Taking the initiative to dive into the Yale world

LINDA CHANG/YH

The first few weeks were bewildering. All the freshmen were together on Old Campus. All the juniors were leading their own lives in the residential colleges. Here I was thrown in the middle, a junior who felt like a freshman. But I was not alone. There were 23 other transfer students, all but one from the U.S. The faculty organized several meetings for us, perhaps to compensate for the lack of transfer orientation programs. We all sat there in a circle, each waiting for the other to strike up a conversation, yet each dying to talk. Finally the warmth of the pizzas melted the ice and we all started introducing ourselves. I learned that my fellow adventurers had transferred to Yale from places as far as Switzerland or as close as Oregon and New York. One common bond between us was that we came here in search of the better opportunities that Yale so emphatically promises. As Susan Gaunt, TD '02, previously from the University of Chicago, put it, "I transferred to Yale because my parents really wanted me to move closer to home, because I am a history major and Yale's history department is second to none." Clinton Dockery, TD '03, transferred in from Vanderbilt because he realized he could be at a better school and wanted to live here in the Northeast before returning to Kentucky. As for me, I loved St. Stephen's, but I was very frustrated with the rigid academic system in the University of Delhi. Yale offered a "liberal education" and in fact insisted on a broad undergraduate curriculum. This seemed to be the answer to my prayers.

As the weeks rolled by, I started settling down and getting used to the madness of shopping period. I realized that a lot of stories I had heard about America and Americans were vastly exaggerated. Having grown up in an Anglicized environment and having watched lots of cable TV, I hardly found the initial transition difficult. America wasn't "the big bad place" that many in India think it to be. Of course, I really thought things like Exotic Erotic happened only in movies. This was an interesting bit of news to tell my friends back home, and they obviously wanted an event like that there. I quickly noted that people at Yale are very friendly, as opposed to the snooty reputation that precedes Yalies. As Gaunt pointed out, "people here are by and large warm, but they all have their own lives." I was in fact guilty of being reserved. At meal times I just didn't know where to sit and was too timid to say hello to the person next to me. So I decided to bury myself behind the Yale Herald or the Yale Daily News, which some generous soul left outside the dining hall. It struck me that I had to take the first step.

It was the nitty-gritty things that I had to get used to. When people asked me, "How's it goin'?" or "What's up?" I was at a loss for words. Should I proceed to tell them what I had been up to the whole morning? Should I tell them about my uncle with the ingrown toenail? Or about the drunk woman on the street who screamed "I'm a cowboy, baby" at me? Or should I just say, "Fine thanks. How are you?" I listened around for a couple of weeks and eventually decided to settle for, "I'm doin' allright. And you?"

Of course, other issues—like having to wait until midnight to call home, or having to run to 10 different places to get a social security number, or finding that student groups are pretty hierarchical and run by juniors (which gives me little time)—do irritate me. But that's life, I tell myself. The bright side is it's been just seven weeks and I already know a lot of people, am pretty active in various organizations, and find classes exciting. This says a lot for Yale's ability to accommodate transfer students.

On the whole, Yale is turning out to be the wonderful place I expected it to be. If my experience is any indication, the few transfer students who arrive every year are smoothly assimilated into the community. As a faculty member put it, transfer students "just go on to become Yale students." Each of us comes here with a different purpose. For most, this is not to walk up the dais and get that diploma. It's about what we do here, whom we meet and what we become, just as it is for any other Yalie. Is there a common destination? I would think not. The journey is the destination.

Sriram Lakshman is a junior in Ezra Stiles.

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