P/F P/F Hooray! Side Quests Galore!

The Outside World

As new frosh enter their first EVER Caltech term, they also embark on a journey into the wonderful land of P/F. Unlike many other college institutions, Caltech gives us all the chance to take our first two terms of college on pass/fail, meaning that this is the perfect time to go out, explore, and have new experiences. The three writers of the article have the firm belief that one should try their hardest to sidequest while on P/F, a principle we adhered to during our own P/F terms. From our experience, we would like to recommend a starter pack of sidequests to y’all.

Seeing the stars at night:

We went to Mount Wilson, saw the Aurora lights, better if you go at the time of some astrological event. Currently, the Draconid meteor shower is ongoing (from Oct 6-10) and Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be coming from Oct 12-19! Take full advantage of P/F to go on spontaneous star and meteor watching adventures - they will characterize your frosh year.

Late night beach drives:

We drove over many bridges we recognized from GTA, and one of our Socal born-and-raised friends recommended going to Manhattan, Santa Monica, or Laguna beach. Make sure to grab a quick bite to eat on the way back (we did McDonald’s).

Late night LAX airplane watching:

As you can see, there is a common theme of late night excursions. What fun would they be if they weren’t at the most god awful hours of the morning?

Bring your MechE friends for this one, they’ll love watching planes take off and land from LAX. Fair caution, they may yap your ears off about aero (but it’s really cute and fun!).

Go work in cafes:

If you can’t put the work down, take the work with you! A lot of them close rather early, so it is best to go and work in the morning and afternoon. However, there are a few that are open a bit later at night.

We have a few recommendations in Pasadena:

  • Mandarin Coffee - they have fire Hojicha, and it is simply a 10 minute walk (in the Burlington Arcade on Lake Avenue). The open seating area is really cute.
  • Pillow Talk Cafe - this one can get quite loud, but their mango matcha + honeycomb latte are to die for. Also, experiment with consuming one of their in-house cake desserts.
  • About Time Cafe: Get that Matcha Einsplanner! A bit further in Koreatown but definitely worth taking your friends to.

Check out @cafestodiefor on Instagram for more recommendations.

Go to Joshua Tree:

  • It’s a bigger trip for sure, but this is the time to take big trips!
  • We went during thanksgiving weekend but you can really just pick any free weekend during the term.
  • 2 day trip but bring tents instead of sleeping in your car at night.

Go and watch a SpaceX launch:

  • It’s usually a 2 hour drive to the site and 2 hours back. We got there just in time for the launch. Afterwards we pulled up to a state park and looked up at the stars. I saw my first shooting star.

Winchells at 3 AM:

  • A classic. Make sure to be safe and go in a big group!
  • The best donuts: the pink donut, the apple fritter, and the raspberry/strawberry/creme-filled donuts.

Disclaimer: we realize many of these things require knowing people with CARS :(

(have a friend with a car and pay their gas)

(always offer to pay them gas)