Caltech

Avery Scavenger Hunt

 

 

Every year, Avery holds a scavenger hunt to let the new frosh integrate into their alleys (hallways). It’s a really fun activity where an alley goes around Caltech campus and downtown Pasadena taking pictures and trying to do as many things on the list as possible. The full list includes things from 100 push-ups, having someone wear as many shirts as possible, and copying movie posters. Of course, there’s also a lot of group photos: in parks, in front of Beckman, in front of churches and statues… There are so many things to choose from!

 

But, if an alley wants to win, they basically need to do everything on the list. Everyone gets really competitive, running around places to try and get as many photos as possible. Alley 8 (my alley) came in second, behind Alley 3/4. There was only a 20 point difference between the alleys, with both having around 1350 points. Despite our loss, we were still really happy and went out to celebrate by eating hot pot.

 

Pumpkin Carving Contest

It's fall which means pumpkin spice EVERYTHING! I love everything pumpkin spice: lattes, cookies, cakes, candles, etc. Right now it's peak pumpkin. Trader Joe's has pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin pies, and pumpkin butter to name a few. Lloyd on the other hand, has our annual pumpkin carving contest.

 

Our alleys get together and try to carve the prettiest pumpkin. One thing I realized is that drawing skills and pumpkin carving skills do not translate. i.e. you can be an amazing artist and be completely incompetent at carving anything. It probably gets down to steady hands and firm grip of carving tools. (Question of the day: would talented pumpkin carvers make good surgeons?)

 

We got more pumpkins than we needed because sometimes alleys like to carve two (or more). Also, it doesn't hurt to save the leftover pumpkin seeds and roast them for a nice snack. The competition itself isn't actually that competitive. People either swing towards carving the funniest or the most intricate designs. Here are a few of my favorite designs from this year. I wish I took a picture when we lit them at night, but you can imagine what they look like in the dark.

 

 

Brunch Gang Takes Arts District

This past weekend, a few friends and I went to brunch at Zinc restaurant in the Arts District. I mentioned before that the Arts District is a super hipster neighborhood. It used to be fairly industrial, until it got gentrified. It's not a very residential area, but it has plenty of cafes and restaurants. I personally prefer it over Downtown because (free) parking is easier to find.

 

It's been a while since I've gone out to brunch, so it was extra awesome for us to get back together and catch up. Although brunch is meant to replace both breakfast and lunch, I think of it as breakfast for lunch. I love breakfast food, honestly, I could easily enjoy breakfast for dinner too.

 

Usually brunch in LA is quite expensive, especially around Pasadena since it's a rather wealthy neighborhood. Apparently, 70% of your food cost goes towards overhead, like rent etc. Therefore, it's extremely difficult to find good food with good ambience at a low cost. (My idea of low-cost is fairly skewed by living in LA and Vancouver. If you are from the Midwest, you will probably be shaking your head reading this).

 

Anyways... on to the food review: Zinc is super cute. It has a market where you can purchase over priced kitchen utensils and cookbooks. There is also a display case filled with baked goods. I swear their scones are the size of my face. In terms of seating, they have a patio and an indoor space. There are hanging chandeliers that fit with the minimalist decor and the space is mostly naturally lit.

 

We ordered omelettes and a sandwich. These omelettes were amazing! I love ricotta and mine was filled. All the ingredients tasted super fresh and the toast was perfection as well. My friend also ordered a sunrise drink. I believe that it's peach and cranberry juice. It tastes as good as it looks. We averaged around $15 per person after tip and tax, which is a steal for LA. All in all, 10/10 would recommend for a brunch date.

 

 

 

First SCIAC Set Win!

In our away game against Redlands, the volleyball team took our first SCIAC set win in 5 years. It was an amazing feeling to play to the end of a set and win, taking Redlands to 4 sets. The team played really hard and very steadily, bringing energy and playing really smart to take the lead early on and stick with it throughout the third set. We earned points and played really aggressively, pressuring the other team to be able to take the win. Although we didn’t win the next set, we still played really well, with Lauren getting quite a few amazing kills.

EVOLVE concert

5 months ago, my friend and I bought tickets for the Imagine Dragons EVOLVE concert at the Hollywood Bowl. We waited with bated breath the whole summer for the day to come, and finally, on Sunday, it happened.

We went to the EVOLVE concert!

It was an amazing experience. Although the concert started at 6:30, we didn’t arrive until around 8:30 – in time for Imagine Dragons to start their set list at 9:00. They played through almost all of the songs in EVOLVE, starting with “I Don’t Know Why”, and leading into the classic: “It’s Time”. The powerful songs that they play definitely got me pumped – songs like “Demons” and “Gold” – but I really loved the acoustic versions they sung in the middle of the concert. It was really cool because for “Dream” and “Bleeding Out”, Dan Reynolds came halfway up the Hollywood Bowl to sing more classical versions of those songs.

They ended with "Believer", which was a great song for the end of a really magical evening. Imagine Dragons is as good in concert as they are in their tracks. Oftentimes they are better too! I’ll definitely be going again the next concert that they have.

Matriculating at Cambridge

I've decided to skip past blogging the rest of my travels before my term abroad, since this is now my 3rd week at Cambridge! Caltech has study abroad programs with 6 different universities: Cambridge, UCL (University College London), Edinburgh, École Polytechnique, DTU (Danish Technical University)/KU (Copenhagen University), and University of Melbourne.

Cambridge is really unique in that it still holds a lot of tradition, so there are various rules like not stepping on the grass and wearing a gown to formal dinners. Below is a picture of my college, Corpus Christi! It's the second smallest college, and I matriculated with the class of incoming freshers, which was only 82 people.

I arrived a few days before Matriculation, so I spent that Friday and Saturday settling in, buying linens for my bed, shampoo, conditioner, etc, and walking around town! It's so different from California, where I've lived all my life, that it was quite surreal for the first week. Not only is the architecture different, but it's so walkable. I love it; it's so much more convenient and so nice to just go outside, walk for 5 minutes, and be somewhere that isn't the middle of suburbia. 

On Sunday, we had Matriculation. In the photo below, we're all lining up, in formal wear with our gowns on, to take our group matriculation picture. During the ceremony, which is conducted partially in Latin, we sign two books -- one for the University of Cambridge, and one for Corpus Christi College. Now I'm members of both institutions for life! It's quite amazing, and I feel really lucky to be able to experience it even though I'm only here for a term :)

A slightly closer (too close) look at what a gown looks like! This was taken during our very exciting Fire Safety talk before the Matriculation ceremony. Each college has a slightly different gown. For example, we have velvet strips running down the lapel, while other colleges don't.

 

Isle of Skye

The International Student Center (ISC) at Edinburgh plans travel events for international students to experience all that Scotland has to offer. First of all, though, can we address the fact that it’s very strange for me to call myself an international student? The United Kingdom is a very Westernized country. So aside from the slight variants in food and the use of the metric system, it’s not too big of a culture shock. This is probably helped out by the fact that my extended family is European, and I’ve visited a handful of times beforehand. So, while some Techers were getting excited by this new food called “rashers,” I had been having it nearly my entire life. (For anyone who doesn’t know, rashers are British bacon. It’s less crispy than American bacon, but you get a lot more protein out of it.)

But, I’ve gotten off topic. I’ll probably write a more extended post on the cultural differences between the US and the UK later on in the term. Anyways the ISC planned a weekend trip to the Isle of Skye. This is in the very north of Scotland, and once voted as "4th best island in the world by National Geographic magazine.” It’s got beautiful hills and cliffs and general greenery. Oh, and lots of small waterfalls, too. If you like pretty scenery, this is definitely the trip for you. 

The ISC got four buses filled with international students to go up to Skye for two days. It was around a five hour drive one way, but we took lots of breaks to enjoy the Highland views and local landmarks. We stayed overnight in a hostel, and headed back the next morning with a few more stops (aka “tea breaks”). It was a well-organized trip that allowed me to see more of the country of Scotland, instead of just cozying up in my city of Edinburgh. 

Here are some photos from the trip!

-C

Grace Hopper Pt. II

We were all given a stipend to purchase food at the event, but I didn't really end up using much of it since recruiting meals fed me for most of the event.

 

The first night, I went to a dinner with Verizon and then to an arcade rented out by Amazon. There were crab cakes, sliders, tapas, endless dessert, and endless swag. The Amazon event was particularly impressive because the venue had this super trippy AR tunnel where the walls were screens that seemed to spin. Once you enter the tunnel, even if the floor is stationary, you get dizzy really quickly. We also picked up some Amazon shirts, water bottles and bags. One thing about conferences like Grace Hopper is that there is no shortage of swag. I didn't do much swag hunting the first day, but I certainly did the next day.

 

 

The next day, we went to a recruiting breakfast held by Zendesk. There were four food trucks, one making crazy, loaded donuts, one giving out coffee, one making loaded crepes, and the other making bomb burritos. It disgusts me to admit that I had one of each, but it was delicious. Afterwards, I went to ANOTHER breakfast held by Uber and ended up meeting the head of their Advanced Technologies Group. It was super cool to talk to her about self driving cars and whatnot.

 

 

I missed the morning keynote for the second day since I went to breakfasts instead. I spent most of the day in the career fair and the interview hall. I picked up some really nice swag including pyjama pants, hoodies, super soft shirts, notebook with my name embossed on it, Apple gift cards, manicure kits, and nail polish to name a few. Better yet, I met Ashley from Buzzfeed; OMG!

 

In the evening, I went to Ebay's reception, then GE's dinner (got a free beach towel, YAY!), Uber's talks, Snappy Hour by Snapchat, and Epcot at Disney sponsored by Google. At Ebay's event, I got a custom hat and a sparkly tattoo. Snappy Hour had the best food, including a open seafood bar, skewers, and a taco bar. I got a giant Snapchat ghost stuffy. They also had canvas bags where you can print custom bitmojis and Snapchat umbrellas, but I couldn't carry it all. Epcot was the highlight of the evening. I went on two super cool rides, danced on their tricked out dance floor to awesome music, and ate a ton of small plates. The only downsides are that I missed the free Google Homes they were giving out in the beginning and I had to leave in the end.

 

 

On the final day, Friday, I had to wake up early for a breakfast event with Eli Lilly. I love breakfast buffets. In addition to the food, I got to meet some really cool women. I didn't do much this final day apart from packing and wandering around. I am exhausted from the previous days and I am glad to be heading back to school. I had so much fun at GHC that I don't even want to start thinking about sets...

Grace Hopper Pt. I

Last week Caltech's CMS, Computing & Mathematical Sciences, department (shout out Professor Claire Ralph in particular) took 40 students to the Grace Hopper conference in Orlando, Florida. It was my first time at such a large conference -- I believe roughly 18,000 people were in attendance. The conference spanned three whole days, so we had to miss 4 days of school (huge sacrifice, I know), but it was definitely worth it. It is one of the best opportunities for female engineers to grow their professional network and learn from the best.

 

We departed REALLY early from Caltech on Tuesday and arrived in Orlando in the evening. I had no problem adjusting to the time difference since the "shock method" of exhausting yourself then crashing works every time. We stayed in this Bed and Breakfast kind of hotel called the Red Roof Inn. It was walking distance from the conference venue so it was fairly convenient. I really wanted to eat at the Red Lobster near by since I read this Buzzfeed post before about how Queen Beyonce loves the chain. She definitely has access to all the caviar and foie gras she wants, so if she vouches for those biscuits and endless shrimp, it's probably hella good. Unfortunately, the line was too long so we ended up at IHOP for dinner. (Breakfast for dinner is better than it sounds.) Note to self: the IHOP near Caltech is far superior. We were very disappointed by the pumpkin spice pancakes that tasted like salt and the undercooked hash browns. I had to appease my appetite after with Mc Donald's ice cream. I had not had McDonalds in like three years because it's just wrong in so many ways, but the vanilla cone has a special place in my heart.

 

After dinner, we went to bed right away because we had to get up really early for the opening keynote. We heard from some super cool female leaders in the industry, including Melinda Gates who made quite a few jokes about her husband Bill Gates. Some of my friends couldn't stay for the entire keynote since they had interviews scheduled with the sponsoring companies. Note to self: upload resume to Grace Hopper portal once you are registered (like weeks in advance) so companies have the chance to review them ahead of time.

 

Since I uploaded my resume last minute, I ended up spending the rest of the day at the career fair. The Caltech career fair is fairly large, but this is YYYUUUUGEE!! I made the mistake of wearing heels so by the end of the day, I couldn't even feel my feet anymore. I brought 30 copies of my resume and ended up giving most of it away, and I got a few interviews scheduled for the next day which is a bonus.

 

Even though Grace Hopper doesn't provide food, companies have recruiting dinners and breakfasts to impress potential interns. I was lucky enough to find my way into a few and HOLY CRAP I am impressed. Details to follow in the next post :)

 

Getting Back into School Mode

Usually, at the end of a break, I am super ready to get back to school. My mindset changes from "OMG I really need this break" to "I am now well rested and I have hung out with all my friends" to "Ok, I have watched Netflix for the past day. I am really bored and I need something to do". Summer was not that different. After weeks of travelling abroad and a few days to chill back on campus, I was ready to have an agenda and get back to work. Until...

 

Class actually started and I hopped back onto the complain train. The complain train is much like the one in high school where everyone tries to claim "I have it worse than you". The only difference is that at Caltech, people complain about the experiences that we all have to go through. I mentioned that I would like a decent amount of work to keep me occupied, and Caltech certainly does a great job with that. With rotation going on and final reports to write (for summer SURF and travels), my schedule suddenly becomes packed.

 

It takes a while for us to get back into work mode since we are still stuck in summer mode. Since California has only one season, it's hard to have the environment tell me to get back to work. When I lived in Vancouver, the raining fall season encourages me to sit in a cafe all day to get work done. Here, the beautiful blue skies just make me want to go out and explore. Even though summer never ends here, summer vacation can certainly be extended.

 

A week later...

 

I'm back in work mode. Fall term is probably the busiest since it's internship application season. Furthermore, for sophomores, it's our first time being exposed to option-specific courses. Therefore, there's a lot of pressure to do well (i.e. get a good GPA) for those apps. I am also getting back into the lab so it's nice to find my pace again. On the bright side, engineering has not taken over my life, because I am about to go brunch in a bit (blog post will follow suit) and chamber music has started, which is a usually pleasant diversion.