Happy New Year!

From everyone at the blogging team,

Have a wonderful new year!

Llamaland!

Every year, for one day during the weekend after shopping period, the freshmen of Timothy Dwight College are rounded up, loaded onto two yellow school buses, and are taken to a mysterious location two hours south of Yale (some have guessed that it might be New York). Rumors trickle through the freshmen in the weeks leading up to the event.

"I've heard it's some sort of paradise!"

"An upperclassman told me there were llamas there!"

Surprisingly enough, these rumors are almost true. It's called Llamaland by those who have experienced it (hey, it says it on the free t-shirt, so it must be true), and it's the sprawling mansion and garden estate of a retired Yale professor of Egyptology that is good friends with TD's Master Thompson, or Master T for short. It's become a tradition and a wonderful bonding experience for almost two decades of TD freshmen.

As a Master's Aide, I got to go along for the ride (much to the jealousy of my classmates) and help set up for the event. As staff, we had a whole separate bus to ourselves, and it felt like my days in middle school again, when enough people had been dropped off at the end of the day that only the cool kids were left and we each took a seat for outselves.

Once there, we unloaded the massive charcoal grill from the back of the bus and cooked up some beef burgers while the freshmen played volleyball, waded in the pool, sunbathed, and saw how close they could get to the llamas. (The answer is actually very close--llamas are rather peaceful animals.)

But after lunch was when the training began. One of the most important missions of the Master's Aides during Llamaland is to pass on one of Yale's most hallowed traditions: razzle-dazzle football. A combination of touch football and ultimate frisbee (anyone can forward pass), razzle-dazzle is one of the key sports in Fall IM's, and with Master T's passion for the Tyng Cup, our traning necessarily starts early.

We instructed the freshmen to head onto the adjacent field, taught them the rules, and challenged them to bring out their best squad of freshmen athletes to challenge the upperclassmen. They chased hard, and dived for tackles, but to no avail: we were just too darn fast. So, to even the odds a little bit, we allowed the freshmen to field a team consisting of... the entire freshmen class. 100 eager freshmen vs. 20 of us? I've won tougher fights.

We fought with everything we had. We used every trick in the book. We even cheated. And despite our overwhelming odds against us, well, we lost. Some freshman had the bright idea of forming a protective human shield around the runningback, and crushed us with the strength of numbers.

But the day wasn't over yet. Since Master T was retiring next year, and this was his last Llamaland, there was only one way we could honor his dedication to Timothy Dwight College for over 35 years: by throwing him in the pool.



All in all, a good day was had. I napped on the bus ride home, brought huge bags of chips back to the common room, and best of all, had bragging rights to last me all of first semester.

Fall At Yale

If ever asked

about the fall

a yellow leaf

I kept from Yale

would tell it all

Christmas on the New Haven Green

The best place in all of New Haven is the New Haven Green. When the city was originally planned in the nine squares, the center square was set off as public land, forming the Green we know today. I think its a refreshing place, and nothing's better than walking down Temple Street, then cutting through the Green, on my way to 9:00 am section in LC.

Well, what else could I have done when I heard the news that there was a special Christmas celebration today on the Green? It had all of my favorite things, in order:

1. Christmas
2. celebrations
3. the Green.

So, I went. And it was a blast. Cars were lined all the way up Temple Street as families came out in droves for the festivities. There were carousels and Santa visits for the kids, a "take your photo in this winter wonderland" stand, and best of all, a massive Christmas tree, lit for the first time tonight in speckles of red, blue, and green.

As a college student, it's hard sometimes to get to see and interact with real townies. Well, here I saw a different side of New Haven. First of all, there were lots of children--you rarely see those in our explorations around the restaurant districts on weekends. But there they were, bundled up, cared for by their parents, and having a great time. It was a good thing to finally get to see after a semester at Yale; it wasn't so long ago when I was one of those children, being cared for by my parents back in Fort Wayne.



The best part of the night was a "hayride" in the back of a tractor that drove us around New Haven Green. About 20 of us piled on, kids, adults, and students. An energetic 20-something waved his glowstick in the air and decided to conduct us in singing carols. As the tractor started its engines and pulled us around the Green, our group of strangers sang "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer." Then we ran out of songs to sing, and laughing, I started a rendition of "The wheels on the tractor go round and round..." In an attempt to move back to a Christmas songs, we tried "O Chirstmas Tree", but no one knew the words. "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...", pause, laughter, mumbling. I spontaneously made up some lyrics. "We're riding round New Haven Green... uh... I took a shower, I feel so clean!" We were all in good spirits as the ride came to a close.


As we got off the tractor in single file, we wished each other Merry Christmas and went our separate ways. I walked back down Temple Street, only to notice that the walkways across the Green, near Center Church, were lined with candles. (They do this every Thursday from 6-9, so take a study break next Thursday and take a walk to the Green.) It was a beautiful sight to walk home to.

In the end, a great way to kick off the Christmas season (thought finals does dampen the prospects a little.) It's refreshing to break out of the Yale, and even the TD bubble once in a while.