Caltech

Winter Break in Florida

For those of you who are new to my blog or don't know/don't remember, I hail from the small, sunny town of San Marino (read: 10 minutes from campus). So, I had a fun and relaxing break at home, which is still super close to Caltech. I mostly met up with old friends and hung out with the fam. However, I also went to Florida for a week, which is primarily what I'll talk about in this post! 

I've been to Florida with my family before, but this time I went alone to visit friends, so it was quite a different experience! I did a lot of touristy things like going to Disney World (Epcot), Miami beach, and taking a boat tour of the Everglades. My friends and I also saw Rogue One and went on another friend's family's boat for a day trip out on the water.  My favorite thing about Florida was the weather - it was in the high 70's and low 80's the whole time I was there - much warmer than it was in So Cal. For all you East Coast readers - remember that I'm from So Cal and I'm a huge wimp when it comes to cold weather! I barely noticed the humidity (although I hear it gets very humid in the summer months). My least favorite thing about Florida was the mosquitoes. :( 

Going to Florida over break was a great decision. Florida was beautiful and I enjoyed basking in the warm climate. I highly recommend going (in the winter, can't speak for summer) if you get the chance. Check out some of my vacation pictures below!

Rare Japanese Lessons

Hey friends,

Last term I took L 106, the intro Japanese course. I lived in Japan briefly when I was young, and although I was once fluent in Japanese, I forgot it quickly after moving to the US. Even while growing up in Texas, I watched these amazing films by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli with my family. For those unfamiliar with Studio Ghibli, it's a studio that makes gorgeous films with thought-provoking stories that remind people to love nature and respect strong women. It was my delight to find many Ghibli fans at Caltech. Last year, my house (Avery) even took on Studio Ghibli as the theme for our annual interhouse party. We painted giant eight-foot-tall murals that brought much-beloved films like Totoro, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke to life. It was the best interhouse yet--we spent the month before sprawled on these giant sheets of drywall, coloring in our favorite characters while listening to the beautiful Ghibli movie soundtracks composed by the extremely gifted Joe Hisaishi...

We painted this (:

So imagine my doubt when my friend told me that a new young movie director named Makoto Shinkai was making films that rival those of Miyazaki. His most recent one, Kimi No Na Wa (in English: Your Name), was released at Laemmle Music Hall in LA for a week so that the film could qualify for consideration in the upcoming Oscars.

Luckily, my friends and I were able to nab tickets to see it. We rushed there right after the cooking final. The story is about a guy and a girl... and really I can't say more without ruining it. It really makes you think, though. The art was magnificent--if you decide to see it, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of seeing it in hi-def! The music was also quite swell... literally.

Spoiler alert!

The experience was like
the satisfaction one feels from watching a droplet of water
gather until it swells bigger
and bigger
and then
it drops.

The story was well-crafted, but hearing the Japanese (there were subtitles) and seeing the oh-so-familiar-but-just-beyond-the-reach-of-conscious-memory Japanese city scenes... the subway, the apartment complexes, the tall school buildings, the pedestrian bridges... along with the Japanese language of my childhood that chugs along, mingled with that I have been learning in class... only revived a longing for a forgotten familiarity, or sehnsucht.

Have y'all ever felt that? Or am I just getting old?

Movie poster for Kimi No Na Wa

keep lookin' up,

jenny.

First Term Updates

Dear Readers,

Apologies for the extended break - I'm back and ready to share all the exciting aspects of senior year at Caltech. :) But first, I want to take a step back and give you a quick overview of first term (September - December).

My coursework included: UI/UX Design, Intro to Earth and Planetary Sciences (Geology), Digital Ventures Design, Elementary Japanese, and Cooking. The UI/UX Design course was an independent study with a professor - I practiced designing web and mobile interfaces. Intro to Earth and Planetary Sciences was cool because we went on an overnight camping trip at the base of Mount Whitney (in the Sierra Nevada mountain range). In Digital Ventures Design, we pitched our own start up ideas and built prototypes. My team worked on a smart parking sensor system. Elementary Japanese is exactly what it sounds like. Finally, cooking was probably the most fun course. We were put in teams and competed against each other in a cook-off for our final exam! I really enjoyed all of my courses. Below are pictures from my geology field trip and a dish I made for the cooking final. 

Some of the highlights of my past term were dressing up as a unicorn with my friends on Halloween, going with Tom (Caltech's Director of Student Affairs) to see Moana at the famous El Capitan Theater in Hollywood (he took a huge group of students), and going to Perch for the first time! For those who don't know, Perch is one of the many rooftop dining establishments in Los Angeles. The view was phenomenal. 

Overall, it was a pretty solid term. It's too soon to tell whether or not this current Winter term (January - March) will be even better. Thanks for reading, and look out for my next post about my winter break!