Caltech

L'X Campus

École Polytechnique is unlike many European schools. Because it’s in the suburbs of Paris, it has the space for an actual campus with labs, lecture halls and sports fields instead of only a few buildings used for classes. And for a school so focused on sports and being a part of the military, this is fairly important.

The campus is super large; it includes a lake for rowing, multiple rugby and football (soccer) fields, tennis courts, an athletics track, stables and a few different gyms. All of these are needed for the sports that l'X requires the Polytechnics to do. It's even more arduous than what Caltech requires: while we only have to do 3 gym classes in our whole 4 years, they are expected to do 6 hours of sport a week!

As an exchange student, I am not required to participate in sports to the same extent (again, to put this into perspective, the students live in sections with the other people in their sport - that is how central it is!) but all of us are certainly encouraged to participate in sport wherever we can. L'X offers a wide range of sports, from classic sports like swimming and volleyball to less practiced ones like equitation and handball. I chose to do climbing, since I took a class last term and wanted to continue the sport. All of the participants are welcoming and helpful, so I'm really looking forward to the next few months with them!

Changing Scenery

Good evening from Edinburgh! I just got back from a photography adventure in the city. Which is naturally what one does on an evening when one isn’t too particularly bothered by any of the other events going on. One of the big differences between Caltech and Edinburgh is that Edinburgh always has 500 events going on at the same time and it’s impossible to choose between them. So actually, it was quite rare for me to have this evening out on the city town with nothing else I really would have rather been doing. But study abroad recently released a photography competition for international students, so I figured I’d have to give it my best shot. Their theme for the contest is “changing Edinburgh” and so after dinner, Justin and I went hunting for scenes that depicted juxtapositions between the classic, castle-laden, bagpipe playing history of Edinburgh, and the modernization of fast cars, film sets, and industry.

Speaking of dinner though, we found a wonderful Japanese place. A1 Katsu curry and at a reasonable price too. A very clutch find. It was also right next to the castle, which looked beautiful in the light of golden hour. Edinburgh is honestly one of the most scenic old cities that I’ve ever been to, and it’s crazy living just a half mile from a castle that’s been standing there since my ancestors were possibly in Scotland too.

Anyways back to the main meat of the story. Justin and I started by exploring over near campus. The central University of Edinburgh campus has one or two areas where old buildings meet the new in a very dramatic and beautiful way. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as stark of a contrast as it is at say, Caltech, but we were still able to find a couple of artsy in-betweens for the photos. Then, we hunted down a place with lots of cars passing by to take long exposure shots. This was actually quite difficult as I don’t have a tripod with me here in Edinburgh. So in addition to finding something scenic with a road in-front of it, we also had to find a flat surface to put my camera on. We finally tracked down a location right next to the famous dog, Greyfriar’s bobby, and spent a half hour trying to get the perfect shot. Overall, it turned out nicely, but not quite perfect. We may be headed back there again. A brilliant evening in a beautiful city though.

Cheers lads,

--Chandrew

The Long and Windy (North Berwick)

Hello hello! Unfortunately, windy in this sense refers to presence of an extreme wind. I almost got blown over. We’re just lucky that nobody had hats.

So, where did I find this wind? Nowhere other than the scenic beachside town of North Berwick (pronounced bear-ick) in Scotland. What was I doing there? I was travelling with the Singapore society (society here is a different name for club). But wait. I’m not Singaporean. I mean, I did spend the summer there, but that doesn’t really qualify me to be a part of their society. So what was I doing on their trip to North Berwick?

Well, that’s actually a bit of a long story. At the club fair I saw that the society had a bubble tea crawl (which was obviously something that I had to do). So, I went to that. But the society also was giving out discount cards to members that save you anywhere from 10-20% off the local Asian cuisine. And I figured that a membership was only six pounds and it would pay for itself. So, I joined the society. Then I made friends on the bubble tea crawl and figured that I might as well go on the beach trip too. And my Indonesian friend Justin came with me too, so it all worked out brilliantly.

Back to the juicy deets though. We took about a 40-minute train to North Berwick (it’s only about 20 miles away) and spent the first couple of hours hanging out at the beach and soaking up the fresh sea air. The water in Scotland is far too cold to swim in, but it was beautiful. After that, we hunted down a spot of lunch at a local chippy, a fish and chips store. It was pretty tasty, but a bit different from anything I had before. Then we got ice cream (as you can tell, it was very food heavy) at gelato store ranked best in Scotland for two years running. I also managed to find tablet, a Scottish sweet consisting of butter, sugar, and sweetened condensed milk.

After all that food had settled a bit, we hiked up North Berwick Law, a very steep hill that overlooks the entire area. That’s where we found the wind and took some amazing Titanic-themed pictures. And then we headed back. Play by play. But it was a brilliant day and I can’t wait for the next society event.

Hold onto your hats (on top of North Berwick Law),

--Chandrew

Weekend in Bahamas

Recently, my friend and I were feeling spontaneous so we purchased flights to go to the Bahamas. Right after we arranged all our travel and accommodations, we found out about hurricane Dorian going through the tropics. We watched the weather reports night and day for a week until it passed through. Thankfully, the city we were visiting, Nassau, was untouched.

 

We left early Friday morning, but didn't arrive there until the evening due to time lost on layovers and the difference in time zones. The moment we landed, I noticed how much more hot and humid it is compared to LA. There's also no Uber nor Lyft available, so we had to be old fashioned and get around via Taxi. For our first night in Nassau, we just knocked out in the hotel to be well rested for the next day.

 

On Saturday, we took a tour to Rose Island, a private island a couple of miles off the shore of Nassau. We went with a tour called Sandy Toes. The tour included snorkeling, swimming with pigs, lunch and just a good time relaxing on the beach. Rose Island is absolutely gorgeous. I was taken back by how soft and fine the white sand is. The water is also so blue and so clear. It looks just like the movies. That morning on the beach, I understood why people love tropical vacations. When you are surrounded by paradise, you can let go of all your worries and anxieties for a while. Rose Island took all the energy out of us since direct sun exposure literally burns you out. We were grandmas and went to sleep early again that day. 

 

On Sunday, we stayed in our resort, Baha Mar, and went snorkeling, relaxed in the pools and explored a pier. In the late afternoon, we went into the city to eat Fish Fry. Fish Fry is a small are of town selling a lot of seafood. The local specialty is conch, which is kind of similar to mussels. We tried conch salad and fritters. Neither stood out to us. However, their other grilled fish and fried plantains were absolutely delicious. 

 

 

On Monday, we flew back to LA. It seemed like vacation flew by in a blink of an eye. However, it was the perfect amount of time for me. I felt that if I languished on the beach for another day, I would feel like I am wasting away, but two days was just enough to recharge.