Surviving Freshman Fall: Pt. 1

Phew! Midterms are over for me, and I’m so excited to have reached my first real benchmark of freshman year. I’ve enjoyed being surrounded by people and programs that are in place to make sure I have a smooth transition into college, and get the most out of my first semester at Yale. I don’t know if I could have made it without:

1. My Freshman Counselor (FroCo)
            Helpfulness rating: Infinity!

TOBIAS Freshman Fall 1

So you’ve probably heard of RA’s at other schools right? My freshman counselor, Amy (yellow and black dress) is more like a cool older sister than an R.A. She’s actually the coolest human being ever, whether she’s having us over for late-night grilled cheese, talking over our social lives, or just hosting a 1990’s throwback karaoke session on a Saturday night. Mandatory FroCo meetings ended a while ago, but my group still gets together for dinner every Wednesday!

2. My Big Sibs
            Helpfulness rating: On a scale from 1 to 10, they’re Paul and Irene!

Author Tobias posing with Paul and Irene.

Each residential college has a Big Sib / Little Sib program in place to link freshmen with wise upperclassmen in their college. My big sibs, Paul and Irene, have been amazingly helpful all semester. They keep me in the know concerning events in my college, helped me “bluebook”, and introduced me to students involved in the extracurricular activities I wanted to join. I’ve loved getting to know them over fro-yo dates and “family” dinners on Sundays.