The carilloners from Harkness Tower are playing Kumbaya right now
Ashley said in her journal that time goes by so much faster because she doesn't have class every day. I, unfortunately, have class every day, and I must say, time goes by like it did during school: Fast, but not fast enough. I probably said this in an earlier entry, but I have class either from 9:00-12:45 or 9:30-11:20, depending on the day. I don't like having classes so early, and I don't like having them all right next to each other, but there isn't much I can do about it. You would think that having classes all together in the morning would be an advantage, since then I have the rest of the day free, but that isn't so. I just end up wasting most of my day.
I also happen to dislike the food here. It's not hard to get around the bad cooking techniques; just come early, and the food actually won't be soggy or burned to a crisp. The problem is that I genuinely dislike the food choices, regardless of how well the food was prepared. I suppose they try to be ethnic with their food, but it comes out all wrong. It ends up being some sort of pseudo-ethnic-inspired food that's really a hyphenated American food.
Half of my classes are rather boring (that is, two out of my four classes). In retrospect, if I knew more about these classes, Math 230 and English 120, I probably would not have taken them, but I decided to take Math 230 in case I wanted to be a math major; I can use the class for distributional requirements if it turns out I don't want to do math; English was always for the distributional requirements. Furniture isn't that exciting, mostly because I don't have a lot of love for furniture, but it's interesting and certainly bearable. Besides, the workload is light, and I get to handle really expensive furniture. Each week, we are assigned a piece of furniture to study. Just today I got to study a Chippendale chair from the 1700's. The file, which must have been from the 70's, said the value of the chair was $3000. That chair today is probably worth something in the five digits. Chinese class is pretty easy. It's definitely my favorite class.
It probably sounds like I don't like Yale that much, but that isn't true at all. I don't like the classes that much, I don't like the food (except for their amazingly awesome french fries), and I don't like my schedule, but I still like the people and the opportunities, which are worth more than the classes anyway. Just two days ago, I got to go to New York City for free (pictures below). Today I'm going to see John Bolton speak.
A few days ago, I went to Farnam Hall to see a friend of mine. Not only does he have a single, but his single is bigger than my double! Their common room is also bigger, and it's a lot more modern than L-Dub. But next year, they're going to live in pretty small sophomore dorms. Then junior year JE is going to be renovated, so they'll have to live in Swing Space. As for me, Saybrook next year is going to be awesome. My CASA mom*, Wen, lives in Branford, which is pretty much the same as Saybrook. Her quad, which reminds me a lot of an actual house, is probably twice as large as my quad. And she's only a sophomore. I really want to see how all the other dorms are like, mostly because L-Dub is the worst.
*CASA is the Chinese American Students Association. We have families, so I have a father and mother from Berkeley and Branford respectively, both of whom are sophomores, and a sister from Calhoun who is a freshman.
Pictures from New York:
I got to meet Ben Rivette while I was in New York. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to him for more than five minutes next time. So here are the pictures.
Self-explanatory.
Grand Central Station.
Times Square.
Chinatown.
Chinatown again.
Chinatown yet again. It's pretty crowded. Also look at the McDonald's in the background. That's where I met Ben.
NYSE, as you can probably read.
Wall St. This one is my current desktop picture.
Wall St. again.
Somebody is filming at Grand Central.
I also happen to dislike the food here. It's not hard to get around the bad cooking techniques; just come early, and the food actually won't be soggy or burned to a crisp. The problem is that I genuinely dislike the food choices, regardless of how well the food was prepared. I suppose they try to be ethnic with their food, but it comes out all wrong. It ends up being some sort of pseudo-ethnic-inspired food that's really a hyphenated American food.
Half of my classes are rather boring (that is, two out of my four classes). In retrospect, if I knew more about these classes, Math 230 and English 120, I probably would not have taken them, but I decided to take Math 230 in case I wanted to be a math major; I can use the class for distributional requirements if it turns out I don't want to do math; English was always for the distributional requirements. Furniture isn't that exciting, mostly because I don't have a lot of love for furniture, but it's interesting and certainly bearable. Besides, the workload is light, and I get to handle really expensive furniture. Each week, we are assigned a piece of furniture to study. Just today I got to study a Chippendale chair from the 1700's. The file, which must have been from the 70's, said the value of the chair was $3000. That chair today is probably worth something in the five digits. Chinese class is pretty easy. It's definitely my favorite class.
It probably sounds like I don't like Yale that much, but that isn't true at all. I don't like the classes that much, I don't like the food (except for their amazingly awesome french fries), and I don't like my schedule, but I still like the people and the opportunities, which are worth more than the classes anyway. Just two days ago, I got to go to New York City for free (pictures below). Today I'm going to see John Bolton speak.
A few days ago, I went to Farnam Hall to see a friend of mine. Not only does he have a single, but his single is bigger than my double! Their common room is also bigger, and it's a lot more modern than L-Dub. But next year, they're going to live in pretty small sophomore dorms. Then junior year JE is going to be renovated, so they'll have to live in Swing Space. As for me, Saybrook next year is going to be awesome. My CASA mom*, Wen, lives in Branford, which is pretty much the same as Saybrook. Her quad, which reminds me a lot of an actual house, is probably twice as large as my quad. And she's only a sophomore. I really want to see how all the other dorms are like, mostly because L-Dub is the worst.
*CASA is the Chinese American Students Association. We have families, so I have a father and mother from Berkeley and Branford respectively, both of whom are sophomores, and a sister from Calhoun who is a freshman.
Pictures from New York:
I got to meet Ben Rivette while I was in New York. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to him for more than five minutes next time. So here are the pictures.
Self-explanatory.
Grand Central Station.
Times Square.
Chinatown.
Chinatown again.
Chinatown yet again. It's pretty crowded. Also look at the McDonald's in the background. That's where I met Ben.
NYSE, as you can probably read.
Wall St. This one is my current desktop picture.
Wall St. again.
Somebody is filming at Grand Central.