Camping. Last summer during preseason one of my friends wanted to go stargazing to see a new moon. Due to the light pollution from LA it is very hard to stargaze at Caltech, so we decided to head out to Death Valley to see the moon. However, after driving for several hours – more than halfway there – we realized the road forward was closed. After stopping to re-evaluate at a relatively sketchy gas-station in the middle of nowhere, we ended up driving back to Red Rock Canyon to camp. Unfortunately, we arrived long after dark and had quite a struggle to pitch our tent. After many attempts, we finally had somewhere to sleep. With that matter settled, we sat back and enjoyed the view, passing the rest of our night eating Cheez-Its and staring at the stars.

Boston trip.  Every other year the Caltech soccer team goes on a team trip to play teams out of state and enjoy some team bonding. A few years ago the trip was to Washington, and fall of 2022, the trip was to Boston. As a native of the east coast, my favorite season has always been fall, but since coming to Caltech, I had not been able to experience the season. Thus, I was ecstatic to be back in my native habitat during the best time of the year. We were in Boston for three days, and honestly it was one of my favorite memories of the year. It was fun to travel with the team, and as we were required to wear only Caltech gear on the flight, we were easily recognizable as Caltech students. As a result, a couple came up to my teammate and me at the airport to tell us that they were Caltech alumni from Venerable house (coincidentally the house of both my teammate and I). We arrived in Boston in the late afternoon, and despite my 3 AM wake-up to catch the plane, I was reinvigorated by the cool, fall air. I had spent the plane ride playing (and losing) chess and sleeping, so I had some excess energy ready to burn. For dinner, we stopped at a supermarket and everyone picked up food to eat/cook. I was feeling quite lazy, so I just bought some pre-made salad mixes. However, some of the more ambitious members of my team bought actual food – pasta, sauce, cheese, and bread – to cook. After our hodgepodge meal that night, the next morning we had team practice. We drove to a nearby park and ran some basic warmup soccer drills. Then, because (1) we wanted to have some fun and (2) our practice field was actually a baseball field, we played some kickball (Sophomores v.s. everyone else. Go sophomores!). The next day we played Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT). The game was a nail-biter, but we pulled out a win in the last minute of the game. (Coincidentally, the following summer I played on a soccer team in Baltimore, and one of my teammates was on WIT’s team). Our trip ended with a final scrimmage against UMass-Amherst Boston. The game ended in a tie, but we played pretty well and there was a surprise visit from our former coach and her fiancé.

Pepperdine. Summer of 2022, I conducted a SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship) at Johns Hopkins, and at the end of the summer I submitted my research on a whim to the Southern California Undergraduate Research (SCUR) Conference. Several Caltech students had their research accepted, and we all got to spend the day exploring Pepperdine University. For those who do not know, Pepperdine is right along the beach, so the view is gorgeous. After we all finished presenting and watching everyone else’s presentations, we went to an outcropping and watched a sunset. The winds were absolutely wild that day, so I spent most of my time trying to not have my belongings blown away. There was also a very interesting guest speaker, Astronaut Jose Hernandez, who spoke about his twelve failed attempts (and thirteenth success) at becoming an astronaut. By the end of the event, we were all exhausted, but our bus was nowhere to be found. We were so desperate to get back to campus and go to bed that we were willing to jump in any car that passed us by – including a weird animal adventure truck that circled by us a few times…

Pasadena flea market. Once a month Pasadena Community College (PCC) hosts a flee market. As Caltech is located right next to PCC, this is always a fun, and easy, event for students to attend on the weekend. The flee market happens on the first Sunday of every month, a fact I never remember, so generally when I attend the flee market it is more on a whim than a planned adventure. Even if I do not end up buying anything, it is always fun to walk through the stalls seeing a variety of goods ranging from vintage clothes, old records, plants, food stalls, and more. There are also some very cool plant booths that can be very enticing to drop a lot of money on if you’re a plant enthusiast like me. Last year I picked up a few fun T-shirts and sweatshirts from a $3 rack, and this year I haggled a lady for a $4 Rolling Stones T-shirt.

Huntington garden field trip. This spring I took Ese1, one of the introduction menu classes that all Caltech students are required to take, and one of the perks of taking the class was a free trip to the Huntington. Despite living less than a mile away from the famous garden, I had never actually been before, so I was quite excited for the trip. Luckily, the field trip was on a beautiful spring day, and, unlike traditional Pasadena weather, was not scalding hot. Our class was split into two, and though, unluckily, I was split up from half of my friends, luckily, I got placed into Prof. Paul Wennberg’s group. He enthusiastically led us on a tour of the gardens, pointing out cool spots, giving relevant nature facts, and identifying important plants. When the trip ended, he left us to our own devices, as our wristbands enabled us access to the Huntington for the rest of the day. My friend had to get back to campus for office hours, so we walked back to campus around noon. However, we came back a few hours later to enjoy some time off-campus and do some homework in the garden.

Hiking. Shameless plug for my other blog post 🙂

Ven beach trip. Every year Venerable house has its annual beach trip. Unfortunately, I thought I was going to end up missing last year’s trip due to our singular spring season soccer game. However, at the last minute, the other team bailed, and our game was canceled. While I was a bit bummed about the game, I was excited to attend the beach trip. The weather was fairly abysmal, for while it was warm, clear, and sunny in Pasadena, at the beach it was cold and cloudy. Nonetheless, no amount of bad weather was about to stop me from the ocean. Yet, despite my talks of bravado, the second my toes hit the water, I instinctively recoiled. It was absolutely freezing. As I slowly waded into the water I felt like I was taking an ice bath. However, despite my personal inhibitions, some braver souls than I had simply dived right in headfirst into the icy waves. After a bit of goading from my friends, I eventually made it under the waves and enjoyed a refreshing (freezing!) swim.