Caltech

Finally, Food!

Hey everyone!

I hope you've all been having a great week and are looking forward to your winter breaks! It is currently finals week here at Caltech but there's a lot going on other than finals. Every term during finals, Caltech Dining Services provides students with a variety of snacks in addition to normal meals. Two of the most exciting events during finals week are Snake Kits and Midnight Madness.

For two nights during finals week, students get a chance to head to one of the kitchens on campus and fill up a take out box with a ton of food, incluing appetizers, fruit, cookies, nachos, candy and more. All the food is arranged buffet style, so you can take as much (or little) of the snack foods. Also, the Snake Kits event is always held after dinner, so it's super useful when late night studying/taking finals.

However, one of my favorite events of the term is Midnight Madness. At most schools, Midnight Madness describes the huge event every October that kicks off basketball season. Midnight Madness at Caltech is a little different; it's a super exciting event held the Tuesday of finals week every quarter. At 11:30 pm, Chandler Dining Hall (main dining hall on campus) opens up for students to eat delicious breakfast foods prepared by important Caltech administartors, including President Jean Lou Chameau. The food includes pizzas, crepes, omlettes, waffles and amazing Fry Girl mini donuts. It's really fun hanging out with friends and relaxing during the middle of finals week. Here are a few pictures from the madness:

Some yummy foods from the buffet line during Midnight Madness!

 Although I stopped by later at night, there were still a lot of people.

 Delicious crepes made by important Caltech people (see next picture).

One of the many stations during Midnight Madness!

 Yummy Fry Girl mini donuts topped with either powdered sugar or cinnamon :D My favorite part of Midnight Madness!

Although finals are stressful, I really appreciate that Caltech has these events for students to destress and eat some yummy foods. My next post will probably be about finals and a reflection of the entire term. Here's a fun song I've been listening to - enjoy!

-Neeli

A Much Needed Thanksgiving Break!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Hope you all spent lots of quality time with your loved ones and are thankful for all that you have. I certainly am :)

This was the first year I spent Thanksgiving away from home. Since my family lives on the East Coast, I figured that I would stay at Tech for the break and just fly home for winter break in a couple of weeks. After finishing classes on Wednesday afternoon, I spent the evening relaxing, going to the gym and sleeping early (after a long time). 

The next day, our House hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for all the students staying at Tech over break. I was surprised to see about a hundred students attend the dinner. The great thing about Thanksgiving dinner at your House at Caltech is that most of the food is prepared by the students. In Avery, since we have Faculty in Residence, they help us out a lot and oversee a lot of the cooking and preparations. For the days leading up to Thanksgiving, we helped wash and cut veggies and prepare the stuffing. On the day of the dinner, preparation started at 10 am with cooking, baking and table setting. Dinner started at 4:30 pm. The food was served in our kitchen and we ate in the dining hall. Here are some pictures from the event!

 
The dinner menu! YUM!!


The dining hall, ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Our dinner table with food, cider and sparkling water!

Centerpieces made of real herbs, leaves and berries! And cranberry sauce in the middle :)

The food was really delicious and it was wonderful knowing that we were the ones who cooked it! I also was very thankful that I was able to spend Thanksgiving with a lot of my friends - I had never done anything like it before and it was a lot of fun.

After food coma-ing and falling asleep on Thanksgiving night, my friends and I went out Black Friday shopping. We decide to avoid the midnight rush and instead go out in the morning (around 9 am). Since none of us have cars, we took the Pasadena ARTS bus to Old Pasadena, the downtown area of Pasadena. Public transportation in Pasadena/Los Angeles is quite good and can get you to where you need to be for a very reasonable price. Anyway, Old Pas is a great place to shop, eat and watch shows. We ended up buying a lot of clothes, accessories and other miscellaneous items. After grabbing lunch, we also went to my favorite bakery - Dot's Cupcakes - and bought a few mini-sized cupcakes to take back with us. My roommate and I also purchased some Christmas lights for our door and decorated our room for the holidays. Here are some pictures (my roommate is a great artist and drew the pictures on our white board!):

The artist!

Holiday roommates!

The completed door!
 

Black Friday shopping was really fun, but also very tiring (another early night to bed). I spent the rest of my weekend finishing up sets for the term and starting studying for finals (which are in two weeks!).

I hope you all had a great time off from school and are excited for the holidays! Definitely my favorite time of year :D Here is something I was listening to today while working. It's not only a song, but an entire liveset (a collection of songs that a DJ plays at a live event). Enjoy!

Neeli 
 

Avery Formal Dinner!

Hey everyone!

This past week has been my favorite week of term because of a single, amazing event. This occasion is known as formal dinner! Held once a term in each house, formal dinner is a time where everyone gets to dress up, invite a guest (if they would like) and eat delicious food, prepared specifically for the House! In Avery House, since we do not typically have waited dinners, waiters from the Athenaeum (faculty club on campus) get to serve us food – so fancy :)

Prior to the start of dinner, we host a reception where we all mingle and munch on hors d’oeuvres in Avery Library. It typically lasts half an hour and at least ½ of my pictures are taken there :P  

Roommate (Sandra F.) and I posing during reception (photocredit to Ran Y.)

With fellow sophomores, Jacob S. and Jarvis L. (photocredit to Ran Y.)

With friends, Vivian Y. and Jackie W. (photocredit to amazing photographer, James Li!)

Afterwards, we all flood into the dining hall and grab a table to sit at with our friends. The tables are decorated fancily with tablecloths, place settings and center pieces.

Pretty tables with appetizers ready for us to eat!

The pretty centerpieces! And we get to take them back with us at the end of dinner :)

The dinner menu typically consists of an appetizer, one meat entrée, one vegetarian entrée, and a dessert. The menu is pictured below.

Doesn't that look so good?!

In addition to food on the menu, we also get fresh, flaky, delicious croissants and Athenaeum strawberry lemonade (a favorite of all students at Caltech). They’re so yummy! And we can ask for unlimited refills. Definitely my favorite parts of the meal.

Best. Croissants. Ever.

Yay! Athenaeum Strawberry Lemonade!

After dinner, we all hang around in the dining hall and take more pictures with friends and our alleys. Here are some of the pictures!

Alley Five group picture (photocredit to James Li)

Picture of friends wearing all white!

The "Li" picture (all of their last names are Li!)

Picture of Team Gotcha (intense game played in Avery) directors!

Classy Starcraft fans!

Overall, formal dinner was really fun this term and I can’t wait till the next one! Here’s another fun song for you all to check out. Talk to you all soon :D

 

Midterms Week!

Hi everyone!

Sorry about the long wait between blog posts – midterms have just ended and I have finally gotten a chance to breathe! This term, three of my classes had midterm exams: Ch41a, Ma2a and ACM95a. Each of these were four hour, take-home tests with slight differences; my Ch41a exam had to be taken with closed books and notes, the ACM95a exam allowed hand-written notes but no book and the Ma2a midterm could be taken with both open notes and book. As you can see, classes at Caltech administer exams in different ways – some classes do not even have tests (just problem sets, essays and/or projects).

Prior to midterm and final exams, most classes hold an exam review section where either the professor or the head TA spends an hour reviewing the material covered on the exams. Typically these are useful for seeing examples of key concepts and figuring out what you need to study more. Furthermore, your TA typically has a mini-review session during recitation section the week of midterms/finals. Overall, I feel the professors and TAs do a very good job indicating which topics are important and need to be studied more thoroughly.

Although most students usually have more finals than midterms, midterms “week” is generally more stressful, Unlike finals week, we are not given a week without classes and problem sets to study and take exams – midterms are usually handed out the Friday before the 5^th weekend of term and are due the next Tuesday or Wednesday. Therefore, you need to finish up studying, take the exams and do problem sets for the following week during that weekend. So much work!!

Anyway, time to wait for midterm grades to come out. Here’s a song I’ve been listening to, hoping to make the wait a bit less painful :P Sorry for the lack of pictures - I'll try to make up for it in my next post!

Neeli

 

SURF Seminar Day!

Hi everyone!

This post will be about SURF Seminar Day. For those of you who don't know, SURF stands for Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. It's a great program that introduces undergrads to research and the grant-writing process and gives us the opportunity to work with mentors at Caltech or JPL. To find out more about the program/application process, you should check out the website here.

Last summer, I participated in an off-campus SURF. Most students SURF at Caltech during the summer, working with mentors around campus or at JPL. Although I wanted to participate in the SURF program, I also wanted to go home to Princeton during my first summer of college. Therefore, I decided to work with a professor at Princeton, while being co-mentored by another professor here at Caltech. The application process was the same and I received the same stipend as other students. I had a great summer and was able to both work and spend time with my family and friends.

At the end of the summer, after all the research has been carried out, the students submit both a final report and prepare a presentation for SURF Seminar Day. Students have the option of coming up with a 15 minute Powerpoint presentation or designing a poster to present to the general public for 1.5 hours. I decided to do a poster presentation for this summer's SURF project.

I think everyone had a great time speaking to professors and other students during SURF Seminar Day and we were able to see the wide variety of research being carried out at Caltech. Below are some pictures from the poster presentation viewing.

Here's my poster from SURF Seminar Day! [photo credit: Sandra F.]

Some students presenting posters while others watch and ask questions [photo credit: Sandra F.]

Another picture of me presenting my poster [photo credit: Sandra F.]

Here's a cool song that has been at the top of my playlist. The topic of my next post: MIDTERMS! (time to study!)

Neeli

My classes this term!

Hey everyone! I can't believe it's already the fourth week of classes. Being on the quarter system, our terms are only ten weeks long. This is quite different from other schools on the semester system, with 15 to 16 week terms. There are benefits and disadvantages to both systems, but in the end they aren't all that different. Anyway, midterms are quickly approaching so I need to start devoting my time to studying for these crucial exams. Yikes!

This term, I am taking five classes: ACM 95/100a, Ph2a, Ma2a (analytic track), Ch41a and PS 12. I was also enrolled in a squash class, but it was cancelled since there weren't enough people signed up for it. Let me tell you a little bit about each class.

ACM 95/100a: This class is technically called "Introductory Methods of Applied Mathematics". The entire course takes three terms to complete, so I will be taking ACM 95b and ACM 95c my winter and spring terms. However, this term we will be focusing on methods of complex analysis. My professor’s name is Niles Pierce. He is also the Executive Officer of the Bioengineering Department, so I can speak with him whenever I have questions about my option! He is a very intelligent man and a great lecturer – I feel like I understand all the lectures (so far) and am enjoying the class a lot. We just turned in our second problem set last Friday. Also, picked up my first problem set and I’m doing quite well in the class so far! Yay :D

Ph2a: “Waves, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical Physics”. This class lasts two terms (I’ll take Ph2b next term). We are being taught by Professor Chris Martin. He also is a terrific lecturer and explains the material at a reasonable pace, with many in-class demonstrations. However, the problem sets in this class require a lot of time and work, so it is one of my harder classes this term.

Ma2a (analytic track): The name of this course is “Differential Equations, Probability, and Statistics”. Last year, I took to the practical track of all my math courses, so switching to the analytic track was a little shock. However, my professor Nikolai Makarov is fantastic and am able to follow everything he explains during lectures. Also, my TA is really great (Alden Walker) and his supplementary recitation notes are very helpful when doing problem sets.

Ch41a: This class is called “Organic Chemistry” – as a requirement for biology, chemistry, BioE and ChemE majors, this class is well known at Caltech. This course lasts for three terms as well, although the professor changes every quarter. This term, my professor’s name is Dennis Dougherty and is a very good lecturer (he won a prestigious teaching award a few years ago). The course is very fast paced and requires a lot of outside studying, so I’m devoting a lot of time to it. This is also my only class with in-class quizzes (most classes at Caltech have take-home exams, governed by the Honor Code).

PS12: I am also taking "Introduction to Political Science" to fulfill my second introductory social science requirement. Since my mom is a political science major, I decided to take this class to see what the field is all about. My professor's name is Peter Ordeshook. He's a unique lecturer and everytime I leave the lecture hall, I feel like I've gained a different persepective of the world. The grading scheme for this class is pretty different from the classes I've taken so far; the entire grade is determined only by the final exam. Although it is nice in some senses, it is also incredibly nervewracking!

Anyway, I really enjoy all the courses I’m taking this term so doing the work isn’t too bad. And whenever I need to take a break, I hang out with people around the House, go on boba runs and rock out to some good music. For example, this song has been (slightly overplayed) on my playlist :P Look forward to blogging about SURF Seminar Day soon! (also sorry for having no pictures in this post!)

Rotation Week

Heya! Sorry for not blogging earlier – these last two weeks have been extremely busy and I am just getting around to posting. First of all, thank you to everyone who read my first blog post! I have never really blogged before, so this is a new experience for me. But it’s fun! And I like sharing my experiences and photos with all of you, so it’s all good.

As I mentioned in my first post, last week was Rotation. Although it is one of the busiest events of the year, I’m sure everyone had a blast meeting new Techers during the Rotation lunches and dinners. Although each House does something different for the meals, most have a pre- and post- dinner reception. In Avery, we love playing games. Any type – board games, card games, video games, outdoor games – is super fun. Therefore, for our post-dinner receptions, we held game nights including Rock Band, Super Smash Brothers, mafia, a variety of board games and more. In addition to all the gaming, we also had an ice cream sundae station. Overall, it was a great atmosphere where everyone could relax and get to know each other.

On some days, our Chancellor would dress up for Rotation meals :P

In addition to the Rotation meals, we also hosted two fun events during the week, open to everyone on campus. The first was Ultimate Water Balloon (UWB), held on the first Saturday of Rotation. UWB is a game very similar to Ultimate Frisbee, where the goal is to throw a water balloon to other members of your team and scoring in the opposite endzone. The game is quite fun on a hot day with a lot of people. After advertising around campus, we had a huge turnout and played several rounds of the game until we ran out of all 400 water balloons.

Our second event was Boba Night, held on the Friday before Rotation ended (second-to-last day of Rotation). Also advertised to everyone, we bought several hundred cups of bubble tea, in a variety of flavors including original milk tea, green tea, black, thai milk tea and taro milk tea. All the cups had a few scoops of boba, which are small, black-colored tapioca balls. They are quite chewy and provide a nice balance to the sweetness of the tea. This event also had a huge turnout and people had fun sipping their drinks while talking and playing games.  

So much boba!

And so many different types!

Julia S. posing with all the boba tea!

We wanted to make sure all the prefrosh got boba...

Rose M. and Jessica Y. explaining the different types of boba to the prefrosh

Overhead view of Avery Boba night!

People playing table tennis

People playing Rock Band!

Prefrosh enjoying their boba tea

After the last Rotation meal on Saturday, the prefrosh submitted their Rotation rankings and had the rest of the day to relax and have fun before finding out which Houses they were in the next day. Saturday evening, we hosted our annual End of Rotation party, where prefrosh could celebrate their first two fun weeks at Tech. With awesome music and a great ambiance, I’m sure everyone in attendance had a good time.

End-of-Rotation party!

In my next post, I will talk about my first two weeks of classes as a sophomore bioengineer! Also, here’s my song selection for this post – an awesome song by Markus Schulz.

-Neeli

 

New Student Orientation!

Hello to everyone out there reading this blog! My name is Neeli and I am a second-year bioengineering student here at Tech. Apart from doing problem sets and studying for classes, I enjoy listening to electronic music, socializing with friends and exploring Pasadena/LA.

I've just finished my first day of second-year classes. As you may have noticed, I am avoiding the term sophomore since at Caltech, second-year students are still called “frosh” until the cannon fires at the end of Rotation. For those of you who don’t know what Rotation is, it’s a cool process Caltech uses to place prefrosh (first-year students before Rotation) into one of the eight houses (Avery, Blacker, Dabney, Fleming, Lloyd, Page, Ricketts and Ruddock). During the first week of classes, new students go to one lunch and one dinner at each of the Houses, to get a feel of the unique House cultures and traditions. At the end of the week, the prefrosh rank the houses and after a secret sorting process, the prefrosh are inducted into a house! I had lots of fun last year exploring the Houses as a prefrosh and made many friends in the process.

I arrived at Caltech a little over a week ago for New Student Orientation. After a few days of buying last minute things from Target and Costco and setting up my room, it was time for freshman check-in! After waking up early that Sunday morning, I headed over to the Center of Student Services (CSS) to help set up materials for the day-long check-in event. Excited students and their families began arriving and picking up their temporary housing assignments. After doing so, the upperclassmen student volunteers helped families find the different Houses and move luggage into the prefrosh rooms. Later that day, the new students had Convocation and a picnic at President Chameau’s house. Although I missed Convocation, I attended the picnic to meet my UCC group!

This is President Chameau's house! You will probably come here twice: before classes start your freshman year and right before you graduate.

Two UCC's (Wesley C. and Dan C.) at the President's Picnic, starting to meet their prefrosh groups.

Prefrosh beginning to grab their dinners. The food was cooked by Tom Mannion and his staff - it was delicious!

UCC’s are upperclassmen camp counselors for Frosh Camp. Since Caltech is such a small school, we can afford to do some really awesome things – including sending the new students to a resort on Ventura Beach for a three-day orientation, called Frosh Camp! As one of the four UCC’s from Avery House, I was assigned a group of eight awesome prefrosh to counsel at Frosh Camp. Although I met them briefly during the picnic, I really got to know them and answer their questions about Caltech during Frosh Camp. Without giving away all the awesomeness embodied in those three days, I’ll include a few pictures from some memorable events.

On our way to Frosh Camp!

The new students congregating in the lobby of the resort.

Most of my awesome UCC group! (from left to right, Ben G., Shalini M., Eric P., Alex B., Anna L., me, Dae Hyun K.)

At the beach for the first of many times :)

Group picture before one of the programs (from left to right, Alex B., Dae Hyun K., Anna L., Doreen C., Eric P., Ben G., Shalini M., Luc A.)

Rushing to one of the activities!

Solving a puzzle together.

More teamwork!

Prefrosh dancing to a K-pop song at the talent show.

Musical duet singing and playing guitar.

Luc A. displaying his impressive workout routine!

During my free time there, I hung out with some of my upperclassmen friends who were also UCC’s. Although the weather wasn’t too warm, we spent a lot of time on the beach playing volleyball and Frisbee in addition to just relaxing. It was also Wesley C.’s birthday (Chancellor of Avery House!) on the first day of Frosh Camp, so we surprised him with a cake and card. It was great going back to Ventura Beach and I had lots of fun at Frosh Camp.

Playing with glowsticks!

Fun nights on the beach :)

Playing frisbee with Jarvis L. (in addition to Jessica Y. and Sam R.)

Celebrating our Chancellor's birthday! (from left to right, Vivian Y., Jessica Y., Laura C., Wesley C., Jacob S.)

Alright, I think that’s all for this blog post. In a later post, I’ll talk about Rotation and my classes. Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you all with an awesome song I’ve been listening to on repeat :P

Avicii-Levels (remember to listen at 720p!)

-Neeli