October in New Haven. The leaves are changing, the air is getting colder, and the students are in dire need of a break. Our hands are cramping from endless note-taking, our brains tired from nights of staying up too late studying. Caffeine insults us with diminishing marginal returns and we begin to worry that we built a tolerance to it.
One thing glimmers on the horizon, one prospect keeps us sane: October Recess.
Some go home, some stay on campus, some do day trips to New York City, some go elsewhere. Regardless of what you do, October Recess is a time to relax, recharge, and forget about school for a while.
My friends and I went to a friend’s house in the Hudson River Valley to relax, play cards, read books, listen to music, pick apples. We put anything tangentially autumnal on our to-do list: carve pumpkins, roast smores, drive around with the windows down blaring All Too Well (10 Minute Version). The words Yale and midterm never crossed our lips.
In a heartbeat, conversations went from intimate to comical, existential to frivolous. In three days, we drank two gallons of Stewart’s chocolate milk (best in the state!). We attempted to make three pumpkin pies, burning two of them and forgetting to buy crust for the third. We learned that one of our friends, Katherine, has impeccable music taste. That another, Catharine (shout-out to homophones!), cannot lose any card game she plays. That another, Seline, is the funniest person any of us has ever met. That another, Evan, is a wonderful driver and even more wonderful grillmaster. And I learned what true friendship is.
The hours crawled forward and the days flew by. When we returned to campus, we were ready to finish the second half of our first semester. More importantly, we felt connected to each other with an unrivaled deepness and intensity. It really is a chosen family.
Here’s to next October!
P.S. Catharine: I’ve been practicing Spit and Slapjack every day since and am prepared to destroy you.
