At Yale, fall means the reemergence of tights, plaid, scarves and of course the classic “Y” sweater. It means chai lattes from the Jitter Bus and Fall Fest on Old Campus. If you listen very closely, maybe when walking on Cross Campus, you’ll even hear the opening piano notes of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” Fall at Yale, with its vibrant foliage and chilly mornings, is a reminder that no matter how endless some of our days here feel, time is in fact moving, and quickly at that. It’s jarring! For example, it’s been two months and I still haven’t been to Payne Whitney once… Anyway, if you cannot already tell, I love fall.

But one of my favorite things about fall has to be my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving because it involves the most important things in life: family and food. As I have gotten older, I have discovered a close second to Thanksgiving: Friendsgiving. There is something heartwarming about celebrating and giving thanks for the family that you choose. Last year, even my math class had a Friendsgiving. The math itself was admittedly miserable for me; however, I made lifelong friends through bonding over the shared misery of IB Math problem packets, and that Friendsgiving is one of my happiest memories from high school. Needless to say, I was very excited for my first year of Yale friendsgivings. Luckily for me, I did not have to wait long.

Last Sunday, I went to a Canadian Friendsgiving party in a friend’s suite. I have realized a disproportionate amount of things at Yale tend to happen on Sunday nights; we tend to bury ourselves in work over the rest of the weekend and then frantically realize that our precious free time has slipped away from us yet again. I helped my friend set up beforehand, and the whole process was a subtle reminder of the familiarity I am developing with this campus. Places that I didn’t even know existed two months ago, like Gheav, where we bought snacks, are starting to feel familiar — for better or for worse, definitely worse for my wallet and my cholesterol levels.

As the night went on, many of us remarked that this was one the first college parties that we had truly enjoyed. We are first semester college students, so our conception of a night out still tends to end at LEO, not chilling in someone’s suite. It’s cheesy, but as we looked around, I think we could tell we were starting to build our home away from home.

During our first FroCo group meeting, my FroCo asked us to go around and say what we were most nervous about coming to Yale. My answer was something along the lines of a fear of loneliness. I think most new college students would understand this anxiety, whether they are willing to admit it or not. Yale moves pretty fast, and it is easy to get lost in the cycle of p-sets, lectures, essays and midterms, but as I look out at the changing fall leaves, it is clear that time has passed. There is something gratifying and almost magical in looking around at the end of a chaotic week, stuffed full of overpriced Gheav snacks at a Canadian Friendsgiving party, and realizing that the people who you did not even know existed two months ago are starting to become lasting friends.