The First Time I Shared A Room… Was the Beginning of a Crime Streak

With The Game coming fast and furious, I feel my heart pound as loud as the cheers I will hear at the Yale Bowl… but it’s not the tackling of uniformed men or the massive tail-gating or the wearing of blue or the pigging out at old haunts that excite me… it’s partying at H-Y with my soul-sister.  Yes.  You read that correctly, SOUL-sister.  

Since the day we realized we were soul-sisters, we have painted the little old town of New Haven (as well as our current cities) red, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Let me go back to when it all started… with the first time I shared a room with someone…

*                           *                           *

It was the end of freshman year in college.  I was nervous and a wreck.  (My freshman year overflowed with suitemate drama, which basically ended with my suitemates and I having a room per person.)

I sat at the table of semi-familiar faces.  I knew only two of the seven girls there.

Crap.  Who am I going to room with for a whole year?  At that point in my life, I had never lived with anyone… and I loved the solitude.

A quick draw of the straw later, I realized I got paired up with a very attractive girl (dark curly-haired, light-skinned, super tall and skinny, and with  GIGANTIC eyes).  She seemed nice.  Yet, based on my previous interactions with pretty girls, I felt she would be a biatch.

Oh great… I thought to myself.  There goes a whole year of living with a potential biatch.  Ugh.

For the first month or two, we had very cordial greetings.  Occasionally, the suite would go out to dinner, but, again, our conversations remained short and simple.

Then, one day, as I tried to make small talk with her, I let it slip that I had seen a gorgeous guy walking around campus in his bomber jacket.

Her eyes immediately lit up.  ”Wait, you’re talking about John, the ‘hot leather jacket’ guy?” 

“Yeah!”

Suddenly, our worlds meshed into one.  We realized right then that we were very different but all in the same ways.  For example, we loved food, but different kinds of food.  We loved boys, but different types of guys.  We loved to party, but in very different ways.  We were die-hard nerds, but exhibited it differently.  And, we loved our families, which were very different in size and background.

We knew we were meant to be in each other’s lives.  We began to study together, laugh together, eat together, wing together, and, of course, party (hard) together.  People that hung out with us knew they were in for a crazy but super fun time.  We became known as each other’s “partner in crime.” 

So, in our senior year, we announced we were more than partners or best friends or any of that.  We were soul-sisters.  

You could say it’s one of those self-fulfilling prophecies or whatever, but as time passed, we started to see our lives run on parallel paths.  Though we lived miles away and worked in different industries, we watched our lives unfold in similar ways… and we were there for each other through it all (including many of my firsts).

I heart you, soul-sister!

Anyways, The Game is just a place for us to physically be with one another again; however, mentally, we’ve never been apart.

I thought this would be a nice dedication post as well as put it out there that we’ll be at H-Y together… so, if you’re there and you can’t handle the awesomeness that will ensue, please step aside… because we’re going to paint the town red, again.

[Image source: Deviant Art]

“The Game”: 3 traditions at the Yale-Harvard Game

Teetering and tottering, I arrived at Gate 11.  Through the dimly lit tunnel to the stadium, I saw blue-sweatered men and women jumping up and down, waving banners and pompoms, and yelling unrecognizable phrases, perhaps just a string of swears.  I pushed my way through the crowd formed at the entrance.  I could feel my head pounding, throbbing from the roars of intoxicated fans and dissatisfied coaches… or perhaps the half bottle of alcohol I consumed prior to arriving at the stadium.  Either way, my head was pounding… and so were the walls, floors, and any other concrete around me.  After avoiding drunkards staggering in the tunnel, I stood with full view of the stadium.  Was it that my eyes were blurry or could I really be seeing what I was seeing?  The stadium was packed… and a sea of blue engulfing the sporadic sprinkle of crimson red.  This was the annual Yale-Harvard football game, otherwise known as “The Game”.

This year, The Game was held at Yale, hence blue dominating red.  And, as expected, everyone (and I mean, EVERYONE) was totally DRUNK!  Alumni ranging 35-60+ years old joked with their buddies over cups of beer.  The ones just a few years removed from college reenacted their college days by stumbling about the tailgates plastered.  And, the ones still in college… well, let’s just say, they were a jumble mess of drunken debauchery.

The whole event is fun, but if you ever go to Yale for The Game, you must do 3 things:

1. Tailgate
2. Have a burrito at the Burrito Cart
3. Go to Toad’s

What are tailgates, you ask?  One of the most exciting parts of going to an Ivy League football game.  (I mean, let’s be honest, they’re Ive-Leaguers not Big Ten athletes…)  Before every game, but especially for The Game, residential colleges, frat and sorority houses, clubs and organizations from both schools gather with their U-Hauls outside of the stadium.  When held at Yale, each truck harbors half-a-dozen kegs, alcohol-infused fruits, hot cocoa mixed with Everclear, burgers, hot-dogs and other picnic goodies.  Starting at 7am, the trucks arrive with their treasures hidden from the eyes of the inspectors (of course, everyone, including the po-pos, understands that no one can keep out alky from the Yale tailgate, and thus turn a blind eye).  Once settled in their spots, the college students, frat bros and sorority sisters, club and organization reps all hang their banners high and mighty because part of this was a competition to see which U-Haul could attract the most drunken people.  Around 8am, the rest of campus plus all the alumni from the young twenty-somethings to the old sixty-somethings arrive to get the party started.  Remember, kickoff usually doesn’t start until noon.  So, for a good 4 hours, people are partying up a snowstorm outside the stadium.  By noon, everyone is drunk and ready to create a caucus at the game.

Of course, after a whole day of drinking, everyone ends up starving.  The burgers and hot-dogs can barely contain a drunkard’s hunger.  Thus, everyone moves back to Yale campus for dinner.  You have your cheap but tasty Thai food, super cheap Chinese food, cook-as-you-order burgers, diner-type places, etc.  But no place, I mean, NO PLACE, beats the deliciously satisfying burrito from the Burrito Cart.  It is literally a cart standing outside Elm and York.  For $6, you get a large, expertly wrapped burrito full of marinated veggies, guac, sour cream, hot sauce and meat.  The taste is very distinct.  (After living in NYC for the past 3 years and getting burritos every chance I get, I still have yet to find a burrito as delectable as the burrito from the Burrito Cart!)  When I tasted the soft tortilla wrapped around the fresh and lightly marinated veggies mixed with the hot and tender carnitas, I was in food heaven!  Unfortunately, no verbal description of the burrito will do it justice.  That burrito has to be tasted and enjoyed.  Yes, it is THAT good!

Normally, after filling the stomach with food, most young alumni and college kids roll back to their dorms / hotels / crash pads, etc. for a mid-evening nap before embarking on a crazy night of fun (and skeeziness).  The skeeziness occurs at Toad’s, the only bar/night club in New Haven that regularly houses partying students. The club opens Wednesdays and Saturdays, and trust me, it is ALWAYS full.  The seniors usually go on Wednesdays, since no one goes to class anymore, and the underclassmen sneak in on Saturdays.  For this particular Saturday, the place is packed with people of all ages: college students who are barely (if at all) legal, alumni in their mid-twenties to early thirties, grad school students from both schools, and even townies.  They all gather in the dark and dirty room, looking and oftentimes succeeding in finding a hook-up for the night.  Each time you exit the premises, you immediately want to shower away all the griminess from the sleazy people in the club as well as the cups of alcohol accidentally thrown on you by drunk people.  You might think that you’ll never go back… but you always end up there.  That’s the beauty of Toad’s.

If you missed your chance this year, no worries, Yale will host it again in November 2011… so MARK YOUR CALENDARS!