Dinner at the Athenaeum
culture  

Dinner at the Athenaeum

I was very fortunate to have been invited as a special guest at a small donor appreciation dinner at the Athenaeum this past Wednesday night.

For those of you who don’t know what the Athenaeum is, it’s a private membership club located on the Caltech campus. It currently has over 3,500 members including Caltech faculty, trustees, alumni, grads students, undergrads, etc. The building and facilities (including tennis courts!) are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and is constantly being used for wedding ceremonies and receptions on the weekends. It also has the most AMAZING food during lunch and dinner! What is also really cool?—It’s located right next to the student houses! Walk east on the Olive Walk and you will be lead straight to the steps of the Athenaeum! I also remember my freshman year when I first saw the Ath, there was a film crew all over the grounds–turns out, they were filming scenes for the TV show, UGLY BETTY during it’s first season! Anyway, the appreciation dinner I had with the alums, and Andy Sudol, the Director of Annual Giving Programs was fabulous. It was fun to talk with the alums about the fun stories and experiences they had when they were students in the 60s (one of the alums had Kip Thorne as a classmate, and the other took classes with Richard Feynman!). In turn, I also enjoyed speaking about my own experiences and the campus today.

The food was amazing—as always. I was STUFFED from the extensive buffet spread, YUM! I also enjoyed the beautiful Christmas and holiday decorations in the foyer. It really got me into the holiday spirit! There was a gigantic Christmas tree that was so gorgeous and smelled so wonderful! I tried to take pictures with it—but there were too many lights from the tree, that my camera simply could not focus on my face…but you get the idea: it was breathtaking Deck the Ath with boughs of holly….

I look so tiny next to the Christmas tree!

Me, investigating to see if the tree was really real…

Flashing a big smile after a big dinner! :D

Recommended Articles

My Friday Nights
culture

My Friday Nights

It was the Friday night of midterms during my first year at Caltech, and I was alone in the library. That weekend (week five of term, if you’re keeping count) also happens to coincide with Halloween. But as a bright-eyed frosh trudging my way through Ma 1a lecture notes, I was just baffled that no one else was studying alongside me. Spoiler alert: not all Caltech students spend Friday night—or every night—studying or grinding sets, even during midterms. And especially on Halloween weekend.

By
caltech q and a
culture

caltech q and a

In order to get a good sense of the Caltech community, there is no better way than to talk to the students themselves. To give a little bit of an inside perspective of Caltech, I asked some students a variety of questions. Questions ranged from conspiracy theories to Caltech-specific takes and other random topics.

By
What's on my desk?
culture

What's on my desk?

I’d like to think that I keep a tidy desk, but hey— entropy prevails for everyone. Here’s a breakdown of all the items you could find on my desk, circa February 2023.

By
Searching for snow
culture

Searching for snow

My grandma always says that it rains whenever Dragonssuperior zodiac sign travel, and sure enough, it was raining when I landed at LAX for my last calendar year at Caltech. It’s officially my graduation year—but between leaving campus just before spring term in my freshman year and returning, twenty-one years old, as a junior, it really does feel like my time here has flown by.

By