As we reflect back on our fabulous and eye-opening Swiss adventure, we would like to share with you some of our favorite memories. Swimming in Lake Geneva was really, really fun. Since it was still technically summer, the weather was just perfect for it and I couldn't believe we were…

We decided to have a very healthy breakfast today so instead of our usual bread and cheese, we bought a box of macarons each from Sprungle Confiserie! I also got a cappuccino muffin, a blueberry muffin and an exotic fruit juice smoothie (pineapple, papaya, banana, etc.). We then caught a…

Today, we took a very early morning train from Lugano to Zurich that was exactly 2 hours and 40 minutes according the the very precise Swiss train schedule. When we arrived in Zurich, it was much colder than sunny and warm Lugano and it was even raining heavily! We had…

This morning, we decided to satisfy our craving for sweets by searching for a bakery. When we were walking around in old town Lugano, I spotted a cool looking bakery with delicious and beautiful looking cakes and pastries on display in its window. We decided to go in and investigate.…

This morning, we went to the local street market near our hostel to buy local authentic artisan cheese and bread. Needless to say, both were was super delicious and made for a hearty breakfast. The bread was freshly baked and had a lot of different types of nuts including macadamia…

This morning, we planned to take the train to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, this day, but since all shops and restaurants are closed on Sundays, we were in no hurry to leave Lauterbrunnen. We decided to hike to Staubbachfall, which is the waterfall above the town. At night, the…

When we got up in the morning, the clouds had cleared and we could see a light dusting of snow all over the mountains. Today, we decided to do part of the classic Swiss high-Alpine hike of the Bernese Alps, which leads from First to the Faulhorn summit (2670m above…

When we woke up in the morning, dark grey clouds hung over the Lauterbrunnen valley and obscured the sunlight. It began raining soon after we went to the CO-OP supermarket for a quick breakfast of bread and cheese. We decided it would be the perfect opportunity to hike along the…

Today Carly and I got up early to go on a fascinating up close tour of CERN, which is also know as the European Organization for Nuclear Research. (The acronym CERN actually comes from the French name for the particle physics lab:Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire.) We were lucky…

We got up early today for our day trip to Gruyères village, which is a rural medieval town famous for its production of Gruyère cheese. We bought croissants for breakfast at a boulangerie (bakery), which were super delicious, crisp and buttery. We discovered that pastries from actual bakeries were much…

After a long trans-Atlantic plane ride, we finally were in Switzerland!! We landed in Zurich in the morning and took an hour long flight to Geneva, where our Swiss adventures would commence. We immediately noticed in the airport and train station that everything was in the three Swiss official languages—French,…

Today, we woke up at the crack of dawn for our final day of ASB in San Diego. We were excited for our shift to help rebuild a low-income family house in El Cajon with Habitat for Humanity. We arrived at the site bright and early ready to work! The…

Today, we drove inland to Lakeside, which is almost near the desert to do a riverbed cleanup with the Lakeside's River Park Conservancy. We meet Monica, one of the Conservancy's wild life biologists at the trail and some other regular volunteers. Apparently, this area used to belong to the natives…

Today was the second day of San Diego ASB trip. When we were wary of the rain but this morning, we drove to Spanish landing of the San Diego Bay, which is the beach we adopted with the organization I love a Clean San Diego. Adopt-a-beach is nation wide program…

Over this past weekend, the Master of Student Houses (MOSH) organized an trip to go see Cirque Du Soleil's show OVO, which played at the Santa Monica Pier in order to enhance and enrich student life here at Caltech. A bunch of students convened at the Mosh's house early in…

Woohoo! Right now, it is winter break, which means school's out!!! It feels great to bedone with exams and homework and have time to finally just relax! During the first few daysof break, I visited my good friend Carly in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Some of youwho intimately follow…

Often times, it's definitely worthwhile to venture outside of the Caltech campus and explore what the surrounding Los Angeles area has to offer. TheJ. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu is definitely a gorgeous and must visted destination. The Getty Villa's most striking feature is not only…

It's officially the year of the Dragon and what better way to celebrate than the annual Chinese Spring Festival Celebration Party hosted by the Caltech C right on the Caltech campus!! This event consists of a buffet style dinner with authentic Chinese dishes followed by a cultural performance showcasing the…