Caltech

Cooking Class

What would you guess is the most popular class at Caltech? Probably something related to math, science or engineering, right? Well, you'd be wrong. The most popular class at caltech is PA 16, or Cooking Basics. It is tought by Tom Mannion, the director of Student Activities and Programs.

The class is a ton of fun. It's so popular that Tom has to have a lottery for it every term, but thankfully I was able to sign up this term since I'm a graduating senior.

The class meets once a week. We get a set of recipes each week that we have to make. There are two undergraduate TAs for every 6-10 person group, and they're in charge of making sure we don't have any huge cooking disasters. One of the things we made the first week was poached pears:

They don't look like much here, but they were delicious when they were done.

The second week was southern night, where we made things like fried green tomatoes, applesauce and pulled pork sandwiches.

Fried Green Tomatoes

My favorite night, however, was asian night. We made sushi, Indian-style curry, and dumplings:

I was very proud of the dumplings, since I made the dough myself and the other groups used premade dough. :) They were quite delicious:

A Senior's Ditch Day Part 2: Fight Club/Zombieland The Stack

So, as you found out in my last post, the theme of my stack was Fight Club. One of the lines in that movie is "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." To go along with this line, the first activity on our stack was to hit tennis balls covered in plaster with a baseball bat. This is an idea that we took from our freshman year. How you make these tennis balls is to cut regular tennis balls in half. You then fill them with flour (or clues) and cover them in plaster of paris. This holds the two halves together. However, when you hit them with a bat (or throw them at a wall) the plaster breaks and the tennis ball explodes in a puff of flour. Our stack had to break open all of their tennis balls to find the clue they needed:

Our next activity was a pinata, which we had filled with Fight Club soap (in the movie, the main characters make pink soap that says Fight Club, though you'll have to watch it to find out why).

After the pinata, they put the 800 water balloons I made to good use by playing water balloon dodgeball. I was pleased that they were able to play three games before they ran out of balloons. It's very hard to make enough water balloons to keep a group of people occupied for more than two minutes. I estimated that the burn rate would be about one balloon per person every ten seconds. I think the estimate worked out pretty well.

Of course, once one side ran out of balloons, the dodgeball game degenerated into an all out water war:

Their next activity was to "fight" each other using toy swords. To make it more of a challenge, we had the contestants stand on a balance beam. The first person to touch the ground lost. After they played one round they began to challenge us seniors, who were hanging around to watch. This is fellow senior Tom (left) winning his "fight" against one of our frosh, Abel (right):

As you can see, normal swordfighting rules don't quite apply, as the optimal strategy seemed to be to move as little as possible no matter how much the other person hit you with a sword.

After swordfighting, we sent our stack to lunch. After lunch, we gave them a clue which told them that the soap they had been carrying around was more than met the eye. We had hidden strips of cloth with clues written on them inside the soap. So they had to break open the soap to find out where to go next.

This is where things got a bit odd (or odder). When my friends and I were originally planning our stack, we couldn't decide on a single theme. So eventually we decided to do two themes and change after lunch. So the soap clue sent our frosh to watch a video, which explained that during lunch the world had been taken over by zombies, and they were now Zombieland the stack. We gave them new shirts to go along with the new theme, and off they went to play "capture the twinkies," a version of capture the flag with twinkie boxes as their "flag." (In Zombieland, one of the characters is constantly looking for twinkies.)

The next activity was zombie darts, where they threw darts at posters of zombies covered with balloons:

Their final activity was to play laser tag. After laser tag they were sent to a clue that was made of heat activated paper, so they had to heat it up with hairdryers to be able to read it. This clue sent them to the front of the Keith Spalding building, where a bus was waiting for them.

The bus was to take them to "Pacific Playland" (Santa Monica Pier). The characters in Zombieland are trying to get to Pacific Playland for much of the movie, having heard that it is a zombie-free area. So we took our stack to Santa Monica for an afternoon/evening at the beach:

I was really pleased with how well the stack went, and seeing everyone have a good time definitely made all the hard work worth it. It definitely made it hit home just how much I'm going to miss all the friends I've made at Caltech, and also the quirky sense of fun that keeps traditions like Ditch Day alive.

Now that Ditch Day is over, the class of 2011 are known as "ghosts," and the class of 2012 has taken up the title of seniors. It's been a great four years.

A Senior's Ditch Day Part 1: The Making Of

As you probably know by now if you've been following Caltech news, Ditch Day was last Friday, May 20th.

The week before Ditch Day is always a very busy one for seniors, who have to make sure that everything is ready for their stack, but also have to do so away from underclassmen's curious eyes. (Mostly. It's fairly common to see frantic seniors running around the day before carrying things like toy swords and tubs of water balloons who shout "go to bed, frosh," at anyone within hearing range.)

My stack was no different. I personally made about 800 water balloons in the few days before ditch day:

Another thing we had to prepare before ditch day were "zombie dartboards." We had a game for the frosh to do where they threw darts at pictures of zombies covered with balloons. The balloon over the zombie's head was filled with red food coloring, so when you popped it, it covered the dartboard with "blood."

The morning of ditch day, we woke up at 5:30 AM (after going to bed at 3) to set everything set up. We needed to move the water balloons into position, make sure all the clues were where they needed to be, and pick up bagels for breakfast. Here's us setting up the water balloons at about 6:30:

Another important thing you have to set up before you wake the frosh up at 8 AM is the signups for each stack. Normally each stack puts up posters relating to the theme, a signup sheet for the people who want to do the stack, and a first clue. Here is our signup:

Photos in this post courtesy of Becky Scholz, another senior on my stack.

In the next part of my Ditch Day post, I'll show you how my stack turned out.

38 Days Until Graduation

I got a call from the bookstore today informing me that my diploma frame had arrived. Here it is:

Now I just need the diploma to go in it. :P

It's 38 days until graduation today, and now that it's May I'm really starting to feel like I don't have much time left at Caltech. It's weird to think about not being here next year. Caltech has come to feel like home, and it'll be odd not having the same people around anymore. Thankfully, a good number of my friends are moving to NYC with me! :)

I just got all the paperwork for grad school next year. All sorts of forms to fill out and such. It really makes it hit home that I'm going to be all the way across the country in a few short months. It's a little bit scary but also pretty exciting!

I also had to put in my requests for my rotation labs. If you don't know, in biology PhD programs it's pretty common for new students to be able to try out a few different labs before they decide where they want to do their PhD work. These "trial labs" are called rotations. So, choosing a rotation lab isn't the end all be all of your PhD, but you do have to take some care to pick one that you're actually interested in. My top choice for right now is a lab that does immunology work. I'll be waiting impatiently for the next few weeks to find out where I'm going to spend the first five weeks of my PhD!

Wake Up Frosh, It's (Fake) Ditch Day!

As you may know, Caltech has a Ditch Day tradition that is unlike any other school's. While at most places the seniors just leave campus and nothing else happens, at Caltech the seniors leave all sorts of fun activities and puzzles for the underclassmen. Each group of seniors who participates in Ditch Day creates what is known as a "stack," which is a series of fun activities, puzzles or games for the undeclassmen to do. Each stack has a different theme.

The seniors spend a lot of time planning their actual Ditch Day stacks, in addition to what are known as Fake Ditch Day stacks. This is when the seniors pretend it is real ditch day, wake everyone up, and have smaller-scale activities for people to do. The purpose of this is to help keep the date of real Ditch Day (It's Tomorrow, Frosh!), a secret and to have some fun along the way.

Today was a campus-wide fake Ditch Day, where seniors from all eight houses planned fake stacks.

Here are some pictures from Fleming's Stacks:

Blazing Saddles: The Stack Signups

Hurray for Hollywood: The Stack

Whack-a-Monster: The Stack

Monster Pinata

Eventually you'll get a post from me about actual Ditch Day. But until then... Go to bed (pre)frosh, Ditch Day is Tomorrow!

A Senior's Spring Break

This year, the seniors in my house really wanted to do something for spring break together. It'd be our last chance to take a trip together before we all scatter all over the country at our various jobs and grad schools. So we came up with a lot of ideas. We finally settled on Hawaii because one of us found a great deal on Priceline. Not everyone was able to make it, but ten of us decided to take the trip together.

We stayed in Waikiki, about a two minute walk from the beach. Waikiki beach was a little bit crowded, but the weather was beautiful and the water was much warmer than what you get in California.

We also rented cars, so we got the chance to visit other parts of the island, such as the Dole Pineapple Plantation. They had really awesome pineapple ice cream:

However, my favorite thing that we did was definitely the snorkeling at Hanauma Bay:

I even bought an underwater camera so I could capture some pictures of the fish:

Some of the guys got pictures of a sea turtle; I was really jealous.

The final thing that we did was to go hiking on one of the mountains:

That was really fun, but there were so many mosquitoes, I don't know if I'd do it again!

Throughout the trip we also ate a lot of really interesting food. The first night we ate at a Japanese restaurant that specialized in Okonomiyaki, which are pancakes made of cabbage and some type of meat. The next night we ate at a burger place that was recommended by the locals. The third night we ate at an authentic Hawaiian restaurant, which was awesome! They served everything in relatively small portions so you could try a lot of stuff. There were short ribs, squid cooked in taro leaves and coconut, pulled pork, beef stew, and some taro-based porridge called poi which no one in our group liked much. It was really great food though, and we were really happy to get to try out some real Hawaiian foods.

Summer in Tokyo Part 8: Kyoto

The final trip I took in Japan was to Kyoto with my aunt and uncle. We decided to pay for a tour bus (which normally is not my thing) since we only had one full day to explore the city. It was really hot in Kyoto, so I was glad we took the bus. Having to walk all of these places would not have been pleasant.

My aunt and uncle live just outside of Tokyo, so we had to take the shinkansen, or bullet train, to get to Kyoto. It only took a few hours. I loved the shinkansen. Much more convenient and comfortable than flying.

The first place we visited on the tour was Nijo castle:

Despite the tour being in English, I don't remember a lot about this castle, except that it had nightingale floors. These are floors that are specifically designed to creak so that you can hear intruders trying to sneak up on you.

The next place we went was Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavillion.

The interesting thing about the Golden Pavillion is that it's golden because it's covered in real gold leaf, which was overlayed on the original lacquer, to protect the lacquer. The gold was cheaper than the lacquer it covers. Crazy.

We also visited Kiyomizudera, which is a famous temple. There is an old myth that says that if one were to survive a jump from the Kiyomizudera veranda (pictured below) to the ground 13m below, one would be granted a wish. In the Edo period, 34 jumps were recorded, and about 85% of these people survived. However, the practice is now prohibited.

Kiyomizudera is also home to three streams of water, said to confer wisdom, health and longevity to those who drink from them. However, you are not told which is which, and it is said to be unlucky to drink from all three.

The final place we visited, was the Phoenix Pavillion, or Hoodoo. This place is featured on the Japanese 10 Yen coin. It's a beautiful building, decorated in phoenixes.

Summer in Tokyo Part 7: Climbing Mt. Fuji

My favorite experience while in Japan was that of climbing Mt. Fuji. Summer is the official climbing season for Mt. Fuji. The Kawaguchiko route (which I used) is 3.6 miles each way. You start at the "go-gome" or 5th station (crazier or more athletic people can start from the bottom if they choose) and climb to the 9th station at the top. It's traditional to begin the climb at night and reach the top in time for sunrise. Some people start in the afternoon and sleep in one of the mountain huts along the way before finishing in time for sunrise, but I opted to climb the whole night through. I began my climb at about 8 PM:

All the little lights you can see in the top of the picture are people with flashlights. The Mt. Fuji trails are quite crowded during climbing season--once you get to the top there is actually a traffic jam of people trying to make the sunrise, and you can spend a long time waiting your turn to continue. Even though I went by myself I never felt alone--there were so many people around!

Another cool thing about climbing Mt. Fuji is the Fujisan (what the Japanese call Mt. Fuji) hiking stick. You buy a blank stick at the go-gome, and as you climb you can get brands for the stick at each of the stations (including one for reaching the top). I was very proud of completing my stick (and had a huge hassle getting it back to the US, as it was too big for my suitcase).

I finally reached the top at about 3:30 AM, just before sunrise. There was a Tori gate to signify the end of the hike:

I was so tired by the time I got to the top, it was all I could do to get the stamp for my stick, buy a bowl of instant ramen and camp out on a bench. I had mostly dozed off when the people around me started yelling because they could see this:

I quickly got myself together and took the pictures I'd come such a long way for:

This picture should give you a better idea of just how many people were there to see the sunrise:

The way down was also quite beautiful, though being on the mountain was definitely more intimidating when I could see where I was:

Still, I had a ton of fun and I am really glad I went. It was an incredible experience, hiking up the mountain with so many other people from all over Japan and the world. If you ever get the chance to do it yourself, I would definitely go for it!

Mt. Fuji from the 5th station starting point:

Summer in Tokyo Part 6: Family Vacation

Another thing that's pretty common in Japan is for companies to give their employees one week off in the summer for the Obon festival. Obon is the festival of the dead, where spirits of dead ancestors are supposed to return to the family altars. There are usually city festivals with dancing and food. Anyway, I had Obon week off, so my grandmother, who is Japanese, decided to come visit me and her family during this week. We traveled to all sorts of places together.

The first place we went was Kinugawa, which is a river up in the mountains. We took a boat ride to see the scenery:

Next we went to Hunter Mountain, which is a ski resort in Tochigi prefecture that is covered with Lilies in the summer:

Hunter mountain was really awesome. The flowers were beautiful and there were more dragonflies than I had ever seen.

Another interesting thing we did was eat a type of noodle that I've forgotten the name of. These noodles were served to us by placing them in a basin of water that ran in a circle continuously. To eat the noodles you had to catch them with your chopsticks.

It was quite odd, but a fun way to eat cold noodles on a hot summer day.

Next we took a trip to Kaurizawa, which is a famous vacation spot for Tokyo residents. It's up in the mountains, is typically cooler than Tokyo in the summer, and has beautiful scenery.

This is me in front of a crater created by a dormant volcano.

This is Kaurizawa's famous waterfall.

Our final trip was to Nikko, which is probably the most popular tourist spot near Tokyo. It has a famous temple and is also the burying place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the most famous shoguns of Japan.

Nikko is also home to another beautiful waterfall:

Summer in Tokyo Part 5: Intern Meeting

One of our days in Tokyo was set aside for an Intern's meeting. This was where all of the Caltech interns came to Tokyo with our research advisors. We had lunch and then we explored the city with some Japanese friends.

Our first stop was Tokyo Tower:

Here's the view from the top of the tower:

We also had dinner at a shabu-shabu restaurant. Shabu-shabu is a type of thinly-sliced beef that you cook in very boiling water with vegetables and other goodies. It gets it's name from the swishing sound you make as you swirl the beef around to cook it (I think I remembered that right, anyway).

We then went out and bought Yukata, which are thin, cotton summer kimonos. We needed Yukata to wear to a summer festival:

After the festival, we had a late-night snack of okonomiyaki, which is a type of Japanese pancake made from cabbage, meat, and sauce. It looks like this: