Loving the Lux and Veritas and Various Other Things
My Yale experience is almost a week old at this point, so I felt it would be okay to comment without seeming like "OMG, OMG, OLD BUILDINGS ARE SO COOL GUYS, AND YAAAAAAAALE." Which was roughly my initial gut reaction.
In general, I feel like I'm slowly but surely making a sort of niche for myself here, and I'm enjoying being in a new place and all of the new experiences that come with that. It's a constant stream of new people and new names every day, but I feel like there are a few faces that have been recurring in the last day or two, so we'll see what comes of that. And it certainly helps that I haven't even met any of the hockey crowd I've been chatting with on Facebook, so that should be at least a handful of other people to spend what little free time I'm going to have with.
That's the one thing that still kind of intimidates me, is how adamant everyone seems that I will never stop working. There is just this sense that the life of a grad student is a constant chain of drudgery and difficult mental acrobatics. I'm hoping that this is an exaggeration intended to increase our initial output, but in any case, it's certainly working as a fear tactic. I'll let you know how accurate these claims are as time goes on.
Orientation itself has been basically what you would expect of an orientation: "This is your health center. If you are sick, come here. If you are dying, go to the hospital." "DO NOT WALK ALONE AT NIGHT, NEW HAVEN IS DEATH." "Poor grad students, someday we believe you will be rich (that's why you're coming here, right?). So here's some information about our alumni fund six years in advance." "Best. Library. EVER. 4 bazillion books live here. And you can also get all the other Ivy League schools to send their shit here too. Except Harvard. They suck balls."
But there have definitely been some fun activities planned, too. There was a scavenger hunt yesterday, a very high-tech scavenger hunt at that (some kind of computerized text messaging system was in place), and I met some nice people while I was doing that. And today the cupcake truck (that's right, a truck filled with cupcakes for sale) that drives around New Haven was parked outside my building for a few hours. And I waited with a few people I had met at the scavenger hunt for an hour to get a cupcake (big chocolate cupcake, vanilla icing, sprinkles--$2.25). Which was damn good, but I'm not sure how much of that enjoyment stemmed from finally receiving it after an hour, and how much stemmed from the cupcake itself. Oh, and so, so many free things. Beer cozies, mugs, pens, cups, keyrings, tote bags, picture frames, notepads, all that kind of cheap knick-knacky crap that you scoop up because it's free and end up throwing away later but cherish at first because, hell, you got something for nothing. And tonight I met up with a few people at Shari's place (Shari went to BU, is also from Georgia, and we had a class together freshman year... small world). Good times, good wine, some chit chat and Top Chef (still not really into that show, but that's what was on, I guess). Prior to that, I grabbed a beer with the suitemate who's already moved in; I feel kind of bad for him because he seems like kind of a loner and he's a little awkward, but I mean he's nice enough, and I definitely don't mind sharing a living place with him. At least not yet, anyway.
And I'm learning a lot about the campus and the New Haven area, as well. I have to admit that I have never been able to find my way around a city as quickly as I have with New Haven. It's on a very easy grid system, it's fairly small, and there are numerous, numerous landmarks. I, the directionless wonder, have found a place where I could actually direct someone to a location. Miracle of miracles, my friends. But of course, I also have to devise detours from time to time to avoid the shadier parts of town. Fortunately, the Yale Shuttle runs 24 hours a day, and at night, they will pick you up anywhere on or near campus and take you anywhere on or near campus. It's great. Side note: did you know that the New Haven Green used to be the main cemetery for the town and that when they moved the tombstones to the Grove St. cemetery, they left all the bodies under the lawn that people now use for picnics and ultimate Frisbee?
As far as the Yale campus itself, did you know that all of the Gothic buildings on campus (I love Gothic architecture, I think this whole campus is beautiful) were only built in the 1930s? The architect decided the college should look like Oxford, so he went to England, studied all the buildings there, came back, and started building. He would do things like chipping the roofing tiles to make them look more run-down and putting fake sealed cracks in the windows and making the non-operational chimneys look like they were stained with years of soot. Some buildings have freaking moats around them. Many have statue niches in random locations that are empty because they never contained statues but were meant to look as though they had been looted by iconoclastic thieves. Also, the reason the library looks like a cathedral is because the architect realized he'd never built a cathedral before and had always wanted to do so. And it's ridiculously ornate because it was during the Great Depression and the people in charge knew that the workmen wouldn't find other jobs, so they kept giving them more and more stained glass and carving and stonework projects to keep them employed. I could go on and on, but the point is that I find this place enchanting in a way I can't explain. It's different from Boston, I don't have that same urge to live here forever (of course, it's only been a week), but I'm definitely content to be here for a few years. In fact, I should probably be giving tours. :)
Things I particularly like so far: the cupcake truck, the Gothic buildings, the library that's entirely underground, the ATM that's sort of hidden in an underground tunnel that connects the underground library to the main library, my room with its hardwood floors and its coziness and its privacy (God do I love having a bedroom to myself; I don't mind sharing a living space, but it's so nice to be able to have a place that's just mine, too), the public library, Little Italy, the wide variety of easily-accessible food options, the proximity to my extended family, having a departmental mailbox and a key to the department library (makes me feel so much more legit than I probably am), the old-school elevator right outside my door that has one of those little gates with iron bars that you have slide back to enter, the abundance of used bookstores in the area, and the fact that it's quite easy to pretend one is Harry Potter here.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I read Lev Grossman's The Magicians in one night. It was very good. It got a bit frantic at parts, and the ending was a little unsatisfying, but there are many rumors of a sequel, so I'm hoping for some more resolution in the future. In general, though, it's a quick read, it's clever and witty, it's very aware of its predecessors in an intelligent, thoughtful way, and it's really difficult to put down once you start. And you know how I know it's good? Because I had that same small rush of disappointment at the realization upon closing the book that I will never go to Brakebills as I did when I knew that I would never go to Hogwarts. I recommend it to anyone who has a soft spot for Harry Potter or for the desire to be magical but who is also willing to approach magic from a more nuanced, adult standpoint, with the awareness that our world is not so black-and-white-good-and-evil as Rowling paints it.
At any rate, I should really be getting to sleep since I have to be up at 8:30 in the morning tomorrow for the actual matriculation ceremony (at least there's free breakfast and lunch... yes, yes, I know, there's no such thing). More updates to come. Stay in touch, everyone!
P.S. I guess my initial gut reaction isn't too far from what I ended up writing. Whoops... ;D
In general, I feel like I'm slowly but surely making a sort of niche for myself here, and I'm enjoying being in a new place and all of the new experiences that come with that. It's a constant stream of new people and new names every day, but I feel like there are a few faces that have been recurring in the last day or two, so we'll see what comes of that. And it certainly helps that I haven't even met any of the hockey crowd I've been chatting with on Facebook, so that should be at least a handful of other people to spend what little free time I'm going to have with.
That's the one thing that still kind of intimidates me, is how adamant everyone seems that I will never stop working. There is just this sense that the life of a grad student is a constant chain of drudgery and difficult mental acrobatics. I'm hoping that this is an exaggeration intended to increase our initial output, but in any case, it's certainly working as a fear tactic. I'll let you know how accurate these claims are as time goes on.
Orientation itself has been basically what you would expect of an orientation: "This is your health center. If you are sick, come here. If you are dying, go to the hospital." "DO NOT WALK ALONE AT NIGHT, NEW HAVEN IS DEATH." "Poor grad students, someday we believe you will be rich (that's why you're coming here, right?). So here's some information about our alumni fund six years in advance." "Best. Library. EVER. 4 bazillion books live here. And you can also get all the other Ivy League schools to send their shit here too. Except Harvard. They suck balls."
But there have definitely been some fun activities planned, too. There was a scavenger hunt yesterday, a very high-tech scavenger hunt at that (some kind of computerized text messaging system was in place), and I met some nice people while I was doing that. And today the cupcake truck (that's right, a truck filled with cupcakes for sale) that drives around New Haven was parked outside my building for a few hours. And I waited with a few people I had met at the scavenger hunt for an hour to get a cupcake (big chocolate cupcake, vanilla icing, sprinkles--$2.25). Which was damn good, but I'm not sure how much of that enjoyment stemmed from finally receiving it after an hour, and how much stemmed from the cupcake itself. Oh, and so, so many free things. Beer cozies, mugs, pens, cups, keyrings, tote bags, picture frames, notepads, all that kind of cheap knick-knacky crap that you scoop up because it's free and end up throwing away later but cherish at first because, hell, you got something for nothing. And tonight I met up with a few people at Shari's place (Shari went to BU, is also from Georgia, and we had a class together freshman year... small world). Good times, good wine, some chit chat and Top Chef (still not really into that show, but that's what was on, I guess). Prior to that, I grabbed a beer with the suitemate who's already moved in; I feel kind of bad for him because he seems like kind of a loner and he's a little awkward, but I mean he's nice enough, and I definitely don't mind sharing a living place with him. At least not yet, anyway.
And I'm learning a lot about the campus and the New Haven area, as well. I have to admit that I have never been able to find my way around a city as quickly as I have with New Haven. It's on a very easy grid system, it's fairly small, and there are numerous, numerous landmarks. I, the directionless wonder, have found a place where I could actually direct someone to a location. Miracle of miracles, my friends. But of course, I also have to devise detours from time to time to avoid the shadier parts of town. Fortunately, the Yale Shuttle runs 24 hours a day, and at night, they will pick you up anywhere on or near campus and take you anywhere on or near campus. It's great. Side note: did you know that the New Haven Green used to be the main cemetery for the town and that when they moved the tombstones to the Grove St. cemetery, they left all the bodies under the lawn that people now use for picnics and ultimate Frisbee?
As far as the Yale campus itself, did you know that all of the Gothic buildings on campus (I love Gothic architecture, I think this whole campus is beautiful) were only built in the 1930s? The architect decided the college should look like Oxford, so he went to England, studied all the buildings there, came back, and started building. He would do things like chipping the roofing tiles to make them look more run-down and putting fake sealed cracks in the windows and making the non-operational chimneys look like they were stained with years of soot. Some buildings have freaking moats around them. Many have statue niches in random locations that are empty because they never contained statues but were meant to look as though they had been looted by iconoclastic thieves. Also, the reason the library looks like a cathedral is because the architect realized he'd never built a cathedral before and had always wanted to do so. And it's ridiculously ornate because it was during the Great Depression and the people in charge knew that the workmen wouldn't find other jobs, so they kept giving them more and more stained glass and carving and stonework projects to keep them employed. I could go on and on, but the point is that I find this place enchanting in a way I can't explain. It's different from Boston, I don't have that same urge to live here forever (of course, it's only been a week), but I'm definitely content to be here for a few years. In fact, I should probably be giving tours. :)
Things I particularly like so far: the cupcake truck, the Gothic buildings, the library that's entirely underground, the ATM that's sort of hidden in an underground tunnel that connects the underground library to the main library, my room with its hardwood floors and its coziness and its privacy (God do I love having a bedroom to myself; I don't mind sharing a living space, but it's so nice to be able to have a place that's just mine, too), the public library, Little Italy, the wide variety of easily-accessible food options, the proximity to my extended family, having a departmental mailbox and a key to the department library (makes me feel so much more legit than I probably am), the old-school elevator right outside my door that has one of those little gates with iron bars that you have slide back to enter, the abundance of used bookstores in the area, and the fact that it's quite easy to pretend one is Harry Potter here.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I read Lev Grossman's The Magicians in one night. It was very good. It got a bit frantic at parts, and the ending was a little unsatisfying, but there are many rumors of a sequel, so I'm hoping for some more resolution in the future. In general, though, it's a quick read, it's clever and witty, it's very aware of its predecessors in an intelligent, thoughtful way, and it's really difficult to put down once you start. And you know how I know it's good? Because I had that same small rush of disappointment at the realization upon closing the book that I will never go to Brakebills as I did when I knew that I would never go to Hogwarts. I recommend it to anyone who has a soft spot for Harry Potter or for the desire to be magical but who is also willing to approach magic from a more nuanced, adult standpoint, with the awareness that our world is not so black-and-white-good-and-evil as Rowling paints it.
At any rate, I should really be getting to sleep since I have to be up at 8:30 in the morning tomorrow for the actual matriculation ceremony (at least there's free breakfast and lunch... yes, yes, I know, there's no such thing). More updates to come. Stay in touch, everyone!
P.S. I guess my initial gut reaction isn't too far from what I ended up writing. Whoops... ;D