FOOT: outdoor adventures you'll remember

BY SETH L. GORDON

So you've chosen to do it. Good. My Freshman Outdoor Orientation Trip (FOOT) is among the most rewarding experiences I have had since my arrival at Yale. This is for one simple reason: FOOT is designed to be different. It isn't about Yale in a traditional sense: what classes to take, where the cool hangouts are, how old or high Harkness Tower is, or which campus groups to join. FOOT is about people.

FOOT is about meeting and getting to know a few of your future classmates away from Yale and New Haven. It's about teaching each other. It's about starting the year off in a way that prepares you mentally—and overprepares you physically—for all the things that get thrown at you during your first few weeks as a freshman.

When I arrived on Old Campus for my FOOT trip, I had no idea what to expect. I found out from my upperclassmenleaders, Rosemary and Nye, that most of my group members had already arrived and were meeting one another. People in my group hailed from New York, Idaho, Seattle, Jerusalem, Tokyo, New Jersey, San Francisco, Wisconsin, and Maine. From the "get-to-know-you" games we played, I learned that few of us had nicknames, had been to Nebraska, or knew much about Yale. I discovered that we were all nervous, confused, and curious. We wanted very badly to start our Yale experiences on a good note and to do well in our academic careers. That night, we stayed in Welch Hall on Old Campus and bonded. Jackie and Dave told ghost stories, Russ recounted middle-school trauma, I played a few songs on harmonica, and Hiko explained the high-school system in Japan.

From our first meeting it was clear that this group was so incredibly diverse that we wouldn't have met each other any other way. I realized during my freshman year that my FOOT group had functioned as a preview of what would later occur in my dorm room. Both times, I was put with people whom, had I been left to my own devices, I probably never would have met.

In many ways, the week I spent with my FOOT group served as a sort of concentrated preparation for the year to come, especially for the challenge of meeting many people from very different backgrounds.

After an early wake-up and a three-hour bus ride to central Vermont, we strapped on our packs and headed out for six long days in the wilderness of the Appalachian Trail. All but a few of us had never hiked before, and we were nervous about the upcoming adventure. Rosemary and Nye calmed our fears, explaining that the hiking would not be especially rigorous and that the group would hike at a pace that suited us all. "The point isn't to be tough and brawny," Rosemary said.

This turned out to be exactly right—when Jackie got a blister, we stopped to patch it up; when Justin got tired, we took it slow and redistributed some of the weight in his pack to ease his load. Hiking got easier as the week wore on. Each night we ate big dinners, played games, and usually took some time to sit back and read a good book or to enjoy the view from our mountain campsite. On FOOT, I had some of the wonderful, lengthy conversations which I had long hoped would be part of the Yale experience. Those few days gave me the opportunity to make eleven new friends and the time to slow down and prepare emotionally for the year ahead.

Editor's Note: This year, the FOOT program includes a new option, Harvest. Three groups of about eight freshmen will travel to small organic farms around Connecticut for four days.

While working on the farms, the groups will learn about agricultural techniques and the history of New England farming. There will also be day hikes, swimming, cook-outs, and camping.

Graphic by Carlos Mena.

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