I am here to counteract the advice given by a professor whose class I shopped on the first day of my first year. He warned the first years in the class not to get into relationships because we’d get distracted from our schoolwork. Well, dear first year, sometimes you are going to want a distraction — read on for some of New Haven’s best.
The first vibe check
Grabbing coffee between classes is a fast and easy way to feed two birds with one scone. You get to fuel your caffeine dependence — or, if you’re better than us mere mortals, you get to flex on your date by drinking herbal tea — while getting to know somebody better. You can sip on your drink if/when the conversation gets awkward.
Suggested topics of conversation include: Why did you choose Yale? What classes are you taking, and why did you think signing up for 9 a.m. classes were a good idea? How many times have you gotten lost trying to find a classroom? Which residential college are you in, and why is it undeniably better than theirs? (Note that this last question implies that you should not be in the same residential college — advice that is always given, yet always ignored.)
Keep your first vibe check to no more than an hour. In the hopes of becoming sponsored by my favorite coffee shops, here are my go-to locations and drinks, listed in order of their proximity to central campus: Atticus (french toast latte), Blue State (chaider), Donut Crazy (cold brew), Willoughby’s (oat milk latte), Book Trader (vanilla chai), Maison Mathis (ruby sipper), Olmo (coffee + bagel combo), Koffee? (spicy chai latte), Coffee Pedaler (flat white).
Pretending you know things to do in New Haven
If they passed the first vibe check, you may be wondering what else there is to do besides eating in the dining halls and studying in Bass Library.
Turn on post notifications for Handsome Dan on Instagram (@handsomedanyale) and go to wherever he is. Try to find Gibbs’s (of Gibbs free energy) grave in the Grove Street Cemetery. Attend a workshop in the Center for Engineering Innovation and Design.
Visit the pottery studio in Davenport, the bookbinding studio in Pierson or the woodshop in Berkeley. Book the student kitchen in your residential college. Eat New Haven pizza at Pepe’s or Sally’s (works especially well if one of you is from Chicago or New York and is a pizza snob). Rent Bike New Haven bikes and get mango at Cositas Deliciosas in Fair Haven.
Go to the Yale University Art Gallery but don’t tell them it’s because you are required to go for your art class. Walk around IKEA and see if you could feasibly furnish a house together 20 years from now. Try an escape room at Escape New Haven to see how they perform under pressure.
Hike up East Rock and take the giant steps to show off how strong your legs are from living on the fifth floor. Take embarrassing videos of each other falling off the obstacle courses at It Adventures. Channel your inner high school athlete and try duckpin bowling at Woodlawn, axe throwing at Pine & Iron, or ice skating at Ingalls Rink. Bonus points if it’s close to move out and you can suggest carrying your stuff downstairs as a date.
Love at Yale
You are now prepared with many ways to distract yourself from schoolwork. The above activities are worth doing with your suitemates, your classmates, your casual acquaintances — there are many forms of love at Yale besides romantic.
One friend knows you don’t have time for lunch between classes and brings you grilled cheese before lab. Another friend untangles your necklaces for you, which your mom always used to do. You’ll find friends who are willing to drive you an hour to your first COVID-19 vaccine during midterms, who make you a playlist for your half-marathon, who bring you Arethusa hazelnut ice cream after a midterm, who dance barefoot to the Cotton-Eyed Joe with you and who ask what you’re doing to take care of yourself and how they can help.
Dear first year, you will find love in many places at Yale.