As you might remember, I took golf at Caltech this past term. It was super fun and I would highly recommend it. As a culmination of all that we had done and learned, we took a field trip to the Alhambra Golf course to play a few holes. I brought my own clubs, but Caltech has several school clubs, bags, balls, and other supplies for students to use.
In this post I’m going to highlight a couple of great experiences I had this past week. Both are located in Pasadena and are pretty close to campus, so if you think you will ever be in the mood for a relaxing massage or some serious martial arts kickboxing, read on! $25 massages at HM Warm Spa on Green St: HM Warm Spa is clean and spacious. The $25 “foot massage” is actually a full body massage. This massage is done with the clients’ clothes left on. They start by soaking your feet in a tub of warm water. They then proceed to massage your face, head, shoulders, arms, legs, and feet. Then they flip you over to massage your upper and lower back. The entire procedure lasts for an hour and is performed in a dark room. They bring you a cup of water after the massage. They do a great job for an awesome price. Don’t forget to tip - I would recommend at least a $10 tip.
For those who don’t know, Ditch Day is an annual campus-wide tradition. The seniors plan it for all of the underclassmen (juniors included), and nobody except for the seniors knows when it is until the day of. On Ditch Day, the seniors will run around the houses waking everybody up at 8 am. All classes are cancelled and no homework is due! Underclassmen sign up for “stacks” which are collections of fun puzzles and activities centered around a theme. Houses generally have at least two stacks, so underclassmen can choose their stack. The stack lasts for the whole day.
Page Cocktail Party is an annual affair. Everyone in Page (who are all calledPageboys, regardless of gender) get fancy paper invitations and can bring guests. Page Cocktail Party is always held at a nice location on campus and features a bartender (who checks ID), a live band, a photobooth, delicious finger foods, and fun games! The drinks are traditionally named after Pageboys. The food this year included smoked salmon, various sausages, and a wide assortment of cheeses and crackers. The dress code is formal attire, and there is no fee to attend.
Southern style fried chicken is my new favorite comfort food. I had some serious fried chicken cravings this past Sunday, so I decided to drag my poor, unsuspecting boyfriend to Howlin’ Ray’s to wait in line with me for arguably the best fried chicken in LA. You know it has to be good when there is always a 1-2 hour wait no matter what day you go and what time you go. Howlin’ Ray’s has an impressive 4.5 star rating on Yelp, averaged over 1300+ reviews. It is located in a plaza in Chinatown, along with other popular favorites Chego and Baohouse.
This is a review of Terra Cotta in Koreatown. I went to Terra Cotta for my birthday dinner with my boyfriend on a Sunday night. They didn’t have uni (sea urchin) or toro (fatty tuna) when I went because it was a Sunday and the seafood wouldn’t be fresh since it was a Sunday. I assume the seafood markets selling uni and toro didn’t have them that Sunday (or maybe they usually don’t carry them on Sundays). Anyway, I would recommend going on a different day because I definitely wanted to try the uni dishes and you get more for your money on other days (you pay the same for the dishes that contain uni on Sundays).
The LA Museum of Ice Cream is a pop-up in the LA Arts District. The 1 month long exhibit follows an extremely popular summer pop-up in NYC. The LA pop-up is much larger than the NY pop-up and the food samplesare different is well. The samples consisted of: a scoop of ice cream from a local ice cream shop (the shops rotate so samples from different dates have different flavors and brands), mint chip mochi ice cream, charcoal cookie dough, gummy bears, and a pink pancake ice cream sandwich with french toast flavored ice cream. The exhibit is sequential, meaning you start in one room and make your way through all the rooms in order. The only rule is that you can’t go backwards! My friends and I bought the tickets way in advance and went during opening weekend (April 22-23) - they are all sold out now, but they are supposed to reopen in June. *The pictures shown aren’t in any order and don’t show all the museum has to offer!
This past week was super eventful! I not only tried the (in)famous Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccinos, but also I went to The Grove in Beverly Hills for the first time and went to my friend’s graduation show at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Last night was the grand opening of Caltech’s new Art Gallery and Art of Science Exhibit! To celebrate the occasion, free snacks and wine were provided, and student groups performed. Both exhibits showcase artwork submitted by members of the Caltech community. Check out the opening night pictures below!
Note: Only students of legal drinking age were allowed to attend this event.
I mentioned that I’m taking silkscreen and silk painting this term, which is held at the Caltech art house. Since I did a tour of the ceramics studio last term, I thought I would do one of the art house as well. Drawing and painting classes are also held at the art house. Enjoy!
Hi all, this is the last post about my spring break adventures in Europe! Our last stop was Prague, Czech Republic. We took the train from Vienna to Prague and checked in to our Airbnb. We decided to take a nice walk through the city to Old Town Square and see the Astronomical Clock Tower. It is the third oldest astronomical clock, and the only one still in operation! We climbed to the top to get a gorgeous view of the cityscape. See pics below! The next day, we took yet another free walking tour (there are so many in Europe). We saw Kafka’s birthplace, the Rudolfinum, Prague Castle, the Jewish Quarter, the Pinkas Synagogue, the Jewish Cemetery, and Old New Synagogue, and a statue of Kafka. Sadly we had to leave the walking tour early to catch our train back to Budapest (in order to make our flight). We booked round trip flight tickets to/from Budapest because it was cheaper than buying two one way tickets to/from different cities.
Next stop: Vienna, Austria! We took the train in the morning from Budapest to Vienna. We had a pretty hard time because we couldn’t find the international ticket office, but once we located that everything was smooth sailing from there. Pro tip:Be careful about buying Eurail passes and make sure you are actually saving money. We did not buy passes beforehand, and saved about $100. We had no problem buying tickets on the day of, even for the next departing train.
This year, Caltech gave us two weeks for spring break instead of one. My friend (also a Techer) and I decided to spend the first week abroad and the second week at home with our families. In one week, we went to three countries - Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic! I’m doing one blog post per country, so stay tuned for the rest. :) We flew from LAX -> BUD the Monday that spring break started. We landed in Budapest on Tuesday in the late afternoon. That day, we explored the area around our very affordable Airbnb and took some pictures with the Danube River in the background. I also tried kürtőskalács, which is Hungarian chimney cake. Imagine a round cylindrical loaf of sweet bread that was hollow in the middle, and you’ll have a rough idea of what chimney cakes are. Since we were tired from traveling, we decided to call it a day and rest up for the next day.
It’s finally spring break!! Before I jet off to Budapest, Austria, and Prague (which I will definitely blog about), I spent some quality time with my family. We went to Mercado la Paloma in DTLA to eat lunch and also pick up food for later. We ate at Holbox (lunch), Chichen Itza (dinner take-out), and Azla (dinner take-out). Mercado la Paloma is a warehouse style building with several independent shops and restaurants inside. It’s a super cool place to visit when you’re in LA.
Learn about all the different dining options at Chandler Dining Hall! Chandler is where most students and faculty eat lunch, so this blog post is solely about the different stations open during lunch hours. Also, I didn’t take a picture of the coffee/pastry/dessert section, but there is one!
The Arts District is an artsy, up-and-coming area in DTLA. It’s about a 20 minute drive without traffic. My friends and I went to Manuela, a Southern-style restaurant, for brunch. Manuela is located in the Hauser Wirth & Schimmel art gallery. There is also a courtyard with cool art and chickens! We walked around the neighborhood after and checked out a small farmers’ market, some boutique stores, and got coffee. Check out the pictures below. :)