Hailey Talbert

Last month, like approximately half of the class of 2028, I found myself in the woods, behind some upperclassmen and fellow Yale first years. We were traversing a rocky path at 4 a.m. I was kept alive only by an ungodly amount of torts (flour tortillas), so, so, many apples, a few cumulative hours of sleep, and the adrenaline rush that comes from reading signs that say “Warning: Bear Frequented Area.” So, how did I end up here, shivering and underslept?

FOOT, for the people who did not elect to drink bleach water for their Yale orientation experience, stands for First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trips. It’s a four-day camping and backpacking trip with two upperclassmen leaders and eight to ten FOOTies — first years participating in the trip. You carry all of your gear, food and yes, used toilet paper in your backpack. To add to the misery, there are no phones or watches allowed for FOOTies. The lack of distractions forces you to relinquish all control. Additionally, where you walk and for how long, when and where you sleep and what you eat are all in the hands of your (hopefully merciful) FOOT leaders. All there is to do is eat, sleep, walk, talk and pray there isn’t a tick on you in an unspeakable place that you haven’t yet found. As it turns out, this is perfect for fostering community and genuine friendship in a “Breakfast Club” style, with seven other randomly selected stressed-out Yale first years. Over the course of the trip, with our willingness to engage and a healthy dose of collective misery, we bonded. I found myself surprisingly close with these people whom I had just met.

Here’s what I believe worked on FOOT for cultivating connection and the lessons I took away from it.

• Shocking: The “no phones” thing actually works. As cliche as it sounds, sometimes all it takes to force nervous college freshmen to actually connect with each other is to take away their phones. I will not belabor this point; I know we all have parents, grandparents, professors, dentists, that guy on the street, etc. who remind us of this fact constantly. 
• A bit of collective misery bonds people for life (see also: the Yale Directed Studies Program). I feel like I have already described enough the conditions of FOOT, but I’ll just add two more words: trowel kit.
• Martha Stewart might have been wrong about how to successfully get away with insider trading, but she was right about the power of food to bring people together.  Even though I can never look at a tortilla the same way again (Everything Torts, iykyk), there was something that felt ancient and comforting about cooking by the light of a fire Nalgene with a phone flashlight placed under it.
• Vulnerability is key. Eventually, we all saw that this was a chance to really get to know one another, away from the stress and worn out questions: “What college are you in? Where are you from?” It was an opportunity that none of us took for granted, and we all benefited from it. We have weekly FOOTunions, and we are all still friends. Once you’ve survived not showering for four days with someone, you’re friends for life.
• Cultish tendencies Traditions. I’ll be honest, a significant part of FOOT traditions involve some light and loving hazing from FOOT leaders. We may or may not have only been allowed two hours of sleep one night. This kind of attitude is tradition. It is FOOT leaders’ goal to teach FOOTies how to deal with the emotional fire hose that is the first few weeks at Yale. My favorite traditions, however, were the trail names we came up with for each other based on some part of our personal lore: Jelly, L, Tisperer (short for tick whisperer), A Drizzy, E-mail, Mother, MVBean, Trowel and Russell. What was mine, you ask? That’s classified. 😉

Since returning from FOOT, I have realized that Yale does a good job of fostering connections on campus. We’re all longing for tradition and a community where we feel like we belong. FOOT allows for immediate tradition and community, while the close connections at Yale take more time and investment. Our majestic dining halls really do offer a great space to bond over food, that is, if we’re willing to risk rejection after a “hey, want to grab a meal” text. We are overflowing with exclusive traditions. It’s Yale. We can’t have a normal term or process for anything. As for vulnerability and true connection under these circumstances, that takes time, and I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps the greatest vulnerability my peers and I will express in the next few months is the sheepish admission that we all got cut from first-round YSIG applications. But this is a special place, and as history has shown, it will foster steadfast and fruitful friendships (and maybe that Goldman Sachs internship) if we just give it time.