Welcome to Yale, prefrosh. If you’re anything like us when we were in your shoes, you’re overwhelmed right now. You’re sleeping on the dirty floor of some stranger’s suite. The architecture looks like Hogwarts. There are too many things to do. That’s good. Soak up these three days. They’ll show you what’s magical about Yale, and you’ll be talking about them the rest of your senior year — and you’ll be looking back on them fondly when you’re a senior here.

Yale puts on a good show for Bulldog Days, and it’s true that there isn’t quite this much pomp or pep to daily life at Yale. But it’s close. Students get bogged down with papers and sleepless nights, but that’s because the energy that drives us during Bulldog Days is real.

You will not go unchallenged here. You’re surrounded by people who jump with excitement about Beethoven and Rousseau and calculus. (Mostly the first two.) Mechanical engineering and English majors alike often put extracurriculars ahead of classes. They dive headfirst into debating societies, community service initiatives or intramural sports in a way that is unmatched almost anywhere else.

Many of you face tough choices. You can’t really go wrong. Of course, we know Yale is the right way to go. But you should take this time to figure out for yourself why that is.

You may have heard Yale’s name in some ugly news stories recently. Yale isn’t perfect. We wouldn’t love it so much if it were. You should know that Yale students and alumni filed a Title IX complaint against the University, that a tailgate at The Game was tarnished by a horrific accident, that this is a campus that has grieved too often in the past four years. You should also know that students know we are the heart of this University, and we are here for each other, whether that means mourning together at a candlelight vigil, suing the school to spur it into action or dancing with friends on a table and belting “Call Me Maybe,” then returning to a suite for a Wenzel. (You should figure out what “Wenzel” means before you leave on Wednesday.)

Yalies tend to care more about breathing all the energy and knowledge at Yale than burying ourselves in the library. We love this place, and that means we love more than books, which we can read anywhere. Look at this week: It’s one of the busiest of the semester, but we’re eager to drop everything to show you around. Talk to us.

Don’t just talk. Make a new friend and get lost together in Sterling Memorial Library’s stacks. Get your host to take you roof-hopping. Go to G-Heav at 3 a.m. And come to the News’ open house on Monday or Tuesday night at 11:00 p.m. Obviously.

For these next three days, do everything. Don’t sleep now. Stay up late, talk to fellow prefrosh and current students, think about things you have never considered before. Go along with the crowd; let Yale’s momentum carry you. Let Yalies – both current and future – surprise you. Surprise yourself. You can do anything here ­– we mean it. Take a shot.

YALE DAILY NEWS