Columbia University 2010 – Once a Dream, Now Maybe a Reality

When I’d previously considered the possibility of attending a college on the East Coast, I was apprehensive about the thought of staking out a new life by myself so far away from home. The thought of moving across the country away from friends and family is really quite intimidating. A great many students are thrust into this situation without truly knowing what to expect. That’s why I’m so grateful to the Ivy League Connection for providing me with an authentic college experience during the past three weeks. I've gained confidence that someone as shy as I can manage in a completely different environment and reach out and make new friends with people from all over the country. I feel much better prepared to take on the challenges of finding the right school as well as the challenges of living a balanced college life. The ILC program has given me a taste of what its like to fly across the country, share a room with someone you've only just met, make friends with people from all over the world, and be solely responsible for the work that needs to be done.

The process of visiting schools has really shown me that there is a lot more to choosing a university than just comparing rankings and acceptance rates. What students like me can often forget is that the complete college experience can’t just be measured by statistics. It's easy to be seduced by prestige and get wrapped up in rankings, so it's important to keep in mind that the school you choose will be your home for the next four years. No matter how great the school, if you aren't happy living there, your education will suffer.

Thanks to the ILC, we visited schools such as Columbia, Penn, Yale and Vassar and I developed a much better idea of the type of school that I want to attend. Although I first missed the rolling hills and trees of the UC campus, we Columbia students were fortunate to have the opportunity to explore and enjoy the culture offered by one of the world's great cities. I absolutely loved living in the middle of Manhattan and visiting the museums, the theatre, and the bustling local neighborhoods. For that reason, I'd consider applying to Columbia, instead of Vassar, which is a little too isolated in the countryside. While the rain at U Penn was a turn off, I felt at home both on campus and in the city of Philadelphia. Before this trip I hadn't even considered Columbia and U Penn, but especially after learning that they're both accepting the common application, I'm certain that I’ll apply to both.

When I first applied to the ILC program, I confess that Chemistry wasn't my top choice as a course of study. Of all the science and math classes I’d taken, chemistry struck me as the least intuitive and the most convoluted. That initial impression was soon forgotten during the stimulating 3 week course: Intensive Seminars in Modern Chemistry led by Professor Luis Avila. He guided our class not only through the basics of practical lab work, but he also introduced us to the incredible variety of applications that the subject of chemistry has to offer. Many professors and PhDs took their time to appear as guest speakers and talk about their unique fields of research that I’ve described in my previous blogs. Beyond that, many spoke about the energy crisis and about other global issues; challenging us to be the generation that finally resolves these problems. The passion that every speaker conveyed convinced me that there's a lot more to chemistry than just balancing chemical equations or plugging numbers into formulas. Professor Avila also reminded us that President Obama is urging the country’s schools to graduate more scientists and engineers in order for the U.S. to remain globally competitive.

There’s something special that I’ll always remember about this trip—the fantastic people of New York City. After I’d lost my wallet while swimming in the ocean on the Fourth of July, I desperately searched the beach and the water with no success. When I thought that all was lost, someone suggested that I speak to a lifeguard. That was a good idea, since it turned out that a Good Samaritan had found it and had given it to the lifeguard. Even more amazing, everything in the wallet was still there, including my money, my room key, and my Columbia ID. My faith in humanity got a big boost from this real-life experience in the big city.

More than anything else, I'm very grateful to the Ivy League Connection for providing me with an authentic college experience, an incredible adventure, and the opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you so much for your support and to everyone who made this trip possible. Thanks to WCCUSD School Board members Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kronenberg for founding the ILC program, to Don Gosney for his great photography, computer support, and witty blog comments, to Ms. Ishmael who chaperoned us across the country and all over town, and to all the sponsors who made this program possible and for treating us royally during our first weekend in the Big Apple.

So Long New York!

I fully agree with what Yueming wrote about "New York Minutes". Though they pass by much faster, somehow, more stuff fits into them! It's really hard to imagine that we'll be in California and not in New York later today (it is technically morning)! If not for the cramming of all my belongings into an oversized bag, I'm not sure if I'd really believe that we're saying goodbye!

Today, we all gave our presentations. While our group's presentation wasn't bad, I'd like to note that Michael and his group did a terrific job. If he reads what I said and tries to convince you other wise, it's just him being modest. It was really sad to say farewell to our professor, Luis Avila, and our TAs, who were outstanding in many ways and who every day helped us work through a series of lab activities. I especially loved having our TA, Joshua, who was really helpful and just a cool guy all around.

After class, I ate lunch with some friends from class (I'll be looking for them tomorrow) and then took off to the Museum of Modern Art during Free Friday!

You were cool in ways beyond sharing my brother's name!

I never considered myself to be an art lover (especially modern art,) but the museum just has so much to offer. Previously, when I thought of the phrase "Modern Art", I thought of utterly cryptic, unappealing, and pretentious art that was somehow worth thousands of dollars. I was sure that I'd be proven wrong, and I was! I especially enjoyed the furniture designs and photography.

is really is more beautiful in person

After getting back from the museum, I took a nap and slept right through the final dance! The doors had already closed by the time I got up!

There's so much that happened over the past three weeks that I just can't capture the cumulative experience of coming here. Since becoming involved with the Ivy League Connection, I feel infinetly more prepared for college and I have a much better idea of what schools I want to go to. I'm looking forward to seeing familiar places and faces!

Want Nothing But Sleep

Oh man, I'd better start packing up! Tomorrow, each group is going to go and present their projects, not only to the class, but also to a couple of the guest speakers who are coming back to listen rather than speak! It really is an honor for these brilliant people to take time from their busy schedules so they can listen to us talk.

Anyways, I went to a couple places that I've been meaning to visit. I returned to the Metropolitan Museum to view the Greek sculptures and modern art design. Unfortunantely, my trip was cut short by an early closing time, meaning I got just over half a hour at the museum. If I return to New York some time in the future, the Met is marked as a top priority, because it truly is an amazing place.

Next, I visited the conservatory garden, and walked back to campus through Central Park. 

Tonight, I went with Michael my lab partner, Mark, to a burger place called "Shake Shack". The food was superb, and I found myself wishing they had a location in Berkeley.

Fuel Cell and Trip to Astor Place Theater

Boy! Today was quite a day. For our final project, our group successfully built a rudimentary fuel cell! While the finished product looks like something you might find at the bottom of a dump (which is where you will find it in a couple of days,) we got an electric potential of .5 volts! While a "fuel cell" seems like it would be a complicated contraption, it really is just a battery that can run indefinitely as long as the right chemicals are added. Our fuel cell was constructed to run off of sodium borohydride and oxygen (air).

The following is an overview explaining the basic idea of the fuel cell. (Feel free to skip it.)

The simplified idea is that you have positively charged hydrogen in one compartment and oxygen in another. They have a tendency to react, so (with a platinum plated mesh as a catalyst,) the hydrogen crosses over to the oxygen container through a nafion membrane. The important property of this membrane is that only positively charged molecules can cross it. So the positively charged hydrogens cross, but in order to balance out charges, some electrons (which are negatively charged) need to get to the other side. The force drawing the electrons to the other compartment is where you get your power. If you run a wire from the hydrogen to the oxygen, the electrons will use this wire as a "bridge" to get from one compartment to the other. What you then do, is run this wire through a light bulb or some other device. The electrons are forced to pass through it if they are to get to the other side.

This afternoon, Professor David Schiering came in to talk about his work on IR and Raman spectroscopy. These are both techniques airports and the military use to identify potentially harmful substances.

After classes finished, I took the trains down to the Astor Place Theater to get seats for the Blue Man Group! I arrived an hour before the show to buy the "student rush" tickets at a huge discount. However by the time I got up to the box, I was in line right behind two young woman excited about seeing the show. When they got up to choose their seats, the Ticketmaster told them that there were exactly two seats remaining. Two tickets, two people, and I was in line after them. I groaned when they handed their money and got their tickets. From the beginning, I knew that there was a chance of not getting any tickets, but having the person in front of you buying the last ticket hurts. Dejectedly, I went up and asked if there were any seats at all available. He looked up and told me "There are still two seats. The girls in front of you wanted to sit together, so they bought tickets for tomorrow's showing."

WOW, what a lucky break! I am so incredibly glad that I got to see the show, because it was awesome. Never before, had I seen a show that had all of the elements of art, music, comedy, video, and interaction with the audience!

Never challenge a Blue Man to a staring contest, you WILL lose

It's amazing that in only a couple of days, we'll be packing our bags and heading back home! I want these last couple of days to be the best so I can tell everyone back home all of the things we did and learned and how incredible this whole experience was!

Chemistry Project Lift Off!

Again, not a whole lot to say about today. I managed to wake up early enough to shower and grab breakfast, which was nice. As Michael stated in his blog post, we're working on our group projects. My group was assigned the task of building a fuel cell. We found some instructions and after researching the theory behind the cell, we were given the okay to start making it! 

Today has been pretty relaxed. I did some research, played ping pong, and visited Soho.

Anyways, I'm planning on catching the Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theater tomorrow! Ever since coming to New York, seeing them has been a hope of mine so here's to fitting it in my schedule!

Why Do I Eat Seafood at Aquariums?

Instead of the usual labs and lectures, our professor figured he would change it up by bringing our class to the New York Aquarium! Not only did we get to visit the aquarium, but we were given tours of a coral cultivation room as well as the new water maintenence system! 

When you visit an aquarium, you take it for granted that the jellyfish in the tank are alive and well. As it turns out, there's a lot more to sustaining these sea creatures than first appears. Everything from tempreture, lighting, pH, water current, and trace nutrients and minerals needs to be constantly monitored and regulated. The aquarium draws its sea water from well, the ocean so they need to be wary of any fluctuations caused from rain washing nutrients into the water etc etc. It just brings home the fact that if you look around yourself, everything was designed. The computer you're reading this on, your lights, your soda, your tap water, just about everything was created very intentionally. Very rarely do these things just happen to work. Even when they do someone had to come in, notice that it was working, and then figure out how to replicate it. This kind of intricate, functioning design comes from an educated mind. One cannot create a suitable habitat for moon jellies without greater understanding of how marine ecosystems work.

Changing the subject, our tour guide worked for Marine World in California when it was still open! I loved that place as a kid! If my dad could somehow email me a picture we have from there, I'd be happy to add it to this post!

Speaking of pictures, (and again, changing the subject) I finally got a camera! On the way back from the camera store, a sidewalk chalk artist was completing a drawing, so I snapped a picture of it. It felt like the sort of thing that you'd find on Telegraph, but I guess you get everything in the city.

The fact that this blog post is jumping all over the place is indicative that the past few days of waking up early hasn't been agreeing with me. Time to get some sleep.

Trip to Yale

Yale is one of those legendary schools I've heard about for as long as I can remember. As a result of that I had an image of Yale as an enormous campus brimming with majestic buildings where (as Michael put it) students in collared shirts would sit under great, tall trees and engage each other in deep, academic discussion. It actually took me a couple of seconds to realize that this very pleasant and peaceful campus was THE Yale I'd been hearing about since I was a kid!

While we weren't able to get an official tour, we took it upon ourselves to visit the campus and the surrounding area. It was a tranquil area yet you could easily imagine that during the year, it was bursting with vibrant energy and student life! 

One of the perks of the trip was that I got some sleep on the train. Tomorrow I'll be waking up early because our class is taking a field trip to the Aquarium!

Not so sunny in Philadelphia

Today was a pretty relaxed day. By now, we've gotten accustomed to waking up early and going places. This time, the "place" was University of Pennsylvania! I had a sense of deja vu when I slept both on the way there and back. The tour of the campus was dampened by pouring rain (pun definitely intended) but gave us an opportunity to walk around the beautiful campus nonetheless. While I did not prepare for the rain and forgot to bring an umbrella, Winston was kind enough to lend me his. On top of that, flip-flops turned out to be a lucky choice of footwear after we stepped in a puddle going past our ankles!

What I really enjoyed though, was meeting the UPenn students! We went out for a delicious and filling lunch of cheesesteak while watching the world cup and talking about their college experiences. I got a very positive impression of UPenn! I felt very much at home while walking through the relatively peaceful streets of Philadelphia near the campus. One of the students, Carlin, just graduated as a graphic designer from Penn and is starting work with Bloomberg! He gave all of us his business card which directed us to his beautifully constructed and decorated site. It's no wonder he was hired to work on GUI among other things. (http://www.carlinyuen.com/ for those who are interested)

I'm excited about visiting one of the worlds most prestigious schools in the world. Tomorrow, we're heading to Yale! Hopefully if I get some sleep tonight, I'll be able to appreciate the scenery in at least one direction!

Water in New York

I've been saying this over and over, but tomorrow's the day that I'm going to get a camera. 

Today was a pretty mild day. I woke up in time to grab breakfast before heading to the labs. Today, we utilized Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) in an effort to separate aspirin from salicylic acid. While that experiment didn't work out, we succeeded in separating chlorophyll from beta carotene using Column Chromatography. 

By the end of classes, I was unable to keep my eyes open and slept for three hours. 

After waking up, I met up with some friends to go to a Starbucks (which apparently has become our de facto hangout spot) and do Chemistry homework. Starbucks is the only place I know of in New York where they will give you a cup of ice water without expecting you to pay! I was a bit shocked the first time when I asked for water at a McDonalds and was denied service! 

Anyways, I'm getting up in two hours to go to a free Lady Gaga concert. Starbucks is probably going to get some of my money tomorrow!

Chemistry thoughts

Today was yet another very interesting (but still incredibly hot) day. Our titration lab went smoothly and we ended up with good results! Today’s guest speaker was Ruben L Gonzales. He walked us through the process by which his lab managed to get an action shot of a Ribosome coding proteins! When I was a child, I heard about scientists doing grand and mysterious things such as “atom smashing” and wondered how this could be possible. My eight-year-old brain figured that you would take something like a car crusher, but make it so precisely and perfectly that the plates would be able to crush individual atoms.

Of course, this is nowhere near how particle colliders operate! The idea that doing something on a micro scale is the same as doing it on a macro scale but more precise is completely wrong, and this talk was a powerful reminder of this. If you want a model of how a ribosome codes proteins, you can’t just take a mini video camera and film it. To achieve these things, Chemists must jump through incredible hoops. For example, mutating half of a ribosome so it accepts fluorescent markers is in no way a part of regular filmmaking. Anyways, thinking about this is making my head run in circles. Good night!

Imagine, Looking Forward to first Day of Class.....

First day back in class and it was GREAT! 

In Chemistry class, we kicked off the day with a titration lab. I'm extremely glad I took AP Chem because we were expected to learn titrations in one weekend, and I found it to be one of the more difficult subjects we covered in class! While we didn't have a guest speaker today, our professor surrprised us with a little something he "cooked up" so to speak. Liquid nitrogen ice cream!

After the group of hungry students quickly finished off the first batch, he allowed us students to try our hand at making the ice cream. For the most part, it turned out extremely well. There was one case where a TA overdid the liquid nitrogen and accidentally produced a snack not unlike dippin dots! As it turns out, dippin dots are made by flash freezing the cream mixture with liquid nitrogen (much like we were doing.) The cream freezes into nuclei and is much denser than regular ice cream because very little air gets mixed in. The fact that we made dippin dots by mistake just goes to show how some very unlikely scientific discoveries are accidents!

Later in the day, we met with the Columbia admissions officer for our area! It was very informative, as he went around and talked about each of the majors we were interested in. It was very generous of him to take the time to meet us.

Immediately after I met up with a group to see my first Broadway show, The Lion King. It was incredible. The music, the costumes, the stage, everything was terrific and came together as an amazing performance. About half way through, I -- without even noticing the transition -- suspended all disbelief and felt as though I was witnessing a true story unfold right before my eyes. There's really no way to describe how incredibly moved and amazed I was by the show.

Also, my sunburn has improved significantly since I got burned on Sunday. Did I ever mention that I forgot to put sunscreen on my back at the beach? Well, if I did, it's a lot better and should be healed by tomorrow.

Anyways, tomorrow is where I'm off to right now. Time to sleep. I'll get a camera so I can start posting some pictures and turn this into something that's somewhat attractive. Good night!

Uneventful (but not unfun) Day

I have nothing interesting to blog about tonight, so I’ll give a rather uninteresting account of my day.

Today had a very relaxed beginning. I woke up at around 10:30, and then lay in bed for about an hour. I then checked to see if my cell phone was working yet. Nope. I took a trip to the Verizon store to see if anything could be done about my phone. Again, nope. On top of that, because I am still a minor, I can’t sign any contracts for a new phone with a renewed plan. This means that my parents are going to get it then ship it to Mrs. Ishmael who will then hand it to me.

Anyways, running back and forth between here and the Verizon store during this heat wave got me thirsty, so I stopped by Starbucks to get an iced coffee drink. Looking at the price menu reminded me why I go there so infrequently! But being the hot, thirsty guy I was, I parted with five dollars in exchange for an enormous and extremely refreshing beverage. However, soon after returning to my room, I knocked the half full container onto the ground, spilling coffee on the floor. After cleaning up most of the mess, I made one last trip to the bathroom to grab some more toilet paper. When I returned, I realized I left my key in the room, locking myself out!

Long story short, I get back in, hang out with Michael and a kid from our Chem class, Evan, and we all go to Starbucks to do our Chemistry work. I’m not spending any more money there, given my spillage earlier in the day, so I ask for a glass of ice water. Today was my lucky day! They made the wrong drink for someone earlier, so they gave me the iced tea the mistakenly made for free! Guess they really know how to keep a loyal customer base. I apologize for this extremely dry (and probably unnecessarily long) post. Expect a blog tomorrow regarding cameras and dazzling pictures! Anyways, see you all tomorrow!

Close Calls!

Happy Fourth everyone! To celebrate the fourth of July, I went out with a couple people in my group to go to Long Beach! Looking back, I almost wish I hadn't went, but it makes for an interesting story and I suppose was a good experience. 

I arrived at the beach with a group I met on the train. I decided to go swimming while they were talking so they could guard my stuff. But being the paranoid (and stupid) person I am, I tied my wallet in a plastic bag, and placed it in my velcro swim trunks pocket. I dove into the ocean and bobbed around with the waves. When I got out, I realized my wallet was gone. At first I couldn't really believe it. Then I got angry with myself as I realized what had just happened. I had nearly a hundred dollars in my wallet along with my drivers license, columbia ID, room key, credit card, return train ticket, metro card and the works. Also, my cell phone got water damaged because for some reason, I brought that with me, too, and the bag I put it in wasn't tied tight enough. 

While searching for any sign of it, I luckily ran into my friends, and just as I was about to call my parents (with one of their phones, because mine wouldn't turn on) they encouraged me to search one last time. So we went down to the beach one last time (I had to borrow one of their beach passes, because mine was in my wallet.) We realized that because I tied it shut, the wallet being less dense than sea water would float; meaning someone probably found it because it would have been floating near the surface if no one picked it up.

Not really hoping for much, I approached the lifeguard nearest to the area I lost it and asked if he had been given a stray wallet. His eyes suddenly lit up and he exclaimed "So you're the wallet guy!" and after asking me a few questions for varification, returned it to me. Amazingly, nothing had been stolen, and it likely hadn't been gone a long enough time for the credit card to have been abused. Thinking about the worst case scenario, I am so incredibly thankful that the person who picked it up happened to be kind enough to try and return it rather than pocket it.

So while there was a time that I was pretty terrified, this turned into a Fourth of July I'll certainly remember. Tonight, I'll be going to Riverside to watch the fireworks. I won't forget the advice the life guard gave me "Never take your wallet into the ocean." Now that I'm somewhat on my own, I need to guard my things carefully. Had things gone slightly differently, today could have caused me and my parents a great deal of pain. Anyways, Happy Fourth!

P.S. If my parents are reading this and want more details about the credit card, I used it this morning (maybe around 10 or 11) to buy train tickets. I lost my wallet around 3:00 and got it returned around 3:20. It's 7:00 Eastern time, and I haven't used the card since. And yes, my phone is still water damaged and needs time to dry. If you need to contact me for more info, try calling Michael or Winston. I also have a cache of money hidden away along with the ATM card, so I wouldn't have been completely broke if my wallet dissapeared. That being said, I'll take great care to make sure it never happens in the future. Anyways, have a happy Fourth of July!

End of First Week of Classes!

Today marks the end of the first week of classes! It also marks the beginning of a three day weekend, so I'll get some quality time to explore New York! For our lab today, we ran some tests on the aspirin we made to find out how much of it was really aspirin. 

Today, our guest speaker Dr. Rachid Skouta told us about the practice of "Green Chemistry". Basically, it's a Chemistry where priorities are placed on wasting less toxic materials and on research of alternate energy. Nothing but good can come from a change where Chemistry is driven by these principles.

After Mrs. Ishmael gave us a very generous food fund, I visited my first New York museum: the Metropolitan Museum! It was nothing short of incredible. I broke apart from the group I was with to appreciate the museum at my own pace. Even after two and a half hours of wandering between stunningly beautiful paintings, sculptures and glass works, I managed to view less than half of the building!

Throughout my journey there were times when I wondered if I somehow stumbled into an H.P. Lovecraft story! You would turn a corner and find yourself in a dimly lit room, surrounded by heavy, shadowed stone walls covered with ancient Hieroglyphs and faded carvings depicting the customs of a long extinct civilization. If you are ever in New York, the Metropolitan Museum is a must!

Aspirin That If You Took It Would Probably Make You Ill

First item of good news is that the air-conditioning in my room was fixed some time this afternoon! The night before, I set up a plastic bag so I could funnel the leak into a trash bucket. Thankfully, the intrusive little setup didn’t need to stick around for long. 

I’ve gotten settled into the routine for class, as I woke up with the perfect amount of time for a shower and breakfast before I ran off to class. 

Today, we synthesized and attempted to isolate acetylsalicylic acid: commonly known as aspirin. The process is a little different from what I imagined. The actual synthesis is incredibly simple and takes very little time. All you need to do is put three chemicals, (salicylic acid, acetic anhydride, and sulfuric acid) into a flask and heat it. The real hard work is separating it from all of the byproducts including the water it's dissolved in! We spent most of the entire lab distilling and filtering and crystallizing it to get it as pure as possible while minimizing how much of our product we lost during every step. Tomorrow, we’ll then start testing how much of our product is truly the aspirin we were trying to produce! 

Today’s seminar guest speaker Professor Snyder spoke about the many amazing compounds that have been derived from nature! It made me smile when he began talking about penicillin. Everyone applying for the Chemistry class through the ILC had to write an in depth paper on penicillin’s discovery and history. 

Our lab group is coming together strongly. We all get along and work well with each other! Most of our group met each other for dinner and then later, a couple of us went to Starbucks, where we used their free WiFi to look up the properties of various chemicals we worked with. Our professor would have been amused. 

Anyways, I’m going to sleep. Have a wonderful day!

Chem Class and Classy Jazz, Getting Jazzed About the Chemistry of NY!

Today the ball started rolling! I woke up to my alarms (yes, I set more than one) at 7:00 as planned but I lay back down to collect myself and next thing I know, my roommate is waking me up for a class that starts in fifteen minutes! Never making that mistake again. 

I managed to get to the building in time for a lab activity where we charted the cooling curve of glacial acetic acid. A lot of the groups (including ours) had trouble getting the probes working. It was a nice reminder that even at college and higher levels of research, technical difficulties can and will occur! 

After our lab and lunch break, guest speaker Professor Ged Parkin took the time to talk about his work on Bond Stretch Isomerism. He gave a fascinating account of a (false) theory describing non-existent phenomena where the same element of atoms in identical molecules held different bond lengths. He emphasized the point that even the most dedicated professionals have their blind spots and can misinterpret data. 

After the seminar, I took a trip to the Fat Cat Jazz club in Greenwich! After receiving a stylish identifying hand stamp, we played pool and Scrabble as we listened to live Jazz performances. 

On the way back to campus, we stopped at Magnolia, a sweets bakery that officially sells the best cupcakes ever made. Even at three dollars apiece, a few students went back for seconds after devouring their first cupcake! During tonight’s outing, I met an international student from Norway who was surprised and impressed to hear that we had a Norwegian exchange student spend a year learning at El Cerrito High! It’s amazing how global the population is here! 

Whilst eating my cupcake, I was standing in a circle chatting with about ten other people when we realized that everyone (with the exception of myself) was at least bilingual! But while internationality is nice, I grow proud whenever I meet another fellow Californian. Thanks to the ILC as well as independent contributors, California is well represented in this program! Well, tomorrow is going to be another big day, so I’ll log off and get rested.

Jazz club hand stamp

Days Packed!

Today’s busy schedule and my frequent naps due to a lack of sleep last night leave me with the feeling that it’s been so much longer than just two days since we landed in New York! This morning’s scrumptious breakfast feels like an eternity ago, and any one of the activities alone would have been enough to make my day.

To start off the day, we took a trip to the Empire State Building. Wow. When I first stepped out onto the observatory deck, I just lowered my camera in a daze. It was absolutely futile to try and capture the vastness and beauty of the New York cityscape on a pocket camera.

After our descent, we boarded a train to visit Vassar. I used the journey as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. The trip to Vassar showed me how different schools can have truly different approaches to education. In the past, whenever someone mentioned higher education, I would conjure up images of enormous lecture halls filled with hundreds of sleepy students, occasionally jotting down notes in hopes of passing the coming exams. Imagine my surprise when we were told that the average class size at Vassar was fifteen! Not only that, but in addition, the teacher to student ratio was about one to nine! It blew my mind that by the numbers, these college students were receiving more individual attention than most Kindergarteners!

After the return trip (which I also slept through), we worked up our appetite on the walk to Oceana. There, I had a magnificent meal consisting of Manhattan clam chowder, various sides, and the pièce de résistance,

caviar. At this point, let me extend my deepest thanks to Mr. Ramsey, the rest of the Board Members, and everyone else who has worked to give each and every one of us the enormous privilege to this experience. I’m looking forward to my Chemistry program, where I will learn from nearly a dozen professors while meeting people and making connections!

First Day in New York!

When I arrived at the front gates of El Cerrito High School, I already felt as though my horizons had broadened. It was a strange feeling. Many, many days at school cultivated a yearning to leave the place. I developed a growing urge to pack up my bag and head off some place. So there I was, standing in front of my school, which garnered this feeling, and it was about to be fulfilled!

On the plane ride, I chatted to my neighboring passengers who were extremely friendly and pleasant. One neighbor, Alex, is a young hedge fund manager with a PhD in physics from a University in Krakow. Another neighbor, Lillian, an elderly Scottish woman, was traveling to New York to visit her daughter, who coincidently, is a Columbia Alumni!

Our time in New York has been nothing short of incredible. Everything from the scrumptious dinner at Keens Steakhouse to gazing in awe at Times Square has come together as an unforgettable experience. More than ever before, I’m thankful to everyone at the ILC who has made this possible!