New England I: New Haven

My program provided funding for my class to attend a conference in Philadelphia. I thought it would be a good chance to see friends that were living in New England. This also meant that I would be traveling to 4 states in 10 days.

The first stop was New Haven to see Megan, an MPH student at Yale. Megan and I know each other from high school. I consider her one of my closest friends. She is also my only friend that has met my Taiwanese grandparents.

I took a red eye from Salt Lake to Atlanta, and then boarded a flight to Hartford. While at the Atlanta airport, I couldn't help but notice a swine flu vaccine booth located next to a cheesesteak restaurant. I guess the CDC thought vaccinations would be more appealing if the aroma of greasy food accompanied swine flu vaccinations.

Megan showed me around New Haven. I also went to Yale's Public Health school and talked to some admission officers and professors. We went to several art galleries and the natural history museum. Yale's collection of African art is very impressive. The architecture on campus is also amazing. I definitely felt smarter just by walking around the campus.

We also went to the Yale Caberet, which is an experimental theater group. The play we attended was entitled "The Surrender Tree," which dramatized Cuba's fight for independence from Spain and the role of slavery in the struggle. The play was very well done. I had never studied Cuba's history before, and the play did a good job of showing the different facets of the independence wars.

Photos are posted below.
*Note - I really hate taking photos of myself - I'd much rather be behind the lens than in front of it. I took some shots of myself as a prop in the photos, so if I look really small, that's intentional.