NASA Ames and USGS

On Thursday we had again a long day of visits. We started off at NASA Ames with a somewhat disappointing talk about radioactivity in space and afterwards a lab tour in a refurbished McDonald's with a "lunatic", because he is a big fan of the moon. This man looked a bit like the homeless people near our hostel, but looked a lot more sober and was really enthousiastic about documenting and archiving all of his artifacts. They picked an old McDonald's building as lab, because it was just standing there empty, which was kind of fun (their 'lab' was also appropiatly nicknamed McMoon).

Afterwards we finally had a long lunch break for the first time in days at the Google campus and afterwards we went to another part of Silicon Valley to learn more about earthquakes at the US Geological Survey. Everybody enjoyed this visit very much, although one of our questions still isn't completely answered: why are there so many sensitive and expansive machines in such a dangerous area as California? I'm afraid this is something we will never really understand.

In the evening, Jeremy, Danielle, Daan, Oli, Bram, Teun and I went driving through the city and tried to follow the sightseeing route, unfortunately, we did it the wrong way around (which is a bit of a heckle with all the one-way traffic in San Francisco), but still had some nice views.

As you probably noticed, we are a bit delayed with updating the blog. This is due to the long past few days. Most people came home after 12 and went straight to bed, but from now on we will be posting the blog again on almost every day!

Ester

Verily and free time

Wednesday started with a trip to Verily, the former google health company. Now operating mostly on its own it researches a variety of ways to tackle multiple health problems.
We were welcomed into the building by Emily who was very helpful but also very American. I've never heard the word cool used so many times before in my life. Everything was awesome as well, oh well.
After some presentations about the company and what they were doing we got a tour of their lab. The lesson we learned is that nothing is off limits if you have enough money. They had all the expensive machines and more were being bought daily.
That google-money was still shining through. Although the employees all told us how great a company it really was, we all left a bit sceptical (but of course in a totally awesome state as Emily would put it).
Having the afternoon off gave us the opportunity to explore the city a bit! I personally first slept for an hour. After that well deserved mid-day siesta we continued on to the local Chinese. Apparently the Asian cuisine is the only nice and affordable one in San Fransisco.
We left with our wallets just a bit lighter and our stomachs a lot fuller. The fun wasn't over yet for the day. A couple of us young lads decided it would be the perfect time to do some laundry. Where do you do laundry in SF you may (or probably not) think; at the chinese lady of course!
She even had a dryer. Overall another great experience. Next up, the baseball game! We did not have any tickets but were confident we could by some at the stadium. It turned out that they were almost sold out and really expensive through the official channels. Our shining knight in armor was some random bloke on the street who sold second-hand tickets for a very cheap price. After some good ol' haggling we managed to get the price down to 10 bucks a pop, not bad eh? Even the view surpassed our expectations. After an hour of some very boring baseball (good atmosphere however), some of us decided they needed cheap beer and live music. So we went on our merry way again to the saloon bar. The bar was filled with normal Americans, crazy Americans and a band: a perfect combination. They also had cheap beer which was the cherry on top. A few beers and an hour of some questionable live folk music later we went back to the hostel and finally made our way onto our beds, what a day!
Oliver

Stanford and SLAC

Tuesday morning, at the brink of daylight (OK, maybe not that early) we left San Francisco for Stanford. After a short drive filled with some good music (in our car, at least) we arrived at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre, SLAC. Here we were greeted by an American physicist who was surprisingly capable in pronouncing ``Nijmegen". It all made sense when we found out that he had worked in the group of Theo Rasing at the Radboud University before he came to SLAC. He took us to a conference room, which unfortunately lacked the necessary amount of coffee, and gave us a short intro on the facility. About halfway through his introduction a German physicist entered, his head was sweaty, he must have been in a hurry, or not well adapted to the California weather. At any rate, he was introduced as the guy knowing much more about the accelerator and the history of SLAC than our American friend. Besides his extensive knowledge on the lab, we also took notice of his dry sense of humour. The way he smiled after making a joke vaguely reminded me of one of our lecturers back in Nijmegen, but maybe that was just me. After our intro, our guides took us to the accelerator beam (it was switched off, for maintenance). A few kilometres of beam, chopped up in various sections for various experiments. Our German guide expressed his boredom with the beam, as it was the same for hundreds of meters, so we swiftly moved on. We were brought to one of the experimental halls. Our American guide said some words about the experiments done on that location, Giel (our scientific guide) recognized a lot of it. We are also getting quite familiar with pump probe experiments by now, it seems a recurring theme of our trip.

At about 11 o'clock we left the facility and went on our way to Stanford University. We had lunch at a mall with free parking and went on by foot. After about half an hour we reached a conference room at Stanford, where we met our next host. Daniel Palankers group worked on technologies for vision restoration. He gave us a presentation on eye implants to replace damaged rod cells in the retina, after that he showed us movies about cataract operations. I must admit that I was not entirely prepared for the sudden sight of a scalpel in an eye, luckily, we were able to cope.

Our next appointment was at the Stanford Nano Fabrication lab. We were given a tour around the clean rooms and some of us were given a chance to put on a body suit (lovely pictures were made). Next we were taken to another nano facility, the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities. After these nano tours we went for a bite (and some great ice cream) at Tresidder student union, a conglomeration of various restaurants and coffee bars at the Stanford campus. We ended up sitting in the Californian sun, while students behind us were preparing for a manifestation against sexual violence. All in all, Stanford was a pretty fancy place. The campus was very spacious and green. It would be great if Nijmegen could achieve some of that atmosphere.

The last stop on our day was the Wall Mart near Stanford. For many of us, it was the first time in a large American store. It was quite a sight to behold, some members of our group got to enjoy the ride in motorized shopping carts (which are actually meant for disabled people). After this slight culture shock, we returned back to the hostel, our minds filled with new experiences, and our bags filled with (relatively) cheap beer.

Daan

Berkeley University and ALS

Laying on my warm bed, nice and cosy, I am wondering what we did yesterday. After everyone was done showering, eating breakfast and preparing for the trip, Esther kicked everyone out because we needed to be on time. Just outside the hostel, Ludo, Jeremy and I gave a small talk about the institutes we were about to visit. I don't remember much of the car ride from our hostel to Berkeley because I was asleep, but once there we walked over the campus towards the Fleming and Leone group. While walking to there, we noticed how green the campus of the University was. It could have been right out of a Bob Ross episode, and we even noticed a happy little squirrel. Once we arrived we met prof. Fleming himself and some of his graduates. They gave a short presentation about what they do over there, looking at photosynthesis and using a technique called "quantum quenching". An important application of their study is to improve the biomass of plants.

After that we met some of the graduates and they showed us what they did and we could ask questions. Once we were done we were going to visit the SETI department. We arrived a bit late, but our supervisor didn't mind. He showed us how and at what frequencies they were measuring extraterrestrial radiation.
All the talks went on a bit too long, so by the time we were done we only had 10 minutes to get ourselves lunch before the bus drove away. So hurrying to the nearest lunch shop I got the tastiest grilled cheese/bacon burger I have ever known. To get to the ALS we had to get a bit away from the Berkeley campus, since it is in the hills. A special bus drove us to the institute, where we were guided through the synchrotron. The storage ring was absolutely massive, with a diameter of 200 m. Today was a maintenance day, so the synchrotron was turned off, but this gave us the opportunity to look up close. Normally the radiation emitted would kill you, so it was quite special to look so close.

By the time we were done, we were all completely exhausted. We saw so much that day, that everyone was happy to be at the hostel, especially since we have to be ready at 7.15 the next day. I'm not really known as being a morning person, so I am happy to get some sleep. We still had to get some food though, so we went out to find an affordable restaurant. Turns out most of the restaurants around here minus fastfood is super expensive if you don't know where to look, so we were smart enough to ask were to eat to the hostel manager. We eventually ended up at a Mexican restaurant were we ate till our heart's content. To show our gratitude, we gave the waitress a tip of 17 pennies (keep in mind that we already had to pay taxes and mandatory tips). After that we went to the hostel and went to sleep.

Yesterday, all my sleep seemed so far away, but now it's looking like its here to stay.

Tom

Update on cycling

Yesterday, when other people were exploring the city by foot, I went cycling with a small group of people. It sounded like a great idea to explore the city in a fast and easy way by bike and at the start, this also turned out to be true.

We had some great views of the waterfall in Golden Gate Park and also walked a bit on the ocean shore. From there we tried to get to the Golden Gate Bridge and bike to Muir Woods and we could choose between a longer road that was advised by the rental shop, or we could bike close to the coast, which was the shorter way (on the map at least) but also only for advanced bikers. Luckily we are Dutch and we know how to ride a bike, so of course we chose the advanced road.
Soon this turned out to be a real struggle due to the steep hills, but the views we got at the end were definitely worth it.

From there on we 'only' had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and get to Muir Woods, but this was still a ride of 2 hours. We drove through a beautiful coast city and from there on we went uphill again. "Luckily" the sun was shining, which made the views more beautiful, but as we didn't expect it, most of us are burned really badly.
On the way back we got a ferry to the city center, as most of us were to tired to get over the hills again and it was a good choice. We came close to Alcatraz and had a nice view on the sunset.

Afterwards we were all so tired that we got a burger at Carl's Jr and went straight to bed. This morning, the red faces of those who were tough enough to conquer the mountains of San Francisco showed.

Finally, a plot of the profile we biked from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ester

Exploring San Francisco and the Majestic Redwood Giants

Today we had a free morning in San Francisco. In the afternoon we would go to Muir Woods, a redwood forest near the city.

Of course, every morning should start with a nice breakfast. So the first thing Bram, Ludo, Tom, Sten, William, Ester and me did after leaving the hostel was looking for something to eat that wasn't too expensive. Unfortunately, this turned out to be quite the struggle. All the healthy food in the supermarkets is rather expensive here and there isn't nice bread everywhere like we're used to at home. Eventually I had to survive the day on three huge croissants and a bottle of water.

After finding our food we went for a walk around the city center, where we passed through China Town. We also went to take a look inside the Apple Store. You may know the electricity sockets in the Huygens building that you can pull out of the table. Well, they had them too in the Apple Store, but you had to stroke the table and the sockets would emerge automatically. How useful!

As I already mentioned, in the afternoon we drove to Muir Woods National Monument to admire the extremely large redwood trees. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and took a quick stop to take some nice photos.

When we finally got to the forest, we weren't disappointed. The giant redwood trees were very impressive and there were lots of nice walking/hiking trails. So we walked around for a bit and again took some nice photos. It was busy in the forest, but there was a path that was a little steep so there weren't that many people walking there. At some point I really had to take a break because I'm not that athletic when it comes to walking steep slopes, but the rest kept going. That was actually a really nice moment, because despite of the many  people visiting the park it felt like I was completely alone there. I couldn't hear or see anyone for a while and it was a big and nice contrast to the busy life in the city.

After that we gathered to drive to San Fransisco again. On the way back we stopped again to take some nice photos, this time on a hill where we had a tremendous view on the Golden Gate Bridge and the city.

In the evening, we started our next quest for food. Again this wasn't easy and we ended up in Carl's Jr., a fast food restaurant. They served a "breakfast burger" there which contained a hamburger, egg, bacon and another mysterious ingredient which I think were chicken nuggets. I wonder how many people would actually eat that for breakfast..

The part of the day that I haven't yet mentioned is that there was a group of diehards who didn't drive to Muir Woods but got there by bike. I am really glad I didn't join them because it was a long ride with a lot of hills. Mad respect for you guys! We will tell you more about the biking trip later.

Janet

Freewayin' to SF

Today the road trip towards SF was the subject of the day; a good eight hour drive lay ahead of us, with two short breaks scheduled. Afterwards we would have (Chinese) dinner together in San Francisco.

Replenishment Morning
Me and my roommates woke up 'instantly' at around 7:00 a.m. After a normal day I generally have little less motivation to get out of bed, my roommates thought the same. Probably the Jetlag told us it was 4 p.m. back home, so we were not allowed to sleep anymore.

At least it made us show up early at the first American breakfast: scrambled egg with bacon, artificial juices, DIY waffles, and american local news shouting over the breakfast hall. A warm welcome to the continent, and very helpful in the replenishment process.

Yesterday we had troubles with fitting in all suitcases in the cars, such that there was enough comfortable space to travel around. Luckily our fresh minds that morning quickly discovered an extra hidden space in the boot. Enough space for everyone was the result.

Leaving LA
LA is surrounded by hills. In my opinion very rough terrain that resembles the dry and rocky hills in Greece. The view was, at first, dominated by these hills. Soon we entered a huge valley. A sudden change in landscape, and the curly roads of the hills were replaced by a simple linear free way.

A quick stop at one of the mid-deserts compounds left us with more gasoline, water and food.

Pushing on
The journey on the linear way was quickly continued. Cruising over the freeway is convenient. Most people stay in their own lane with a constant cruising speed. Also, big cars make the road trip more comfortable, because there is more space for your legs.

Entering SF
The freeway continued seamlessly into San Francisco. We passed Silicon Valley and entered our cute hostel dowtown. The hostel is called European Hostel. Why? I don't know, but the hallways are small as well as the rooms and facilities.

The day ended with an all-member dinner. Where a Chinese pancake house declined our reservation, we were nicely redirected towards a neighborly enterprise. By coincidence this place offered Chinese food. This was a pure asian experience, not only because of the real chinese food. The menu was presented in Chine characters and we were the only non-asian customers. A nice welcome in the second higher population density of the US.

As an update, the lost suitcase found his way to San Francisco. Hopefully we can retrieve it soon at the airport. In every case, the 100 dollars are collected.

Mees

The Outward Journey

Friday 01:30 Huygens Building (Nijmegen)

The last moment at our base, the Huygens Building. We should meet at 01:45 in front of our faculty and fortunately, everyone was there. Even the president of the U.S.A. traveled over the Atlantic ocean to tell us about the great country we are going to visit (I actually think it wasn't Donald, but the president of Marie Curie, Jeffrey van der Gucht, but I am not entirely sure..). The also were a few people to wave us goodbye. At 02:10 we could finally get into the warm bus to drive to Schiphol Airport.

Friday 03:30 Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam)

At Schiphol we meet the last three participants for the trip (Sten, Mees and Olivier). As seen in the picture above, William went from very excited to very tired in just 2 hours. Actually, he wasn't just tired, he was a little ill. At 05:50 we could finally make our way through the customs. The extensive search was a little intimate for some people, but also this could be overseen. Just 40 more minutes until leaving to Zurich!

Friday 08:40 Zürich Airport (Zurich)

Almost 5 hours of free time, we agreed to meet at 12:30 to board on the plane to America. So everyone split up to go and walk through the airport. Many expensive shops like Gucci and Burberry, but also expensive whiskeys are fun to search. One of the most expensive ones was 4500 Swiss francs (which is about 4500 euros)! Now follows a very short interview with Bram Bekker:

Have you been able to sleep a little?

Before we met at the Huygens Building I slept for 30 minutes. In the bus I didn't anymore. The hour we just flew from Amsterdam to Zurich I fully spent sleaping.

Aren't you very tired now?

I am, actually, I am kneiter tired (kneiter tired is a synonym for: "please just leave me alone tired"). I think I will start hallucinating really soon.

Janet also wants me to mention that she spot Marcel Kittel, a German cyclist she had a crush on in secondary school. I got to admit, if I didn't have a girlfriend, I knew what to do.

Friday 13:30 Plane from Zurich - Los Angeles

Many of us haven't eaten anything this morning, so we were very hungry when going on the plane. After about 15 minutes a little cart with drinks already came by to satisfy our thirst. We also got a little bag of salty crisps, but we were still pretty hungry. Not long after we got lunch, we would pick chicken or vegan Thai curry. Everyone around seemed to like it very much! I picked the Thai curry, there was a little pepper on top, so I decided to cut it in smaller pieces and put it in the curry. It tasted great but the pepper was really really spicy. After cutting it up and eating my meal I thought it was a good idea to rub in my eyes for a while.... Now.... I regret this decision very much.

Everyone is enjoying him or herself with the touchscreens attached to the seat in front of you. The most recent movies were on there and you could also play Battleships with someone else in the plane!

Saturday 01:50 L.A. Airport (Los Angeles), 16:50 local time
We finally arrived at our destination L.A. after travelling for 12 hours. Here the first setback occurred. The suitcase of Giel Berden (our scientific supervisor) went on holiday to Mauritius, a small island near Madagascar. He got $100 for this mistake, but we are still waiting for the return of the suitcase, to be continued...

Saturday 09:30 Best Western Markland Hotel (Los Angeles), 00:30 local time

From the airport we took a shuttle to the car rental station. Here there was a lot of trouble at renting the cars, but in he end we got the 3 beasts. While the drivers and committee members were arranging this, the others went to Denny's to eat the first burger of the trip. At this point everyone was already collapsing and everyone wanted to go to the hotel. We arrived here at about 09:00 dutch time, 00:00 local time. As seen in the picture above, Tom collapsed literally while I was typing this blog.

by: Ludo van Alst

Welcome to the Blog of the California Study Trip of 2017.

Like every year, the SMCR organizes a study trip. This time its destination is the ever-sunny California, where we will spend two and a half weeks cruising the coast.

The first half of our journey will be centered around “The Golden City”, San Francisco and the next half will take place in “The City of Angels”, Los Angeles after a short stop in Monterey which is in between the two. We will visit the state’s most prestigious universities and institutes. We will get to see the labs and workplaces of the physicists there, while learning about their research.

Even though we have managed to fit 13 of these visits in our schedule, they are definitely NOT the only thing that are going to keep us busy. If our brave students still have energy after visiting the gigantic Redwood trees, the unparalleled beauty of Yosemite and celebrating the Mexican-American culture during Cinco de Mayo, they will have plenty of free time to roam around and get to know these great cities on their own.

We will depart from the Huygens building this friday at 2 AM (yes, that early) and it would delight us to see you send us off, even though it is kind of understandable if you are too busy sleeping around that time.

We will try to keep you up to date with some new experiences and photos every day.

Wish us good luck,

Teun Maas, secretary of the Californicacie