Another Long Day

View From the Train 

The train ride to New Haven Connecticut was luckily fairly uneventful and relaxing. We had to get up rather early which I was not excited about considering that I was up late blogging. We took the red line to the South Station where we got breakfast then caught the Amtrak to Connecticut. Cindy and I were able to claim the seats with extra legroom and at back to enjoy the ride. We took full advantage of the free wifi to do some work and research although we didn’t forget to look out the window and enjoy the scenery. Eventually the rocking of the train lulled us off to a short but peaceful sleep and we arrived at our destination.

                                                                                                      

Once we got to the train station we still had to walk 20 minutes to the Yale Visitors Center. We made it just in time for our twelve o’clock tour with Sarah, a rising sophomore at Yale. She was really interesting. She is studying environmental engineering but also wants to do pre-med. As she led us around campus we learned a lot about the history of Yale. She took us to see a lot of the famous sculptures on the grounds as well as a lot of the grand buildings. We saw the exteriors of a lot of libraries and dorms but not many classrooms.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was the explanation of the architecture at Yale. There were so many grand old buildings and lots of interesting stories behind them. One famous Yale architect, James Gamble, did a lot of crazy things when constructing his buildings. Gamble had an obsession for making his gothic style buildings look old and he took drastic measures to complete his dream. He would order acid to be splashed on stonewalls in order to erode the rock and give a false sense of age. He also created a burned appearance on some walls and broke and repaired stain glass to make the buildings seem older. I personally find this kind of ridiculous considering the effort and costs that must go into weathering a building in these drastic ways.

African Masks 

After our tour was over we took a quick stop in the college store to check out the gear. Then we meet up with Linda, an individual who was very involved in the theater department at Yale. Gabi was especially interested in talking to her about theatre. Linda had a three-year-old daughter named Bella who was adorable. After Gabi had learned enough we went to lunch at a pizza place. The food was very filling and delicious.

We still had about two hours left before we had to go to the train station so we decided to go to the Yale Art Museum for a little bit. The museum was very cool. They had a large collection of all types of art from ancient sculptures to modern paintings. My two favorite sections were the African art section and the contemporary and modern art section. The African art was especially interesting to me because I haven’t seen a lot of it at museums in the past. There were so many incredible masks and carvings that I really loved. The contemporary art was also very cool. There was a mix between sculptures and paintings in all different shapes and colors. I think that I am especially drawn to the contemporary art because of how unique every piece is.

After the museum we stopped to get ice cream and then headed back to the train station. Our train was delayed so we had to wait for more than an hour at the station. Once we got on our train we were able to relax. The two-hour ride went by very fast and soon we were back at South Station. Unfortunately, our journey was not yet over. We still had to travel all the way to the airport to get the rental van for tomorrow. We spent about an hour waiting at the airport. At this point it was around 11 but we still hadn't eaten dinner. There was nothing open except for IHOP so we drove there. Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic so we didn't get there until around 11:30. We were served at 12:10 and got to the hotel around 1.

I still had to pack and blog when I got back. Packing was very difficult because I had to fit all of my clothes strategically into my suitcase. After finally getting completely ready I was finally ready for bed at around 2 in the morning. I am super excited to wake up at 7 in the morning!