Guest blog: Welcome to New Haven!

Editor's note: This blog is from Liz Kinsley '05, one of our wonderful admissions officers and a New Haven native!

Hi 2013! I thought I'd be the first to welcome you to Yale, and to New Haven!

Earlier today, Dean Brenzel called me (accused me of being?) "the New Haven Maven" in an email, and I think I"ll run with that ridiculous-but-kind-of-amazing title. I grew up in New Haven and will talk anyone's ear off about how much this place has to offer. The city is rich in history, artistic culture, interesting people, delicious food, my really cool parents, etc., so this post will hopefully share with you some nooks and crannies of New Haven that never turn up on our campus tour.

First, I will take you where far too few Yalies have gone before (at least during the school year): to the beach!

(Cue my Beach Boys soundtrack...)

I know what you're thinking. But it's true: New Haven is a beach town.

And Lighthouse Point Park, which looks out across the Long Island Sound, is one of my favorite places to soak up the true character of the Elm City (1). Along with the New Haven Green, Lighthouse Beach may be the best spot to see New Haven's diverse community come together in one place.

Next to the beach itself are stretches of grass with gazebos and picnic tables where groups - school field trips, big families, birthday parties, etc. - camp out for the day, barbecuing, throwing footballs and Frisbees (2), or flying kites.

At one end of the beach is an old-fashioned carousel, one of New Haven's classiest historic landmarks.

When I was little, I'd come to the Lighthouse at the end of every year with my elementary and middle school classes, and I'd beeline for the camel on the carousel (pictured below). It doesn't move up and down like most of the horses do, but it's a CAMEL. Which is awesome.

Lighthouse Point is about a ten minute drive from campus, and the city bus will take you directly there. You should all take time to go when you get here in the fall. Yale 2013 can make a name for itself by becoming beach bums and spreading the Lighthouse love!

(1) New Haven was famous for a huge population of elm trees before Dutch Elm Disease wiped them out in the late 1920's and 30's.
(2) The Frisbee was arguably invented in New Haven.

Community service at Yale

One (of the many) reasons I chose to come to Yale because everyone I met seemed to genuinely want to make the world a better place (not just to fulfill high school/NHS requirements or in the Miss Congeniality sense of answering "World peace" to every question). Over 80% of students participate in some form of community service during their time at Yale, and we have the largest student-run service umbrella organization in the country: Dwight Hall, which is right on Old Campus.

There's a little something for everyone at Dwight Hall...if you're interested in
- Science/Math? Try Synergy, DEMOS, Mathcounts, or SMArt!
- Debate? Try the Urban Debate League!
- Medicine/Public Health? Try ARCY (American Red Cross at Yale), CT Hospice, or the Yale Public Health Coalition!
- Arts/music? Try Instrumental Connection, Splatter, or Yale Children's Theater!
- Going abroad? Try AISEC or Reach Out!
- Social justice? Try Amnesty International, YHHAP, or the Social Justice Network!
- Literature? Try Summer Buds!
- Teaching English? Try BOLD or Bridges!
- Working with kids? Join PALS/become a public school intern or early childhood education fellow"!
- Saving the environment? Try YSEC, or become a STEP coordinator!
- Finance? Become a Dwight Hall Management fellow!

What makes Yale even more amazing? You don't have to be part of any of these groups to participate in service!

Believe it or not, it's true - many other groups include some sort of community service component. A couple examples from my own activities:

1) Once a semester, CASA and TAS partner up to run CASPY, where adopted Chinese kids from the New England area all come to Yale for a day of cultural activities, good food, and even a Talent Show. Their parents get a chance to talk to other parents who have gone through similar experiences, which is always helpful for swapping advice and such. Yalies can be Big Sibs (get paired with a couple kids and take them everywhere for the day) or be some of the people organizing the activities, both of which are vital roles.

The dance workshop I ran at CASPY a couple years ago

2) Today, YSC is having a barbeque out on the New Haven Green - it's there specifically to serve New Haven residents, especially the homeless, rather than having it out on Old Campus where it would mostly be Yalies. We're also handing out bags of food and basic toiletries - we made them assembly-line style after Real Life on Thursday =P

3) In April, there's this program called Science Saturdays, when families come to hear cool lectures from professors on everything from nanoparticles and the physics of golf to viruses and butterfly eyespots. The YSM staff usually goes out to help run the fun science demos out in the hallway to keep the kids amused before/after the lectures.

4) Just yesterday, a couple of us from Phoenix went to Columbus Family Academy. The students are mainly Hispanic, but several of the classes have been studying China, even corresponding with Chinese penpals and taking a field trip to Chinatown in New York. After we performed, we did a mini-workshop to demonstrate more props and let the students try dancing with them. It really put everything in perspective...I had forgotten how super-enthusiastic elementary school kids can be!

My ribbon solo

Posing with umbrellas - even the boys!

Whee, ribbons!

So, as you can see, there are ample opportunities for Yalies to give back to the community...and have lots of fun doing it!

Guest blog: Spring Break 2009

Editor's Note: This post is from Andrew Timberlake, a sophomore in Calhoun from Alabama.

Reason number 9034582094584 to come to Yale: We have a 2 week spring break!

While most of my friends were packing last Saturday night to head back to school, I was only halfway done with my awesome vacation. After a week of fun in Destin, FL with some friends from high school, I'm back home in Alabama now. With a two week spring break, it's great not to have to choose between your friends and your family for your vacation; you can have both!

A few photos from Florida:

I've got to go pack for a little road trip I'm taking with my sister that begins tomorrow, but enjoy the rest of your breaks!

Guest blog: Yale study abroad, Czech!

Editor's note: This guest blog is from Jess Carballo, a junior in Saybrook who is abroad in Prague this spring.

Greetings from Prague! My semester abroad is well underway, and I'm excited to tell you all about it!

Yale encourages all its students to go abroad at some point during their four years, either as a part of an academic program or for an internship through the International Bulldogs program. After hearing about my friends' experiences in Spain, London, and India, I decided that going abroad was something I wanted to experience for myself.

Everyone at Yale was super supportive of my decision to go abroad, from the professors who wrote me letters of recommendation, to the staff at the study abroad office who helped me research opportunities abroad. There are over 150 approved programs to choose from, and you can petition for a program to be reviewed for approval if it's not on the list already.

Along with the resources and support Yale provides, the university makes study abroad all the more accessible with financial aid: students who qualify for aid can have their award transferred to the institution at which they are studying abroad. Thanks to Yale's awesome financial aid program, I can study in Europe for the same price as New Haven. Amazing, right? How could you not study abroad?

Well, leaving Yale is hard to do. Junior year is the time when you become president of that club you've been in for two years, the editor of that publication, the head of that organization, yadda yadda. When not running whatever it is you do, you're busy fulfilling requirements for your major (which you just decided on or changed), or applying to that internship you've been waiting two years to be eligible for. And what about your friends?

Deciding to study abroad wasn't easy, for all those reasons plus a few others (my room first semester was AMAZING). I was so comfortable and happy at Yale, I had no reason to leave, but I didn't think that an opportunity to study abroad was something I could pass up without a few regrets. So I decided to fill out an application and pack my bags.

After much careful deliberation, I ended up choosing to study with NYU in Prague. I wanted to go somewhere I did not speak the language, and I wanted to enter into a culture that was completely foreign to me. I also wanted to study with a progam where I didn't know anyone else, so that I would have to adapt and make friends quickly rather than stick to my comfort zone.

The Czech Republic has definitely provided the study abroad experience I was looking for - it's completely different from any other place I have ever been before, and I felt completely lost when I first got here because of it. Now, after about a month, I can speak some Czech, navigate the metro system, and even cook some Czech dishes (goulash = delicious)!

I've made friends with both Czech students (one of whom took me to a Czech ska/punk concert the other night) and other kids in my programs, who, though Americans, are different from any of my friends at Yale. Some of them study acting at the Tisch School for the Arts at NYU, or theology at a small Christian school, and interacting with them in the classroom is very different from being in a classroom at Yale. Studying with non-Yale students and professors has been a really cool experience, but it also makes me realize what I love most about Yale, and I'm looking forward to jumping back into academics at Yale. No school has ever challenged me more than Yale, and I am so grateful for the education I have received there so far.

In Prague, I'm studying cultures of dissent under totalitarianism - basically, the way people respond to oppression, usually through nonviolent means. The Czech Republic was under Nazi control, then Soviet rule, and did not gain its soverignty until the 1990s. Now it's an EU country bouncing back, but the Czechs never forgot their past. One of my professors here led the student resistance movement during the Velvet revolution in 1989, and she has some great stories to share. I'm looking forward to a field trip to the theater where she and a few of her friends planned a revolution.

Along with learning a lot about Central European history and culture, I'm also traveling throughout the area. I've been to Budapest and Bratislava so far, and I"m planning on going to Germany and Austria. Prague is also close enough to Western Europe that I can take weekend trips to places like Rome, where I was a few weeks ago. I'm spending my spring break in Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris, which is something that would never have been possible for me if I were not already studying in Europe.

Being here is very different from being in New Haven, and it only makes me appreciate Yale all the more. The experiences I have had at Yale are still the best in my life, and I have had more fun in New Haven than in Rome or Prague or Budapest (sounds crazy, but it's true)!. I can't wait to go back to campus and blend my European experience with my Yale experience to see how both have helped me grow. I'm so thankful for all that Yale provides, including the opportunity to study abroad, and I can't wait to see where this semester takes me.

It just keeps getting better.

I'll keep you updated!

All the best,
Jessica