Caltech

Ditch Day: The Real Thing

WAKE UP, FROSH!! IT'S DITCH DAY!!!

So began my day last Friday, the 21st. For all the dramatic lead-up, fakes, and preparation, the real day was upon us! Dannah and I had prepped incessantly for the last few weeks (especially in the one leading up to Ditch Day, in true Techer fashion), and finally all of our work was about to come to fruition!

So what was our stack, you ask? Jetsetters! Think of it as a cross between around-the-world and high-class traveling. Hopefully you'll get a feel for what it was like to be a Jetsetter on Ditch Day, and see all the exciting things we had planned for them!

Breakfast: No honest Jetsetters would fly on an empty stomach, so we fed them with a "gourmet" spread of bagels, donuts, and fruit! Dannah and I also dressed the part - as I was the pilot for the day, and Dannah was the flight service coordinator!

All dressed up and somewhere to go! 

Hope they're eating well, it's almost time for the first flight!

[These photos are courtesy of Debbi Patrick Swanson of the Alumni Fund]

Luggage Packing: Well, you can't go anywhere unless you pack your bags! We had the Jetsetters hunt for items on their packing list (ranging from little things like soap to big-ticket items like cell phones) on one of the lawns on campus. We made it a race between the two teams. Unfortunately, we were unable to watch because I was making passports and Dannah was prepping the next task, but they were speedy and packed their duffel bags with time to spare!

Seat Change!: If you've done lots of traveling, you have definitely encountered some of the troubles resulting from aircraft changes - seats moving around, gate agents being unhelpful. The same goes for our Jetsetters! They had to figure out where their new seats were going to be by playing a game kind of like Mastermind! See the rules for the board game version here if you're not familiar with it.

Trip to Athens: The Jetsetters' first flight brought them to the land of Greece, where they were fortunate enough to meet up with our very own Zeus! "Greece" in this case was the Admissions Office, and "Zeus" was our trusty assistant director Cameron Pinckney. We gave him his props, and apparently he was really into helping out with our stack! These pictures definitely show that.

Goodness, he looks pretty FIERCE! 

Making them pay homage to him as the king of the gods. 

Group photo before heading onto the next flight!

[These photos courtesy of Christine Waldor of Caltech Admissions]

Thanks again, Cameron!

Gambling: What Jetsetter doesn't like to play the high-stakes casino games in Monte Carlo? As a result, we had our group play "Super Jackpot Party: Jetsetters Edition" where they had to win enough money for their next plane ticket. To do so, they had to flip over cards that told them different activities to do - anything from spinning the "wheel of fortune" to playing blackjack! Somehow our group had such amazing luck we had to push the price of their ticket higher to keep them playing longer! No one minded, though, because it was such a fun time.

Being sneaky and spying on our group from afar! 

Playing a game of blackjack by Beckman Auditorium. 

Running a wheelbarrow race! 

Look at that strength on the human pyramid! [photo courtesy of Heidi Aspaturian]

Lunch: As with most other stacks, we had lunch with the rest of campus at Tom Mannion's house - they had a grill going with burgers, hot dogs, and steaks! It was delicious, but no rest for the weary - we had to set up the next task!

Breaking the Ice: Another setback with air travel can be that your flight gets canceled or diverted! In our case, the Jetsetters were sent to Switzerland as opposed to Tokyo - this meant that they had to break their next clue out of three blocks of ice. It was a pretty imposing order, but they were game, and had some really great techniques for getting it out!

They had knives, towels, and hot water - they were pretty ingenious! 

We even had a camera man follow us from Caltech PR for part of the day! 

Traffic: If you look at Dannah's post, you can see how we set up boxes to look like a traffic jam in Tokyo. The premise was to have the Jetsetters break out their limo from the pack, and under their limo (the black car) they would find their next clue. This is another place where they showed their smarts - they were done half an hour early! That wasn't really that much of an issue with our timing, though, because they had...

Afternoon Lounge: To chill out for a bit indoors, the Jetsetters had some more snacks and refreshments set up for them in another one of Caltech's wood-paneled rooms! Yum!

Acapulco: Utilizing another one of our Caltech contacts, we had our Physics TA, Richard Norte, help us out by wearing a sombrero and saying "hola" to our Jetsetters! They got to check out Cahill, one of the newer buildings on campus, and got some rafts for their indeterminate next task... (dramatic!).

Save the Market: Their next flight brought them to Bangkok, Thailand (the pool), and they had to save the floating market there! Some of the merchandise fell into the river, and they had to dive down (and use their rafts) to save it. Fortunately, they were all prepared to get wet, and enjoyed the relaxation by the pool.

Watching yet another video by the pool, rafts in hand! 

Success! They picked up money from the bottom! 

[These photos courtesy of Beth Harnick-Shapiro of Caltech PR]

Balloon Party: The FINAL task was to go to one of the rooms in the Student Activity Center (SAC) underneath the South Houses, and pop their way through the balloons to find mini-puzzles. These word searches, sudokus, and other puzzles gave them their final confirmation code, which was a password to the e-mail account jetsetters.the.stack@gmail.com. Their final boarding pass was informing them of a multicultural dinner back where we began - Dabney Treasure Room!

So, there you have it - Ditch Day in a nutshell. We were really satisfied with how everything turned out, and our Jetsetters seemed to have a great day! Thanks to them for being great, thanks to everyone from administration who helped us along they way, and of course thanks to Dannah for making the planning go so awesomely!

Now that I'm a "ghost" - as after Ditch Day the juniors become seniors and the seniors become ghosts (that limbo between seniors and alumni), it really signals that our time here is almost done! Bittersweet, but satisfying.

...And All That Jazz

I had a wonderful Friday evening this past weekend, courtesy of the Caltech Y! They were able to secure us a block of tickets to see the musical "Chicago" at the Pantages Theatre, and I was lucky enough to have won the competitive lottery to get a pair! I do admit I'm kind of a theater snob, as I live an hour away from Broadway so have seen lots of shows, but I've never seen this particular one nor have been in this particular theater, so I was up for a new experience! Remember my mantra: explore as much of LA as possible before leaving!

First, pictures, then review of the show!

Arriving at the Theatre in Hollywood! 

Excited to go inside and see the show!

Dannah is especially pumped about the dancing! 

Yay we got our tickets! Time to go inside! 

The inside of the Pantages looks really old-school. 

Sneaky shot taken in the theater! 

We had to avoid the ushers watching out for people taking pictures to get this one! 

Show's over, time to go home! 

So what did I think of the show? Well, I'll be honest... it was good but definitely not one of my favorites. It is a unique kind of show - mostly dancing and singing without too much other interaction. I mean, both of those aspects were good (and I got to see Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child play Roxie!), but I think that there was just something missing. Maybe the classics of "Phantom" and "Les Mis" are so familiar to me that I think that's what all musicals should be like, but in any case I still enjoyed the show and the experience. And Dannah LOVED the dancing (though she kept comparing it to the movie, and obviously you can't compare the two haha). So all in all, I think it was a very enjoyable evening!

Thanks again, Caltech Y, for the awesome experience!

Going to the Galleria

As a continuation to my last post, here's the second part of my (last) weekend exploring the area outside Pasadena!

DAY 2: GLENDALE GALLERIA

For those of you who may not know, I really like to shop (much to the chagrin of my parents). I guess the bigger "issue" is that I always like the same thing - blue or green striped polo or argyle designs; that means I end up with all similar outfits in my closet, which obviously is a problem! Fortunately, to get out the shopping bug there is the nearby Glendale Galleria and the Americana at Brand. The Galleria is more of a traditional mall - indoors with lots of stores, a food court, etc. while the Americana is I guess you could say more "California" - outdoors with fountains, nice restaurants, the works. Both are only a short bus ride away from Caltech (or an even shorter drive), and that little bit of distance makes me feel like I'm on a vacation (if even for a few hours!).

This excursion to Glendale allowed me to catch up with an old friend, Amy. We met at the Amgen Scholars program at Tech (more info here), and she graduated last year from USC. We instantly clicked and had an awesome summer together, but even better was that she still was in the LA area, so we've gotten to meet up a few times since finishing the program in 2008. She even helped me edit many of my med school essays!

OK, enough lead-up, you just want to see some pictures - not as much as Friday, unfortunately, but hopefully this will give you an idea of the awesome afternoon I had!

My ride for the day, you can see Amy's hands doing USC's "fight on" sign! 

Fueling up at the California Pizza Kitchen - ironically we both got salad! 

Driving on the highway to Glendale! Over the mountain! 

You can (kind of) see LA through the haze. 

My "haul" - only one shirt but it was on SALE, I promise! 

Wait...where did we park, again? 

What a fun time with Amy! 

So that wraps up last weekend and I'm just getting ready to enter another one! Wow, time flies when you're having fun (or when you don't have too much work and graduation suddenly looms in your future!).

Friday by the Shore

So one of the perks of being a senior is that you have a lot more time on your hands. I've taken this unique opportunity to see more of the exciting places that LA has to offer (with less than 40 days till I may never be in California again, I need to get moving!). So this past weekend, I got the chance to catch up with two different friends with whom I haven't talked in a while and also enjoy the beautiful LA weather off-campus!

DAY 1: CENTURY CITY AND PACIFIC PALISADES

Last Friday, I spent the afternoon with my good friend Allison. You may remember her from my Yankees game post. She's from Long Island, so we had some fun thinking about life back east while enjoying the finer things the left coast has to offer. Our first stop was Century City, which is kind of between Hollywood and Santa Monica, to do some SHOPPING!

Pulling up into the parking lot! 

After eating lunch in Bloomingdale's, Allison couldn't resist taking this picture of me holding the pen "wrong". 

We played with the iPad - SO COOL!! But I still don't know what I'd use it for... 

What a fancy movie theater! 

It's cool how it's all outside. But what happens when it rains? Oh, right... it never does. 

After our lunch and shopping, it was time to head over to Pacific Palisades. It's an area closer to Malibu, and right along the shore. When we got there, the real purpose of our journey was realized - to see Giada de Laurentiis! If you don't know her, she's my FAVORITE Food Network chef, and she was doing a book signing in a local bookstore! I actually went to a booksigning she did last year in the Pasadena Williams-Sonoma, but this year I had to have some help to get to one. If you don't know her, I posted some of her recipes while I was in cooking class! Delicious!

Allison is very happy because we're near the ocean! 

Trying to get a good picture of the Pacific from the Pacific Coast Highway (route 1). 

The innocuous sign announces the arrival of GIADA! 

The crowd begins to assemble down the street. 

It's even packed on the inside! Such a cute bookstore! 

THERE SHE IS!! 

AHH I'm standing right there! 

As she hands me back my book, my time with her draws to an end... 

Now if you're an astute observer, you would see that I have two books! Why is that, you ask? No, not because I'm an excited fan (though I may or may not have all of her cookbooks signed...). But because Mother's Day is coming up! Last year I gave my mom the book signed by Giada, and this year I realized I couldn't top it, so I'm doing it again! So, since I know you read this, mom...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Your book is in the mail (sent it Priority Mail on Tuesday marked fragile so hopefully will get there in time!).

If you zoom in you can see her signature!! Hopefully these other people in line aren't jealous of me already having the books signed! 

And where did we go after? For Italian food, of course! It's not like Giada's (or my grandmothers', for that matter), but it was still good!

Mmmm pasta with sausage, capers, olives, and DELICIOUSNESS! 

Then we returned to Tech in Friday semi-rush hour traffic. Probably not too good an idea...

Allison was focused on driving, so I took my own picture! 

Those lifeguard towers look right out of the "OC" according to my friend Lisa. 

Back to reality... and traffic! 

I just realized this was a SUPER-long post, so I'll save the rest for another one. Let's just say... more shopping was involved... :).

Decided!

Hi!

I apologize for the massive delay between the last post and this - I've been making my final trips to help me make the decision that will define the next 8 years of my life! My first foray was to Seattle to revisit the University of Washington! It was another busy couple days both meeting more professors and students, while also getting some extra time to see the city! Though, again, I didn't go UP the Space Needle, I got to see it. And then I ate some delicious salmon at Ivar's (a famous small chain in the city). I also met some AWESOME people from other schools who are deciding where to go, and some others who had already committed! Enjoy the pictures from my time up there!

Though inexpensive, my Southwest flight left LAX at 7 AM! 

On the shores of Lake Washington - watching a sea plane land! 

The hospital! It's cool to think that I could be here for the next 8 years! 

Spring is coming to Seattle! In the arboretum by campus. 

On Puget Sound - brrrrr but beautiful! 

So then after coming back on Sunday (the 11th), I had two WHOLE days at school to... not have class but take care of things in lab and TA'ing, and then I was off again on Wednesday (the 14th) to Michigan! That was a bit of a longer flight, but then I arrived in Ann Arbor in time for dinner! The revisit group bonded pretty quickly, and there were more AWESOME potential classmates. We got to tour a lot of the facilities and even see the helicopter land! And, of course, I got to see more faculty. As a bonus, I even got to go home and see family for the weekend! Overall, a really nice trip, too! Sorry I don't have too many pictures, but here's the helicopter!!

It's landing!!! Very breezy, as you'd expect. 

It just brought in a HEART for transplant! Awesome! 

Everyone's trying to get in on the action and take pictures! 

So, the question on everyone's mind is, I'm sure, where am I going!? The title of this post is "Decided!" so I have officially matriculated. And the final choice? Well, I'm going to...

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Yup, that's right, I'll be in Ann Arbor, MI for the next 8 (or so) years! So how did I make this decision (because I know some of you probably are making one now)? Well, honestly I went with my heart. It sounds kind of corny but where did I get the best feeling from? Where could I see myself living for the next stage of my life? Where did the people match up best with my personality? Those are the questions I asked myself, and those are the ones you should be asking, too! Don't focus on rankings or names, because if you do and you end up somewhere for the wrong reasons, you may second-guess yourself for the rest of your life. And remember, if you're so lucky to have a choice, you really can't make a wrong one. Best of luck to all of you who are deciding, and I hope that all of you come to Caltech if it's the right place for you (I know it has been for me)!

GO BLUE!! 

Dannah had some fun sharing with the world what I chose - this is the white board outside my room.

Decisions, Decisions

Hello!

So I'm back from break, and now in addition to my light courseload (see below), I am faced with a very important choice - where do I go for my MD/PhD training this upcoming year? I'll be straight with you guys, it's a three-way decision between University of Michigan, University of Washington, and Tufts University. Currently, that's my approximate preference order, but it ALL could change upon revisiting the schools (my revisit to Caltech's Prefrosh Weekend was actually what made me want to come here over other schools, such as MIT and Princeton).

My first visit is actually this week, to UW. Flying up on Thursday morning, having a packed couple of days, and then flying back on Sunday morning. After that it's off to Michigan - flying out there next Wednesday, flying home Friday night, then back to Tech on Sunday afternoon. It was actually cheaper to fly that way - strange, huh? In talking to my support network here, I've come up with some criteria to look at. Talking to Professor Rothenberg (my bio major advisor, also doing research in her lab) helped me figure out the differences between the research opportunities at both schools, and then talking to Aadel (the Fleming House RA, currently a PhD student on a break from med school at Stanford) put some perspective on this decision (since he made one a few years ago). I'm really glad I got a lot of people here at Caltech that I can turn to when I have these burning questions to ask.

As you'll see in the pictures, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, and this indecision is permeating my life (especially since for my whopping 2 classes all I have to do is read)! More on my visits soon!

Don't worry, I'm filling in the free time with lab work and exercise!

I even made Michigan and Washington Easter Eggs! 

So many good choices! I'm very fortunate. 

Like I said, I am very lucky to have this choice - all of them are great programs and it will be a tough decision. But I think I'm going to have a gut feeling one way or the other - we'll see!

Oh, What a Break!

I can't believe I just am wrapping up my LAST spring break as a Techer!

It feels like yesterday that I was coming home for my first spring break three years ago, after just finishing up pass/fail and preparing to begin a life on grades. Well, let's just say it really sets in the fact that you have to enjoy each and every day cause it goes by so quickly!

Anyway, enough musing and philosophizing - let me tell you what I did on my Spring Vacation (like those middle school projects you used to do but the spring edition). So it started off, as Dannah said, with her visit to my quaint part of NJ. We had a packed itinerary, going to Atlantic City (to eat some good food and try our luck on the slots), New York City (to eat some good food and go see a show), Sunday Dinner (prepared by my mother, for some GREAT food), and then around to "where I grew up." Do you see the common denominator in all those activities?? All in all, a fun (and filling!) trip for her.

Having a bit too much fun with Photo Booth on the plane! 

Taking in some rays in Atlantic City! 

Enjoying ourselves in Times Square! 

As a food critic and participant in cooking class (and as an Italian-American), I FULLY endorse John's Pizzeria in New York! 

The sun sets over a beautiful day in NY, and we're relaxing by The Lake! 

However, when I dropped Dannah off at Newark Airport to head back to San Diego, I did not just sit bored with nothing to do in my house - I got to see lots of other family and friends! I made a trip (again!) to New York, this time to meet up with Lisa, my neighbor in Fleming House (and her friend Gazal), to eat some Korean food and stroll around the city.

Deciding what to get - I enjoyed my bulgogi! 

Either the girls are completely oblivious to me taking a picture or... they are purposefully ignoring me! 

Thanks to my iPhone for finding us a place for some boba! 

But all roads do not lead to New York - I also was able to visit my friend Rachel, who is a senior at Princeton. She's majoring in English (what?! you can MAJOR in that!?) and doing her master's at Oxford. Sounds pretty impressive! Unfortunately, we had a bit of a winter relapse so we were a bit chilly.

Don't let the flowers fool you - it was 40 degrees! 

Who would go to... PRINCETON?? (just kidding, of course!)

All in all a fun afternoon with Rachel! 

Well, I think that's pretty much what I did over this break (just maybe throw in a couple more family meals and such). Now that I've successfully eaten my way through NJ (and NY, too!), it's time to go back to school and begin the FINAL term!

Oh, and don't worry - I'll be posting a med school decision update soon :).

The Grand Finale!

As Nelly Furtado says in one of my favorite songs, "All Good Things Come to an End."

That's what I had to say last Sunday when we took our cooking final. It was a LONG day of prepping and cooking, and it almost felt like I was on Iron Chef! They told us a couple of the "secret ingredients" beforehand, but one was a complete surprise! In the end, we had to use: fava beans, "designer" chickens (such as Jidori and Red-Necked), and bok choy. Each ingredient needed to be used in at least one of our five courses. When we arrived at 11 AM, we had one hour to plan what we would cook, and we also got to see the spread of ingredients we would have to work with!

Lots of meat and dairy to work with! Yummm 

Mmmm lots of vegetables, too! 

Thinking about how to use our secret ingredients! So many fava beans! 

Perusing the amazing spice rack! 

Once that hour was up, it was time to cook! Our final menu was the following.

Fava Bean Dip with pancetta and parmegiano reggiano, served with Chicken Soup

Assorted Tempura

3-Cup Chicken

Rice Balls Two Ways (Japanese and Italian)

Assorted Fruit Cup with Meringue

In the end, after many hours of cooking and tasting and running around, the judging panel (of 30+ people!) did not award us the victory. Though we were a bit sad, it was still a really enjoyable experience, because I got to do one of the things (outside of science) that I love the most - cooking! And don't worry, I'm not discouraged, because my favorite judges are my family and friends :).

Plating our fava bean dip! 

Getting creative with the presentation. 

Jiaqi making her Japanese-style rice balls, stuffed with salmon! 

I had some leftover sauce, so it couldn't go to waste! 

Relaxing a bit before the final course! So tired! 

So many judges! Pretty intimidating. 

Well, that's all for cooking class, so I'll catch up with you soon! :)

Southern Night!

Hey, y'all!

So I've been really slow to update lately, mostly because of Finals' Week and Spring Break (which, if you read Dannah's blog, has been busy, too!). Our final class was about southern cooking, which was something I've never actually cooked before! It's so delicious, though, that I was really excited to learn some tricks of the trade. We had some guests explain how they make traditional southern fare, like biscuits and pulled pork. I never realized how much work went into barbecue (and BBQ is NOT the same as a grill), and that made the final product taste even better! We actually did not have the chance to cook a lot of meat (because it takes so many hours, so they made it for us).

And after cooking up applesauce, biscuits, greens, and some other accompaniments, it was time to EAT. But before that, we got schooled on the details of BBQ sauce (we had over 5 types to choose from!) and how different states do BBQ (Tom showed us a really funny video to explain it, but I can't find it - maybe I will soon). But most importantly, it was time to EAT! Delicious, of course. And we also had a lot of visitors enjoying our food, too! Tom said there were over 70 people crammed into his house that night!

Having trouble visualizing...? Time for pictures!

Our honored guest demonstrating how to make biscuits! 

"Sampling" the cinnamon biscuits - can I have another I wasn't sure if it was good the first time... :P 

Frying up some green tomatoes! Truly southern fare! 

Nina is making apple sauce using the food mill. 

Sorry, vegetarians, not really the best night for you! 

Pulled pork, brisket, BBQ sauce, and cheese grits! 

One final thing to post about cooking - the FINAL EXAM! Talk to you soon!

Spices Galore!

Good morning, chefs!

I apologize for the delay since my last post, even though I'm a senior I still have had a lot to do leading up to Finals' Week! So I want to take this time to update you on what we were up to in class last week - as you may be able to guess from the title, we were cooking fare from the subcontinent - India, that is. Let's just say I learned about spices I never had actually used before - we definitely don't use too much turmeric in Italian cooking! Now one complication from this day was that Indian food is something that usually takes a while to cook, which meant we didn't get to let our dishes stew for hours and hours on the stove (we didn't want to get out that late!). However, I will say that our results got approval from my Indian friend, Mallika - she's from Mumbai, so I think that's a pretty big deal. :)

To expedite matters, we each made a different combination of a meat and vegetable. My group made Rajasthani-style beef (the formal name escapes me) and saag. The beef was delicious, with an amazing amount of spices! The saag was a bit different from vegetables I usually had (there were mustard greens in it, and I'm honestly going to say I'm not a fan), but at least I got my vitamin K! Other groups made Chicken Korma (something that comes to mind easier when I'm thinking of Indian food) and Daal (a more creamy side dish). Oh, and of course we prepared some Naan! We decided to spice things up and put garlic in it. Like I said for Italian week... you can NEVER have too much garlic! :D

Well, below are the pictures from this week - I'm excited for this last week because it's Southern Night! And I hear it's the best one - so we'll see how it is!

Pretty color-coded directions! 

Stirring the Saag - TOO MANY GREENS! 

Jiaqi with all the naan we had to prepare! Mmmmmm!

Recipe of the week: Sorry, no time this week... stay tuned for more!