By Eric Randall

NEW HAVEN, 4:14 p.m. — Economizing has never been so important. As the esteemed YDN news editor Zack Abrahamson told me, “Prepare for this as if you’re going into a war zone.” With a predicted high of 32 degrees Fahrenheit and no backpacks allowed in many areas of the city, I will have to find a way to carry all of my essentials on my person. I’ll be wearing about four layers. I will be away from campus for just under 36 hours. Yet somehow, I will observe, report, and write a story with just a notepad and a low-tech cell phone. (My parents laughed when I asked for an iPhone for Christmas.) I’m both nervous and excited to see what obstacles I will encounter.

In the next few hours, as George W. Bush ’68 spends his last evening in the White House, I will eat a final dining hall meal (my swipes for tomorrow have been used to buy food for the AASA bus), attend a cappella rehearsal and make the trek across campus to the bus as I head into what promises to be an interesting day and a half.