculty and administration are actually helpful, and I'm pretty sure they actually care about us. The incoming students are amazing, too. Everyone here is so smart and motivated and well-rounded and interesting, and no one is pretentious. I bet the undergrad is different... but the grad school is pretty awesome. So far I love it. Still not sure how the hell I got here, but I love it.
Anyway, this weekend was good. We drank, I slept, and yesterday a small group of us went climbing. I hadn't been since June, so I'd already gone through the painful withdrawal and was just sort of wimpering sadly at the thought of not climbing in Connecticut, when I met a guy who said he climbed. And he knew a girl. And she had a roommate. So the four of us piled into my car and drove an hour to Stamford yesterday morning (the drive was sooooo worth it). We spent most of the day climbing, despite the fact that none of us had been on a wall in AGES and we all sucked horribly. We took a break for lunch and then got back on the wall, which was awesome, because it was totally a climber addict thing to do. I don't know how climbing is so addictive, but it is. And yesterday was an awesome day. We completely wore ourselves out, then drove back in the late afternoon. This morning, it hurts to lift my coffee cup. Yes! That's how you know you had a good climbing day. I feel awesome.
As for how I'm feeling about New Haven, please see my icon. (Which, for Zach, says, "If you find yourself lost in the woods, fuck it. Build a house. Well, I was lost, but now I live here. I have severely improved my predicament.") I may be homesick for Santa Cruz, but Santa Cruz isn't getting any closer. You want to feel at home? Then you better start making New Haven home.
Today there's more orientation/advising stuff going on. I have exactly ten minutes with a panel of faculty members, and I'm supposed to ask them any questions I want. Gee, what will I do with a whole ten minutes? I could almost ask two questions! Supposedly ten minutes is all they need, based on previous years, but I'm dubious. On the other hand, perhaps this means I won't have to deal with idiot administrators anymore--the ones at UCSC always took three times as long as you would predict. Mostly because they were dumb. Sorry... that was mean. I'm gonna try to start being nicer.
Anyway, I'm gonna go be Rory and read through the course listings and see how many I can attend during shopping week. I kinda like the idea of going to all the classes you want and not signing up until two weeks in. It definitely appeals to my Rory side. I can't wait to get back into classes!
