Yesterday I got to go to the Peabody Museum of Natural History (aka Dinosaur museum) with my two veteran friends, and we had a great time! We all enjoyed each other's company walking through the museum and seeing all of the neat stuff. And let's be honest - who doesn't like dinosaurs? Quite frankly, it's a blessing to get to spend time with these veterans.

 And they are all real dinosaur bones!

The velociraptor skeletons with a life-like replica beside them:

The triceratops skulls and related dinosaurs:

and a pteranodon, which is very similar to a pterodactyl:

This is the stegosaurus:

And I can't remember the name of this type of dinosaur:

Well I had quite the day!
I decided to stray from my normal walking path this morning to go inside of the Beinecke Rare Book Library and see what they had on display lately. I found that they had a collection of manuscript books from about 1200 ad- 1495 ad. I absolutely love seeing those kinds of books because first off, they're incredibly rare and very very expensive so it's a privilege to see them. Secondly, they are all handwritten, and there's something very interesting about a book written entirely by hand. I like the illustrations as well.

and here's the guide to let you know about the books above:

Today was also my last econ lecture with the new Nobel Prize winner, Bob Shiller. He's a hilarious guy with lots of very interesting outlooks on the economy, including some I strongly disagree with. But I really enjoyed his class. Today he decided to use the Bible to talk about how a corporation should be organized as a body. You could see students squirming in their seats, because God forbid the Bible be mentioned in class at Yale, right?

I had to drop by the Pierson Dean's office to take care of some paperwork, and decided to take a picture of the general area where I'll be living next year. The first picture is my entryway entrance...it's kind of in the corner of the residential college, and it's in a nice quiet location. The second picture is the view walking out of the front door. 

I had to walk into the city a bit to pick something up this evening and liked how the sun was lighting up the buildings as it went down. Here's a couple pictures of it:

I did forget one thing: I got a very rare compliment from my math professor today on my problem set he handed back. Here's a little background: So a few weeks ago I hastily finished a problem set just before class and forgot to staple it...so I wrote my name on both sheets and turned it in. I got a note back saying "Seriously, please staple this." So a week ago when I realized I was in the same situation and had no access to a stapler I thought quickly. I decided to engineer a sort of chinese-take-out-rice-box-tab-style attachment to hold my problem set together. Not only did it work brilliantly, but I got a complement for it on my problem set. These math professors never take the time to make comments, so this is particularly special.

To explain, I took my pencil and inscribed a small line where a staple should go, so as to weaken the paper and make a small slit. I then ripped a tab with enlarged sides out of the corner of the other piece of paper. I thought that once I inserted the tab into the slit, the enlarged corners would hold the two papers together brilliantly. It actually worked!

Ever had that awkward experience when you hear somebody call your name, you turn around to see them but can't tell who said it so you just casually say "Oh hey" in the general direction and keep walking?
Well I had one of those moments today walking through a crowd on campus, but it ended in quite a funny way. That happened, and then as I kept walking I hear "Luke! Are you seriously going to just keep walking and not stop to at least generically ask how everything is going? Gah, sometimes I just can't believe you, Luke."
As it turns out, it was my freshman orientation group leader and she chased me down and then we proceeded to actually have a conversation. I think the throngs of people around were a bit confused by her refusal to accept my meager "oh hey" as I walked by. You see, today is the beginning of what we call "Bulldog Days"... the three days where accepted students can come and stay with students and experience life at Yale before committing to come here. This all happened in front of about 100 accepted students, and they just kind of stared at us like they were thinking "is everyone this socially invasive and blunt at Yale?"

Speaking of bulldog days, there were all sorts of student organizations outside near the area for accepted student check-in, and they were recruiting viciously. Viciously. These organizations are worse than the people that try to take pictures with you in Times Square in order to demand money from you afterwards. As I wove through crowds of accepted students, Yale students recruiting for their organizations would say "Have you ever been interested in a capella? Come join us tonight!" and I would persistently say "I'm actually a student here. No thanks." but they would have none of that. It is incredibly frustrating. A capella recruiting gets so frustrating up here that people buy t-shirts saying "No, I don't sing, nor have I ever wanted to." in order to get the a capella recruiters off their back. It may seem a bit blunt or rude to other people for me to just say "I'm a student" firmly and keep walking, but trust me, that's the most polite way of dealing with it. Not rude at all. Those poor accepted students will give the recruiters their email not knowing that they have just subjected themselves to a daily panlist that fills up an email inbox very quickly.

Today I was searching for cheap destinations to visit on the weekends this summer while my girlfriend, my roommate, and I are all in England, and I found out that Venice is actually incredibly cheap to travel to on the weekends, so who knows? We may be making a trip back to Venice this summer! Other potential options for weekend trips include Bucharest, Budapest, Milan (to visit one of my suitemates for next year, where he is from/lives), Athens, Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna, and Prague. We've got choose a few to actually visit. I was kind of hoping for Moscow, but that one is way too far and much too expensive.

On the bright side, I have only two classes left until my entire freshman year is over. Then it is on to finals! This year actually went by pretty quick.

Well I have had quite the past week. But I will say it all ended with a great Easter. I finally got around to trying out the church I had been meaning to try for a while, and I really enjoyed it. Lots of my friends went with me and my roommate, and afterwards we all went to grab lunch together. They also gave out free mugs at church:

Also,it's finally really nice out. The trees all have leaves on them and it's comfortable outside. So I decided to take a picture yesterday of one of the nice trees blooming. Yes, there is a story behind why the picture quality is so bad. 

Also, the dining halls made our hardboiled eggs colored for Easter!

So one may ask "why are those pictures of such low quality?"  Well, chocolate milk...that's why. Saturday night I went out at 11:30 to get a chocolate milk and a cream soda. I drank the chocolate milk first, but I only got a few sips before disaster struck. I was sitting on the couch, and the cream soda was resting on the arm of the couch (it's a flat wooden arm, not a cushioned arm). A few sips into my chocolate milk, the cream soda (a glass longneck bottle) fell off the couch and onto the hardwood floor, and then it began to slowly leak. I bent over, with my chocolate milk in hand, and picked up the cream soda. Much to my dismay, the chocolate milk tipped over with me when I bent over...and it went EVERYWHERE. What started as a little spill of cream soda turned into a chocolate milk monsoon. I got chocolate milk in my dress shoes, on the floor, on my lap, and there was a puddle of chocolate milk on the couch cushion...which my phone was sitting in. It was an epic fail on my part. But I got it cleaned up and went to bed. I didn't realize there was a chocolate milk film on my phone camera until later the next day, after the Easter Sunday service. So the reason why those two  pictures are not clear is because the pictures were taken through a film of dried chocolate milk. I know, it's pretty nasty to me too. It's all cleaned up now. 

Anyways, I have three more days of class (Thursday morning is my last class) and then I'm done with freshman year classes. 

So we finally got our room for next year. It's a great suite, and everyone is really chill. I'm really excited for it. It is on the top floor, so it'll be a nice view.

So I'm part of a partnership program that pairs students with veterans that have mental illnesses and have been homeless at some point. Today I met my two new friends and we got to know each other as part of this partnership program. One of them was an Army sergeant that served in Iraq and Afghanistan but got wounded and suffered brain injuries in Iraq. He's such a great guy. Just as nice as can be and really easy to talk to. The other veteran was a machinists mate in the Navy from 2000 up until 2010 and is also just a great guy. He's really smart and knows so much technical information. I think this is an amazing program - it helps veterans connect and get involved in the community again, while also helping students get involved and meet members of the community.

"You know, I was really sad when I got medically discharged for getting hurt so bad in Iraq, but I've recently realized sometimes God throws you a curveball and you just have to adjust and everything turns out really well. Like today, it's beautiful out and we're having a great conversation. That's a blessing." - my new buddy

On the way from the medical school to the VA today, there were so many trees in bloom and it's so nice out. It's finally shorts and sandals weather.

Today was a great way to kick off springtime. I've been through two beginnings of spring this year, because spring was just starting down south when I was home for spring break, and now spring is starting up here. Today was sunny and about 65 degrees. A good friend of mine from high school and I went into town to see the Yankees - Red Sox game. What a perfect game. I am not a huge fan of either team, but it's such a blast to go see a game at Yankee Stadium. We had a great view, and the game was great - Brian Mccan hit two home runs, and a few other Yankees hit some runs also. The people we sat near were very stereotypical New Yorkers, which made everything much more entertaining. Honestly, it was just nice to get out and go do something. After the game, we went downtown to enjoy the evening until we decided to head back to Grand Central and catch a train to New Haven. Here are some pictures from the day (most are just stereotypical New York pictures):

The stadium when we got there:

The stadium during the first inning once it was packed:

One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) in the background with old Trinity Church in the foreground:

One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower):

Obligatory selfie at the base of One World Trade Center:

Had to snap a picture when I passed by the Yale Club of New York as I left Grand Central:

Grand Central Station behind the street signs:

So-so panorama of Times Square:

And perhaps my favorite picture of the day, Grand Central Station at the bottom, with the Chrysler Building and the moon above:

Update: I saw tree blooming in the Pierson College courtyard today!!!!!!!!!!!!    

Today was a really nice day, and as a result there was an innumerable amount of Yalies gathered on Yale's Old Campus studying and enjoying life. Some people went so far as to bring their beds and sofas outside and enjoy the sun. I saw this on my evening walk:

This past week I finished my big calculus test, which was a blessing. I think I did alright on it. Since that is over, I can pretty much coast my way to finals in about 20 days. 

Today I went to the library on a whim. There were throngs over-zealous students competing in the freshman olympics right outside my entryway, so I couldn't really get into my dorm. I then decided to spend some time in the library until they dispersed. At the library, I pressed a random button in the elevator and found myself in the Slavic Reading Room. It was a nice reading room, but everything was in slavic languages, so I couldn't understand anything and left. 

 There was some nice artwork in there though:

After I left the slavic reading room I went to the 7th floor and stumbled across a state history section, where I found lots of interesting things about the state of Georgia's history. Quite frankly, I learned more about where I was raised (Georgia) in this library 1000 miles from home than I did in my entire year of 8th grade Georgia History. 

They even had some really obscure county records... something I might expect to find in a county library, but not at Yale's library.

So the first book I decided to look through was "Historical Collections of Georgia"... a book printed in 1855. 

I scoured through the book and found Cherokee County, where I found out some interesting stuff, like there is a place called "Long Swamp" in Cherokee County. Also, the native Chief of Ballground's name was "Chicken."

Reading about Cass County confused me, because I didn't remember ever hearing about a Cass County... so I googled it on my phone and found that it is what is nowadays Bartow County. Pretty Cool. 

Here's a fun newspaper clipping I found from Athens:

 A map of Athens from maybe 1930?

They even had a fun book about Rome, Georgia and Floyd County:

I even found some information on 3 revolutionary war soldiers buried in Cherokee County:

This is probably the coolest thing I came across... a directory from Savannah in 1870.  

This next one made me laugh out loud as I read it... "Don't lend your directory. Your neighbor is as well able to purchase one as you are." They just came out and said it. That made my day.

And then I ended it with a book written in 1898 about the history of Atlanta. The picture below is Atlanta in 1898.

So I came across this really cool seal, and come to find out, it's still the official seal of Atlanta! The book from 1898 was just plastered with this everywhere. I guess during reconstruction everyone really took this idea and ran with it.. "rising again out of the ashes"

This is a book from 1902, and once again has the cool seal.

Even if you read nothing else on my blog, I ask you to read this next page about Atlanta...it is probably the most eloquent and amazing way to describe the city of Atlanta I have ever seen. 

I didn't actually open this next book, but I wanted to point out how much of a misnomer this book is. If you look closely, its title is "The first hundred years, a short history of Cobb County, in Georgia" 

Well, at the thickness of two Bibles, I would hardly say this is a short history book by any means.