Caltech

ASB Day 4: Rebuilding a Low-Income Family House with Habitat for Humanity

    Today, we woke up at the crack of dawn for our final day of ASB in San Diego. We were excited for our shift to help rebuild a low-income family house in El Cajon with Habitat for Humanity.

    We arrived at the site bright and early ready to work! The leader of the site gave us more information about Habitat and the particular house we were going to help rebuild. Habitat is a non-profit organization that rebuilds and builds houses to provide safe and affordable living places for low-income families. The particular house we worked on really needed to be rebuilt: it had not been properly taken care of for over a decade, becoming infested with rodents, termites and cockroaches and the water and electric systems were breaking down!

In front of the low-income family house we helped rebuild with Habitat for Humanity.

    Therefore, this house became a Habitat house because it had health and safety issues and the homeowners were not able to afford fixing it. When this house had initially been fumagated, almost a hundred rodents that were trying to escape were caught and killed by traps!!

    Habitat relies on the work of staff and thousands of volunteers to make clean, safe, affordable and energy efficient houses. Our building leader started off as a volunteer 20 years ago and is now working for Habitat. Apparently, around 15 volunteers per site help build everyday. A group of us started of working on digging a trench next to the house so that water would flow away from the house so that the foundation would not be detrimentally affected. There had been trees initially planted but had grown so large the the roots were undermining the stability of the house. So when we were digging, we found many roots stuck in the ground next to the house and had to hack at them to remove them.

Digging to clear a trench for water flow away from the house.

We worked for a few hours to finish the project:

Success!

    Then, after lunch, we moved on to our second project that was too compactly fill in the large trench for the pipe that would direct the sewage water away from the house to the treatment facility. The pipe had been designed to be at a decline so the water would naturally flow away from the house but we had to compactly fill in dirt layer by layer and not change the angle of decline of the pipe.

Before beginning work: the sewage pipe leading water away from the house to the treatment facility. We would need to meticulously compactly fill in this trench without changing the angle of decline of the pipe.

Thus, we filled in the dirt a few inches at a time and stamped with our feet to pack down the dirt:

Stamping down the layer of dirt to compactly fill in the trench.

    With the beams of sunshine beating down on us combined with the toils of manual labor, we had to manage working hard and taking water breaks. We really worked up a sweat with the constant digging and filling in. In addition, we had to make sure to use proper position and posture to reduce strain and injury.

Digging dirt to fill in the trench.

After the dirt level had reach a foot above the pipe, we could use a dirt compacter to pack down the dirt since it would not change the angle as much anymore.

Laying in loose dirt to be stamped down by the dirt compacter machine.

After a few hours of constant digging and compacting, we could visibly see the progress of our hard work. 

Success!

We also worked on putting up insulation on the walls of the house. This will make the house more energy efficient by slowing down the movement of heat through the walls.

Measuring the fiberglass insulation for the walls.

Stapling the insulation to cover the walls.

After a hard day's work!

    After a long day of toiling under the hot Southern California sun, we definitely gained a deeper appreciation for the hard work and hours needed to rebuild substandard housing and also learned about the importance of taking action providing clean, decent, and stable housing to those in need to prevent health, physical safety, and security issues. We were happy about how we could visible see the improvments we had contributed to the rebuilding process! A great conclusion to a fantastic and empowering trip that increased our awareness of the realities of the world around us especially of those who are less fortunate and put in perspective our impact on the environment!

ASB Day 3: Riverbed Cleanup and Storm Drain Stenciling

    Today, we drove inland to Lakeside, which is almost near the desert to do a riverbed cleanup with the Lakeside's River Park Conservancy. We meet Monica, one of the Conservancy's wild life biologists at the trail and some other regular volunteers. Apparently, this area used to belong to the natives before they were moved to reservations and they had planted many edible plants that still grow to this day. This trail is frequented by members of the community: joggers, walkers and horseback riders. Thus, it was important to clear the plants that have overgrown the trail to ensure the safety of all those that use this popular trail.

    We not only picked up trash from the trail, but also cleared the path of non-native plants. We used  our hands and feet to pull up the non-native plants and for the more tough plants, we used knives/machete-like garden tools to cut them up. Then, we used brooms to brush away the loose branches and dirt. It was excellent physical exercise and the air was really fresh because it had just rained and there was a light drizzle. We covered about a mile and a half of thick vegetation and the path was much safer for people to use. 

Clearing the trail of overgrown non-native and native plants.

    Monica pointed out many of the native and non-native plants. For instance, some of the non-native plants were planted by settlers from Europe such as daisies and the Palos Verde tree because they were pretty or for food. We learned how there is a huge variety of plants that are surprisingly edible. For instance, Monica showed us white sage, which smells very potent and is bought for $8/lb as the supermarket, and black sage, which smells somewhat less potent. With white sage, we could use the leaves to make tea as well in a 1:4 leaf to cups of water ratio or in food. There were buckwheat plants everywhere and when it becomes dry, it can be grounded up into flour to make all sorts of yummy baked goods. There were many varieties of mustard plants and we found Peruvian pepper plants, which can be ground up to make pepper. In addition, miner's lettuce is very rich in Vitamin C and tasted pretty good! We could make a very healthy salad just by picking up the edible plants in the wildlife and sustain ourselves by living off the land -- just like the natives did hundreds of years ago. 

    In the afternoon after lunch, we drove to the offices of "I love a Clean San Diego" and picked up our painting kits in order to stencil local storm drains in order to prevent sotmr water pollution. We used paint to stencil a message on the curb of a storm drain that says "NO DUMPING GOES TO OCEAN/ NO TIRAR BASURA LLEGA AL MAR."

In the process of using the stencil to paint signs on the curbs next to storm drains.

    Storm drain stenciling is effective in educating the public about the connection between local waterways and the ocean. Apparently, about 80% of litter and pollutatst in the ocean originates from inland areas and not from beach-goers and is washed down to the ocean through storm drains and waterways. Even though the water from homes goes through sewer treatment to be treated, the trash, runoff, and debris along streets and outdoor areas that enters the storm drain system travels untreated to waterways beaches and the ocean. Ocean polluntants threatens and endangers wildlife, threatens human health and quality of life. 

In the process of painting!

Thus, we walked around downtown San Diego stenciling the signs on the curbs next to storm drains using our painting kits. In the beginning we actually used too much paint onto the stencil but we learned that we had to dab for the letters to come out more clearly.

Our finished storm drain sign!

    Today, we gained perspective of how the environment provides invaluable resources for us. Therefore, it is our duty to not only be conscious of the impact of our own actions and protect the environment, but also make other people aware in preventing detrimental effects to our natural world. 

ASB Day 2: Beach Cleanup and Exploring San Diego

    Today was the second day of San Diego ASB trip. When we were wary of the rain but this morning, we drove to Spanish landing of the San Diego Bay, which is the beach we adopted with the organization I love a Clean San Diego. Adopt-a-beach is nation wide program but is run in San Diego by I love a Clean San Diego. I had contacted and worked with the organization's volunteer coordinator beforehand and registered online, picking Spanish Landing as our beach to adopt.

    When we arrived, we had a presentation on the importance of maintaining clean beaches with no trash. Martiza, the presenter from I love a Clean San Diego, showed us the huge detrimental and dangerous effects to the environment and wildlife that trash can have. For instance, she explained that many birds eat non-degradable trash such as metal bottle caps that can accumulate in their stomachs so they can die of malnutrition because they have no room to digest food. She showed us the contents that were found in a albatross's stomach and there were a dozen metal parts in the jar! In addition animals such as seals can get caught in nets as well. Then, we passed out the supplies which included trash and recycling bags, latex gloves and tally sheets to record the trash we find. This tally is important because if there is a noticeable and significant trend in what we find or pick up, then the government may take action to prevent it. For instance, the plastic loops that used to be prevalent around beaches that could strangle birds and other animals are no rarely seen. We went around in teams of two and braved the hail and rain and covered around 2 miles of beach. Popular trash items were cigarette butts (Athena and I found almost a hundred!!) and plastic wrappers like from candy.

At Spanish Landing for Adopt-a-beach.

    After Adopt-a-beach, we decided to visit the USS marine aircraft carrier ship, which is a naval aviation museum, and walked around the San Diego Bay.

USS Midway Aircraft carrier.

We saw a lot of pelicans nose diving into the water to hunt for food. In addition, there seemed to be a sailing competition as the winds were perfect for sailing!

Our group exploring the San Diego bay area.

It was the perfect day for sailing!

Many pelicans were on the hunt for lunch!

    In the afternoon, the rain was still sporadically going on interspersed with periods of sunshine. We visited Balboa Park, which is anything but a conventional park: it consists of a plethora of museums, art galleries, gardens and interesting sites to see! To name a few, the San Diego Zoo, Natural History Museum, Aerospace Museum, Botanical Gardens are all associated with Balboa Park. 

San Diego's Balboa Park-- beautiful architecture!

    We visited the Timken Museum of Art, an art gallery that consisted of many intriguing pieces of art from France, Russia, Ireland, etc. and some American pieces. 

    We had front row seats for an outdoor organ concert, which is every Sunday at 2pm. This is largest outdoor organ in the Western Hemisphere with over 4500 pipes! 

Largest outdoor organ in the Western Hemisphere with ampitheatre like seating.

    The organ master was Dr. Carol Williams and she played a wide repertoire of music ranging from the 18th century to contemporary music from Bach to a piece she had composed herself! We were fortunate enought to literally get front row seats-- onstage a meter away from her performing!! We got a close up view of how she played with her hands and feet, controlled the volume, changed notes and even could play different sets of drums and cymbals as well! I was mesmerized with her hand, eye and feet coordiation, the agility of her movements and the ease of which she played!

Front row seats at the outdoor organ concert.

The sound actually emits from the open slits of the pipes.

View of the pipes and the drums and cymbals behind the organ pipes.

Next to the outdoor organ!

    Then, we visited the United Nations village, where each different cottage in the village represented many countries from around the world and not only housed interested books, artifacts, clothes, but also the hosts in each cottage were from the country and served the specialty food of the country. For instance, the German cottage served delicious tea, the English house served perfect hot black tea and the  Danish house served yummy creamy pastries. We travelled around the world without leaving the US!

Cultural display in the House of Iran in the United Nations Village.

    We also visited the Botanical Gardens and all different types of orchids of every imaginable color were in bloom!! It was a feast for the eyes and we were all taking pictures to capture the beauty.

Botanical Gardens.

Inside the Botanical gardens!

Beautiful orchids in the Botanical Gardens!

    Then, we headed to Old Town San Diego for dinner at Old Town Mexican Cafe, where we could watch ladies hand making flour and corn tortillas through the front windows. This area was unique in that all the buildings had historial architecture reminiscent of an old Western movie-- there was even a blacksmith, saloon, etc. We ordered authentic and delicious Mexican food. My chicken enchillada with green salsa was spicy and tantalizing! What a great end to the day!

First Day of ASB in San Diego: Empowering Underprivileged Women and Children

    Today was the first day of the our San Diego Alternative Spring break trip! We departed from Caltech super early at 7:30am in the morning to drive down to San Diego. We arrived to volunteer at the 23rd Annual Women's Resouce Fair at the San Diego Civic Center hosted by the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program organized annually by a Task Force made up of volunteers from the San Diego community. Even though the weather was gloomy and overcast, our spirits were high as we were eager to help out. We learned from Fair organizers that the fair provides a huge variety of social, medical and legal services, as well as employment information and shelter referrals for low-income, recovering, homeless and abused women and their children. This wide spectrum of services is funded by  Lawyers Club of San Diego, the San Diego County Bar Association and the San Diego County Bar Foundation.

     In this outreach program, there were so many providers with a huge volunteer force was in attendance. 

Hundreds of volunteers and attendees.

    In addition, there was a Medical Area with organizations ranging from Nurse Associations to Mental Hospitals to substance abuse help. Many nurses, lab technicians, and doctors were onsite to provide medical assistance. There were many medical examination rooms doing mammograms, pregnancy education, STD testing, pap smears, dental screening and massage therapy. There was even a Cosmetology school providing manicures. 

Medical Section of the Women's Resource Fair

Various medical services were provided by health care volunteers.    

    The social services volunteers provided include domestic and sexual assault services; education and employment advice; food, nutrition, health, legal, parenting and drug recovery counseling. In addition, there were many useful and practical workshops ranging from Self-Defense to Mary Kay Make Up Tutorial to Career Counseling to Job Search. A large section of the Fair was legal clinics that provided legal counseling with volunteer lawyers. 

Mary Kay Make Up Tutorial.

Job search Seminar.

Self-defense workshop.

    There was a large children's center that catered to mother and children needs such as health care and learning. There were even tooth fairies walking around giving out tooth brushes to promote healthy dental care. 

Our group got a picture with the toothfairies, who were handing out toothbrushes.

     There were around 400 women and children who attended and our task was to hand out lunches and gift sacks to all of the participants and volunteers. We started out with large mountains of sack lunches but the joy and gratitude from the women who were thankful for our help made our work load easier.

 The mountains of lunches for the hundreds of volunteers and attendees.

Working!

Success!

We also hand delivered sack lunches and waters to the hundred of volunteers. Even though the weather was overcast, we enthusiastically worked with underprivileged women and volunteered our time to help them find the resource and guidance they needed to improve their skill set and quality of their lives. Through interacting with San Diego women and children in need, we gained exposure to those who are less fortunate than us. It was a busy but fruitful day.

Caltech Y Alternative Spring Break Trip to San Diego

    Woooo!!! Finals are over and it's finally Spring Break! :) Unlike past years, this year's Spring Break is going to be two weeks instead of one and I'm looking forward to the Caltech Y's annual Alternative Spring Break. I am a student leader and organized the trip to San Diego with fellow undergrad and Excomm member Sara Ahmed. The Caltech Y, formed originally as a part of the greater YMCA, is a student run organization founded in 1916 and encourages students to become responsible citizens and cultivates leadership skills by planning and executing activities in the community. I've been on the Caltech Y's student executive committee since freshman year as a way to empower me and other students to lead initiatives and programs from start-up through completion, giving us the tools we need to excel in life. Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a fantastic yearly program to promote community engagement and activism for Techers outside of the classroom. We will leave Caltech's bubble full of academics and research not only to do our small part in helping the less fortunate but also put in perspective and experience the reality of the world, connecting tomorrow’s leaders with their environment.

    In the many weeks leading up to Spring Break, Sara and I worked together to choose volunteer sites on projects that will broaden students’ worldviews on environmental, social and economic issues. We wanted to focus on outdoor activities so we could enjoy the San Diego weather and environment and also gain perspective on socioeconomic issues. We contacted several sites to confirm volunteer activities and lodging and coordinated with Athena Castro and Greg Fletcher, amazing staff at the Caltech Y, to set up logistics as well. Over the next four days, we will be working to clean up beaches with I love a Clean San Diego, river bed cleanup with Lakeside's River Park Conservancy, helping rebuild houses with Habitat for Humanity, and storm drain stenciling mixed in with some exploring of San Diego. 

    Tomorrow we will hit the road bright and early for San Diego at 7 am! I will be chronicling our every day adventures here so stay tuned!

Academics and Research Student Committee at Caltech

    The Caltech Academics and Research Committee (ARC) is formed up of student representatives from each of the houses with several representatives-at-large, a chair and secretary. Our formal mission is to act as a liason between students and faculty to facilitate communication about academics and research at Caltech. Prominent issues that we tackle include improving the quality of learning and teaching and increasing student-faculty interaction at Caltech. I have been involved since my freshman year as a rep-at-large, house representative and this year, I am the ARC secretary.

    Many students love Caltech for the high caliber academics and top notch research. We have several regular events that work towards increasing student-faculty interaction and improve the quality of learning. You may have heard about the amazing student:faculty ratio here at Caltech of 3:1 which is pretty much unheard of at other top institutions!!! The ARC holds biweekly Student Faculty Lunches (SFLs) where we invited half a dozen professors to have lunch with students, who sign up by email. Students and faculty enjoy delicious catered food and stimulating and intersting conversation in a casual and relaxed environment. SFLs are usually well attended and there is great interest since students can get to know professors outside of a classroom setting.

    Moreover, we have monthly Professor of the Month awards, where we solicit student nominations for professors they feel have done an outstanding job. We then feature a professor each month by have an interview and article of them on the front page of the California Tech, which is the campus weekly newspaper, and hold a reception on the Olive Walk.

    Annually, we hold ASCIT Teaching Awards that honor professors and teaching assistants who have done a fantastic job in teaching. We solicit student nominations and then the professors and teaching assistants are honored at an Awards Ceremony held each year in the Atheneaum, which is the Caltech Faculty Club. Many faculy regard the ASCIT Teaching awards as a distinguished honor, hanging up their plaques in their office and putting it on their resume! It's definitely a token of students' appreciation for high quality teaching. :)

    In addition, over the year, we work to improve the quality of teaching by dealing with course concerns in real time over the term, which can be submitted anonymously on our website (comments can be tracked electronically), or by telling an ARC representative. We discuss the best way to take care of these concerns at our weekly meetings. We conduct student surveys of all the Core classes at midterms and work to increase the TQFR survey results, which are student evaluations of courses at the end of term. We have meetings with the Dean's of Caltech each term to discuss how well classes are going and our ongoing programs.

    Every two years, the ARC is responsible for a Student Faculty Conference, where students and faculty of each option come together to discuss potential improvements and concerns. Current hot topics on campus include changes to Core, and the ARC appoints student committee members to the Council of Undergraduate Education (CUE), Curriculum Committee (CC), Core Curriculum Steering Committee(CCSC), and Academics Policy Committee (APC). These committees are composed of undergrads and faculty, which advise and propose suggestions to the Faculty Board, which ultimately votes on decisions and changes to academics such as the Core Curriculum.

    Other committees that we appoint student reps to include the Housner Fund Committee, which reviews and votes on student proposals for research and scholarly activities to fund, Library Committee, and Committee on Exchange Programs and Student Abroad, which participates in interviewing candidates for study abroad programs.

    This past Friday, the ARC hosted the first annual Option Fair, where undergraduate upperclassmen, graduate students and professors in each option came out to talk aobut each respective major with the freshman. The bright sunny California sun beamed down on us as each option was at a table lining the Olive Walk in front of the Houses. Many students came by to ask questions, got handouts of information at each option boot and interacted with the students. First year students will declare their majors at the beginning of next term and some are understandably anxious.

Since many are already considering different options and inevitably have countless questions about differences between options, classes, scheduling, and research in each field, the Option Fair is the perfect forum for them to ask their questions and become acquainted with the students, professors, catalog requirements for each option and potential research areas.

    Thus, the ARC is an active and dedicated student committee that works to improve teaching quality and learning at Caltech. Caltech is an amazing and unique place for undergraduates to learn from world class faculty and engage in cutting edge research as well. What a great place to be!!

If you are interested, you can check out the minutes from our weekly meetings here.

Cirque Du Soleil: A colorful and awe-inspiring spectacle!

Over this past weekend, the Master of Student Houses (MOSH) organized an trip to go see Cirque Du Soleil's show OVO, which played at the Santa Monica Pier in order to enhance and enrich student life here at Caltech.

A bunch of students convened at the Mosh's house early in the morning and we had a bus that took us to Santa Monica:

Cirque Du Soleil's Show OVO played at the Santa Monica Pier.

I have previously heard rave reviews from friends about Cirque Du Soleil but I really didn't know what to expect. When we arrived, people were excitedly waiting for the show to begin. It was completely packed with people of all ages and the air buzzed with eagerness! Before the show started, the insect characters of OVO interacted with the audience. 



Some of the characters starring in OVO.

OVO tells the story of how an ecosystem of insects reacts to the appearance of a strange egg. The amazing acrobatic acts weaved together a rich storyline of how the insects work and play together. There was a perfect balance of precise and awe-inspiring skill, colorful and creative costumes, and perfectly contributing live music. The acrobatic acts weave a story of frienship and love. In a hand balancing act, a graceful dragonfly demonstrates his amazing balance and control as he 'flys' around the fauna:

Hand balancing act by a graceful dragonfly.

The bright red ants of the forest gather food by precisely juggling and passing 'corn' and 'kiwi' by using only their feet.

Red ants precisely juggling with their feet as they gather food.

In a stunning show of agility, coordination and dance, insects form graceful and perfectly beautiful sculptures.

Insects perform acrosport gymnastics.

Perhaps, the most breathtaking act of coordation and skill was the aerial act where a group of scarabs soar high above the stage from one side to the other. The circus acrobatics performed included the banquine, Russian swing and swinging chair.

Stunning aerial act.

It seemed that the physical forces of gravity did not apply to the slackwire performance by a spider. The feats seemed impossible as he not only effortlessly traverses the thin wire that hangs about 15 feet above, but also holds a hand stand on a long stick that rests on the thin wire. Additionally, the spider performs an upside down unicycle act in a masterful act of unimaginable difficulty.

Slackwire performance by a spider.

The colorful and elaborate costume designs perfectly contributed to the setting and personalities of the characters. In addition, the Brazilian samba music and electronic beats perfectly complemented the upbeat nature and story of the insects. Cirque du Soleil's OVO is truly a one of a kind spectacle with endearing characters and the skill, elegance, colors and precision of the acts make this show a must see! The rush of energy was refreshing and a great way to spend the afternoon. Many thanks to the MOSH for enriching student life by supporting and organizing student events here at Caltech!

Most importantly: Eating at Caltech

I don't know about you but eating tasty food makes me extremely happy! :D This week I want to give you a 'taste' of what eating at Caltech is like (pun not intended-- not really). Eating at Caltech is much more than swiping a card and getting cafeteria food-- embedded is a rich student culture that reflects the essence of the Tech student spirit. Also, contrary to popular belief, eating in college does not have to entail 3 meals for ramen!

The Caltech Dining Services (CDS) provides house dinners. Waited dinners are a tradition at Caltech so most house dinners are served by student waiters.  Students from each house serve their fellow house mates each night. Eat week night, housemates sit down at long dinner tables (think Hogwarts in Harry Potter) to eat dinner together at a designated time to try to forget about problem sets and enjoy each other's company. In addition, most houses have fun traditions, their own set of "dinner rules" and play dinner games. For instance, when a student raises his/her drinking glass, s/he can request a drink, which can range from normal (apple juice, OJ, etc.) to mixes (Power Apple = Powerade + Apple Juice, Root beer float) to quirky/creative (Hawaiian special, Bad Hair day, ACM95 -- I'll leave these to your imagination). These house dinners are great ways for students to give announcements about school wide and campus events, ranging from sports games, volunteer opportunities, club meetings, campus activities, etc etc. Also, this is the perfect forum for students to share funny stories to elicit some hearty laughs.

For lunch, most students on the board plan use their "declining balance" or d-bal for lunch. Declining balance, or "Board Funds," is a debit account linked to our student ID card that allows you to make purchases at any campus or JPL dining location. The amount of declining balance allotted each term is determined by the board plan. Many students go to Chandler for lunch. Check out all the different choices you have at Chandler-- from sushi, oven-baked pizza, soup and salad bar, deli and much more! For those who don't mind the walk, Caltech's best kept secret is the deli-oriented Broad cafe--even though it's a little away from the hustle and bustle from the student houses, the food here is amazingly tasty! There is a wide range of organic sandwiches, which are made right in front of you! Check out their menu.

Broad Cafe has some excellent dips!

Many students who are off-campus and are off-board/don't have declining balance to spend on lunch often go to Ernie's, which is a truck that serves very reasonably priced and delicious Mexican food! There's always a huge line of undergrads, graduate students and post-docs in front of the truck come lunch time!

For students on board during the weekdays, there is "open kitchen" that is available from 7:30 am – 11:30 am and 3 pm – 7 pm. Open kitchen is gloriously convenient because it is open with a wide range of fruit, salad bar, sandwich makings, juice, soda, ice cream, cereal and assorted vegetarian and vegan items. Many students can grab a quick breakfast before class or drop by for afternoon snacks.

Red Door Cafe for caffeine boosts (like an on-campus Starbucks when you really need it!) and have a selection of yummy pastries as well. Their menu can be found here. The ambience is similar to that of a regular coffee shop and many students actually study or chit chat here.

When you need your caffeine in the morning or afternoon, there'll always be places to get it on campus!

During the night time, there is a student- run Coffee House (Chouse) to satiate those midnight munchies! This is a pretty popular option since there is a grill where mozzarella cheese sticks, chicken wings, etc. are among the favorites.

MOZZARELLA STICKS!

During the weekends, even though there are no board/house dinners, many students go out to eat, order in, cook, or get food from the C-Store. The C-store is an on-campus convenience store and most students use their student declining balance on. The C-Store is open until 1am and even open weekends as well. The Caltech Little t is a handy-dandy student-produced book that has reviews of local restaurants (among other useful information such as where to get a haircut, shopping, hotels for your parents, etc.). Generally, if students want something close by, they usually head up Lake Avenue and if they're feeling even more adventurous, go into Old Pasadena, which has numerous restaurants including the Cheesecake Factory (where Penny in the Big Bang Theory theoretically works!) and retail stores.

Big Bang Theory scene-- eating at the Cheesecake factory....in Old Pasadena!

Anyways, I hope I gave you sense that there is a plethora of (yummy) eating options and as a Caltech student, eating also embodies and reflects Caltech student culture and traditions in addition to providing a way to connect with friends.

 

A Tale of Two C's in a Winter Wonderland!

Woohoo! Right now, it is winter break, which means school's out!!! It feels great to be done with exams and homework and have time to finally just relax! During the first few days of break, I visited my good friend Carly in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Some of you who intimately follow these Caltech student blogs may know her from her blog about a research internship in South Korea this past summer. Both Carly and I have known each other since freshman year as we both play the clarinet in the Caltech Occidental Concert band, have been on the Caltech swimming team and are on the Caltech waterpolo team together. Beyond our shared passion drinking of exquisite tea, we were also study and homework partners for ACM95, which is an applied mathematics class many engineering majors take at Caltech; I would venture to say that we bonded over the triumphs and tears of many late nights working on problem sets.

So, as soon as finals week ended, we jetted out from LAX to Seattle and then onto a flight for Anchorage. I was not sure what to expect and was a little wary weather-wise on what the Alaska winter was going to be like. The sunny weather of southern California is always around a balmy 75 degrees without any real differentiable seasons (a lot of people wear jeans, a shirt and flip flops all year round!). As soon as we hopped off the plane in Anchorage and ventured outside of the airport, I was super excited to see a layer of white snow covering everything. I felt transplanted from the land of palm trees and sunshine to winter and snow! And then cold winds hit me and I was shivering and shaking (Brrrr!); I was definitely a weather wimp spoiled by the warm Californian climate. According to Carly, this wasn't even considered cold for an Alaskan winter and it was actually pretty warm for the winter! Even though I thought there was a lot of snow everywhere, Carly told me that the few inches on the ground was actually not a lot since the windstorms of the previous week had actually caused a lot of the snow to melt and that we should cross our fingers for colder weather and more snowfall.

On my first full day in Alaska, we decided to go sledding. Before we went out, we had to suit up in snow gear consisting of long underwear, sweaters, snowjacket, snow pants, headband, hat, mittens and boots. I ended up resembling the Michelin man (or a puffy marshmallow)! I quickly learned about sledding concepts such as 'steering', where you sort of lean one way or another (or flail all your limbs in a certain direction) to avoid trees, fences, other people, etc.

However, a more important concept is definitely 'bailing' when you are about to hit some trees or crash into people in order to avoid immediate injury. The aftermath is usually a 'yard sale' where all your things are strewn about on the hill and a face full of snow! 

It was a lot of fun zooming downhill but the uphill walk was definitely more of a work out and a lot slower:

Oops, we popped one of the tubes!

Afterwards, we hiked on a trail through a frozen and snowy marsh and it led us to the 
ocean! 

Walking through the frozen marsh.

I actually didn't know it was the ocean until it was pointed out to me. The frozen and bumpy ridges in the ice were fascinating because it looked like the waves of the ocean had been frozen in time (think of Narnia from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe")!

We're on the frozen ocean!!!

I also noticed that the number of hours of daylight in Alaska were very few; the sunrise was 
around 10:30 am and sunset was around 3:00 pm!

Alaskan sunset-- gorgeous!

That evening, Carly and I hit up the Alaska zoo where they had cool light displays throughout the zoo. We saw many cold climate animals including a polar bear, seals, yaks, wolves, etc.

The next day, we drove up to Wascilla, AK and passed by where I was told Sarah Palin lives. We got to drive snowmobiles on the frozen Rocky Lake. Ironically, the weather was so unusually warm for Alaska that instead of snowing, it was actually raining while we were snowmobiling! Driving the snowmachines to up to 60/70mph was exhilarating!

Snowmobiling! It's hard to tell, but we were soaked from the rain!

The next day, I was woken by excited voices, and to my amazement, there was a whole 45 inches of snowfall overnight!!! The landscape had been transformed into a winter wonderland with untouched, pristine snow.

Carly and I decided to go cross country skiing immediately that morning. However, when we arrived at the trails, we discovered that the trails had not yet been groomed because the roads still had yet to be plowed (priorities, go figure). Undeterred, we decided to go ahead with our plans. The first challenge not getting into the cross country skis but actually skiing through the foot of fresh snow. I felt like a snow plow blazing a trail through the new snow. There were definitely a few falls--like one time I skied straight into a tree pit that was covered in thick snow!

The following day, we went downhill skiing at Alyeska Ski Resorts, which was about a 45 minute drive. The road we drove along had cliffs to the left, where doll sheep inhabit. To the right, the view was gorgeous as we could see the sunrise coming over the mountains and the reflections in the water and we could also see the places where avalanches had occured down the mountainsides.

Alaskan sunrise as we drive to the ski resort.

This drive to the slopes turned out to be an adventure: when we were about 30 minutes into the drive when the heating system of the car broke down. Not thinking much of it, we drove on and 10 minutes later, as we were making a turn, the car decided to break down-- while we were still driving. So we used the momentum of the car to pull into the parking lot of a gas station. When we got out of the car, Carly and I saw smoke/vapor seeping out from the hood of the car-- uh oh! Luckily, we were close to ski resort, so after calling Carly's dad, who got the car towed, we were able to take a shuttle bus and continue on. The recent huge snowfall made the skiing really fun and the views of the slopes was picturesque.

Skiing at Alyeksa.

The next day I flew back to California and my adventure to Alaska came to an end. What an unforgettable and extremely fun-filled trip! Many thanks to Carly and her family for having me. :)

The Getty Villa: Antiquity in a Modern World

Often times, it's definitely worthwhile to venture outside of the Caltech campus and explore what the surrounding Los Angeles area has to offer. The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu is definitely a gorgeous and must visted destination. The Getty Villa's most striking feature is not only the huge collection of approximately 44,000 works of art from the Museum's extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities (over 1,200 are on view) but also the architecture and design.

 

View from the balcony of the fountain and gardens!!

Jean Paul Getty, an American industrialist, had the vision of creating not only a museum to house his vast art collection but also create a European villa and giving the visitors the feeling of what it would have been like to be an a villa in ancient times. Getty had drawn inspiration from Villa dei Papiri, which was ancient villa owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law in the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum. Getty was particularly fascinated and it captivated his imagination: he wanted to build an Italian villa with architecture inspired by that similar to the Bay of Naples and Pompei. 

Lovely view down an marble corridor with amazingly intricate design detail!

I was definitely captivated by the amazing and awe-inspiring architecture especially the symmetry and the flowers and herbs that were actually used and grown in ancient times. There was definitely a feeling of authenticity as I felt transported to an ancient European villa! 

Authentic garden with herbs and statues.

Moreover, there was a huge amphitheater reminiscent of the Roman Colosseum, where people can watch reenactments of ancient Greek and Roman plays.

Vast ampitheater!

The museum is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria, and had a ton of very striking and fascinating art! There was a signifigant number of art that had had some sort of restoration work done. Apparently, the restoration work is always done in a different shade of color so that the viewer can enjoy the original work and see where the newer modifications have been made. A lot of the antiquities have gone through some of rought times because they were in pieces dug up from excavation sites and had to be meticulously put together piece by piece like a very complicated jigsaw puzzle!

An Italian fresco that was originally 75+ pieces and was put together! Notice how you can easily tell where the original pieces and paint are compared to the restored newer additions.

Another restored Italian fresco.

Restored mosaic.

"Poet as Orpheus and Two Sirens"

The world class antiquity was definitely mind captivating and the flow and beauty of the museum was amazing. There were a lot of sky windows to allow natural light to flow in and allow us to appreciate the artwork! One of my favorite exhibits was the "Hall of Colored Marbles" which showcased the different types and colors of marble that was used in European architecture from different regions:

"Hall of Colored Marbles"

Since the Getty Villa was right across from the Malibu Beach, it was impossible not to watch the gorgeous sunset over the horizon:

Gorgeous end to a great trip!