Yale Health Plan, Part II (should you switch?)

Michelle, a second-year M.Div (whose name is pronounce Meee-shell, not Meh-shell, FYI), pointed out that I didn't really offer any input on whether or not you should think about switching to the Yale Health Plan. I have trouble remembering last August, for some stress-related reason (which actually makes me less nervous about BTFO - you won't remember a thing!), and so although I carefully considered my choices, I have little idea why I decided the YHP was the way to go. Below, Michelle offers some great reasons for switching to Yale's coverage.

Remember, you are already covered for Basic care by enrolling as a Yale student.

-Kate

If you’re moving to YDS from a career, you may be wondering: “what should I do about health insurance? I’ve heard horror stories about grad school health plans. Am I better off trying to keep my old coverage?”

Sandra and Kate have asked me to fill in some of the blanks, based on my expertise. My expertise is based on a couple of things: 1. I’m a second-career student who has lived in five states as and adult, and also spent far too much time in graduate school, so I’ve seen my share of health plans, 2. I have some pretty significant chronic conditions, so I’ve been able to see how health plans treat various illnesses, and 3. I spent most of my first three months at YDS on crutches, so I also know a little about how they deal with “emergent” conditions.

Based on my qualifications, I will state: Yale Health Plan is awesome. You should probably join.

This is not some mindless BTFO propaganda. In general, if you have health coverage from a previous employer or through a spouse/partner, there are a couple of things you will want to consider: cost of coverage up front, convenience, co-pays, where you are living and whether you will be remaining there throughout most of your time at YDS, and what your long-term options are.

I will be honest: the plan I had at my last job was expensive, had a $1000 deductible on prescriptions, and probably has no doctors in network in Connecticut. So I may be a little biased. But based on what I remember from other places where I worked, YHP seems like a pretty good deal all around. There are a couple of situations in which it might not be worth it to switch: 1. If your spouse/partner has excellent health coverage which is not likely to go away, you might want to consider either staying on that plan, or at least having the spouse/partner stay on that plan, 2. If you have lifetime coverage (like some programs for former government employees) which would you would invalidate by joining YHP, you should probably stay on that plan, 3. If you have a plan which has extensive and inexpensive national coverage, and you plan to travel or do mission trips, it might be worth it to stay on that plan.

Beyond that, I would recommend YHP. Sure, there are a couple of downsides (which I will note in brackets), but for the most part, it’s a good deal.

For one thing, your deductible on prescriptions is only $100 per year. After that, co-pays are insanely low. I take medications which would easily cost over $150 per month; most months here, I pay less than $25 total. (Note, this is only available through the YHP pharmacy – I can’t stop at the local chain drug store, and I have to plan ahead if I’m going to be traveling. I think there is a way to get costs reimbursed if you get prescriptions elsewhere, but I’ve never tried)

For another, visits to medical specialists are covered. And really good quality. One of my doctors is the chief of endocrinology at Yale. I see her for free, no co-pay, no nothing. Lab tests are also completely covered. (Again, there is one small downside, in that you may need to wait a little while to see a specialist. My endocrinologist only works there one morning per week – it took four months before I could see her. Obviously, if it’s an emergency, you will get attention. But if you need to routinely see a specialist, be prepared to wait a bit)

For slightly more run-of-the-mill situations (coughs, colds, sprains and strains), you have to go to the Student Health Center (17 Hillhouse). If it’s not an emergency, you might wait a little while in the waiting room, but I’ve never had to wait more than half an hour (you also have the option of calling to make an appointment, but those fill up fast, especially on Mondays).

Finally, there is one other huge advantage to YHP: no paperwork -- prescriptions, lab work, specialists -- all of that stuff is handled internally. No forms to fill out, no need to get reimbursed. Most of the time, all of this goes pretty smoothly, which is a huge advantage because you will have lots of other things to do once you get here.

Some of you may be reading this and thinking that your old plan had similar coverage. Or that your plan has dental or vision coverage, which YHP does not. Or that you would prefer to see your old doctor when you go home over breaks. This is fine. You will be covered for emergencies at Yale regardless of whether you’re in YHP or not. But, YHP is a great option to have, so be sure to consider it.

Peace,

Michelle

What I Wish I’d Known About the Yale Health Plan

Hi. Sandra and I just spent a week on Cape Cod, and did very, very little in terms of BTFO. (In the next few weeks, when something goes horribly awry, I’m probably going to chalk it up to this lost week.) Coming back to reality has been a bit harsh (I also got back at 2:30am Saturday morning, so there was that), and I seem to have left my watch in Vacationland. One of the first things I did yesterday was pick up a prescription at the Yale Health Plan, and it occurred to me then, as it has several times in the past, that this is a blog-worthy thing.

That is the worst segue I’ve ever written. I apologize.

Anyway.

You’ve probably already made your decision about your health insurance. So I won’t dwell on this too much. Basically, by enrolling at Yale, you’re also enrolling in a “basic” health care program that will cover most routine doctor’s visits. You can also elect to pick up hospitalization, prescription, and other such things from Yale; or you can elect to find your own insurance. No matter what, you have access to a primary care physician and to mental health services. Even if you waive Yale's insurance, you can still visit Student Health for basic services.

Yale Health Services is located at 17 Hillhouse Ave (at Trumbull). It took me all year and Sandra to figure out that the parking lot attached to the building is for patient parking – don’t park at a meter! So long as there’s room in the lot, you can park there for free. They are in the process of building a new health center building (which will probably be just as ugly … what is it with Yale and “innovative” architecture?), but for now we’re stuck with 17 Hillhouse.

There’s a pharmacy on the first floor where you can charge your drug purchases to your bursar’s account, where it will either be added to your tuition bill or deducted from you financial aid refund. This is very helpful if you’re forgotten your wallet. If a tall woman with big hair calls you “honey,” you’ve met my favorite Yale Health employee. I think her name is Jacqueline, and that she is fabulous. (Last time I was there, she told me never to say "I'm sorry" but to say "I apologize," because otherwise people would start to think I'm a sorry person. The time before she told me we should go crash a wedding together.)

Mental Health and Counseling through Yale (formerly the “Mental Hygiene” department, which is a little laughable) is free and available to all students. Like a few other systems at Yale, they will wan to do an intake interview with you and then match you to a therapist. The catch is that this is an overloaded system and the time between intake interview and matching can stretch out as long as two months. There’s thus really something to be said for doing an intake interview before you really need to. Former generations of YDS students have gone as far as to recommend to incoming students that they do an intake interview during the first week of classes. I won’t go as far as that, but will say that it’s better to head to mental health when you’re at the “Gee, it’d be nice to chat with someone about this” stage rather than wait it out to the “OMGWTFBBQ!1!!!” or “@$#*@#!!!” stages. Go earlier rather than later.

One of the worse things about the Yale Health Plan is that it doesn’t include dental (boo). I had several cavities filled by Dr. Alan Friedler this summer and generally liked him. Dr. Friedler teaches at Yale (we don’t really have a dental school, but we do dental surgery and some summer programs in dentistry and it’s a mystery to me why I know this) and gives 15% off of routine services to Yale graduate students. (I was so shocked at the estimate for my dental work that they ended up giving me 15% off that too, even though that’s not standard operating procedure.) I’ve been lucky enough to have had pretty minimal experience with dentists, so I’m not really sure where Dr. Friedler falls price-wise, but I can say his office was almost absurdly modern and the doctor himself really cared a great deal about my experience and teeth.

If you end up incurring dental expenses, the Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) has a Dental Expense Fund you can apply for reimbursement through. You need to pay the dental expenses out of pocket, then fill a brief form to get up to $500 back. An insider has told me that requests last year far exceeded funding available, so most of the awards were really small, but the hope is that this will alert higher ups to the fact that the fund needs more money. (Oh look, the GPSS also has another list of dentists who give Yale grad student discounts. My guy gives the steepest, which makes me feel good.)

Other than the sudden attack of the cavities, I’ve had a good year health-wise, and can’t share much more information. Since I went to El Salvador and opted to get a couple of optional shots, the department I visited the most at Yale Health during the year was immunization. (Routine blood work turned up the fact that my first round of Hep B vaccination didn't take, so I'm re-doing that too.) Their nurses are pretty great, despite (or because?!?) the fact that their job is to stick people with needles all day long. Go figure.

- Kate

Introducing ... The YDS Student Kitchen

In addition to a full-service refectory (open 7:30am - 2pm), YDS is also equipped with a community kitchen. Katie, the student coordinator for the kitchen, wrote this description up for us:

Where can you…

…stash those leftovers from the enormous, plate-sized sandwiches they offer at the refectory?

…warm up last night’s entrée for your lunch between classes?

…grab a reusable plate or bowl for your fries, salad, soup, or sandwich?

That’s right, the Div school student kitchen! One of the best kept secrets of the divinity school (hidden in the back corner of the cafeteria we lovingly refer to as the refectory), the student kitchen is a great community resource and one we hope you’ll get to know closely during your time here. It includes a microwave, full-sized refrigerator, shelves of dishes and cutlery, sink, and drying racks… what more could you ask for?

If you have roommates or family members, you’ll know how fun it is to share a kitchen communally. Sharing one with the 400+ students, staff, and faculty at the divinity school only multiplies that adventure. Use it early, use it often… all we ask is that you clean up any dishes you use afterwards with the soap and sponges that are provided. The utensils, especially, along with those mugs from Holy Grounds (our student-run coffee shop), have a tendency to wander, so please try and keep these items communal by returning them promptly after use. And finally, try not to forget about that half-finished yogurt or salad you may have left in the fridge. It’s easy to do with our busy schedules, but we’re hoping to avoid the prospect of 400 decomposing leftovers!

The student kitchen will be open during BTFO week for you to come explore the space for yourself. We will also be scurrying about the kitchen during the week in order to help supply your campus meals with reusable dishware, so come say hello and, while you’re at it, stake out your claim to some fridge space.

Jobs at and around the Div School

I'm back from my second family reunion in as many weeks, with an even deeper tan (to paraphrase my brother, if I get any darker I'm in serious danger of looking like I'm from Jersey) and lingering soreness from having my cousin drag me behind a boat on an inner tube. The sad truth of the matter is that soon school will start up again and we'll all have to abandon our trashy beach reads for trashy liturgical theology (I guess the later chapters are getting better, but I'm still not sold, Nathan). Most of us will also be trying to work while we're in school in an attempt to offset the costs of grad student life. I've had a request to post a little about finding jobs on campus, which is good, because I know very little about finding jobs on campus.

First of all: "on-campus" is a tricky phrase for us divvies. While our own campus is rather teeny, it does have a few opportunities for gainful employment. You can also expand your search to the wider Yale campus, with the understanding that, like me, your "on campus" job might involve a 30-minute hike downtown.

Here, then, my top ideas for getting a job, in geographically expanding order:

1. Ask. For real, the people who I know who work at the Divinity Library got employed by walking in and asking if they could work there. Do this early (during BTFO!) -- since the requirements for being a shelving serf are namely that you have a pulse and be able to recognize the alphabet, these jobs are kind of a first-come first-serve deal.

2. Follow Dale Mail. I know, I know, I sound like a broken record. Dale Mail won't solve all your problems (for example, if you're bleeding, you should probably go directly to the health plan). It is, however, the number one resource for finding out what's going on on campus, including things people will pay you for. Dale Mail job listings will include on- and off- campus postings, one-off and long-term assignments and, in March, BTFO 2010 Coordinators. Which I hope you all apply for; I need to do CPE and someone needs to keep up the awesome.

3. Check out yalestudentjobs.org. Actually, check out this link, to their various job databases. Things look a little slow over there, but should pick up as the semester starts. You can find just about anything there. This is how I ended up working for Yale's Lutheran Campus Ministry, despite 1) not being Lutheran and 2) not knowing anything about web design, which was allegedly what I was hired to do.

Other thoughts about jobs:

- If you can stand kids, you can sign up with the Yale Babysitting Service and have people pay you to stand their kids. Parents can search this directory and find a one-time or long-term childcare provider.

- As a second year in either M.Div or MAR programs, you're eligible to work an internship through Susan Olson's Office of Supervised Ministries. These work in conjunction with, not in addition to, your financial aid package, and pay you a lump sum of $1,500 per semester, and maybe if I keep writing boring things no one will know that I really don't get payment for these works. Watch Dale Mail (yes, again, sigh) for information sessions in the spring, which you must attend in order to start the interview process.

Let's end with:

Like any university campus, there are a lot of opportunities to do grunt work around Yale. Divvies make up a disproportionate number of the book shelving serfs at Sterling Memorial Library, particularly during the summer. I wouldn't hyperventilate over finding a job before you get to campus. Especially if you're a typical grad students, who's happy to take on something brainless for a few hours a week for pay and doesn't quite care about building a resume for future library gigs, you will find something to pay you $12.50/hr.

There are things other than book shelving available, that's just my prototypical student job (and how I spent two years of my college career... never again!).

(At right: a real thing. I love how careful they are to cite Creative Commons for the music rights.)

-Kate

Yale-Specific Stuff to do With Kids

So here’s how this blog works: I promise, and then I deliver. I think it’s a good way to build trust. I ask that, when I turn into a raving crazy person during BTFO, you remember me as I was, before someone messed up the catering order and my head exploded.

Being a Yale student in New Haven comes with a lot of baggage, as I’ve hinted at before, but it also comes with a lot of awesome. Much of this extends to your kids, no matter their age. Here are some great things to check out:

Please start by taking a look at the Yale Worklife Program. This paragraph is in bold because this is such a good site. Yes, it says its for faculty and staff, but I get their emails about workshops all the time. (Maybe part-time, casual, grad-student-y employees count as staff?) This site is a great way to find child-friendly stuff around campus – they even have a map showing how to get a stroller around campus. Yale will send you a “new parent packet” if you sign up with them. I suspect that this is targeted towards “new” parents as in “we just had this baby” parents rather than "we just got to Yale" parents -- but I also suspect that it might be worth it anyway.

The Yale Athletics Kids’ Club nurtures young Bulldog Fans in their obsession. From their website:

The Yale Athletics Kids' Club gives all kids 14 & under the opportunity to experience the fun and exciting world of Yale Athletics. The Kids' Club conducts many activities during the Yale Athletic year geared towards making college athletics fun and exciting for kids. Free Admission to most Yale Athletic events, birthday card from Handsome Dan, free Kids' Club T-shirt, Pizza Nights, Youth Days, and Sports Clinics are the fun and exciting benefits that Kids' Club members enjoy! The best part of the Kids' Club is that it's absolutely free thanks to the support of Yale Athletics' Corporate Partners. If you are interested in signing up or signing up a loved one, please go to the Kids' Club e-form. If you have any questions regarding the Yale Kids' Club or would like more information about our promotions please email us at sports.marketing@yale.edu.

(Please note: Handsome Dan is the name of our bulldog mascot, not some middle-aged Athletics Department employee.)

Yale-New Haven Hospital has some great resources for healthy living. Their Kids’ “Korner” website has recipes and other nutritious activities for kids, organized by age group. This site is exhaustive. They begin by showing you how to make a chef’s hat. Meet “Max”:

I may or may not be wearing one of these right now in my apartment.

If you’re importing yourself and your children from another country, we highly recommend that you spend some time on the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) website. Their family page features a run-down of the US school system, which is pretty basic but will get you started.

As for babysitting, you should never write off Dale Mail as a source, but also make sure to check out the Yale Babysitting Service. Yale students sign up with the website, which then creates a searchable directory for Yale parents.

Hope all of that helps. Though I can’t speak from personal experience, Yale certainly presents itself as being very interested in making sure that having children on campus goes well. Anecdotally, the Div School is also interested in making it easy for our moms and dads – children are welcome at a ton of CLC events, and most of BTFO (we’re still trying to secure childcare, but at the very least, children and partners are welcome at all meals).

-Kate

Kids in New Haven

So far, I’ve not done anything on child-friendly activities in New Haven -- of which there are a lot. I apologize for this oversight. Since I can barely be trusted to keep a plant alive, I emailed some of my favorite Div School parents and babysitters and asked for some ideas. This is the inaugural post in a series of things to do with kids in the area. Today: things to do in greater New Haven. (Later: things to do with kids in/around Yale.)

Someone tried to tell me on Friday that a good 20% or more of New Haven’s land area is parkland. I guess I believe this. Check out all the offerings at the Parks and Rec website. We’re closer to East Rock Park, but there’s a whole host of parks and playgrounds to be explored in New Haven.

If you’re willing to travel just a bit further, there are also lots of beaches around here. Hammonasset State Park is a perennial fave, despite being tough to spell.

Wilbur Cross high school, in East Rock, opens up its pool to the community for family swims during the summer. Wilbur Cross also has tennis and basketball courts and a track behind it.

The Peabody Museum has dinosaurs.*

For more athletics kiddlings, there’s the New Haven Youth Soccer League or Southern Connecticut's Pop Warner football league.

Finally, the great catch-all website KidsCT.com, with much, much more to do – from the New Haven Children’s Museum to ice skating in Milford (year-round!).

Again, I’ll update later with some Yale-specific stuff, once I wade through the 10 pages of stuff Sandra sent me.

-Kate

*Also a pretty good place to park one's parents for an afternoon, I've found.

The Most Important Blog Post Yet?

Yesterday I promised an entry comparing the YDS bookstore (very favorably) to a certain megalomaniacal web portal. Today, I deliver. Below, the words of Micah Luce, bookstore manager. (And a photo: Micah on the right, with two of last year's graduating seniors.)



They're dying! Independent bookstores everywhere are succumbing to the giant youknowwho.com and other such monsters. But not your Student Book Supply: the bookstore at YDS. Through the incredible support of our students, faculty, staff, and local New Haven-ite shoppers, the SBS lives on.

Serving YDS since 1938, the SBS provides not only your course textbooks, but also over 17,000 titles in theology, biblical studies, ethics, world Christianity, black studies, gender studies, etc. etc. etc.! Need a snack to get you through that 4pm class? We have it! A little too cold in Niebuhr during OT? Get a sweatshirt from us (also great for picking up dates on the local New Haven scene)! Feeling sick from nights up learning Hebrew vocabulary? We can pump you full of NyQuil or Tylenol. Want to eat a bit of popcorn for 75 cents on Friday afternoon? Swing by for that as well!

Even more, every student who chooses to pay a simple $25 annual membership due will receive 15% off of EVERY PURCHASE in the bookstore (sale items and stamps excluded).

Here at the SBS, we love you and want to support your studies, your research, your writing, and even your social life while at YDS. So please come by at any time (located immediately inside the entrance to the Divinity School) to browse, buy, or just hang out. We look forward to seeing you, and please write or call me at any time with questions.

Micah Luce
203.432.6101
micahDOTluceATyaleDOTedu (replace those caps with punctuation)

Check out the Student Book Supply's website for more info (and a larger version of the above photo), including hours and the senior gift registry.

-Kate

(The) Two Things I Like About New Haven (The Most)

So I’m back. Leaving Chicago is always a little hard on me, and since I did a sixteen-mile all-night charity walk on Saturday night (with my mom, who is almost sixty and most definitely awesome!), I’m also a little groggy and out of it. I’m a fake Chicagoan, too, having spent the first 75% of my life in the ‘burbs of Philly and the backwoods of Massachusetts, but like many of you, I have spent and continue to spend not a little time grieving the life given up to come to YDS. I miss my old apartment, my home parish, and cheap, terrible beer.

In the joint spirits of cheering myself up and informing you (which continues to be the main objective of this blog, even with the rambling), I will now share with you the two areas in which New Haven completely outpaces Chicago.

1) Recycling. (Maybe environmentalism in general?)
Chicago has had a long flirtation with recycling, but can’t really get it together. It’s not that we don’t care about the environment, it’s just that … we don’t care that much. We were doing something else, and then it got late, and we always leave work at 4:55pm, and then we forgot for a while. We like to bike, and we love our lake, but the logistics of effective curbside recycling continue to elude us.

In New Haven, not only are recycling resources plentiful at school, with bins and reminders everywhere, but also curbside recycling is really easy! If you live on-campus, you’ll have recycling containers outside near the dumpsters you’ll take your trash to. If you live off-campus, you’ll find a blue bin somewhere in your apartment. By keeping an eye out on your street, you’ll be able to figure out that everyone puts their trash and recyclables out one night a week (100 block of Linden – Wednesday night!) for an early morning pickup. The bin will look like this:


(I contemplated putting up a picture of my own bin, but decided against it, to avoid any uncomfortable questions about my Diet Coke consumption. I’m down to one a day … most days.)

You can figure out what to put in the bin at this helpful site from SoHu New Haven. While you’re there, marvel at the fact that “SoHu” is its own neighborhood now.

2. Food from carts.
Having grown up near enough to Philly to understand that soft pretzels are supposed to be smothered with brown mustard, I was initially confused when I found that I couldn’t buy a hotdog from some guy with a cart in the Loop. Apparently they think you need a running hot water hookup to serve food properly. I think that this is why everyone is suddenly allergic to peanuts. Not that I’m hating on people with allergies – I have a cousin and a good friend who are both peanut-intolerant – but has anyone else noticed that everyone is allergic to peanuts these days? My basic assertion is that, like asthma, we'd have fewer food allergies if kids ate more dirt. And while they’re at it, a hotdog.

“The carts” are a wonderful part of life at YDS. I’ve been talking like the only thing you can buy from a cart is a hotdog, but if you’re willing to make the quick drip down to the School of Management at the corner of Prospect and Sachem (and, more daunting, the trip back up the hill) on a weekday around lunch, you’ll be able to take your pick: burritos, Indian, Ethiopian, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese. Sometimes there’s a cupcake truck, too! A complete lunch (food plus a drink) will run you in the neighborhood of $5/$6. That price is so good it deserves its own low-budget local commercial.

If you grew up in Chicago or on the moon, here is a picture of what food from a cart looks like that I stole from the Yale Daily News:


(Again, I considered taking my own photo of a cart in New Haven serving food. Then I remembered that I’m lazy and didn’t want to go downtown today.)

OK, that totally worked. I feel better. Hopefully you feel more informed, too. Long-time CT residents and lurking YDS people, what do YOU love about this city/state?

-Kate

Mail Boxes & Lockers

Sandra is in California this week, which means I’m a little bored, which is translating into a plethora of blog posts. I hope you appreciate this, because on Wednesday I leave for Chicago, and you’ll have to spend six days checking other blogs.

Today, another useful part of daily life at YDS: the commuter lounge. More specifically, what’s in the commuter lounge. The commuter lounge is a, uhm, lounge on the first floor of YDS. To one side is Holy Grounds our preciously named coffee kiosk that we hope you’ll become more familiar with during BTFO. Bookending the commuter lounge are our mailboxes and the commuter lockers.

Everyone at YDS gets assigned a mailbox (below, a shot from Beth, my iPhone, inspired by Michael Wolf, and another of the whole bank of ‘em with fewer pretensions).
Oh, I actually kind of like that one.

You’ll get a key to your very own mailbox during BTFO from Patricia O., YDS’s receptionist extraordinaire. PLEASE CHECK YOUR MAILBOX, at least occasionally. You will get a decent amount of junk mail in here (trying to sell you lecture series rather than carpeting), but there are a few people like me who actually view them as a means of communication and will attempt to drop you notes.

A great mystery to many divvies* are the lockers at the far end of the commuter lounge. Here’s the basic formula:
1) These lockers are available on a first-come-first-serve basis to any and all commuting students.
2) If you do not live in the div school apartments, you are a commuter student. That is, even if your "commute" to school is a five-minute walk, you are a commuter student.
3) They look like this:
The end. If you’d like one, talk to Patricia. You’ll have to bring in your own combo lock, and clean it out at the end of the school year (or the Yale staff will cut your lock and take your stuff).

By the way, my birthday is in April, and if you decorate my locker with Backstreet Boys stuff, I will be your friend forever.

-Kate

*I think I made that word up, and am hoping it will catch on. Please use it in a sentence today.

Updaaaaaate: More on Housing

Ed. note: Put this in a new post because that last one was getting really long. Anyone know how to do cuts in Blogger?

Mike G., Dale's assistant (and YDS's in-house WolframAlpha), points out that for off-campus housing options (that is, those not run by Yale), you should also check out the Yale rentals website. They've also got a link on the left for those interested in buying property, and ones below for looking for roommates, as well as a few links of resources for tenants. (Sadly, the "How Much Rent Can I Afford?" link doesn't work ... perhaps indicative of the fact that I can't, actually, afford any rent? Did it work for anyone else?)

The Yale Off-Campus Rentals Database is sort of a Yale-specific Criagslist, and might be the most valuable thing on there, in my opinion. Their area profiles, although not super-helpful, are kind of adorable and fun, and I am going to send you them again in an email.

Mike says he found his apartment through here, and that there are 4.805 people born every hour in Connecticut, which is good enough for me.

(With apologies to anyone who, like me, is now going to spend three hours on WolframAlpha.)

-Kate

A Few Notes on Housing (Or Rather, a Whole Bunch of Links To Stuff About Housing)

If you're any kind of rational creature, you've already had more than a few thoughts which went something like "But where will I liiiiiiiiiive?" Moving is scary, expensive, and un-fun. I myself love looking at houses (house museums are one of my favorite things in the world - I'd totally be a fan of them if they got a Facebook page), but when it comes to actually packing up and moving? Forget it. I'm about to sign a two-year extension on my lease out of what amounts to complacency.

A few of you all will be living in the Divinity School Apartments, which is awesome for you. You'll be literally steps from campus, and all of your utilities will be included in your rent. One of the few downsides I can see to this arrangement is that these buildings are nothing short of butt-ugly, but you don't need to look at the outside of a structure if you're inside.

For the rest of us (including those of us, like me, who were waitlisted for Div School Apartments and might be a little bitter), here are a few tips:

- There are a LOT of on-campus (or rather, Yale-operated) housing options. You can do dorm-style accommodations through the Grad Student Housing Office. These include the Hall of Graduate Studies, which is very dorm-like (I'm told), but on Yale's main campus. Closer to our campus and similarly dorm-like is 276 Prospect Street. (You'll note that we have a really creative staff when it comes to naming buildings.)

- Then there are a lot of apartment-style options, also run by Yale. The "Science Hill Properties" are the ones which are closest to YDS's campus, and Prospect Gardens is right across the street. I'm sorry that I don't have a whole lot to say about these ... I frankly have very little idea of how they work.

- For those who aren't into renting from mother Yale, you're probably going to want to go the Craigslist route. Search for apartments in "East Rock" and "Mansfield." I pay $1190 (split two ways with the roommate, at $595 apiece) for a large 2-BRDM without heat or electric included. I get the feeling that's a little more than some of my peers are paying, but mine is a new remodel and really very large. (I'd kill for a dishwasher and central A/C in here, for serious.) I will also note that my roommate didn't let us seriously consider any apartments with electric stoves.

- While you're on Craigslist, you'll probably notice a lot of properties put up by Seabury Hill Rentals. They're as close as you can get to an apartment-finding service here, in that they manage a ton of properties, and will make multiple appointments. They were very nice to us during our search, but didn't have much at that moment. A thing called Vacancy Busters exists, but I don't know of anyone who's used them successfully.

And yes, heat is pretty pricey. The opinion of people who have been living in Connecticut longer than me is that the best option for heating is gas, the next-best electric, and oil a dismal third.

Also: PAY ATTENTION to Melissa Pucci's emails! Melissa is a) really fabulous and b) really helpful. Her forwarded apartments didn't pan out for me, but they did for several people. What I really have to thank her for is hooking me up with my roommate - the same one I'm about to sign on for another TWO years with. Melissa sent around a list of other people who'd been waitlisted for Div School Apartments, and after some lengthy email exchanges, D and I were a love match.

The more I write here, the more I think I'm not being very helpful. Sadly, one of the best things you can do to get acclimated is what I did - pick a random weekend and come to New Haven, see a few places, and get a feel for the rental market. My general comments are that I'm surprised at how pricey things are (though we only looked in East Rock, and if you're OK with not being able to walk to campus, your options are greater) - I thought that since I was moving away from a major city I'd be able to get much more bang for my buck.* (I realize in retrospect that I was mostly just spoiled by Chicago; my roommate, moving up from Manhattan, was astounded at how cheap stuff was.)

As per uzh, I welcome all comments and questions; if there's something specific I can help answer, please ask away.

-Kate

* I was also irrationally terrified at the prospect of living in a wooden house - and they're all wooden around here - because we have long memories in the Midwest. So far we have not managed to burn the house down, although today I set a piece of toast on fire in the toaster oven.

Div Dictionary: Refectory

Refectory (n.): Sterling Divinity Quadrangle’s source for meals, unless you REALLY like vending machine food.

Since back-to-back classes on Holy Hill don’t really give you enough time to get down to Yale’s main campus and back for lunch, SDQ is equipped with it’s own cafeteria and dining hall, known as the refectory. The refectory is open from around 7am until 2pm every day, and serves sandwiches, hot lunch entrees, packaged stuff and salads. There’s a grill in the back that I always forget about, and enough soda choices to make anyone happy (until they run out of Diet Coke, which makes me distinctly unhappy).

When you begin the school year, you’ll automatically be charged a $400 board fee. You’ll get that money back though – it’s loaded onto your student ID so that you can use it to purchase food at lunch or between classes (or, for the ambitious among us, before classes too). If you don’t use up all $400 in the fall semester, it will roll over to the spring semester. If you don’t use up all that money during the spring semester, you will never see it again.

To spend $400, you may need to employ a little strategy. Since the refectory stocks canned goods and household items, you can buy a lot of tissues or buy cans and donate them at Marquand chapel (the chapel team puts out a basket and make sure it gets to a deserving charity). Some commuting students buy more than they need to take home to hungry kids or spouses. The staff will also take your points at the end of a term and use them when students like me come to the register with $8.00 worth of food and only $6.57 remaining on their card balance. You could also just be me, and be on campus almost every day for lunch, and run through $400 in no time.

This all sounds a little silly, but please remember – the refectory is hardly a money-making operation. It’s a service provided to us so that we don’t have to rely on the vending machines, or troop all the way down to Commons every day. The refectory also provides space for the community to eat together (in a scant 77 seats, so it’s more like a portion of the community). There’s even a community kitchen in the back where you can store and warm up food, as well as use and wash plates and utensils – remember, jut a few minutes spent over the sink will help reduce YDS’s carbon footprint!

-Kate

Phew!

So that resolution to update the blog every week? Already fallen back on. Dang!

In this season of insane busy-ness (only six more days of classes! ... and three papers, two exams, and one quiz), maybe it's just best to update any readers we've acquired on what exactly keeps us so busy. For me at least, it's rarely my classes that keep me running laps around SDQ like I think it's burning calories.

Two of the most fun features of my days here are chapel and lunch hour. YDS has a million and seven ways to get involved, and a thousand and six ways to worship. From 10:30am - 11:30am, and again from 12:30pm - 1:30pm every day, there are no classes scheduled on Holy Hill. Instead, we worship and eat together.

The 10:30am Marquand service is ecumenical, and takes a very different form each and every day. The only constants are that Wednesdays are always sun morning prayer, and Fridays always feature a Eucharistic celebration of some kind. Lets take a gander at what's going on this week (direct from the Q Source, our weekly e-newsletter):

Monday: "The Healing Balm of God's Word through Song and Dance" Liturgical Dance led by Kathleen Turner with the YDS Liturgical Dance Workshop and the CT Chapter of National Liturgical Dance Network
Tuesday: Quaker Meeting led by YDS fellow Sarah Ruden
Wednesday: Sung Morning Prayer: Songs of the Americas led by Patrick Evans
Thursday: A Bright Week Service in the Byzantine Tradition
Friday: Community Eucharist for the End of Term with Emilie Townes, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, preaching, and Dale Peterson, Dean of Students, presiding.

I'm particularly pumped for Tuesday and Thursday this week, since they're probably the farthest from own faith traditions. You'll get an introduction to worship ethos and etiquette in Marquand during BTFO from the chapel team. Bonus: free food afterwards at coffee hour!

At 12:30pm we have "lunch hour," but since everyone realizes this is often the best chance to get people together, this period is better termed "working lunch hour." Here's a very small sampling of what's going on in my life (direct from my Google calendar):

Monday: St. Luke's Committee meeting (Berkeley's student council-type body)
Tuesday: State of the School Address (our chance to hear Harry Attridge and Emilie Townes's take on how this year went and what's on tap for next year)
Wednesday: LBGTQA prayer vigil for the SoulForce protest at the Vatican UN Offices (I won't really go into details here, so have a link)
Thursday: CORE (Committee on Racial Equality) meeting to talk about next year
Friday (still tentative): Reunion lunch with El Salvador group or BTFO planning with Nichole and Sandra

Annnnnnd that's why I haven't been updating. Sorry. Seriously, though, that's only a random sampling of what's available here on campus. It makes my calendar a little nuts, but I enjoy each and every one of these things. And I look forward to having lunch with you all in August!

-Kate