Oct 21, 2012 | By April Koh TD '14

Freshman year -- I stared at the first one with an offended grimace. Where was that thing from? Was there a pile of dung festering somewhere in my room?

Upon following it with my eyes, I soon discovered its source -- a half-finished cup of coffee left unattended for a mere few hours.

I soon learned that Yale gnats detected even the smallest hint of food and attacked every perishable drop in these dorms. This did not happen in my room back at home. I could leave dirty dishes from midnight snacks piling in my bedroom -- yes, guilty, I'm sorry -- and I would never encounter a fly, at least for a few weeks. A fly at home meant serious business and usually prompted a frantic search for its cause--which was usually something big, like a gallon of sour milk left in the sun in the living room. Something wild like that.