During the week of Monday, August 29 through Monday, September 4, the University of New Haven welcomed in both new and returning students with a week full of activities. Saturday, September 3 was dedicated to off-campus trips throughout Connecticut.
One trip offered was to Mystic Aquarium, which offered a day full of experiencing the beauty of marine animals while also learning about them. The aquarium hosted a Sea Lion Show where the trainers presented their favorite flipper flapping rescued residents that had some impressive tricks to share with the audience.
One sea lion demonstrated how they can swim up to 25 miles per hour while the group received much applause from the audience as they jumped out of the water and did flips. At one point, they even came out into the crowd and waved their flippers at the audience.
Students also got to experience a 4D short film of Angry Birds in the theater, the new frog exhibit, and shark and stingray touch tanks.
Freshman Kelsie Pace said, “I loved seeing the Beluga whales! They were so cute that I even bought a stuffed beluga at the gift shop!”
Another trip was to the Adventure Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Students got to go climbing and zip lining on the various courses offered. Easier courses were 25 feet off the ground and then the hardest course was 60ft off the ground.
They were all given harnesses and learned how to safely travel from course to course. Each one had many obstacles for them to choose from, for example walking over logs and planks, climbing through things, and then flying through the air on a zip line to finish off each course.
Winter Lauch said, “It was definitely a challenging course, especially for me because I’m scared of heights. I was so proud of myself when I got through three of the five courses. But I know I couldn’t have done it without my roommates and new friends cheering me on along the way.”
Samantha Kiss and Ife Cambell said, “This course was so much fun and a great experience!”, “The course was way more exercise than I have encountered in a while, however it was very fun!”
The trip to Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut was full of going on rides and eating lots of food.
There were classic amusement park rides and then some bigger roller coasters like Boulder Dash, which is an old wooden coaster that travels through the woods.Also, Wildcat is another old wooden coaster, which really tosses its passengers around.
Students enjoyed having cheese fries and fried oreos and other treats for lunch. Kat Athaide and
Meghan Brown said, “We both thought it was nice to get off of campus, perfect weather for being outside all day, and it was great roommate bonding because we got to spend time with each other outside of UNH.”
Other students went and hiked Sleeping Giant where they got to experience some breathtaking views of Connecticut. The mountain is located eight miles north of New Haven, and is over 30-miles full of different trails.
Rebecca Satzberg said, “The hike was a ton of fun. It wasn’t difficult, but it was challenging. There were rock scrambles where we were climbing up just rocks, there were some cliff like edges up high that made for a fun climb. We got confused on the trails a bit, but overall it was a ton of fun and the views were really beautiful!”
Welcome Week provided an exciting transition for new and old students alike who are now fully prepared to begin their semesters, but also now have the insight on the various opportunities offered off campus when they need a break from the books.
