research December 17, 2009

Ready...BREAK!

Ahhhh, the joys of being done with Finals’ Week! As I mentioned previously, I was pretty lucky about having a chill schedule, and took my lone final on Thursday after deciding that there was no more point in re-reading my notes yet again - it was open-book anyway! The exam was a bit more challenging than I expected, however. But I’m not too worried, because a) it’s senior year, and b) it’s over and there’s nothing more I can do about it.As I said before, one of the best things about Finals’ Week is the FLEXIBILITY you have in making the schedule! Because (almost) everything is take-home, that means you can take your exam any time of day (or night!) you want to. That gave me more time to enjoy being with my friends, whether it was studying (see Dannah’s post) or seeing what SoCal has to offer! I got the chance to head over to Glendale (about 20 minutes by car) to the Americana at Brand. This outdoor shopping area was beautifully lit up for Christmas and has amazing stores, choreographed fountains, and restaurants. Too bad I forgot my camera! But fortunately, I still took pictures with my phone to show you what delicious Japanese food my friend and I ate at Katsuya! Yum!**

After turning in my last thing (my Bi 180 lab report), Dannah and I made our way to Old Town to celebrate our completion of our 10th Caltech term! We did some real and window-shopping, but I mostly did the latter. I still hadn’t worn anything from my Black Friday haul, so I just took some pictures of stuff I would like for Christmas!

After a relaxing evening on Friday packing everything up and sending my friends off to their exotic homes in Sheffield (UK), Mumbai (India), and Houston (TX), I got to rest up and fly home! For most people, this trek to LAX is a once or twice-a-term event, but I practically knew all the employees in Terminal 6 after all my traveling! But regardless, flying without any homework hanging over my head was definitely a relief. Now it’s Winter Break (my favorite because it contains CHRISTMAS), and time to relax.

Oh, and while I’m writing this I’m up in Red Sox Country (boooo!!!!) at my Harvard Med School interview. I got to see the “Other” Institute of Technology across the Charles and I was reminded of how drab it looks under the gray sky. And after our dinner tonight, we stopped for frozen yogurt! People, it’s COLD here!! I was even missing the SoCal sun, and I’m a Northeastern Guy! Still, I can never really say no to dessert, so I ended up splurging on some…

I also got a chance to meet up with some friends who go to school here (yes…even one from that school…) and walked by Fenway! I couldn’t resist taking this picture, though I was worried I was going to be attacked by some crazy (misguided) fan!