Yale: Yes, I've Run Out of Alliterations

[We (my parents and I) went to Yale on Labor Day. I don't know why I didn't blog immediately about it, but I guess I got caught up with work. Anyway. This is what I remember now.]

We left pretty late, I don't remember exactly when, but it was definitely late (because I remember eating brunch). The drive to New Haven was not too bad, although it wasn't too exciting either. We had already been there once, during winter (maybe it was the holiday break?), and needless to say, a New England winter is not the prettiest thing in the world, not when the snow is day old and half-molten and icky black. Since it was so cold, we did not get to explore the campus either.

This time, we came (more) prepared. At least it was a nice day, not too cold but not too hot, and we had plenty of time to explore. There were no info sessions, but as we arrived on campus, there were lots of students everywhere. Walking. Chatting. Going to class.

They had classes on Labor Day. I was surprised, because I thought everyone (within reason) took the day off. But it was also a good thing, because we were able to see what the school was like when there are actual people there (yes, they were normal people, doing normal-people-things except for that one person with the banners condemning animal cruelty, but I don't think you can do normal things when you're advocating for a cause). We also slipped into one of their dining halls, where we got a glimpse of the food (average). My dad complained, but he doesn't like anything except Chinese food (and only some regions of Chinese food at that) so I am not surprised he was complaining. I thought it was okay—if you go by our school's cafeteria food standards.

When we left the dining hall (Hogwarts-style, I'd say, except that is overrated among colleges, it seems), I paused and tried to figure out where I wanted to go. Some friendly (albeit somewhat creepy, I have to admit) man in his mid-50s to 60s came up to us and asked, "Are you applying to Yale?"

After some introductions and explanations, I learned that this man lives around New Haven and has a Chinese wife (and stepson), so somehow this means that he stops and questions any Chinese person he sees. His stepson also went to Columbia (graduated a few years ago) and now works on Wall Street. He is an ardent fan of the Ivy League, and not so much of UConn, the state school. He believes all Chinese people are smart (my mom later said to us, "that's because it's so hard to get a visa here and usually only the smart people can come"). He also gave me some advice about schools (who knew fencing would be a good way to get into the Ivies? Now if only I wasn't so inept at all sports...) and, uh, he talked for almost two hours.

My parents eventually got his number, although they haven't called him yet.

Then we went to see the engineering and science buildings, but we detoured into the MBA building instead. There wasn't much there, just empty rooms with comfy-looking chairs, so we left. I led my parents up a hill, where we saw a floating lily/other-plants pond, which was really cool, and we even saw some fish. The rest I don't remember much. I think by this time I was tired and I wanted to leave because we couldn't get into the biology tower anyway. On our way back we saw a professor and his class sitting outside, on the grass, discussing something. Reminded me of after the AP test, when Mrs. James took us outside and we sat on the pavement while we talked about crazy things and I just tried to finish my homework (that I didn't do at home any longer). We also went into one of those buildings that is probably a residential hall, because it is really, really tall (or so the old-fashioned elevator with the iron gates that you can pull claims), and not exactly in the best condition in terms of paint. It really needs a fresh coat of paint.

So, anyway, my summary:

Overall, it's a beautiful school, if you're into antique buildings and everything (this also means possible lack of central A/C in some buildings, but hey, this is in New England, if you're not staying over the summer then it doesn't matter too much). Outdoor space is good (above Columbia, on par with Cornell when you're nowhere near a river), although it's not extremely big. City campus, after all. There are plenty of trees. Busy campus, lots of people, centralized—everything's close together. Definitely urban setting, and part of the campus is integrated into New Haven.

I liked it. I wouldn't go as far as to say I loved it—I didn't come home with a "wow, that's where I want to go" feeling—but it wasn't anything bad or even average. Maybe the peeling paint killed the mood.