Caltech

My First Formal

I finally went to a formal! After skipping homecoming and prom throughout high school and staying behind when friends attended Caltech’s formal last year, I decided to buy a ticket this spring. It was… an experience. As expected, there was the bustle of getting ready, a tasty dinner, fun photos, and slightly awkward dancing, but this was followed by the unexpected experience of stepping out into the streets of downtown LA barefoot. More on this later. My excuse for never... Read more →

Field Trip!

This term, my English class took a field trip to the Huntington Library and Gardens. The class is all about Jane Austen—we spent the whole term reading her six completed novels—and the stated purpose of the field trip was to view some early editions of her novels and other related books from her era. However, our professor also got us day passes so that we could spend the morning before the class session strolling through the gorgeous gardens. This is... Read more →

Dourmet Dishes: Pumpkin Peanut Butter

This is the part of a series of posts on food that can be prepared in a dorm kitchen amidst the craziness of life at Caltech. I absolutely love peanut butter. Whether on toast, in oatmeal, in smoothies, or spoonfuls straight out of the jar, I love the rich, creamy texture and salty-sweet flavor. It’s perfect in every way but one—it needs to lighten up. It’s a little too dense and sticky. (This is especially inconvenient when eating it out... Read more →

Licensed at Last

When I was fourteen, I begged my parents to let me start Driver’s Ed so I could get my permit promptly after my next birthday. I was so excited to start driving. However, they decided that I would have to wait until my older sister had finished the process. At this injustice, I was furious for half an hour. Why should I have to wait? Working on the online course would bother nobody. However, over the next few months, to... Read more →

My Favorite Class Last Term: APh 109

Wouldn’t it be neat to look at something magnified to tens of thousands its normal size—so much that you can see the individual hair follicles on an ant (and realize it’s just as furry as a dog)? Or to fabricate an LED from scratch, doping the semiconductor and etching out the contacts, all to be rewarded by a tiny yet brilliant red light? Or to design a microfluidic device, drawing it in AutoCAD, making the mold out of a silicon... Read more →

Dourmet Dishes: Breakfast Tacos with Easiest Guacamole

This is the part of a series of posts on food that can be prepared in a dorm kitchen amidst the craziness of life at Caltech. Breakfast tacos are extremely versatile. They can serve as a vehicle for a number of different ingredients, from vegetables like tomatoes or bell peppers, to meats such as sausage and steak, or even last night’s leftover mashed potatoes. There are only two essential elements: tortilla and egg. To be precise, ( Egg + _____... Read more →

Why Problem Sets Scare Me

Last week, I was working at my desk on a horribly long problem set for EE 44, Circuits and Systems. I flipped the page, and there, standing innocently among the first-order circuit diagrams and p-operator algebra, was a big, furry, black spider. First, I screamed. What else could I do? This spider was big and furry like a tarantula with red on its back like a black widow, as if some kind of hybrid between the two worst bugs of... Read more →

Living That Off-Board High Life

Hello, Internet world! It’s been a while since we’ve talked, but I have some thoughts and snapshots to share (about food, because, of course), so here we go. This year, I’m living off-campus (in an apartment) and am off board (no meal plan). Being off board is great because it saves me a lot of money—close to two-thousand dollars a term, which adds up to a wild $6k a year. As a tradeoff, my roomates and I are responsible for... Read more →

Dourmet Dishes: Jalapeno Spinach Quesadillas

This is the first of a series of posts on fabulous food that can be prepared in a dorm kitchen amidst the craziness of college life. Quesadillas are an easy-peasy crowd-pleaser. All you need are two ingredients, and they could be them sizzling on a hot pan within minutes. Plus, who can resist all that melted cheese? Quesadillas perfectly embody my idea of comfort food—warmth, carbs, and fat. Yum. However, even when I'm looking for something more on the healthy... Read more →

Window Seat

To kick off our inaugural season, Caltech Women’s Soccer traveled to the East Coast last week. I had a window seat on the airplane. We played two games and did some sightseeing in Philadelphia. The best part was getting to know my teammates and coaches better. After six lit days, we flew out, seeing the sun set over clouds and city lights. The trip was fun, but it felt good to be surrounded by familiar buildings when we finally pulled... Read more →