10/12 Trip to SF for the Blue Angels
The Blue Angels were coming in to town, so Sam and Jason (Renewal Church friends) and I decided to Cal Train up to seem them. We got completely scammed by Karl the Fog becuase it started rolling in during the afternoon, and the Blue Angels were unable to fly due to safety reasons. They had Fleet Week going on, so we were at least able to see some exhibits the Army put up.
Here we are posed next to dead bodies
10/19 Trip to the California Academy of Science
Justin L. and Justin C. (from college undergrad) and I went to the California Academy of Science museum in Golden Gate Park since I had never been there before. As with all museums it was pretty cool getting to learn about random science facts and seeing all the cool nature exhibits they put up. My favorite exhibition was their Shake House exhibit that simulates the shaking of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in SF in 1906. I was very expectant of a big shaking to happen, so the experience itself wasn't as thrilling as I thought it'd be though. However, it was really eye-opening to experience how strong it was and how long it lasted (45-60s). I could only imagine the chaos and panic the people would've felt back then, especially since it happened without warning.
They also had a large sealed dome with a rainforest environment inside. It was very neat to see all the birds and butterflies just flying around you. The coolest fact I learned was that whole parts of the Amazon rainforest gets completely flooded up to 40ft. during seasonal flooding.
Lastly, I had the best of naps in their planeterium movie exhibit. I even started snoring, but thankfully my friend was ready to shake me awake.
The famous albino aligator. We caught it move positions, but it literally just slept for the 4 hours we were there
Selfie of us suffering because the sun was directly in our eyes
10/20 2nd Imagine Dragons Concert
10/25 - 10/27 IVGrad Fellowship Retreat at Redwood Christian Park
During this weekend, I was off to Redwood Christian Park in the Santa Cruz mountains for a retreat with my Christian fellowship club at Stanford!
Friday 10/25
We headed up late Friday afternoon for the Santa Cruz mountains on some very windy roads and managed to arrive by 7:30. The night was planned to be a chill night of worship and hanging out. The worship session was a great blessing. I was overly anxious going on this with all the homework I had to do, so it was very calming for my soul. Afterwards, we ate some cup noodles and did extremely fun activities. Just kidding, we are lame graduate students, so someone screenshared their fluids simulation on Matlab. In stark contrast, the Bay Area InterVarsity undergrads (who coincidentally had their retreat at this site with a completely seperate program) were jumping and running around with flashing lights in some sort of silent disco event. We weren't self-conscious about our low-energy nerd activities at all. Though I will say that I am enjoying how being a grad student normalizes early bed times. By 10PM, I was off to my room to get ready for bed!
Saturday 10/26
At 6:30AM, I woke up early to join in on a sunrise worship/praise walk in the freezing cold. We ended up stumbling into some Bible study reflection time with the undergrads. We didn't stick around too long, but I ended up running into the undergrads from my previous church's (Radiance) college fellowship! It was such a shocking but exciting suprise.
The rest of the morning was more chilling around and then a sermon from a guest pastor. The theme of the whole retreat was unity in community, so lots about what it looks like to participate in a community of Chrisitians.
Group Photo!
In the afteroon, we had free time so I joined a group for hiking! It was an incredible time. I got to know some of the newer people a lot better and deepen my relationship with another friend as well. And then I got to take a nap!
Hiking pic!
After dinner, we did a Bible study on 1 Corinthinas 12, talking about unity in a body of Christians. My biggest takeaway was 1 Cor 12:26 - 26 And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it." I've always been shy about sharing things with people in general, so it got me thinking: how can people suffer/rejoice with me if they don't know what I'm suffering/rejoicing about. It's a big motivator for me to try step out of my comfort zone of shyness and share more.
Afterwards was free time, where the plan was to watch The Passion of the Christ. I stayed for a little bit before leaving to join the undergrads in their marshmallow roasting time. The main reason I went was to hang out with my undergrad friends. A great blessing to be able to chat and catch up again.
Finally, I ended the night with my grad school friends with some sad boi hours! I'm still not entirely sure what this is and whether we accomplished this or not. Regardless, we had some very funny conversations, and I did get to know more about the backstory of some of them.
Sunday 10/27
We had a sermon on Romans 14 (more of community living), lunch, and then some free time before we needed to head out. We decided to play some disc golf! We ended up somehow losing one frisbee in the bushes and got a tetherball stuck in a tree. Here I am trying to get it down with the help of a tall person.
10/3 Hélène Grimaud Concert
I went to see a performance by this classical pianist! Sam (Renewal Church again) is a big classical pianist fan, so he invited me out to listen as well. This was at Stanford's Bing Concert Hall. It was my first time there, so I was shocked at how modern-looking the inside space was. The concert itself had very beautiful and relaxing piano music. Unfortunately, it was too relaxing and took place after lunch, so I had to really focus on not falling asleep.
11/5 Democracy Day Hike
Each year, Stanford has it's own holiday on 11/5 to let people vote. I went with my friends Matthew and Kevin to go hiking. I forget where exactly, but it was around the Crystals Spring Lake Reservoir. Afterwards, we got some American food (burgers, pizza, and soda) in honor of the great United States of America. 🦅🦅🦅
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