Wow, what a busy past few days! I had some friends from high school and Caltech visit me in Munich and we've been traveling/doing stuff together. The first main thing we did was visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a small village about an hour south of Germany by the Alps. The Partnach Gorge…

Atto: the SI prefix for 10^-18. A prefix not commonly found in textbooks or courses, because there aren't many quantities that are measured in atto-somethings. The lab that I'm working in this summer, headed by Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz, does research in the field of attosecond physics. Essentially, they make…

Or in the original German: "Ich hab mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren." A 1925 song composed by Fred Raymond, and now the theme song of the city of Heidelberg. The title is entirely justified, in my opinion. This could be your backyard view! (note: if you live in the castle)…

6:15 AM: wakeup. 7:30 AM: Take BART to San Francisco International Airport - transit time, 1.5 hours. (for the non-Bay Area natives, BART = Bay Area Rapid Transit. As ridden by Will Smith inThe Pursuit of Happyness, aged forward a few decades, and unlike wine, not improved with time.) 10:50…