I woke up at 4:30 yester-morning to take a train to New Haven. Yale was having an open house that I wanted to visit so I skipped class (and an entire day) to make the trip. The 4 1/2 hour train ride up was not bad at all. I did a crossword puzzle and one sudoku puzzle. Though, it made me nauseous. I don't even know why I brought a book to read because if I read for long periods in moving vehicles (buses, cars, trains.. not airplanes) I feel queezy.
I got to New Haven and was starving. I did some research (food research) and wanted to go to this French restaurant for lunch, but they weren't going to be open for another half hour and I was starving. So I opted for a small cafe instead. The decor was terribly decked out in all Ikea furniture and oddly arranged, but they sandwich I got was so yummy! And the coffee was great. I was glad not to have to go to the Starbucks down the street.
I stayed on Chapel Street and visited the shops and read the menu's for the restaurants. I was surprised to see how all of the boutique's were really.. country. Or dated. The French restaurant looked beautiful, but some of the dress shops and jewelry stores seemed old. There was one boutique that was super chic. Tracy B. I wanted a few tops/dresses but didn't want to lug around a shopping bag my entire trip, and they were closed by the time I needed to leave. Although, seeing as they have a website, I might just call and ask for them. Everything is really basic and they don't have tops with applique's or bird silhouette cutouts or anything silly. She even has a few pieces made out of organic cotton.
After meandering the streets of Yale, visiting a couple museums and spending a few hours listening to people say how difficult it is to get into their program, it was already time for my train back to Baltimore. I stopped by a vegan/vegetarian spot called Claire's Corner Copia and got a quesadilla and smoothie to-go. There's another example of a cheesily decored restaurant. Like an old grandma owns it. The restaurant is organic and sustainable but I don't know how healthy some of the vegan or gluten-free options are. It's so easy to be vegan/gluten free and still eat complete doodoo. The quesadilla was a little salty but I'd definitely revisit that spot.
After an exhausting train-ride back, I got to Baltimore at 11:30pm and went straight to bed. New Haven is a little trashy (the way Baltimore is ghetto or the way Los Angeles is dirty), but it seemed alright. Since living in Baltimore (and the incident on Halloween), I have my guard up extremely high. I was talking to my brother and wondered what the crime rate in New Haven was. After trying to find some stuff out on the old iPhin, New Haven isn't even an option to look at stats.. so maybe I was being paranoid. After all, it is Yale.
Have a great weekend!
