Caltech

School Rocks!

Just kidding. Aha, actually I love school, but it’s been a long week. Work at Tech is often something that comes in waves and when it’s high tide it’s all too easy to become washed away. My math homework took an absurd amount of time last week and more or less ruined my entire sleep schedule, but we complained to the professor, he’s making the sets more reasonably difficult – which basically means that he isn’t going to throttle us... Read more →

Retail Therapy (!!!)

Yep. Rough week three here at Caltech too. Started off with the career fair at 10 AM. Which seems totally reasonable until you realize I’d been up until 7 AM the night before. But hey, I’m loving every minute of it. Honestly. I’ve been working coffeehouse, developing the tea menu, fencing, and living my best life. This week was only really rough because of the career fair, job interviews, and a fencing tournament. All stacked together in one tidy little... Read more →

First PE Class Since High School

It's true, I have not taking a PE class since 10th grade. That being said, I have not been a couch potato for the past four years. In 11th and 12th grade, I did dragon boating and out rigger canoeing. Since coming to Caltech, I've been going to the gym pretty routinely. However, I have not gotten around to taking the 3 PE classes necessary for graduation until this term. I didn't want to put it off until the end... Read more →

We’re Baaaack!

Well. I’m back. Summer is officially over, rotation has officially begun. Although I’m not officially a sophomore until the cannon fires next weekend, it’s starting to feel real. Especially being on the other side of rotation (house rush for those not familiar with the Caltech housing system), I’ve been exhausted these last few days. I did accomplish one my goals which was to lift. I’m going to be lifting 3 days a week apparently. I’m actually very excited to be... Read more →

Caltech Cooking Class

Caltech offers a cooking class every term taught by Tom Mannion. Usually, the class has a maximum of 16 people, but this term, due to a mistake in the system, 60+ people were able to sign up for the course. We were split up into 5 teams of ~10 people, and I thought it was fun to have a large class :) The class is held every Thursday from 6:30-9:30pm, and every week has a different theme. Some of the... Read more →

Library Thesis Prize

The majority of my final term at Caltech was dedicated to composing my senior thesis. I have worked in the lab of Prof. Sarah Reisman since my freshman year. The project that ultimately culminated in my thesis started my sophomore year. Each year, if you finish your thesis about a month earlier than your departmental deadline, you have the opportunity to submit to the Library Thesis Prize. The finalists for the prize get invited to a small awards ceremony at... Read more →

Ge 136c Field Trip

Every term, the geology department offers a class called Ge 136: Regional Field Geology of the Southwestern United States. A 3 unit class, the entire class consists of writing a 1-2 page report, going on a field trip, and presenting on your report during the field trip. The class is open to everyone, not just Geology and Planetary Science (GPS) majors. But it's quite a popular class, so it fills up quickly. During the trip, we camp every night, and... Read more →

Caltech Ceramics

Spring term, I took Ceramics for the first time. It's held every Wednesday night from 7-10pm at the neighboring Polytechnic School. The first few weeks, we practiced making bowls, plates, and other shapes on the ceramics wheel, and now it's finally time to put our creations into the kiln for firing and glazing! For the glazing, there are many buckets of glaze to choose from (the yellow and white buckets below). The colors of the glazes are marked, but you... Read more →

Marty, we have to go back! TO THE FUTURE! (also known as Zilchbrau 3000)

Did you know that the Caltech department of Geological and Planetary Sciences has an annual themed end-of-year party called Zilchbrau? Because I didn’t. That is, until an email about undergraduates having tickets provided by Ph.D Robert Clayton (if you’re reading this, thanks Rob!!!) showed up in my inbox. The theme for this year was Zilchbrau 3000, so armed with $20 and a winning attitude, I set out on a quest to Goodwill to find the most outrageous outfit I could.... Read more →

Super Cool Physics Demos

Over the last few weeks, we've seen some neat demos in Ph 2c: Introduction to Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics, including the formation of super cool, superfluid helium. Here are the highlights: Formation of superfluid helium. With the aid of two staff members, my professor pumped liquid helium into a chamber cooled by liquid nitrogen and showed us the fountain effect and creep, two characteristic demonstrations of superfluidity. Nitrogen at triple point. Question: What freezes and boils at the same time?... Read more →