Yale, founded in 1701 as the "Collegiate School", is the
third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. In
1718 the school was renamed “Yale College” in gratitude to the Welsh
merchant Elihu Yale, who had donated the proceeds from the sale of nine
bales of goods together with 417 books and a portrait of King George I.
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University, and has the
distinctive feature of residential college system, modeled after the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge (or Hogwarts :-) ). Linus is
fortunate enough to get the admission to this prestigious school as class 2019
to pursue his education.
Getting there ...
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The packing for college did not
really start until a few days before the trip. The whole process seemed to
be simpler than I thought, and we could not fill up all 3 luggage we prepared to
take. Linus threw in quite a few books and music scores to fill in the
space (and weight).
Linus and I flew out on Thursday 8/27 (one day before the
move-in day), and Woanyu took Iris on Friday night red-eye flight
because Iris already started her school. Linus and I had an early morning
7AM flight from SFO so we had to get up very early at 4:30AM. It was a quite
strange feeling when we loaded the luggage to the car: Linus was really
going now!
We arrived at JFK at about 3:30PM. It took a long time to
get the rental car, drive through the Queens on Highway 678, and then got stuck
on Highway 95 in Connecticut during rush hours. With a stop for a quick
burger dinner (Shake Shack, which was actually quite good) at somewhere between
Stamford and Bridgeport, we finally got to New Haven at 8PM.
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8/28 Move-In Day ...
- Linus and I decided to have an early start. We hauled our luggage
from the hotel and walked to the old campus, and we were one of the first
arrivals to get to the dorm (just a few minutes before the official opening
time 9AM). It was a quite busy morning: picking up ID and key, linen
package, and laundry bag; checking out various places on the old campus;
unpacking stuffs and making bed, etc. When Linus was busy in his
chores, I did not have much to do so I was in and out his room and walked
around the campus to take some pictures :-)
After settled down, we went around the campus for various
activities (either together or separately): reception and tour at Yale Health
Center, lunch outside the Bass library, panel discussion for families at
Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, and Master's open house at Davenport, etc.
I did not stay long at the Davenport party.
It's time to say good-bye to Linus and leave him to his own peers.
I went back to campus after a simple dinner alone.
The buildings are particularly amazing at this twilight time that these Gothic
architectures seem to become even more alive, romantic, and picturesque after
dark.
8/29 ...
- I walked around the campus and New Haven Green in the early morning
before went to the Freshman Assembly at Woolsey Hall.
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Freshman Assembly at Woolsey Hall
Addressed by Peter Salovey,
President of Yale University, and Jonathan Holloway, Dean of Yale College,
it marked the official start for the freshman of class 2019!
- Woanyu and Iris arrived at the campus at about 10:30AM. We
met at Linus' room on the old campus, and Linus took us for a campus tour
including the inside of Davenport College (it has a huge basement shared
with Pierson College for all sorts of student activities and common space).
We went to the President's reception on Cross Campus (although we did not
really want to meet the president) and
met some friends Woanyu
and Linus knew from their previous Yale visit during Bulldog Days in April.
- After a complimentary lunch at the dining hall of Davenport College, we
had to let Linus go back to his own freshman program agenda. We found
a cafe place close to Woolsey Hall to meet and chat with other Yale families
(Woanyu's new friends from April's Bulldog Days) for more than an hour.
We got another mission afterwards: Found a local Wal-Mart and made up
a shopping list of the missing stuffs for Linus (e.g., trash can, water
filter, extra pillow cover, towels, etc.). After shopping for
Linus, it was Iris' term to do her shopping (clothes at Yale store ...).
8/30 ...
- Saying Good-Bye ...
We went to Linus' dorm to deliver what we bought
yesterday, and did a final check on him for any detail we could think of
(well, I did not contribute too much). It was time to have a big hug
and let it go (and Linus had an appointment for his Chinese placement test
at 11AM)...
- Yale Art Gallery
The Gallery’s permanent collection was founded in
1832 when the patriot-artist John Trumbull gave more than one hundred of his
paintings to Yale College. Since that time, the collection has grown to
number more than 200,000 objects representing Eastern and Western cultures
and ranging in date from ancient times to the present day.
- New Haven
We had a lunch at Shake Shack at New Haven downtown.
We wanted to ask Linus if he could join us for lunch, but he just replied he
had eaten and bye-bye :-(
We took a walk around the New Haven downtown
and New Haven Green, and found this interesting alley with
large red markers.
Going Home ...
It is one of the big steps for kids to leave home for college, especially for
those who go across country to live independently. For Linus, it will
definitely be his life changing experience to immerse in this new environment
and to be surrounded by so many new things and challenges (I knew my Stanford
experience 25 years ago was the best time in my life). Although Linus
does not need to declare his major yet, I know Yale will satisfy his need and
desire for pursuing more advanced knowledge, and his freshman year selection (Directed
Studies Program) will nurture him to be more enriched for his interests in
humanities, social science, politics, and writing. As a parent, I will
always be at the back stage to see him move closer and closer to his own center
stage.
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