Hi Readers,
So I have been slightly lagging in Stanford updates because things have been so busy here! The last few posts have been kinda depressing, but don't let that fool you. Things have been going splendidly here, and I will proceed to tell you about all the great things of Stanford.
I will start by saying that I was actually very worried about Stanford when I first came in here. Before I came here, some people were very negative about Stanford. Combine that with the horrible EE grad school visit, and I really had low expectations for Stanford. But I couldn't have been more wrong about Stanford.
I am living in a quad room, in a graduate dorm. This is one of the best decisions that I made with regards to Stanford. I knew that I would be lonely and bored all by myself if I was just in a single/studio, so I aimed for max impact when I applied for housing, and just aimed for all the high-occupancy rooms (quads, triples, etc). My roommates here are awesome! There's JN who is also gay and lives a fabulous non-stop life; RK who is chill and always down for whatever is happening; and AG who is well-read and claims he never wants to leave grad school. Out of all of them, I bond the most with JN because we have similar backgrounds. He's also extremely hot. Kudos to housing committee on roommate selection.
In only a month here, I have done more outdoor activities than in all 4 years at Illinois. Already, I've visited both Yosemite, the Ventana Wilderness, and I'm planning on hitting Lake Tahoe next weekend. This is all thanks to Stanford's hiking club, called the Redwood Club. The weekend trips that RC plans are really amazing and cheap! The Yosemite trip was a little bit of a letdown, because a week of snow closed down Half Dome, which meant we were not able to summit it (although we still saw Vernal and Nevada falls and hiked both the Mist and John Muir trails).
This week has been a completely whirlwind of amazement. On Wednesday, I headed up to San Francisco with some friends, to an LGBT mixer for students and alumni from Ivy League schools / Stanford. There, I met a Stanford professor who had an extra ticket for a German film festival on Friday, and who invited me along. I accepted, and so on Friday the four of us went to see a German film at the Castro theater (Joschka und Herr Fischer). After the movie was finished, the reception was held at the German Consulate in San Francisco. So we tagged along and got to visit the magnificent consulate, eat amazing German food, and drink German wine and champagne. I met a bunch of entrepreneurs, the film director, and even the German Consul himself. I got home at 1:30am and packed hurriedly, and tried to get some sleep before the trip tomorrow (I got 2.5 hours).
This past weekend's trip to Sykes Hot Springs could probably count as the best outdoor backpacking/camping experience I've ever had. The 12 of us woke up at 5am on Saturday morning, piled into cars, and drove south along the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway 1 down from Stanford to Big Sur. We then hiked 10 miles (mostly uphill) to the hot springs itself. The weather throughout was amazing, with nary a single cloud in sight. We arrived at the hot springs at around 5pm, and set up camp very close by to the hot springs. "Setting up camp" entailed laying down two large tarps and putting our sleeping bags and mats on it, because there was no forecast for rain at all. We then went for a long dip in the springs, cooked dinner, and went for a late night dip again.
For the late night dip, the others didn't want to wait for people to vacate the hotter spring, so they traipsed off to a cooler spring. VM and I waited for about 15 minutes until the people left, and we jumped in the hotter springs by ourselves. It was well worth the wait, and nobody else came by for the rest of the night. The entire soak, we just looked at the clear starry sky and talked about life. Despite only having met her 15 hours ago, we talked and confided in each other as if we were best friends. We left the springs after everyone had already gone back and went to bed. The sleep I got that night was the best night's sleep I've ever gotten outdoors. My new sleeping mat felt as good as a mattress, the temperature was perfect (60), and there were no bugs whatsoever. In the morning we woke up early, cooked breakfast, and then took a soak again. Afterward we hiked back down the mountain and returned to civilization.
Right now, I am considering signing a ski lodge lease for the winter/spring ski season at Lake Tahoe. If this happens, which I am 80% sure it will, I will very probably be heading up to snowboard at least twice a month. I am very excited and hope that everything will turn out perfectly.
My jubilation and infatuation with California has been akin to an exponential increase. The events that happened in the past week seem unreal to me. California is abound with opportunities that Illinois can only dream about. I am in love with Stanford and California. I can't believe I ever considered staying at Illinois for graduate school. I am seizing life right now as if there is no tomorrow.
Life is amazing.
-FCDH
So I have been slightly lagging in Stanford updates because things have been so busy here! The last few posts have been kinda depressing, but don't let that fool you. Things have been going splendidly here, and I will proceed to tell you about all the great things of Stanford.
I will start by saying that I was actually very worried about Stanford when I first came in here. Before I came here, some people were very negative about Stanford. Combine that with the horrible EE grad school visit, and I really had low expectations for Stanford. But I couldn't have been more wrong about Stanford.
I am living in a quad room, in a graduate dorm. This is one of the best decisions that I made with regards to Stanford. I knew that I would be lonely and bored all by myself if I was just in a single/studio, so I aimed for max impact when I applied for housing, and just aimed for all the high-occupancy rooms (quads, triples, etc). My roommates here are awesome! There's JN who is also gay and lives a fabulous non-stop life; RK who is chill and always down for whatever is happening; and AG who is well-read and claims he never wants to leave grad school. Out of all of them, I bond the most with JN because we have similar backgrounds. He's also extremely hot. Kudos to housing committee on roommate selection.
In only a month here, I have done more outdoor activities than in all 4 years at Illinois. Already, I've visited both Yosemite, the Ventana Wilderness, and I'm planning on hitting Lake Tahoe next weekend. This is all thanks to Stanford's hiking club, called the Redwood Club. The weekend trips that RC plans are really amazing and cheap! The Yosemite trip was a little bit of a letdown, because a week of snow closed down Half Dome, which meant we were not able to summit it (although we still saw Vernal and Nevada falls and hiked both the Mist and John Muir trails).
This week has been a completely whirlwind of amazement. On Wednesday, I headed up to San Francisco with some friends, to an LGBT mixer for students and alumni from Ivy League schools / Stanford. There, I met a Stanford professor who had an extra ticket for a German film festival on Friday, and who invited me along. I accepted, and so on Friday the four of us went to see a German film at the Castro theater (Joschka und Herr Fischer). After the movie was finished, the reception was held at the German Consulate in San Francisco. So we tagged along and got to visit the magnificent consulate, eat amazing German food, and drink German wine and champagne. I met a bunch of entrepreneurs, the film director, and even the German Consul himself. I got home at 1:30am and packed hurriedly, and tried to get some sleep before the trip tomorrow (I got 2.5 hours).
This past weekend's trip to Sykes Hot Springs could probably count as the best outdoor backpacking/camping experience I've ever had. The 12 of us woke up at 5am on Saturday morning, piled into cars, and drove south along the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway 1 down from Stanford to Big Sur. We then hiked 10 miles (mostly uphill) to the hot springs itself. The weather throughout was amazing, with nary a single cloud in sight. We arrived at the hot springs at around 5pm, and set up camp very close by to the hot springs. "Setting up camp" entailed laying down two large tarps and putting our sleeping bags and mats on it, because there was no forecast for rain at all. We then went for a long dip in the springs, cooked dinner, and went for a late night dip again.
For the late night dip, the others didn't want to wait for people to vacate the hotter spring, so they traipsed off to a cooler spring. VM and I waited for about 15 minutes until the people left, and we jumped in the hotter springs by ourselves. It was well worth the wait, and nobody else came by for the rest of the night. The entire soak, we just looked at the clear starry sky and talked about life. Despite only having met her 15 hours ago, we talked and confided in each other as if we were best friends. We left the springs after everyone had already gone back and went to bed. The sleep I got that night was the best night's sleep I've ever gotten outdoors. My new sleeping mat felt as good as a mattress, the temperature was perfect (60), and there were no bugs whatsoever. In the morning we woke up early, cooked breakfast, and then took a soak again. Afterward we hiked back down the mountain and returned to civilization.
Right now, I am considering signing a ski lodge lease for the winter/spring ski season at Lake Tahoe. If this happens, which I am 80% sure it will, I will very probably be heading up to snowboard at least twice a month. I am very excited and hope that everything will turn out perfectly.
My jubilation and infatuation with California has been akin to an exponential increase. The events that happened in the past week seem unreal to me. California is abound with opportunities that Illinois can only dream about. I am in love with Stanford and California. I can't believe I ever considered staying at Illinois for graduate school. I am seizing life right now as if there is no tomorrow.
Life is amazing.
-FCDH
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