Caltech

Caltech Soccer

From preseason until now, soccer has been a big part of my life here at Caltech. During preseason, we usually practiced twice a day, and when school started with the exception of games we trained from 4-6. But being on the soccer team isn't just about time spent on the field. Before a game we mentally prepare and watch what we eat, for the team. I've also made a lot of good friends with the soccer players. 

We have our last game this Thursday then the season will be over. To be honest I'm pretty sad about it, and for many of the seniors on the team, this game will be the last they play. The tennis offseason training starts in a couple weeks, which will counter probably the absence of official soccer practice. I played competitive tennis in high school, so I'm eager to be picking up my racquets again. 

Caltech is known for our excellent academic programs and not so much athletics. We have yet to win a game, which is not the position we wanted to be in. For some games, I think we've had the edge, but the other teams were able to come out with the win. Our team just has not yet been able to capitalize on enough opportunities. Sure, winning is better than losing but as cheesy as it sounds I wouldn't trade the experience of being on the team for anything. Soccer is fun. 

The chance to win a conference game this season is gone, but we still have one more opportunity. On Thursday we have a non-conference game; the only difference really is that this game doesn't count towards SCIAC rankings. One last game against SOKA, can we win? 

Carnival!

Now the subject of this post is long since past, but I only recently got the pictures, so you'll have to forgive my delay...

 

During Rotation (that thing that came after frosh camp), we had a Carnival one day. It was a nice break from the constant meeting and greeting that Rotation is. For a brief reminder, Rotation is the process where the prefrosh visit and dine in all the houses, so they can get a feel for the different personalities. At the end of the week, the prefrosh rank their favorite houses, and some magic sorting happens, and then everyone ends up in a house. And they end up happy.

Anyways, that whole process requires lots of effort on everyone's part. The upperclassmen need to make sure to be there at all times so the prefrosh can ask questions and have someone to hang out with - plus we're all trying to represent our houses in as true a manner as possible (note: this doesn't mean we're trying to get everyone to like us. It's really about honesty and giving the prefrosh everything they need to know in order to make an informed decision). Likewise, the prefrosh need to visit all 8 houses and spend a lot of time being asked questions, introducing themselves, and all that nitty-gritty of trying to learn about decades of culture in a few short days.

 

Luckily, this year we had a break in the middle with this Carnival. Instead of a house rotation dinner on Sunday, we had a giant outdoor carnival. There was all the standard carnival-esque stuff: caramel corn, a bouncy house, a slip-n-slide, carnival games (I didn't see anyone win the one where you smash a hammer to ring a bell), and, of course, a dunk tank.

Now, the dunk tank was manned by yours truly for the entirety of the 4-hour carnival period (then the carnival closed, we had food, and we were treated to an awesome laser show on the lawn at dusk). Fortunately for me, it was over 100° out (Fahrenheit - for all you international or nitpicky people, that's about 38°C or 311 K). That's pretty dang hot - and I got to sit around in a swimsuit and get dunked in cold water all day. Talk about refreshing.

 

There's not much more to say about that, but here's a couple of pictures of me as the ball hits the target, and immediately after as I start to fall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite kind of Tuesday

This week has been one of my lighter weeks because it's an off week for one of my classes that has a bi-weekly set. Yesterday (Tuesday) was pretty awesome. I had a big presentation in the morning for my Neurobiology of Disease class. I presented on a paper titled "Optical Deconstruction of Parkinsonian Neural Circuitry." I know that probably means little to people unfamiliar with biology, but it's a really cool paper because it was one of the first to demonstrate the capabilities of optogenetics, which is a recently developed technique that gives scientists the power to completely control neurons. In a simple sentence, optogenetics lets you turn off or turn on exactly the neurons that you want to target using a fiber optic light. This paper discovered that exciting a specific neuron type could completely reverse the motor dysfunction that is symptomatic of Parkinson's. Anyway, I did well on my presentation, and this class is really important to me so I was very happy with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using fiber optic light to control neurons in a mouse model.

Then came the active part of my Tuesday! I had boxing practice in the afternoon and then in the evening I went to Tempest, a free running and parkour gym about 40 minutes from campus. I had gone a bit last year and this was my first time back after the summer. Here is the gym video if you want to see what a free running gym looks like. I got my back tucks and aerials back, and though form was not pristine I was landing well on my feet and I still think it's super exciting. These are very basic moves for free running people but I really don't care if I'm not doing the fanciest thing on the mat. It's still fun. And it's still a back flip. Boxing is definitely a highlight of my week and Tempest is probably my second favorite active hobby so I am very thankful that the way my homework worked out allowed me to do that! 

It is now Wednesday and I am deliciously sore just about everywhere from boxing, free running, and lifting but that's just fine since I'm back in a working groove. You're probably wondering how a girl at Caltech has time to go to a one and a half hour boxing practice and then a three hour free running session all in one weekday. It was at least partly luck because I didn't have anything due on Wednesday, but I also tend to work around things so I can do what I want to most. I'd rather go out on a Tuesday and then work harder other days of the week, when I can't box or free run. I'd rather study on a Friday night so I can go paddling during the day on Saturday (what I'll be doing this weekend) than do something mediocre Friday and study at more acceptable study times. I think maximizing my free time by taking advantage of things that are temporally flexible is one big thing that keeps me happy. It's not always a perfect system, but I'm much happier working on a set all night because I chose to do something I really enjoyed than working on a set because I procrastinated. I am similarly more able to stop procrastinating if I have something great to do at the end of the tunnel. Until next time :)

That moment when your classes apply to real life

I know I keep talking about how excited I am about my classes this term but that excitement has been amplified because 1) things I'm learning about in class are coming up in my real life interests and 2) I'm noticing topics in between my classes relating to one another.

In my Project Design class, a member of my team suggested the idea that people in a neighborhood build one big biogas tank to share instead of building individual tanks for each home. In my Environmental Economics class, we have talked about public goods and how the market works when numerous people can benefit from something that individuals decide to invest in. There was definitely a direct correlation between what I was learning in economics and what I was trying to do in project design. 

Also while in Environmental Economics I was reading an article on the National Geographic website about a new carbon tax law passed in Australia in an effort to help protect the country's vulnerability to pollution. The website called it a "milestone in implementation of a new climate and energy law that is expected to give Australia the world's most comprehensive carbon cap-and-trade system by 2015." Literally that very same class the professor mentioned how we would be learning about cap-and-trade systems later in the course. 

Finally, yesterday while doing reading for Intro to Biochemistry I came across a section about the aggregation of proteins and their relation to neurological diseases, like Alzheimer's. We learned about the biological mechanisms and clinical therapies of Alzheimer's in the first week of my Neurobiology of Disease class, and then in another class I read more about the biochemical aspects of AD! 

It probably wasn't necessary for me to give so many examples, but finding connections about things I'm interested in between different classes and the real world is really making me so much more motivated and excited about what I'm doing with my life. I am happy to say that as junior at Caltech, I am finally finding meaning to the things that I'm learning, and it is awesome! 

In-N-Out...in London??

Hi again! :D

So this past Tuesday, someone told me that In-N-Out was here in London. If you are a Techer or have been to California before, you know how good In-N-Out burgers are. So, my friend Daniel and I went to check it out the place.

It was about a 20 min tube ride away to Hendon. When we got there, the line was pretty long and we were told they were running out of burgers.  We didn’t end up staying to see if there would be any left. I was pretty disappointed, but I’ll get a double double next year when I’m back at Caltech. Daniel, on the other hand was pretty bummed out (he’s English). I wonder if they will open a pop up café again sometime.

 

Last night, a few of us went to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra play at the Royal Festival Hall. Tickets were only £4, and included a free drink afterwards (the legal drinking age here is 18). We listened to: Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 3, Carl Vine Piano Concerto No. 2 (UK première), and Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 with Vassily Sinaisky as conductor and Piers Lane playing the piano. I really enjoyed the piano concerto-maybe I’m a little biased since I used to play piano when I was younger. It was amazing how accessible and inexpensive it was to go hear the orchestra play. I think I’ll be going to another performance later on if I can.

 

 

I’ll be heading to Dublin this weekend with Kalpana and Conway, along with several other American friends we’ve met here. :D I’m really excited^^

So until next time,

Jessica

 

 

Rock pools, Boxing, Elections

I was really nervous going into this term because I thought it was the most difficult schedule that I had so far. I'm actually loving it. I am so thrilled to finally be in classes that I'm really interested in. On top of that two of my classes have bi-weekly sets, giving me so much more flexibility in my schedule.

This last weekend was really fun. The highlight of it was definitely Sunday, when a few friends and I went hiking and climbing by some rock pools in the Santa Monica Mountains. I was really craving some time outdoors. We walked around for a couple hours before we followed a stream into an awesome set of rock pools. The rocks were white and volcanic, so there were tons of crevices for climbing and they looked really cool. The mountains were in the background too, and it was super beautiful. It reminded me of pictures I saw of my friend in white rock pools in Italy, but with a California twist. I would definitely go back!!

 

Pictures do not justify how beautiful this place was. It's one of my favorite places that I've visited within a 40 minute radius of Caltech.

 This week was also the start of boxing club, which is a club I started last year with funding from Caltech. We hire an instructor to teach a class once a week and then we sometimes practice casually outside of that. I really miss martial arts and having a regular team to practice with so I love boxing club. I would do it every day if I could! I thought the first practice went really well, and I hope that people keep coming regularly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The club flyer.

I also got my absentee ballot in the mail which is pretty exciting since it's my first time voting. I have to say I'm not that into politics. I know my opinions about various topics but I really don't follow who does what. I did watch most of the first two presidential debates though so I'm not completely out of the loop regarding Obama and Romney. I'm actually thinking about going on a trip to Washington DC through the Caltech Y for a Science and Policy trip, which I think has potential to be really interesting. I just have to see if I have the time to do it with the other things I have planned for break.

If things keep going like the past week it's going to be an awesome term!

Me - a college student?

Hi readers! Sorry it's been a while; this new college life has taken me a couple weeks to get the hang of. After preseason and a long summer's worth of fun, my brain needed some time to be used to thinking again. 

This term I'm taking 49 units; this might seem like a lot compared to other colleges where an average is about 18, but at Caltech, the number of units is how many academic hours total versus in class. Some frosh passed out of the first couple of core classes, but the majority of the frosh are on the same schedule, and most of us work on the sets together. Math sets are due on Monday, Physics on Wednesday, CS on Thursday, and Chem on Friday. Then we have quizzes and Humanities papers due throughout the week. 

Attending school at Caltech, I didn't think the language and history departments would be that strong because it is a tech school, after all. But I was wrong. Right now I am enrolled in a class called Early Modern Europe, and it's a genuinely good class. We meet for an hour and a half twice a week; on Tuesday the prof gives a powerpoint lecture, and on Thursday we have a class discussion about the reading we've done. The amount of reading we are expected to do I don't like so much, but I've learned so much about the culture and religion of that era (16th century-ish) through the class. The prof just finished up with the Renaissance and we're starting the Reformation of mainly Christianity. 

You may have heard already, but the first two terms of frosh year are graded pass/fail, cutting us some slack. Class isn't easy, but definitely manageable once you get used to it. Upperclassmen aren't bogged down with sets like I heard they were before I came here. Students here have time to do things outside of studying and homework. There are always a couple groups just hanging out at almost any hour of the day and on the weekends people usually get together to do something exciting. 

Also, twice a week, the houses play dodgeball against each other in the gym. This is part of what we call Interhouse sports; basketball, football, ultimate, soccer, volleyball, and floor hockey also rotate in throughout the year. These sports are perfect if you're looking to play sports with a less competitive feel than the NCAA ones. It's always a lot of fun and good exercise. 

A little while back, we had a club fair which doubled as a luau party. We got huge Hawaiian fruit plates and a cake that started out looking like a volcano!

For a full list of Caltech clubs, go here: http://websites.caltech.edu/club-association. I went after soccer practice and was late but some of the tables were still up. The Rubik's club blew my mind, just so many different shapes. 

I'm really loving college right now. One last thing that's great about Caltech, unlike most high schools you can like learning and be cool at the same time. 

Best, 

Monica

The Most Epic Game of Hide & Seek

 

First things first. The word “cheers” has officially become part of my vocabulary-- I’d say I use it at least twice a day! Perhaps it’s a sign.. soon, I’ll have a Scottish accent. (This is not at all wishful thinking.)

Now that the most important piece of information is out of the way... Last week, while having a delicious potluck at my friends’ flat, she suggested we do something ‘exciting’ during the weekend. When I asked her if she had anything in mind, she casually said, “Well, there’s this LAMPS event, where people play hide & seek in a medieval castle. Would you want to go?”

!!!

There is only one acceptable response to that question, so of course I shrieked, “yes!” LAMPS stands for the Late Antique and Medieval Postgraduate Society, and you’d think such a specific topic wouldn’t attract many club members. But, since the university is huge, the society has about 50 active members, 15 of which participated in the hide & seek event.

We began our adventure by taking a bus to the Craigmillar Castle, which was built in the 14th century and is apparently associated with Mary, Queen of Scots. Most members of the club were pretty ecstatic about this.

Even though I am a) not a postgraduate student and b) not getting a PhD in medieval history and literature, my undergrad friend and I didn’t seem too out of place (hopefully). Still, I mentally kicked myself for not wikipedia-ing the basic medieval history I had forgotten from high school. I pretended to know a great deal about Roman bows by nodding vigorously when one member told me about her research interests. She just seemed happy that someone was willing to listen to her talk about Roman bows..

We reached the castle in a short amount of time, and I was relieved that we could finally begin running around and not quizzing each other on Celtic studies. We played one game of Hide & Seek, one game of Sardines (opposite of Hide & Seek), and one game of Capture the Flag/Umbrella! I ended up hiding in one of the dungeons underground.

View from the 5th floor! Hopefully this gives you an idea of the castle’s many passageways, towers, and secret rooms!

 

Playing Sardines. After waiting for 20 minutes for the others to find us, we began making animal noises.. Hopefully, other castle tourists didn’t mind too much.

Apparently there’s a Historic Scotland card that gives you free access to castles and is worth purchasing. If you study abroad here, be sure to buy one!

Cheers,
Ketaki

"I dreamed a dream..."

Hiya!

 So as I said in my last post, I went to see Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre with a few friends on my birthday. It was absolutely amazing!! The actors, the songs, the acoustics, the stage, and the props were magical. I think this is definitely one of the most memorable birthdays I’ve ever had.

 

This past Saturday I went to Oxford with UCLU. Oxford is just so beautiful with the architecture and lovely parks. The students were matriculating, so they were in their formal gowns. It definitely made me think of Harry Potter. :D It was a change from the busy city of London. Oxford is much more peaceful. Caltech is considered to have a beautiful campus, but I never really appreciated it until I left this past June for SURF at MIT and study abroad at UCL. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my experiences at MIT and UCL so far. I think I just miss the California sunshine. As beautiful as Oxford was, it was quite cold and unfortunately it rained in the afternoon. I am no longer surprised by the rain. It tends to drizzle a little almost everyday. Oxford was quite a pleasant trip and a refreshing change of scenery. We ended our time there with proper English tea and scones. It was quite delicious and warmed us up.

 

Henry also visited us this weekend (he’s a senior studying abroad at Edinburgh). A few of went to a wine and cheese festival by the Southbank. I tried a spinach and tomato cheese macaron. We also walked by the London Eye and saw Westminister Abbey and Big Ben. Henry wanted to see the Olympic Park area so we took the tube to Stratford. Unfortunately, the stadium is closed, but we went to the Westfield nearby to get a good view. Henry enjoyed his time here and will visit us again to see more of London. :D

 

 

 

Classes are going pretty well at UCL-I enjoy the lectures, which are quite good. The history of art class in particular has been really different and exciting. This past Monday I had lecture at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Museum is really nice and I plan to go back on my own time to check it out. Everyday I wake up and I feel like I’m still dreaming. I’m already more than satisfied with my experiences studying abroad here and have experienced more things than I could have possibly imagined. I highly encourage you to consider study abroad if you have the opportunity.

 

Jessica

“If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”

Hiya! :D

 So this is the 2^nd week of classes-CHEM3205 (Principles and Methods of Organic Synthesis) here is really interesting and is definitely the most challenging course for me here. The lecturer moves pretty quickly, but I enjoy learning about the mechanisms and figuring out how to synthesize molecules with Pd complexes. HART1401 (Renaissance Art in London) is also quite interesting. I went to the National Gallery for class and really enjoyed the environment of having class in at a museum. It really is a unique experience.

 

Everyone reads Shakespeare in middle and/or high school. I remember reading a bunch of plays and poems by him. Well, since my birthday was this week, my childhood friend Irina who is studying graphic design in London treated Carrie and me to see Taming of the Shrew live at The Globe Monday! Tickets were only a fiver for standing in the yard. It had been raining all day, and I was worried it’d be cold, wet, and tiring standing for 3 hours to see a play. I was completely wrong. Taming of the Shrew was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. We were lucky that the rain let up and there was only a slight sprinkle after the intermission. I loved how the actors interacted and engaged the audience. It was truly magical. I read and saw a film of Taming of the Shrew in middle school; seeing this live performance really brought back memories for Irina and me. If you are ever in London during summer or fall (they stop production after this upcoming Saturday), I highly recommend it. And yes, you should stand in the yard. It’s the best way to experience the play. :D

 

I also went to see Perks of Being a Wallflower and ate at PizzaExpress for dinner with Kalpana to take advantage of Orange’s Wednesdays 2 for 1 deal. Logan Leeman as Charlie was really great and the movie was pretty good. I haven’t read the book (this is the first film adaptation of a book I have seen before reading the actual book), so I can’t really compare, but I would recommend going to see it. We headed back and did some work. I later ended up baking Snickerdoodles with Carrie and Ellie (my neighbor across the hall) to share with everyone for my birthday. None of the British freshers have ever heard of or tried Snickerdoodles before, but they really liked them.

 

 

Thursday morning I woke up to a large sign made by Panarat and Kalpana wishing me a Happy 21^st Birthday :D However, it must have violated some fire safety rule because when I came back from class, it was gone. Luckily I got a quick snapshot:

 

 

 

I’ll be going to Les Miserables later tonight-super excited for my first musical! I find that being here in London is similar to being in Pasadena/LA in the sense that there is so much to do and so much culture. I have to head out to class now, but I’ll tell you guys all about my experience at Les Miserables in my next post.

 

Jessica :D