Caltech

#1

It was a farewell dinner today. The beginning of the end. Crazy to think in less than a week I’ll be back in Denver and this entire country hopping adventure will be completely over. Justin and I went to the Balmoral Hotel. As a birthday gift I’d received a gift certificate for their restaurant, and there really wouldn’t have been any better way to use it than taking my best lad out for dinner. The Balmoral’s restaurant is legitimately called... Read more →

Drizzles in Durham

There, and back again. A Caltech student’s tale. I went back to the land of my enemy, my mortal nemesis. Or at least, the nemesis of our school. Durham, the only team currently ranked above us on the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) point list. Only, this time, I went with open arms. I believe I mentioned somewhere deep buried in this land of blogs that my dad had studied abroad in Durham, 40 years ago precisely. And on... Read more →

It’s Studying Time

Well, the week before finals week is finally here. And I spent that studying, but also, doing the ever-important finishing of reports, and honestly, taking a couple of much-needed naps to catch up on everything else. Studying is a bit different here in Edinburgh. The biggest difference is that every single lecture is usually recorded. This means it’s very easy to have a lazy day of staying in bed and re-watching the lectures you missed or that you zoned out... Read more →

From Cold into Colder

It is COLD here. I know I’ve said that before but hOh my goodness I almost froze to death on Saturday. Of course, this wasn’t helped by how I almost froze to death Friday night as well. But that was by personal choice. So, Friday, night before a fencing tournament (as it always is) I decided to do something rather bone-headed and so I found myself at the ice-skating rink for disco night. Ice-skating has long been a tradition of... Read more →

Thankful for Singapore Society

I killed today. Yes, I killed Thanksgiving dinner, but more than that, this was the first time that I’d ever prepared live seafood. But wait. You’re probably asking, “Andrew, why would you be preparing seafood for thanksgiving?” Easy to say, I don’t have the equipment or free will necessary to prepare a turkey instead. Of course, little did I know the adventure I was getting myself into by choosing to prepare Singaporean chilli crab instead. Crab was remarkably cheap here;... Read more →

Ice Skating

Ice skating seems rather uncommon here in Southern California as there are only two year-round rinks within driving distance of Caltech. One is the Pasadena Ice Skating Center which is only minutes away, the other is the Santa Monica Rink which is way out west. The interesting thing is, the Olympic figure skating Mirai Nagasu is actually local. Her family owns a sushi restaurant in Arcadia that is only 10 minutes away. There are a lot of Caltech events at... Read more →

Thanksgiving in SF

I spent this Thanksgiving with one of my good friends in San Francisco. My friend is an Techer alum and she currently works in asset management. Since she did not have enough of a vacation to fly down to LA to spend the long weekend with her family, and since I was free, I went up to spend with her. Needless to say, it was a very untraditional Thanksgiving. We did not have any turkey or stuffing. Instead, we went... Read more →

Cold, Wet, And Happy

Well uh, good evening from a cold and rainy Scotland. I spent the whole of today in beautiful St. Andrew’s Scotland. Funny, I know. I’m Andrew. In St. Andrew’s. And even funnier, it was my mother who told me I had to go to check the place out. So, I suppose in some sense it was destiny that I woke up bright and early on a Saturday to take the two-hour bus out to St. Andrew’s. It was actually a... Read more →

Exploring Koreatown

There have been numerous high scientific studies showing that LA has the best Korean food in America. I've gone to a couple of famous spots over the past year and aggregated these reviews to share with you all. If you read my other blogs, you would probably notice that I blog about food a lot. The truth is, I derive a lot of joy from going off campus for food adventures, so these are the highlights of my week that... Read more →

Christmas In… November?

*Cue bells, jolly music, and large men in red tracksuits* It’s Christmas in Edinburgh! Take that with a grain of salt; I personally don’t believe that the holiday season starts until after Thanksgiving, regardless of what holiday (if you celebrate a holiday) in December. But the Edinburgh Christmas market did start last week, and so I had to go and visit. I joined along on a Singapore society trip but split off from them a bit early because my and... Read more →