Yale University

We took a tour weekend before last (Sept 3rd) at Yale University which is the 5th oldest college/university in the United States.  I anticipated seeing some older architecture, hearing about history, and feeling surrounded by the intellectual elite.

Sadly I was  a touch disappointed, don't get me wrong here...  Yale is a beautiful campus and the buildings look very old, like gothically old.  And it is home to some very smart people.  I think my expectations may have been a bit high is all.

First off, our guide, she had a ton of Yale factoids however that number was far less than the number of times she used, "really" and "like" and "oh MY goodness".  I am sure she is highly intelligent she just doesn't like to let it show.

Secondly, although I was not a fan of how our guide talked, I did get a lot out of what she had to say....and found it disappointing that what I thought of Yale was a bit of just a facade.

This is a statue of Nathan Hale who attended Yale.  Later he became America's first spy who was executed for treason by the british during the revolutionary war.  The man who is believed to have once said "I only regret that I have but one life to give."  The funny tidbit our guide gave us, is the CIA wanted to buy this statue from Yale.  They repeatedly turned them down, so cloaked in the dark of night the CIA executed a mission and succeeded in getting a cast of the statue and had their own statue casted.  Upon hearing this the students and administration at Yale got a good laugh you see a picture or likeness of Nathan Hale is not available, as in there is none.  This statue is a Yale student from the class of 1914 who gave the most patriotic pose!!! Facade number 1.

Next up Yale's architecture.  It is old but not as old as it likes to look.  They have about 3 or so buildings that were built in the 1700s.  They do not scream "Ivy league" but are simple, brick and mortar buildings with no flourishes on design.  One of these buildings is in the back drop of the Nathan Hale Statue phot and in the pictures below.

Maggie and Seana.

Maggie

 Side Note: This is a statue of Theodore Dwight Woolsey, he was president of Yale for over 30 years during the 1800s and according to our guide he has a lucky toe, This statue shows that Yale is full of superstitious types, as the toe of his shoe is well polished due to rubbing.

 Seana rubbing the toe!

 Back to architecture.  They have some very gorgeous buildings. Like of the building I am posing in front of below.

 Here is that same building, According to our guide this tower was at one time the tallest structure without steel reinforcement.  It has since needed to be reinforced with steel beams.  The irony is the reinforcement was needed because of an aging process after it was constructed comprised the structure. Facade 2, the pretty buildings are faux gothic-esque (a term I just made up for Yale) they are not hundreds of years old like they appear.  They were built in the early 1900s, this particular building was built in 1921.  The architect chose a gothic look and to "age" the building by doing the following: incorporating colored glass in the windows (older buildings used whatever glass was available for the panes including the cheaply made colored glass), faux repaired windows (some window panes were a couple of pieces of glass saudered together to appear broken within the pane, this being the method in which they fixed windows back in the day), lastly the real winner and the cause for the comprised structure in the tower below.... they applied an acid wash to stain the rock and show erosion from age.  Admittedly when I first saw this tower I thought it was amazing, all the carvings and the thought that went to how it was built... and then I found out that it isn't even a hundred years old and these little cheats to make it appear old. Ugh.... epic fail Yale.

 This is a cool fountain, called the "Women's Table"  A string of figures marks the number of female students at Yale each year since its founding in 1701. Maggie seemed to enjoy the water that comes off the top of the table.

 Seana poses with Maggie in front of a card catalog (they are empty by the way) at their library...ahh card catalogs something Maggie will never experience!

 Yale is ranked number 1 for their law school, so here is Seana & Maggie in front of the #1 Ranked law school....

 Here is a photo of the law building... also not old but built to look old.

We ended the day unimpressed... maybe Harvard is where it is at for Miss. Maggie's future.