The Freshman Holiday Dinner

The Freshman Holiday Dinner comes only once in a Yalie’s lifetime.  Unless… you become a FroCo!  Aside from advising the best college freshmen in the world, one of the best parts of being a Freshman Counselor is that we get one more opportunity to enjoy the best meal of Yale: the Freshman Holiday Dinner.  For this special post, our freshman and FroCo bloggers have joined forces in the festive holiday spirit.

Holiday Ice Sculptures.

Tobias and Stephanie, welcome to my corner of the blog!  I’ve gone twice now, and the Freshman Dinner is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced in my life.  How would you describe it?

Tobias: The sheer size is really something to marvel at.  But the goodness of the Freshman Dinner comes from its simpler core – all of 2017 coming together to celebrate the holidays.

Stephanie: It’s the entire freshman class coming together in one place to celebrate surviving their first semester at Yale!  In true holiday spirit, Commons was decked out in incredible decorations (we’re talking ice sculptures and massive Christmas trees) and we all ate until we couldn’t eat any more.

Tobias: My favorite part was the joyous atmosphere.  We took our minds off of Finals and just had a great time.  The dining staff were visibly proud of all their hard work.  When my entire table gasped as snow started to fall inside Commons (yes, actually) a dining staff member nearby chuckled and told us he’d been waiting all night to see our reactions.

Stephanie: I personally loved the Parade of Comestibles!  The marching band played while the dining staff processed in with endless food, and it was great to see everything before it was devoured.  With everybody cheering, it had the same kind of atmosphere as the Harvard-Yale Game.  Yalies take their food very seriously!

Students holding hands to say Grace over plates piled with bread and pastries.

Tobias: Oh, it was all so good.  When we first arrived, my table piled up plates with each dish (braised flank steak and seafood bisque, plus vegetables, pastries, and desserts galore) to be passed around family style.  I couldn’t believe there was more food to come!

Michael: And my 4 years’ experiences says there’s always more delicious food to come at Yale.  You are in for a treat.  Congratulations Tobias & Stephanie on making it through your first amazing semester at Yale, and Happy Holidays to all our readers out there!

With best holiday wishes from Michael ‘14, Tobias ‘17, & Stephanie ‘17.