I probably shouldn't make my first post from Yale while I'm in a heinous mood, but I've been in a heinous mood about Yale for a few days, so it's pretty much inescapable.

Yale and I are fighting because, basically, this is the stupidest orientation ever.
1. I arrived two weeks before classes start, and I have about two days' worth of activities. I've spend the last few days trying to figure out why I am here, and I still don't have a good answer for that.
2. Since Wednesday night, I have met all of three people, because the social get-togethers include no purposeful engagements. Listen, I get that we're all graduate and professional students, so maybe we don't need to grasp hands in the middle of a circle and step over and through each other until we untie our group knot and make a circle. But you can't just throw 200 of us in a room with an insufficient amount of ice cream. It would be incredibly helpful if we broke off into smaller groups based on interest. Or graduate school. Or something. So I've stopped going to those things, because I'm not comfortable with staring into my bagel and feeling pathetic because I can't figure out who I can talk to.
3.There's nothing that's department-specific, so the only time I'm going to see my cohort groups (American studies and film studies) are during the get-togethers that we organized for and amongst ourselves.
4. And best of all: I'm in a graduate dorm -- it's really quite nice -- but the dining halls don't open until September 2. And no, there aren't that many opportunities for free food. And no, I wasn't given enough advance warning about that. So no, I didn't really budget for it. And yes, that is a lot of money.

This is all terribly disappointing, especially because I love orientations. I was an orientation volunteer at Mount Holyoke, and I even considered (briefly) not going abroad for a full year, so that I could volunteer that fall. I was super-excited about meeting people and doing getting-to-know-you activities. Because I thought, since orientation is so long, there must be plenty of such things going on. Boy, was I wrong.

The major thing that's been good about the past several days is that (New Haven native) Kim came in from New York to visit and run errands with me. And her parents are great -- her mom spent a good deal of time searching through their basement/attic to find things to give me for my room, including: fabric to cover my desk and lounge chair, two small floor rugs, a blanket, a flannel throw, and dishware. So because of the Bakers, my dorm room is full and comfortable, even if the rest of this experience is a hot mess.

Also good was the tour led by '08 graduate and incoming PhD history student Max Schultz (who may just be Jewish). Informative and entertaining -- good job, Max. And I took a tour of the library (really 2 of the 22 libraries) with a guy who happened to be the librarian for American history. (There is a librarian for American history.) He went to Rice, so we talked about Houston. And he explained to me that as a grad student at Yale, the library can get me stuff. Like, send him an email, that book'll be in the library in two weeks. Sweet.

I'll be back in a day or so to provide an update on my fight with Yale -- I'm hoping I'll be less pissed after the American Studies folks and I bond over Thai food this evening. Maybe I'll start up a game of Two Truths and a Lie. Since nobody else is planning to.