Move-In/Travel Advice: Caltech

<p>Sorry for any cross-post to Parents forum.</p>

<p>We are traveling to Pasadena in September to take our freshman to Caltech.</p>

<p>We live on the East Coast and would appreciate any advice from the locals, upperclassmen parents, or others concerning:</p>

<p>1) Where to store things during Rotation
2) Things definitely needed when attending Caltech (not the basics but Caltech-specific things to bring/buy that will definitely be needed)
3) Things definitely not needed when attending Caltech (i.e., things you bought that were never used by your freshman)
4) Traffic pointers
5) Local mass transit experiences/stories/tips
6) Tips on good (reasonably priced) restaurants
7) Best local places to buy things for dorm (linens, electronics, school supplies, etc.)
8) And if time permits, sites definitively worth visiting</p>

<p>Any help/stories/pointers on any of these areas would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>1) I would advise against bringing too much stuff until after rotation. Whatever you can ship to your student after rotation, do so. If there are things they can live without for a week and then buy later, do that. They can store whatever they like in their temporary room during rotation, but keep in mind they’re going to have to move it. Also, advise them not to unpack anything they don’t need. It won’t be fun to have to repack it all in a week.
2) Extension cords. Outlets are always in inconvenient places, somehow. This may be a basic, I dunno. Ethernet cord. Some places have wireless, but wired is faster, and though you can theoretically acquire a cord from Caltech’s IT people, it’s easier just to bring your own and save yourself the trouble.
3) Textbooks, lol. Don’t buy them from the online bookstore without shopping around. Upperclassmen love to get rid of their frosh textbooks and chances are they’ll offer you a better price. Half.com is also a good option. I was a stupid frosh and bought all mine from the bookstore (when it was still a physical store). Complete waste of money.
Garbage can. Caltech provides them.
Printer. The houses have printers that you can use. Bringing your own seems like a waste of space.
Phone. The rooms have these. I believe they also have surge protectors, not that I ever bothered to use either.
Microwave/toaster over. These are in the houses for public use. I’ve never once wished I had my own. Also it’s unlikely I’d have the space for it.
4) I’m no help here.
5) The Gold Line is about a 20-30 minute walk from Caltech. It gets you into LA union station. I’ve mainly only used it to go to Chinatown to get Chinese food.
6) I like President Two (on Colorado Blvd), which is Thai Food. I love The Counter for burgers (about a 10 minute walk from campus) but it’s on the pricey side. There’s also Subway, Panda Express, Chipotle, Corner Bakery and some sushi places on Lake Ave (about 5-10 minutes walking from campus).
7) There’s an Office Max/Depot and a Target on Colorado Blvd, which is about 20 minutes walking from campus. There’s a Bed Bath and Beyond east of campus but it’s further away, maybe 15 minutes driving. There’s also the Santa Anita mall in Arcadia, which is about 20 minutes driving.
8) Huntington Gardens are nice to walk around.</p>

<p>Burger Continental near the corner of Lake & California also has pretty good food for very reasonable prices (if you’re there for dinner be sure to buy something that comes with the buffet; often it’s better than the meal itself).</p>

<p>Book a supershuttle in advance online and use [Coupon</a> codes and discounts for 65,000 online stores! RetailMeNot.com](<a href=“http://www.retailmenot.com%5DCoupon”>http://www.retailmenot.com) to find a coupon code if you’re not renting a car. It’ll save you time and frustration over trying to figure everything out once you arrive.</p>

<p>Traffic in Pasadena isn’t the worst, though if you haven’t been on LA freeways you’ll have a bit of an adventure learning how to deal with the drivers out here (hint, turn signals let people know you’re going to move in front of them, so they’ll speed up).</p>

<p>You should see if/when JPL is offering tours. They’re owned/operated by Caltech and have a really nice campus.</p>

<p>1) You do have a room during rotation. I don’t think it’s a big deal to have all your stuff and then move it- it doesn’t take that long to move stuff (as a frosh you have nowhere near as much stuff as people who have been at tech 3 years and 3 summers…). You’re going to be in your rotation room for a few weeks, so I don’t think you should necessarily wait on most of your stuff. Obviously other people think differently, but that’s my opinion.</p>

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I don’t believe this is true- I may be wrong, but I was heavily involved with IMSS and don’t remember hearing of this program.</p>

<p>Textbooks- Amazon offers free Amazon Prime to college students- they sell new books at much better prices than the online bookstore. You can buy used books off of upperclassmen or half.com.<br>
Phones- I think only the South Houses have them, I think in the north houses you have to pay for them. Almost everyone just uses their cell phones anyways.</p>

<p>4) Traffic- Traffic in LA sucks. Don’t go anywhere during morning (dunno exact hours, I was never up that early) or afternoon rush hours (4:30-7pm) if you can help it. That being said, some places are worse than others, look at Google Maps traffic and their expected traffic.</p>

<p>JPL doesn’t really offer tours for the general public- you need to get in touch with someone there willing to give you a tour.</p>

<p>[Public</a> Tours - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory](<a href=“JPL | Free Public Tours”>JPL | Free Public Tours)</p>

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<p>;)</p>

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<p>I stand corrected. Maybe our IMSS rep just had extra. In any case, just bring your own ethernet cable.</p>