Travel &c.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

ch-travel

Seattle, WA — Jan 7–11. Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM25). Got to hang out with SE; food was beyond amazing — Halal Smash’d Burgers, Moroccan lamb roll, curry beef hom bao, dinner at Zaika with SE and family.
Pasadena, CA — Jan 24–26. Caltech Math Meet (CMM). Road trip with dad. Had Din Tai Fung for both dinners. Highlight: listening to music on the drive to and from. It was snowing near LA on the way back!!
Cambridge, MA — Feb 14–16. Harvard-MIT Math Tournament (HMMT Feb). Got to hang out with WZ; dinner from Himalayan Kitchen on Fri; “Ghana Bitter” from Royce chocolates on Sat. Several inches of snow coated the streets from a storm Saturday night into Sunday morning.
San Francisco, CA — Feb 22. Strings for Peace. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan & Sharon Isbin. Dinner at Mochica Peruvian followed by hangout at the corner bookstore. Concert at Herbst Theater from 730PM–10PM. It was fantastic!
San Francisco, CA — Mar 15. To celebrate adMIT. Lunch at La Mar (empanadas, inca cola, lomo saltado) followed by Ferry Building (s’more, blondie). Baba got me a Dandelion chocolate, 85% dark.
London, UK — Apr 15–23. To commemorate Project PickAxe (those who know!). Great food scene – Oorja, and momos at Darjeeling Express. Walking around the city is fun! We saw Buckingham Palace and explored parts of Soho. The Cotswolds are magical—we had a great time there. Coming back to London, we took a boat ride, visited the National Gallery, and explored more of the city on foot.
San Francisco, CA — May 24. Lunch at Papito (steak fajitas) followed by a walk down the street and browsing in the corner bookstore, where I read the first few pages of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. We also stopped by the local convenience store and Baba and I picked up a “La Fermière Naturally French Creamy Whole Milk Rose Yogurt” each.
Chicago, IL — Jun 8–Jul 2. MAA’s Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP) at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA). Reached a few days early and stayed at Chicago Marriott Southwest at Burr Ridge – fantastic hotel! Our room overlooks a beautiful view with a pond within a lush green rolling meadow. Pizzas at Stix and Stones were incredible. On Monday I met with Isaac at Univ. of Chicago. We also had a fabulous dinner at Kama Bistro – black pepper lamb and achari chicken. I met with Arun on Tuesday at Cupitol Coffee & Eatery. We then had lunch at Momo Factory.
Danville, CA — Jul 5. To meet with WZ at Blackhawk Plaza.
Guerneville, CA — Aug 4–8. The drive took us 3 hours, during which we mostly listened to Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and dad’s interstate playlist. Mom had some interesting questions for us, and we chatted a fair bit as well. Stayed at The Stavrand Russian River Valley, which served complimentary breakfast which was amazing — dad and I ordered chilaquiles, while mom went with the eggs benedict.
Sacramento, CA — Aug 8–9. For the MAA AMC Award Ceremony at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center. Honorees include the 2025 U.S. IMO and EGMO teams, the USAMO Gold winners, the Young Women in Mathematics, and the 2024 Edyth May Sliffe Award winners. MAA put us up at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel. We had dinner at Zocalo’s Midtown — enchiladas for me, tacos for dad, and salmon for mom. The food was excellent and the service was beyond excellent. They even brought us a complimentary dessert at the end of the meal. Next day, mom went out and stumbled upon the Farmer’s Market, which she raved about for the rest of the trip and even after reaching home. The awards ceremony was excellent: the speeches were very good, particularly Prof. Tao’s keynote address, and it was all arranged very professionally. At Mathfest, me and the other awardees were treated very specially: many people came up and introduced themselves to us. I chatted with TZ for a long-ish time. Persi Diaconis gave an interesting (and fun) talk on card tricks.
Cambridge, MA — Oct 18–20. MIT PRIMES October Conference.