On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, I left Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona (SSS), put my headphones in, and turned on some music, feeling relieved that I had just finished my last exam of the year. It was on this very pleasant walk that I had the realization that I was half-way through college. It’s a weird feeling to be halfway done college when it feels like you just started; college moves pretty fast so I’m a big proponent of taking a pause every now and then to reflect on the experience as a whole. In the spirit of reflection, I decided to highlight 8 photos (2 per semester) that I feel represent my experience so far as an homage to the halfway point of my college career.
This photo is from my first ever trip to New York City during October Recess my first semester of first year. I have never been to New York before coming to college and something I never really considered when choosing a school was proximity to a major city but I’ve since come to really enjoy and benefit from how easy it is to get to and from NYC from Yale. This was one of my favorite experiences of first year and definitely speaks to the benefits of being close to the city.
This is a photo from the First Year Dinner which was one of the first big Yale traditions I experienced. This night was super memorable, it is an annual event where Yale Hospitality provides a huge dinner to all the first years in the Schwartzman Center.
This is a photo from the Morse Formal which was one of my favorite events of first year. I wrote a whole post about college formals this year and this was one of the most fun events of the year and definitely helped me feel closer to my college community.
This is actually a picture from Tsai City, an innovation center on Yale’s campus. This is where I spent a lot of my time first year, not only does the center hold lots of events throughout the year, but it is also a really great study space. Since the building was close to where a lot of my classes were, I worked there a ton, it was definitely a central location to my freshman year.
Starting off my second year, this is a photo from my retreat for the Yale Dramatic Association (the Dramat). Retreats are a fairly common phenomenon at Yale, they are little weekend or break trips for different clubs or campus groups that are used for team bonding and yearly planning. This trip was a great way to start off my sophomore year and definitely made me feel closer to all the people on Dramat Board.
I spent a lot of time my first semester of this year making the trek up and down Science Hill and I was lucky enough to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage as I did so. This is just one of many photos I took on my weekly walks to and from class, New Haven and Yale’s campus are so beautiful in the fall and I came to truly enjoy this time in my day.
A huge part of my second semester of sophomore year (and my year in general) was producing Pride and Prejudice. I wrote a whole post about the experience of producing a Dramat mainstage but needless to say it was a central experience in my semester and was easily one of the most rewarding parts of my time at Yale.
Lastly, this is a photo from Spring Fling this year which is a huge music festival that Yale puts on each year after classes end in the spring. While this year’s Spring Fling was a little different given that it was moved inside, it was still super fun, and it has become one of my favorite events of the year that I really look forward to since it’s one last big event with everyone before finals begin.
Looking back on the last two years, it’s really hard to believe that I’m already halfway through my college experience and halfway to earning a degree since it feels like I just moved in yesterday. There have been so many incredible experiences and memories I have had here, so many so that it was difficult to pick just 8 for this post. Overall, I’m really grateful for the experiences I’ve had so far and I’m so excited for what the next half of college will bring!
