Caltech

Hello There!

Hello!

    I know I haven't written in a long time. This past Term at Caltech has been very absorbing and now that it's over, I can say that it seems to have been worth the dedication!

    For those of you to whom I'm new, my name is Nina Budaeva. I just finished my sophomore year at Caltech. I am a Physics major and I am a Pageboy (member of Page House).  

    I will try to write more often throughout the Summer. I've lined up several adventures for myself and promised myself to never be bored, so I should have plenty to write about.

    With that said, let me start by recapturing the last several days of Term which ended on June 10th. The last week was Finals Week which meant we had no more lectures but instead we had plenty of Final Exams and last assignments to do. Yes, almost all Exams at Caltech are take-home and subject to the Honor Code but this does not mean that they are easy! In fact, this means that they can be quite hard and require one to learn news concepts while taking the exam. Sometimes, a 50% is a very good score. This makes me think that professors who write such exams hope that maybe one student one year will be able to actually complete the whole exam and throw off the class curve.

Finals Week is rough but I've found that consistent effort throughout the Term - and this means not just doing enough to get a good score on Problem Sets - pays off in the end. Well, this week is over and it ended with Graduation. That was a bittersweet day as many good friends are now Caltech alumns. Fortunately, quite a few are sticking around here for the summer or found jobs/graduate school nearby.

At the end of the last week of classes - the week before Finals Week - my house has an end-of-term barbecue with champagne (for those who are of age). In the spring Term, this is also the time when we take House pictures for our records and for "The Big T" which is the Caltech yearbook.

These are most of the people of Page House (those missing will be photoshopped in). We are on the Millikan Bridge over the Millikan Pond with the Millikan Library behind us. Some of you may recognize this spot from the opening credits of "Legally Blonde ". After all, we are very close to Hollywood - close enough to have pranked the Hollywood sign.

Here are the Sophomores of Page House (my year, I'm in pink with my friend Mia to my left and Page House Vice President Stephen to my left): Yes, it seems like we have many more girls that guys but that's only because more girls showed up for the photo. 

At 5pm on the Friday of the last week of classes, Flemming House fires their cannon to mark the end of Term and the coming of Finals. We get to hear the cannon while enjoying our barbecue. If you've heard about the Caltech-MIT pranks, then you've probably herad about this famous cannon!

The Saturday after Term ended was my 20th Birthday so I got to finally open the presents my parents sent me. I also got a surprise cake (see below). Caltech has a special cake service with which parents can order a cake to be delivered to their child's room on their Birthday, so my parents did this and I shared it with my Housemates. Thank you Mom and Dad!

 Even though the school year is over, it doesn't mean that work is over. Most Techers (Caltech students) work throughout the summer in research or as interns. Caltech has its own program called SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship). The application process is modeled after the real-life grant-seeking process. We scout out professors and labs in which we would like to work and do our own research. Then we write a proposal to the SURF office summarizing the research project we would like to do. We also need to have several letters of recommendation from faculty and from previous SURF mentors. If we are granted the SURF, we get 10 weeks of work and get paid fairly well. Throughout the summer we have to submit reports of oru progress adn at the end we have to submit a final report and make a presentation. Most SURFs happen on campus although quite a few students find SURFs at other schools or even in other countries!

I officially started my SURF the following Monday although I also did a bit of theoretical preparatory work last Term. Then I finally went home for the weekend to visit my parents. I live near Berkeley, California and every time I've gone home to visit, I've refused to see the city of Berkeley iself because I didn't think I missed it. Now, after two years, I decided I should see it again and remind myself of the flavors, so I ventured out to Telegraph Avenue. I also promised some friends at Caltech to bring back genuinely Berkeley souvenirs, so here I am buying a dream catech with my friend Robert whom I've know since preschool and who is now studying at Cal.

This summer I am working with Caltech Professor Kenneth Libbrecht: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/ . It turns out that he studied at Caltech and was a member of Page House too!

My project involves studying chemical effects on ice crystal growth. Briefly, I am studying the effects of various concentrations of various solutions on the growth of ice crystals forming in the solution. This project is a great balance of experiment and theory. I am running plenty of "freezings" of solutions but there is also a great deal of theoretical analysis. For example, there is heat diffusion, surface tension, and freezing point depression to account for and whose effects to analyze and explain, just as a start. Since this hasn't been a highly-studied field, there is plenty of freedom to explore here. I will post some awesome photos in a later post. 

On Saturday my parents and I went down to Monterey - one of our old-time favorite day trips. While there, we stumbled upon the following scene.

 (Yes, I'm holding a bag of one of my most favorite goodies!) The irony of SURFing kills me sometimes! I think now I'm completely ready for my SURF summer.

Well, I think I've written more than enough for one post. I promise to continue posting when exciting things turn up (as they are bound to: for one thing, I'm going to Sin City, also known as Vegas, with a group of Techers this coming weekend)!

Cheers,

Nina.

 

When you think it's over, ...

Hello!

First I want to apologize for not posting for such a while. This Term has been very colorful and therefore busy and you'll soon see why.

At Caltech, I often find myself starting a week and thinking that this will be the toughest and craziest week of Term. I get through that week and start the next one and think that actually, this next week will be the craziest week of Term. So, I conclude now that every week is packed and the degree of how pleasant the week ends up being depends on your time management and attitude.

The past few weeks have been incredibly exciting. First, Caltech made the headlines of newspapers all over the world. This isn't big news on campus because of our amazing and hard-working scientists but this time, we got publicity because of sports. Our Caltech men's basketball team one their first conference game in 26 years! This is probably old news to anyone who follows these blogs but the campus is still quite excited! I think the best part was that the game was Senior Night -- it was the last game of the season and it was a home game. Ever since December when the team won several non-conference games, there was a lot of silent anticipation of a conference win and finally, we won by one point at the last minute of the last game of the season! I'm still kicking myself because I watched the first half of the game but left at half time to do work. I told myself that although the game was close, I've seen plenty of sad games and even if we won, at least I'd seen the first half. Well, afterwards, the was an impromptu party on the Olive Walk and the Flemming cannon fired to celebrate the victory!
Our seniors.

Around the same time, Interhouse parties started up for this Term. We haven't had any in a while and now we're having one every Saturday night. In short, there are eight undergraduate student houses and each one hosts and Interhouse party in their courtyard for all the other houses once per Term. My house, Page House, kicked the year off with the first party last Term.

My House has also been having more house activities lately. After finally initiating our Frosh (super secret procedures), we had our annual house elections where we elected a new "Excom" (Executive Committee) which consists of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Athletics Manager. This house meeting was also a time to make any changes to our bylaws, admit new social memebers, and appoint any other house positions.
Old excomm presiding over the meeting. Since the meeting takes a long time, people who wanted to stay for the whole thing brought work to do.

Last week we had our formal dinner. This was a special dinner which we call "Book Night" becasue all the Frosh sign our house book, as well as Excom memebrs. This book presumably has the signatures of all Pageboys ever. I checked that it does indeed have the signatures of several Pageboy alumni who now work at Caltech, such as Professor Libbrecht who is the executive officer for Physics here at Caltech.
Gathered before dinner.

Our house waiters followed a specific dress code of suit jackets, top hats, ties, monocles, boxers, shoes, and nothing else.

Signing of the book by former and new Excom.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for the whole dinner because I ran off to an 8pm Physics lecture. Our professor was out of town one day so he held a make-up lecture at night -- not the first time and it really makes me appreciate his devotion!

Caltech's theater group TACIT held their production of "The Three Musketeers" and two Pageboys were in it, so one of the nights was flooded by our house. Several houses entered a competition where the houses to have the most people see the performance would win a fancy dinner. I sure hope we won!
Our two Pageboys Darl and Haley who played the King and Constance.

I loved the play and thought it was great when we saw a video of our Caltech President dressed as a king giving the audience instructions on how to behave in the theater before the performance started projected onto the curtains.

Last week I realized that Cirque de Soleil's show "Cavalia" was in the nearby town of Burbank and that March 6th would be their last day here. I immediately got a ticket for Friday night.
The show was incredible and again it reminded me of how lucky I am to be in Los Angeles. I'm finally starting to fulfill the promise I made to myself at the beginning of Term of exploring the area more and of taking advantage of Caltech's location!

Finally, last week ended with Ruddock House's Interhouse party. The Rudds were working on the constuction all of Term and the effort definitely showed. The theme was Jurassic Park:

That's it for now since I should get back to work but I promise to post again soon!

Cheers,

Nina.

 

February Forecast

It's been a while since my last post so I'll fill you in on what happened before giving you a preview of what is yet to come!

Caltech is a great place to develop your interests and to find new ones. For instance, before coming here I was very involved in dancing, particularly in ballet. When I came to Caltech, I realized that I had completely missed out on the athletics scene in high school. Since Caltech is such a tight place, it was inevitable that I started following sports (at least Caltech sports). In fact, I joined a sport myself! I ran Cross-Country and Track last year. Caltech is a Division 3 school, so no one who comes here is admitted because of their athletic abilities. However, I believe that because of this Caltech athletics is very welcoming to anyone with any athletic interest, which gives Techers opportunities that they would have never had, had they gone to another school. Yes, in races we would rejoice if we came in second to last instead of last and there is a movie called "Quantum Hoops" about our men's basketball team that celebrates our team's ~20-year loosing streak in conference games. However, this year athletics seems more prominent on campus than ever before, perhaps because men's basketball has more of a chance than ever to win a conference game! Our guys won three consecutive (non-conference) games over winter break and they've been coming to within a few points of winning the most recent conference games. Suddenly, many fans popped up and Caltech even bussed out fans to an away game against La Verne!
(At La Verne.)

We're all on edge, waiting for a win to break that tremendous losing streak!

As for dance, just like last year I'm participating in the Dance Show which will take place in the beginning of Third Term. However, even though I'm back in my more natural state of dancing, I've still found a way to get out of my comfort zone - very far out of my comfort zone. I'm doing a hip-hop and a contemporary dance, neither of which are dance styles that I've ever performed in. I'm having a blast, though! I'll try to get a video or photos of the hip-hop rehearsal if I can, but no guarantees. I'm still doing ballet too, but off campus at a very good local studio called Pasadena Dance Theater.

So, what happened recently besides the start of rehearsals and basketball almost winning several times? Midterms week is wrapping up. Some say that Midterms week is the worst week of Term - worse than Finals Week. This could be true becasue classes and most Sets continue during Midterms while for Finals we have a full week of no classes or assignments.

Caltech is on the Honor Code. This is something that I believe makes Caltech so special and it exists partially due to the tightness of our community. As a direct consequence of the Honor Code, most of our Exams are take-home with time and resource instructions printed on the front of the Exam. However, just because one gets a five-hour open-book take-home exam, this doesn't mean that the exam is easy. On the contrary, it may mean that the Exam is harder and more open-ended, so you end up using several blue vooks to explain and justify your work. On a lighter note, these types of Exams take off the unneccesary stress of walking into a classroom at a specified time and having an hour to do a test where you know right away if your answer looks right or wrong. I find that while taking Caltech Exams, I'm still learning more and I think some Professors design their Exams on purpose to teach us more. On the other hand, take-home Exams can become extreme when they are unlimited-time. This usually ends up being more of a project that sucks up all of your energy because you think that you can always do it better, since it is unlimited-time.

One thing Techers are good at (or get good at after spending enough time here) is decompression. My House - Page House - hosted a Karaoke Night for all undergraduates in our lounge last Friday to decompress before Midterms.

Attendance, I thought, was not bad given that many Midterms had already been released and quite a few people have already dived into them.

This weekend is our first Interhouse party of the Term - Avery Interhouse. Every year, each House (eight total) hosts a party in their courtyard for all other Houses. The parties are themed and usually involve organized construction (which must pass a safety inspection). Starting with this week, there will be an Interhouse Party every Saturday until the end of Term. I promise to write about the parties as they happen!

What else am I anticipating for this month? My main focus is school work which I know will not disappear so to balance myself, I hope to channel some of my energy into complementing activities. Dance rehearsals should get more and more serious as the Term wraps up. I will also try to stick to my resolution of exploring the area more, although I've had this resolution for a while and I must admit that I'm not satisfied with my progress. I also hope to solidify my plans for the summer this month (more about that later too). Finally, I plan to keep enjoying the sunshine here. It is 68F at 4:30 pm and this is not the hottest day.

Cheers,

Nina.

 

 

 

Back to Blogging!

Hello! First, let me reintroduce myself. I am Nina Budaeva, a Caltech Sophomore majoring in Physics and a Page House member. I am from Berkeley, California but was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. I started blogging a year ago and went through summer up to this school year. Now I'm very happy to be back for occasional blogs about various things that pop up in my life at Caltech! I hope you enjoy following me throughout all the countless adventures that Caltech has to offer.

I'll begin with the return to campus after break. I'm from Northern California. My parents and I are very into cross-country skiing so naturally we spent a good amount of time during break in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Tahoe Area. Just before driving back to sunny "SoCal" (it was 80F here in Pasadena on December 12 when I left for break!), we were getting our last bit of skiing together as a family in this beautiful winterland:

I was telling myself to make the most of this snow because soon I would return to those 80F. However, when we were driving to Pasadena on January 2, we were very lucky to actually make it to Caltech because of a blizzard in the San Gabriel Mountains that are just above Los Angeles County!

This is what HWY 5 looked like! By the time my parents left to drive back to Berkeley, this road was already closed so they had to take an alternate route which was incredibly slow. They are troopers!

Well, now we've been at about 70-80F for several days, so things are back to normal. This Term has so far proven to be exciting. I am taking an Applied Comutational Math class this year (the "notorious" ACM 95). This Term, the Frosh have their Math class in our lecture hall right before us and some of these Frosh have been leaving messages such as:

These pictures are made out of post-its and the man is supposed to be their professor. For the entire first week we would see new pictures with every lecture but on the second week we found a message explaining that this "saga" is countinuing in a new lecture hall because this student switched classes. Oh well. My course is still quite interesting even without new post-it designs bedind the chalk boards.

What else is there to expect from this Term? It is almost time to start finalizing plans for summer. In other words, it is almost time to apply for SURFs (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship - more about this in a later most). I've been in contact with my lab and I hope to soon finalize what I will work on. I may even start working during the year, well before summer starts! Please wich me luck!

Being a Sophomore, my courses are really getting more specialized towards my major whihc is Physics. I'm enjoying this but I'm not saying that I don't like the Core Curriculum. If it weren't for Core, I would have never voluntarilly taken certain classes that I ended up really enjoying (or at least appreciating) such as Biology and an Information Science and Technology class.

Also, most Interhouse parties happen during Second Term. I promise to describe these as they come because a lot of effort is put into each one and they always turn out to be great.

This Term I am also rehearsing for a Caltech dance show. I've done serious classical ballet and character dancing for a long time before coming here but for the dance show this year I am doing a hip-hop dance, a contemporary dance, and perhaps a jazz dance. I figured I'd give these a shot someday anyways so why not now?

Well, now I should get back to studying Physics and ACM but I'm really happy to be back and I hope you enjoy my blogs!

Cheers,

Nina.

 

 

It's Coming!

It's coming! Even though we still have about a month to go, the school year is coming! Preseason Prefrosh started arriving last week and most people finished their SURFs the week before. Many Techers went home after finishing their work but others are just coming back for sports! There was a series of good-bye dinners and get-togethers such as this one:

Since the next big thing after the start of preseason is the start of classes, I shall fulfill my promise now and talk about a few things that Prefrosh should expect when they get here.

First and foremost, Prefrosh, don't bring a lot of things with you on your first trip here! You will go through Orientation and Rotation and you'll be living in random temporary rooms until Rotation ends. Then, if you're lucky you'll move right into your permanent room in your House but some Houses put their Prefrosh into yet another temporary room until permanent room assignments are figured out. I brought just enough to get me through two weeks and then my parents came down with the rest of my boxes that I had before leaving. I'm lucky that my parents can drive to campus but other friends who live on the other coast have had their things shipped to them after their final move. I'd say shipping costs are worth it. Some parents have been asking about how to equip rooms. Once again, I'd say to wait on any big things until you move into your permanent room. Also, it's probably a good idea to have parents visit a few weeks into your time here not only to stabilize you but they will most likely have good ideas about setting your room up and whether you realize it or not, you'll miss each other a lot, especially as time goes on.

Some things that you should definitely bring right away: shower supplies (get a caddy and slippers), towels, swimming things, school supplies, bedding, desk lamp (I didn't bring one so I hung a flashlight over my desk with paperclips until my parents brought me the rest of my things), clothing, hygiene supplies and any personal things that will comfort you in your first few weeks on your own.

Before I forget, I'd like to put a note in about sports since I've been hearing a lot of sport talk recently. Prefrosh, don't shy away from joining a sport! Caltech is not the place to be overly concerned with your athletic achievements but athletic commitment is well-respected here. Give it a shot! If you didn't have time to be a student athlete in high school, you can be one here! Also, I found that being on a team as a Frosh helped me adapt to college a lot because the team is yet another family and support group. Those Prefrosh who came for preseason had extra time to adapt and meet upperclassmen. Even if you're missing preseason this year, still feel free to join a team when you get here in September (like I did)! You will most likely be very warmly welcomed! Guess what, you still have that chance to be the buff water polo player or the track star, or the tennis champion of your school! Once again, definitely consider giving sports a shot.

There are probably a lot of questions about how Rotation works so I'll take the time now to describe it. The purpose of Rotation is to assign all Frosh to a House. There are eight undergraduate Houses at Caltech and every Techer is a full member of one House. To make sure that no one is stuck in a House that doesn't fit for all four years, we have Rotation. This whole system is quite analogous to that of Harry Potter. Rotation lasts one week, and each day Prefrosh go to different Houses for various activities. By the end of the week everyone has had at least a dinner, a lunch and a dessert night with each house. On the Saturday of Rotation, Prefrosh rank the Houses in their own order of preference. These forms go to a picks committee and after some very mysterious and complicated process the Flemming cannon fires a blank at five p.m. on Sunday. This is a very special moment because once the cannon fires the Prefrosh become Frosh and the Frosh become Sophomores. (By tradition the upperclassmen advance to their next year when Ditch Day ends but Frosh remain Frosh throughout summer until the cannon fires in the Fall.) After the cannon fires, the new Frosh run to the House doors and go through various obstacles to find out if they got into one house or another. It's a very fun and busy day but you're already one week into classes and your first sets are due the coming week so don't forget to finish the Math Set that is due on Monday!

Weather-wise, I'll just say that I thought the last few days were almost on the chilly side because it was not 100 degrees. However, nights can get cold so bring a jacket and a blanket. Also, air conditioners should be installed by Caltech Housing in every room by the time you get here.

When you get here, don't be discouraged if things aren't so easy. First of all, this is college and no matter what school you go to you will go through a transition that may be rough. Just power through it, stay in touch with home and find yourself a comfortable group on campus. You may find the work tough but would you come to Caltech expecting academics to be a piece of cake? Once again, don't feel bad. Things will pay off. For example, a few of my Frosh friends and I went down to Santa Monica last weekend to visit a guy from our House (Page House) who just graduated last June. He worked hard at Caltech and landed a good job in Santa Monica. The first few weeks, he told us, were training for new hires. They had classes and homework sets along with assessments. The guy, Dave, said that he was having less trouble than other new hires because he was fresh out of Caltech where a four-hour set is no problem. Of course, he's still working hard but he sure got good training at Caltech!

Finally, come prepared with a very quick and interesting summary of yourself. You will be doing a lot of small talk, especially during Rotation. By the end of the week everyone is tired of finding out where people are from, what their names are, what their intended major is, what their favorite colors and foods are, etc. So be prepared for this!

Other than that, have a great rest of your summer and if you're already here for preseason, welcome! I can't wait to meet all of you when I get back to campus on the 16th after a short vacation!

Cheers,

Nina.

Out and About.

Some of you may be wondering what it's like to be in Pasadena while being a Techer. It's true that during the year we are quite busy with work and don't go off campus much during the week. Actually, this depends on each individual person as some people manage to go all over the place and keep on top of work. I can say that I barely went off campus on weekdays but managed to walk somewhere on the weekend, mainly for food. However, the summer is a different story. It was when summer started that I really started feeling that I'm in Southern California. First, it's pretty hot although this year has been an unusually "cold" for the area. Second, I've seen much more of the surroundings in the couple weeks of summer than during the past school year so I'll describe some of these places for you.

The closest place to campus is Lake Avenue. This is where Techers often go in the school year for food. I described it in an earlier blog so I'll go on to Colorado Boulevard. Colorado is a big street that runs East to West several blocks above campus and its western end is the heart of Old Town Pasadena. This is quite walkable although a car would be convenient. Old Town is rather popular with Techers as it has shopping, dining, movie theaters, etc. During the year we occasionally venture off there to break out of campus.

This is a part of the Paseo Colorado which is a big shopping and dining complex on Colorado. Nearby you can find movie theaters, ice skating, a big fancy ballroom center, a theater,...

The top of the Pasadena City Hall.

This is a very favorite frozen yogurt place that works just like Coldstone Creamery.
A view of Colorado Boulevard in Old Town Pasadena.

A few weeks back I went to downtown LA with a friend to see "The Sleeping Beauty" ballet production by the American Ballet Theater which was on tour at the time. The theater complex is awesome here with four theaters all in one block and with Broadway shows constantly touring through!
  Here are some sights of downtown:
 

Driving around towns neighboring Pasadena I came upon sights such as:

Now last Saturday we had a neon-themed party in my house's dining hall that I called "Neon Night". It took a lot of work and plenty of people came out to work together to make this party awesome. All students on campus were invited. Here are some pictures of the set-up:
Setting up the speakers for our awesome Techer DJ. A blacklight, a strobe light and glow sticks were all the lighting we needed.

 
MUSIC!
 

And we baked. And we dressed up.

And the next day the RA's (RA stands for "Resident Assistant" and that's a graduate student who lives in an undergraduate house and serve as the house parent) of my house - Page House - organized a House beach trip to Laguna Beach. It was a drive but it was well worth it! When it got dark we got a fire pit and roasted marshmallows.  

A sight from the road to Laguna.
 

Almost too  good to be true.

Finding the children within us!



Our two awesome RA's are here. Both are on the left, one is partially out of the frame.

All in all it was a great weekend and a great summer so far but I find it hard to believe that we're only barely halfway through summer!

When summer really starts coming to a close, I promise to give the incoming Prefrosh an idea of what to expect and what to bring!

Cheers,

Nina.

Under the Sun!

I hope you're all enjoying your summer! Incoming Prefrosh, I remember that my Prefrosh summer was amazing! However, I'm not at all implying that my Techer summer is any less amazing.

I promised last time that I'd talk a bit about by SURF project. I'm in an Experimental Physics condensed matter lab run by Professor Eisenstein. The Professor is my official mentor and I have a graduate student co-mentor assigned to me (this is the case with all SURF students). A focus of this lab is to study the electrical transport behavior in materials - specifically in graphite and graphene - under certain conditions. The samples must be quite small. I'm working with graphite this summer, finding samples, identifying the better ones and then processing them on silicon chip substrates to create gold electrodes that attach to the graphite. These electrodes allow me to make electrical transport measurements on the graphite by passing currents across the graphite. Some measurements require very low temperatures of about 4 degrees Kelvin and magnetic fields of about 14 Teslas! One funny thing about my project is the balance of low-tech and high-tech. To create the electrodes I first design them on design-cad software. I then use the Scanning Electron Microscope to actually create the design on my sample. I then use a thermal evaporator to deposit gold over the sample ("deposition") and then I remove excess gold - where I don't want a pattern - with acetone ("lift-off"). For the lower-tech aspect, I then solder by hand under a microscope - the riskiest part of my process - to attach tiny gold wires to the freshly-created electrodes that are roughly 300-500 microns wide. For the lowest-tech aspect, I use the "scotch tape exfoliation method" to get graphite samples in the first place! This method works surprisingly well for its simplicity. I start by placing a graphite flake on the sticky side of a piece of scotch tape. Then I fold the scotch tape onto itself and peel it apart which peels the graphite apart. This I repeat many times until I get a small enough piece of graphite which I then place on a silicon chip substrate. Here are some images to give you a clearer idea:

In the center is a good sample of graphite ready to be processed.

Here you see the gold electrodes centering onto the graphite sample. The big rectangles at the ends are the contact pads to which I solder gold wires for measurements. These pads are 300 by 500 microns.

 

Here is a zoom-ed in image of the graphite piece with the gold electrodes leading up to it. Each wire is 1-2 microns wide at the place where it makes contact with the graphite.

Creating working samples is hard enough but next comes the actual measurement process. I hope to get a clear resistance measurement of graphite and to understand as much of the interesting physics as possible.

Outside the lab I've been having a pretty awesome summer. First of all, we're in California. Second, it is summer. The two go very well together and I've been trying to take advantage of this!

Last weekend I went home to visit my parents for my Mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!). I haven't been home for 16 weeks! Four months! I didn't think that would ever be possible! Fortunately most of the time I've been busy enough on campus not to think of how long it's been. However, no matter what you're thinking now about never being homesick once you get to college (I know some of you are thinking this!), homesickness will hit you hard sooner or later. It may take just a single day when you realize that you have to do your own laundry, it may take a whole Term or even a couple of years but it will hit you. Fortunately my parents have visited me in Pasadena several times throughout those four months so the stretch wasn't too terrible. Moral of the story: appreciate home while you're a constant inhabitant and make your "homemates" know this.

Anyways, those two days were quite packed and I got back to Caltech feeling like I've been gone for a week. I flew back Friday evening - a one-hour flight from Pasadena to Oakland/Bay Area/San Francisco. There are two airports close to Caltech (Burbank and LAX and Supershuttle has three registered stops that are right on campus.
Waiting for the Supershuttle. This stop is right behind our main dining hall.

On the plane, there were at least six lawyers and at least six of them were corporate lawyers, and I sat between four of them - two on each side. Two were on the same case for a rather big company (no names) but one was defending, the other accusing and it was quite amusing to observe the dynamic between them. They've been traveling together for a while know because of this case and they've gotten to know each other pretty well.

When I got home, it was great to see my parents again and to see my house! A few days earlier my Mom asked me if I had any food requests and I immediately said Egg Benedict. Saturday morning, here's what I woke up to:
Delicious! My Mom made the Hollandaise Sauce from scratch. My Dad is quite lucky!

I enjoyed the first half of the day at home but then we went to San Fransisco to an Impressionist exhibit visiting form the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Then we had dinner with my Mom's High School Physics teacher and her husband.
The restaurant was in the Berkeley Marina. This is a piece of land that juts out from the West end of the Bay so it has views of every part of the Bay. Here you can see the Campanile of U.C. Berkeley and from our table we could see San Francisco and Marin County. Below you can see the sunset over Marin County's Mt. Tamalpais.

The couple we had dinner with is pretty interesting. My Mom's science High School is in St. Petersburg, Russia and her Physics teacher is still teaching at that same school in St. Petersburg. Since a lot of her former students are now in the US as well as her children, she and her husband visit the USA every summer and see their children, a close friend and some of the wife's former students! Here we are:  

On Sunday my parents and I drove down to Monterey for the day:   

For any golf fans, Pabble Beach is quite nearby!

We went to the Cannery Row - the historic part of Monterey and took a long walk along the coast with a nice pit stop at the Ghirardelli Chocolate ice cream shop:

Monday morning I flew back right into Lab and on my ride from the airport I met a Caltech alum doing graduate research here for the summer. 

This Friday I'm participating in a Current Student Panel for the Caltech Preview Weekend. The last time I did this one prospective student sitting in the front row recognized another panelist Mario and me as bloggers so as Mario has already done, here's to Jeff!

Cheers,

Nina.

Summer so Far.

So, summer has officially kicked in! I haven't written a post in a while but I was settling in, taking a break, and, well, there are fantastic new bloggers who are writing about their exciting summers too!

Anyways, although I haven't written anything about summer yet, it doesn't mean that nothing interesting has happened (as you can reassure yourselves from the other great blogs). My summer started off on June 11 which was the last day of Finals Week. It was also Graduation for the Seniors and for me it was my Birthday. I must say that this was quite a wonderful end to a year at Caltech and quite a beginning for summer. It was bittersweet: sweet because Finals were over (and it was my Birthday) and sour because the Seniors were leaving. Since Caltech is so small, people here can get very close and even though I only knew the Seniors for a year, I was still very sad to see them leave. Fortunately, a couple of the Seniors got jobs nearby so they've been showing up on campus occasionally!

The next big thing was moving. Almost everyone who was staying on campus for the summer had to move to their summer rooms. Luckily, during Summer and Fall room picks, I got the same room so I'm definitely  staying in my current room until next summer. 

The next week after school ended, SURF started. I'm really enjoying my SURF. I wrote earlier about my lab and how I found it and applied for the SURF. Now I'm actually working in it, jumping in and out of a cleanroom. Right now I'm a bit anxious because my next big step is the most physically challenging one: I will solder tiny gold wires onto pads that I can barely make out on the silicon chip with my own eyes, so I'll be soldering under a microscope! During Second Term, I got my first exposure to soldering but what I remember most about it is how awkward it was and how I kept burning myself (granted, I was holding the iron very incorrectly!). Well, wish me luck with this step! In a later post, I'll write more about my experiment so you'll understand why I have to do this very involved soldering job.

During the summer our campus is not dead at all. Besides Techers, we also have summer students from other schools who live on campus and do research here. During the first week of SURF, I organized a Summer Welcome Party with a few of my friends just so that Techers and Summer Students can meet each other. It was quite a blast! During the party, I promised some people to do a Karaoke Night in the Page House Lounge (my House), so we're having a Karaoke Night this Friday! Various campus organizations have been organizing events too. For instance, we've had barbecues for dinner a few times, we have movie nights every week, we had a pool party, there is capture-the-flag, and tomorrow there is a DDR event with a boba tea incentive (I'm falling for the boba).

Summer is quite different from the school year for various reasons. First, we don't have classes but instead we have real research where things aren't always predictable. Also, we have more time on our hands so we can get off campus more often and we can put more time into hobbies. For example, since we don't have the stress of classes, we can freely read up on material and indulge in it without worrying about time.

While giving campus tours I've noticed that I'm always asked whether or not a car is useful at Caltech. During the school year there is really no need for a car since almost everything we need is within a short walking distance and when we do need a car, friendly car owners (students) are more than happy to offer a ride. In the summer, I wouldn't say a car is necessary either, but it is much more appreciable. Once again, there is more time to explore and since the weather is nice and we are in SoCal (Southern California), one might just want to go to the beach, or drive to San Diego, etc.

Anyways, I'll get back to some of the things that have happened so far. For the 4th of July Caltech had a four-day weekend so on one of those days some of my friends and I went to the beach. The beach was Manhattan Beach which is south of Santa Monica. It was a bit of a drive but it was very worth it. The city of Manhattan Beach is a cute beach city with nice shops an eateries. The tidy streets slope down to the sand that is cut off by a row of beach houses and a  boardwalk. The beach itself is very nice. It's clean and the water is beautiful! According to rumors, this is the beach where beach volleyball originated. Well, we had a great time there and now I'm looking forward to our Page House beach trip which should happen next weekend if all goes well.

For the 4th of July, Tom Mannion who hosts the famous Cooking Basics class, had a barbecue in his yard for two of the Houses - Avery and Page. He also gave out tickets to fireworks. This seemed weird to me. Coming from San Francisco where there are large bodies of water everywhere, I never thought that fireworks could be ticketed (since in San Francisco the fireworks are visible from almost anywhere) and I never thought that fireworks could happen in inland areas because of safety reasons. However, I went to these fireworks and was amazed. First, this was a whole celebration with concerts and music all in a nearby park called Lacey Park. I've known Lacey Park as the place where we had some of our hardest Cross-Country workouts but now I have a more positive view of the Park. In fact, it is a very nice place for local residents and for Techers to relax in! Well, the fireworks were amazing. I think they were quite comparable with the ones I've seen in San Francisco! (This may be true because San Francisco often had dense fog that covers the fireworks.)

Last weekend I ended up at the Huntington Gardens for a tea party. The Caltech Y had a lottery for the tickets and gave them to us at a very discounted price. It was very nice to eat fancy treats, dress up, and explore the gardens and art galleries afterwards with other Techers.

Well, after this work week is over, we'll kick off the weekend with a Karaoke Night in our lounge. Then on Saturday, a friend Sue and I are going to downtown LA to see the American Ballet Theater's tour of Sleeping Beauty. We're both very excited to go and I'll definitely write about the trip in my next blog!

Happy Summer!

Cheers,

Nina.

Here we are!

It finally happened: the school year ended! It came really fast but it sure happened! Last Friday was the end of Finals Week for all non-seniors (because the Seniors finished their work the week before) and that same day was also the Graduation Ceremony. I stayed for part of the ceremony and it was so touching! Being there encouraged me once again to keep working harder and harder so that I may be very satisfied with how I've spent my time here when I'm graduating.  

So, what is there to do once a Caltech school year is over? Relax? Soak in some sun? Spend some lazy afternoons being bored out of your mind? Sure, you can relax about finishing sets and exams on time and sure you can enjoy the sun as the weather keeps getting hotter and hotter, but you definitely can't spend days being bored out of your mind (unless you try really hard). First, you have to completely move out of your current room by Saturday noon. Next, if you're staying on campus you have to move into your new room. This is not so easy. The way I set up my old room, it really didn't seem like I had a lot of things. However, as I started moving things to my new room I realized that I have a ton of things! Once you're moved in, since you're staying on campus that implies that you are doing some sort of work here. This means that you get to start you work this week! For example, the SURF program starts tomorrow (wish us all luck, please!). Many of my friends are not staying here for the summer but none of them are just doing nothing. All of them either got internships, have nontrivial jobs, or are doing research at other labs. By the way, if you as High Schoolers have worked at a lab that you enjoyed, keep in mind that many Techers return their High School labs for the summer! (In other words, stay connected!) This year, to make things all the more time-rushed, their is the World Cup that is keeping everyone wired here.

So what are my plans for the summer besides work? First, I want to make my new room very comfortable by the start of the school year. Next, since we are off board during the summer, I plan to cook my own meals. Luckily my new room is right across from one of the three Page House kitchens! Also, I plan to explore the surroundings more, make it to the beach, visit some local museums that I haven't had time to visit yet, go to dance classes, and prepare for next Term's courses!

I still can't quite believe that summer has finally come and my first Techer year is complete! It has been a great year and it taught me a lot. Definitely there was a huge transition that I had to get over when I got here but that will happen no matter what college you go to. I've enjoyed my classes and I'm only looking forward to more. I am still amazed at all the wonderful opportunities that are available here and that all one needs to do is to have enthusiasm! I've enjoyed trying out new things such as running and taking Cooking Basics and I'm really excited about doing research this summer! Also, I loved blogging here for the past two Terms. Writing these blogs was not only enjoyable but it also gave me the opportunity to reflect on how Caltech is going and how I'm doing. I hope that you found my blogs to be as helpful, entertaining, and fulfilling as last year's blogs were to me.

Well, good luck with all the new and great things that you are about to start doing! If something blog-worthy comes up this summer, I'll certainly write about it but in the meantime, farewell!

Cheers,

Nina.

Last Day of Classes!

Today is the last day of classes! However, that doesn't mean that work is over.  I am done with sets but all of next week we'll have Final Exams.

I am sorry for not writing a new post for a while but I was really busy with school lately and now I have a short breather before Finals start. It seems as though Caltech knows very well when general stress levels rise sharply, and it acts quickly to ease this stress. Last week on Wednesday instead of eating dinner in our Houses, there was a campus-wide Western-style dinner with barbecue and appropriate decoration. The genius mind who organized this also made sure that we were given cowboy hats and water guns. Conveniently there was a lot of ice-cold water ready for the guns so ...
 

This reminded me of one day during my Prefrosh Weekend (the Club Fair) when one club gave out water guns and I became part of a very intense battle with my Prefrosh friends. The best part about last week's dinner was that once everyone saw what the water guns were leading to, my water-fight friends from our Prefrosh Weekend sought each other out and we recreated our battle. This meant that we had to get soaked and use water bottles. Once again, I had at least one water bottle poured over my head but once again I'll finally admit that I deserved it because I was shooting water down people's backs.

Some of you may be done with school already so if you're coming here next Fall, you've got a long summer to wait through. Once piece of advice (especially if you're coming here): don't do excessive college shopping! You'll regret it when you get here. This may sound disappointing, especially for those of you who love shopping (I totally understand you there) but restrain yourselves! Of course, buy the necessary things such as shower slippers, towels, bedding (TWIN EXTRA LONG), a shower tote, hangers. When you come here you'll be very sorry if you have five boxes with you. Remember that first you move into your Rotation rooms and then you move into your final rooms. I was lucky there because I only had to move ten feet and since my home is six hours away driving my parents and I planned out that they would drive down the rest of my less immediately necessary things after I move into my final room. Others were more miserable because they had to move to different floors in different Houses and their homes were an airplane flight away.

Therefore, don't burden yourselves with luggage! You'll be surprised by how much of the stuff you have now you won't actually need or miss once you get here! Also, Caltech is not in the middle of nowhere. We are a walking distance away from stores like Target, and IKEA, Crate and Barrel (if you want a fancy room) Best Buy and Staples (and more) are nearby. There even is a Williams Sonoma within 15 minutes' walking distance from campus. There are also plenty of very friendly upperclassmen who will offer rides.

Finally, don't let settling in bother you. Classes will start during Rotation (at least they did for us) and the most important thing to do when you get here is to start off the on the right foot academically. You will have at least one set due at the end of the very first week and more due at the beginning of the next week so get them done well! Don't let the upperclassmen telling you to stop working because you're on Pass-Fail negatively influence your work (and yes, be prepared for this) because otherwise you will regret fooling around when Third Term with real grades come around.

So what should you do now? Enjoy your summer! You did it! You made it! Feel good about yourselves and do things that are restful, relaxing and enjoyable. Stay energized to be fresh and focused when you get here. Work in a lab, read up on something, take some courses. Don't be ashamed of nerdiness! If you're coming here, you'll be fine. Travel, see your friends, exercise, try something new! We're all waiting for you to come here in September.

Well, I've got to run to my last lecture of Term now! Later today my House (Page House) will have its traditional End-of-Term Barbecue by Millikan Pond but we will also take House photos. I am one of the two House historians now so I must be sure to be there to get hold of the photos for the house and for the yearbook. I'm looking forward to the day when I can look at those photos and be so happy that this all happened!

Cheers, (and wish me and all the other Techers luck!)

Nina.