The following information is what you won’t find in your Welcome Guide.

Considerations in the week prior to Coachella:

• Have Collins pack food for you. If you talk to them ASAP and provide them with all the ID numbers of the people in your group, Collins will pack you a cooler full of food like sandwich fixings, bagels, chips, etc. I’d suggest you bring some snacks to supplement what they give you. A Costco run to get Gatorade, bottled water and granola bars is a smart idea. There are tons of food trucks and stands for food inside the venue, as well as a Farmer’s Market and other food sources outside by the car camping area. Unless you get a free voucher for those places, I’d stay away because they are insanely overpriced and the lines are long.
• Rent camping gear from On the Loose (OTL). The Claremont Colleges’ outdoors club allows students to rent camping gear for free. Head over to their location in the Outdoor Education Center at Pomona ASAP to get yours before they have all been rented out.
• Bring clothes you’re comfortable in. There will be people covered in elaborate paint designs. There will be people wearing fur vests and boots. They are all crazy. Wear materials that you feel comfortable sweating in – like cotton. Wear shoes that won’t give you blisters if your feet are sweating. Girls, no matter what they say about Coachella fashion, don’t wear your nicest dresses. You will have sweat and grass stains all over them by the end of the day. This is a promise. Speaking of sweat, bring remedies, whether it is spandex or Gold Bond.
• Leave Claremont early. It is about an hour and a half to get to Indio, and once you’re there you will wait in line for another hour and a half to get into the parking lot, which opens at 9:00 a.m. You want to get in early enough to be able to set up your camp and head over to the venue before it opens at 11 a.m. Honestly, there’s no such thing as leaving too early on Friday morning. Some people even leave Thursday night and camp out in the area.
• Arrive in a caravan of cars. Figure out who you want to camp next to and meet at a gas station or restaurant in Indio and drive in together from there. The order of camping spots goes according to the order of the procession of cars. It is way more fun if you are camping in a big group than if you are all spread out, so make sure to organize that ahead of time.
• Shade, shade, shade. Make sure you have enough shade when you’re camping. You will be dying for a comfortable space, and by Coachella standards, that means shade and only shade. Bring a tarp or some form of canopy other than a tent. During the day, the tent with be too stuffy and hot to hang out in.
• Bring more than one set of keys to your car, if possible. You will want to keep your valuables inside your car, and people in your group will want to have access to the car at inopportune moments. Some people hide their keys under their tires or in other places, but I’d rather stay on the safe side.
• Pack toilet paper. The porta potties run out often and if you’re car camping, they are your only option.

Photo credit: Caroline Nyce

Tips for when you’re at Coachella:

• Stay hydrated. The sun is your biggest enemy. As someone with fair skin and a hereditary predisposition to fainting, I cannot stress this enough. You won’t be able to bring water into the venue (they probably suspect it’s all vodka), but there are water fountains available to fill up your bottle inside. You can also buy water bottles in the venue, but again, they are insanely overpriced. My suggestion is to hydrate as much as possible while out at your car, then bring an empty bottle with you into the venue.
• Don’t forget to eat. It sounds ridiculous, but it happens so often. Coachella is a world with no schedule other than the band lineup. They don’t schedule “lunch time” into your daily activities, and you’ll be so amped on music or something else, that you will forget. And the moment you realize you forgot to eat is five minutes before you pass out. Between the desert sun and the copious amounts of ecstasy, Coachella has seen many people pass out. Don’t let that be you. With the exception of a few health conditions, passing out is completely preventable if you stay hydrated and eat throughout the day.
• Give in to consumerism. Earlier I mentioned food vouchers… You will quickly notice the juxtaposition between the “Almost Famous” lifestyle and the exorbitant amount of consumerism at Coachella. Even the most anti-consumerism Coachella-goers find themselves herded into the traps of giant companies because the benefits of participating in their little marketing ploys are far greater than the costs. For example, last year, State Farm had a tent set up in the car camping lot where you could get rides on a golf cart to and from the venue if you signed up to receive promotional info. They would also enter you into a lottery to receive free meal or general store vouchers, and the odds were highly in your favor. The State Farm tent was a Coachella game changer, to say the least.
• Use a group texting app to communicate with friends. It is really handy to be able to communicate with your whole group at once, to plan a place to meet up or to find out if a set being played across the venue is worth leaving the one you’re already at. My favorite thing about the group text was the sentimental messages sent on the way home, departing notes from friends who had just shared an epic weekend. The most memorable sentiments from last year’s group text: “When I die, I want my ashes to be buried at Coachella.” As it says in the Welcome Guide, Coachella is promoting GroupMe as the app to use, and Voxer is also an option.
• Be smart with your phone. The cell reception in the venue is often shotty because there are just so many people. Also, there are various charging stations in the venue and in the parking lots, but there is usually a long line for them. To beat this, change your settings so you don’t waste so much battery life. If you have a smartphone, turn off your 3G/4G and your cellular data. Also, bring a car charger.
• Shower at night. In the car camping lots, there are shower trailers that aren’t so bad if you know what to do. First of all, wear a bathing suit and flip flops. Second of all, don’t be a dummy like everyone else and try to shower in the morning. You will spend hours waiting in line just to get extremely sweaty right away. Try to shower at sunset, when it’s still light out but the temperature is cooler. There will be absolutely no line at all, and you won’t feel gross immediately after showering.

Finally, I have two more pieces of advice that I think are most important (other than stay hydrated!).

• Have the experience you paid for. Go to see the artists that you bought your ticket to see, regardless of what your friends are going to. For the really big sets, like the Black Keys or Radiohead, it is probably best to have some buddy system in place. But for the most part, be smart and do what you want to do. Right away you will realize how many personal needs you have (you drank so much water and now you have to pee; you’re dying of thirst; you are starving for food; you need to go take a nap back at the campsite; you’re going to punch someone if you have to listen to any more dubstep). Listen to those needs.
• Don’t do anything you don’t want to. Contrary to popular belief, Coachella is not a good place to try something new. If you’ve never done something before, the best place to do it is not in a crowd of hundreds of people with the desert sun beating on you as you jump up and down. Those who know me would attest to the fact that I am never one to shy away from a party. But last year, Coachella was the most fun weekend of my semester, and it was absolutely my most sober weekend. Don’t think that you’re not getting the full experience if you’re not doing some kind of crazy substance. Coachella is a world entirely of its own, and the way to make the most of it is to just do you.

#ClaremontCoachella2012!

According to an anonymous barista working at the Starbucks in Claremont village, “The drinks are more of a known thing. There isn’t a set menu and a lot of customers come in to make their own creations.”

Unlike other restaurant chains such as Chipotle or In-N-Out which have more of a set secret menu, Starbucks off-menu items aren’t as publicized. Be catious that not all drinks are universal so be sure to tell your barista exactly how you want it.

The most popular drinks at the Claremont village Starbucks are the Captain Crunch, Teddy Graham, and Cookies ‘n Crème. The barista commenter says, “The Teddy Graham is the most popular. It is a white mocha with cinnamon dolce syrup.”

Here are some other crowd favorites:

The Captain Crunch is strawberries and crème with a combination of hazelnut syrup.

The Cookies ‘n Crème is a White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino blended with java chips and a dash of peppermint syrup.

The Grasshopper Frappuccino consists of a Mocha Frappuccino blended with java chips and peppermint syrup.

The Snickers Frappuccino is Java Chip Frappuccino with two pumps of toffee nut and a caramel drizzle on top.

The Chocolate Dalmatian which is white chocolate mocha with java chips and chocolate chips sprinkled in.

The Dirty Chai is a chai tea latte with a shot of espresso.

Samoa Frappuccino is a mocha coconut Frappuccino with a caramel drizzle.

Thin Mint Frappuccino is made by blending the Tazo Green Tea Crème Frappuccino with chocolate syrip and java chips.

Girl Scout cookie flavors are a huge hit as barista’s attempt to create the similar taste to the cookies.

Cinnamon Roll Frappuccino which is a combination of Vanilla Bean Crème Frappuccino and cinnamon dolce syrup.

Marble Mocha Macchiato is a twist on the signature Caramel Macchiato. White mocha on the bottom with no whip, shot on the top and mocha drizzle.

The Dirty Hippy which is simply ordering your Dirty Chai Tea Latte with soy milk instead of regular.

Apple Juice Orange Blossom is a combination of Tazo Orange Blossom Tea steeped in steamed apple juice (with no water.)

Next time you stop by Starbucks for a pick-me-up, don’t settle for a boring Vanilla Latte.  Order one of these delicious concoctions, or get creative and invent your own!  Maybe you’ll make it onto the secret menu.

For more drinks on the secret check out this list and this one.  Some of these drinks came from a previous list released by Fox News here. Know of more secret drinks at Starbucks? Add to the list in the comment section below.

This article was updated on March 22 at 8:45pm

From Union on Yale Facebook page

Dinner began with drinks.  Beer on tap is $8, cocktails and wines by the glass are $10.  The beer selection is smaller than the Back Abbey’s, of course, but well-crafted.  Short flavor descriptors make the wine list accessible, and the bar does not disappoint.  The “flamed old fashioned” I ordered was positively fragrant; I could smell the orange before it was set down at our table.  Their take on the classic cocktail takes a lighter to the orange rind garnish on the drink and wafts the burnt oil over the glass before it is served.  As they use simple syrup, a 50/50 mix of sugar and water rather than dissolving sugar directly into the whiskey, the drink was uncharacteristically but pleasantly smooth, tasting more of orange than rye.

Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there.  As their website recommends, we ordered dishes for the table to share.  The waitress asked how we would like them to come out and suggested “as they come.”  We agreed, and were surprised to see all four entrees we ordered: mushroom pizza, halibut, pasta, and short rib, come out at exactly the same time.  Unfortunately, our otherwise beautifully plated short rib had a curly strand of hair delicately arranged over the carrots.  Of course, they took that plate back.  This was somewhat of a relief so that we could focus on the three other plates in front of us before they got cold.

The Forest Floor pizza we ordered came recommended by the waitress and sounded delicious: fontina cheese sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, and Grana Padano, an Italian cheese similar to Parmesan.  The best part of the pizza was the dough, baked to thin, crispy perfection in their awesome wood-fired oven.  The rest of the pizza, which had  sounded so delicious only minutes before, failed.  The cheese sauce was sparse and quickly rubbed off the crust by the overabundance of undercooked, bland, and spongy mushrooms.  The mozzarella was hidden among the fungi and the Grana Padano was ineffectual in its efforts to spice things up.  The mush of mushrooms overwhelmed everything.  The waitress noticed our disappointment and kindly removed the pizza from our table and the bill.

The halibut was pan fried and served over sautéed greens and a butter absinthe sauce.  The fish was a beautiful golden brown, but the way it perched instead of rested on the greens gave the dish away: it had been overcooked.  The white flesh was past flaky and on to stringy, and while it wasn’t dry, it was unpleasantly chewy.  The slightly sweet sauce helped mitigate this, but it was soupy and soaked rather than coated the fish.  The greens and mushrooms were also drowned.  Like the halibut, the beef, pork, and rabbit Angolotti in jus we ordered was a noticeably small portion.  The pasta and sauce were peppery and enjoyably rich, if a bit salty.

Just as we thought there could be no redemption for our meal, the beef short ribs Provençal arrived.  It’s funny they call the dish short ribs when there’s only one.  That aside, it came out steaming and beautiful.  Slowly cooked to perfection with wine, vegetables, and herbs, the dish was a wonderful surprise.  The meat fell off the bone in unctuous morsels that we enjoyed with the delicately pureed butter mashed potatoes and rich, smoky jus.  As tasty as the meat was, the carrots were the highlight of the plate: they were young, buttery, and bright.

When it came time for dessert, we were still pretty hungry, so we ordered the flour-less chocolate cake and the citrus tiramisu, which, our server told us, was just added to the menu.  Both were underwhelming.  The cake was more of a slab of fluffy fudge, lacking the strata of fine crust, crumbly chocolate densely fudgy center that normally make chocolate pavé so appealing.  The tiramisu felt slapdash in its approach: candied cashews were plopped on some lemon custard in a mason jar over some Madeleine’s soaked in orange liqueur.  When the bill came, I felt unsatisfied and sorry to have spent one hundred dollars on three drinks, three entrees and two desserts.

Union on Yale is confused.  The fine dining portions and prices without the follow through send a clear message, but really the décor of the place says it best.  The beautiful patio transitions into a surprisingly bright dining area with a bar awkwardly placed in the middle of it.  The bright white walls and carpet reminiscent of pizza hut clash with classy cubist paintings.  The chairs are apparently made from drawers leftover from the building’s previous tenants furniture and the tables are apparently stylistically scratched and broken, but the flatware is shiny and the plates are white.

While it aspires the be great, Union on Yale hasn’t quite got it.  Great restaurants have two things in common: personality and honesty.  They need character, vibe, and atmosphere for patrons to interact with, but they need to reflect the soul of the restaurant and the people who work there.  Each meal is an opportunity for the people in the front and back of the house to demonstrate creativity, discipline, and execution in the food they prepare and how it is served.  The ideas behind the dishes at Union on Yale are uninspired riffs on new California cuisine, poorly thought out and weakly prepared.  The atmosphere inside the restaurant feels uncomfortably like a chain restaurant.  They have a great space and lots of potential, but need a solid vibe to make the place work, and “good college town restaurant” isn’t working for them.  Union on Yale needs to do some soul searching.

I have faith in Solana.  Though service is clumsy, it’s good-natured, and the drink menu is begging to be explored.  While my personal experience was less than impressive, Union on Yale is still worth discovering, though I’ll stick to the patio for drinks and an afternoon game of bocce ball until their get their act together.

It was a busy semester at CMC.

CMC moved up in the rankings to the 9^th best Liberal Arts College in the country.

The Kravis Center officially opened to students and faculty.  The Living Room (affectionately known as ‘the Kube’) attracted students’ attention  after some technical difficulties and the administration’s initial decision to limit access to students. This was all before the Kube became home to one Pomona student’s temporary interpretive dance studio.

The fall semester also celebrated and embodied student leadership at CMC.  Students started a movement to do a better job of cleaning up after parties and led an effort to change our campus conversation about sex and gender norms. Trying bridge the gap between our Building Attendants and their residents, the Forum got to know some of CMC’s friendliest staff members. CMCers led a campaign to be more environmentally friendly on campus and coordinated a day of reflection on 9/11. Others took the lead in social activity planning, expanding student involvement with Dean of Students and creating the College Programming Board (check out the big name they are bringing to campus). Student initiative also brought the popular TED talks to the Claremont Colleges, hosting a TEDx conference in September.

CMC also faced a number of challenges in the fall of 2011: an unexpected over-enrollment of students forced the conversion of two popular study spaces into four-person rooms and a large number of students returning to CMC in the spring from fall study abroad programs led to an on-campus housing crisis.  The story behind the “Marks Squatter” brought some humor to a rather-serious-but-now resolved issue of on-campus visitors.

The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College was hard at work all semester, advocating for students on issues such as increased study spaces, building a better quality of life, and providing some much needed snack time.

The Occupy Movement swept the nation this semester and arrived at the doorstep of our Claremont Colleges. Students were active in the protests in Claremont, Los Angeles, and the rest of the nation. Indeed, two Pitzer students were arrested for their involvement in the Occupy LA protests.  Political dialogue was alive and well, especially towards the end of the semester, when CMC welcomed former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to our campus. Many 5C students, however, had a different plan in mind and formed an “unwelcoming” party for Rice’s visit. The planned protests forced a change in venue for Rice’s speech, which triggered an outcry from students. While the protests stirred up quite a controversy, the civility and political discourse throughout the evening exemplified students’ diversity of thought, without provoking violence or hostilities.

The Forum sat down with our very own college president Pamela Gann and discussed her current and future projects for the school, which included a revamp of the beloved North Quad and expanding the new Center for Civic Engagement.

But it wasn’t all business this semester at the Forum. Speaking with Paul Zak, a.k.a Dr. Love, the Forum got to hear the Doctor’s thoughts on love, life, and how giving 8 hugs a day will make the world a better place. Those student globe-trotters enjoying their study abroad experience took time to write home to CMC and share their experiences from far-off lands such as Washington D.C., South America, Italy and Oman. And for those bright-eyed freshmen, returning students and Dean Spellman gave them their two cents (sometimes musically) on how to navigate their first semester and discover how great this college really is.

We uncovered the top 5 companies that hire CMC students, brought Words with Friends lovers the 10 most useful Scrabble words, and suggested 8 classes to students that might have overlooked some academic treasures. Students contributed to the ongoing discussion on topics such as art, film, pop culture, public radio, music and concerts. And despite the delicious unveiling of a new Ath menu, the Forum offered some tips on how to stay healthy, even in the face of all those Rice Krispie treats.

A-Mitch even appeared for an encore.

ASCMC hosted a number of events this semester, improving on past traditions—Monte Carlo—and even starting some new ones—The Boardwalk Empire party and No Shave November. We know you can’t wait for the Wedding Party next spring—and neither can we. Expect even bigger surprises next semester.

Our tech guru offered some awesome tips on his #CMCTech blog, including advice on how to make your work faster and more effective, thoughts on the Semester in Silicon Valley Program and even a holiday gift guide (it’s never too late to get that perfect present).

The Forum also better incorporated sports into our publication. The Forum now offers live broadcasts of all home CMS athletic games, complete with video and audio from student broadcasters.  We celebrated triumph, defeat and the utter domination at SCIACs.  The publication also took and in-depth look at sports at CMC and uncovered how SCIAC rules hurt CMS recruiting high school athletes and what many are doing to save the Intramural program.

Outside of the CMC bubble, the Forum checked in with our beloved Claremont village, celebrating the once-in-a-century Zipcode Day (9/17/11=91711) and partaking in the delicious festivities at the California Beer Festival.

It was a busy semester and time for reflecting has just begun. First, we would like to thank you, our readers, for your support, comments, advice, kindness, crudeness, humor and thoughtful discussion. But, we have one more request. The Forum has grown considerably in the last semester but we want to know how we can continue to improve. Below is a short survey that we hope you will fill out so we can make this publication stronger. We look forward to hearing your constructive thoughts, suggestions and comments.

The Forum wishes you a wonderful break and a restful holiday. We promise to bring you the best in news, opinions, and insights from Claremont College students as we enter our spring semester. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading with us this fall, and we’ll see you in 2012!

There are three different kinds of reactions you experience when you tell someone you’re studying abroad in Oman. One, they immediately admit they have no idea where that is. Two, they pretend like they know where it is, all the while maintaining a slightly confused look. And three, my personal favorite, they tell you that you’re pronouncing it wrong; that it’s Amman, “AAA-mman.” Yes, you’re very smart. But that’s in Jordan. And this is a separate country.

The land of the unknown, that’s where I am. Even some Arabs can’t locate Oman on a map. One of my friends at CMC asked if I had blindfolded myself and thrown a dart at a map of the world to choose where I was studying abroad. It would seem so, perhaps. Yet one year later, I’m sitting here during Eid, covered head to toe, speaking broken Arabic to women clad in brightly colored, bejeweled jalabiyas.

Oman represents an interesting dichotomy. Modern, yet incredibly conservative and traditional. Authoritarian rule, but steadily increasing its democracy. Friend to every country, foe to no one (yes, even Israel). As a result, in a typical day I could be driving around the city with my host brother who’s wearing Puma sweats and blasting techno. Or instead I may be drinking Omani kahawa (coffee) and eating dates with my host family adorned in dishdasha, abayas, and hijabs.
In the south of Oman, I sat at Job’s Tomb, watching Pakistani immigrants clutching their Holy Qurans, tears streaming down their cheeks. In Dubai, I was culture shocked by finding my own culture in such an unexpected place. I’ve been places where I was asked to cover my hair. I’ve been asked by an Omani why I’m covering my hair if I’m not Muslim.

At one Omani birthday party, the family rolled their bodies and shook their hips like they were trying out for a Shakira music video. At a different gathering, the women and men sat in completely separate rooms and music wasn’t allowed because they believe it’s haram, forbidden according to the teachings of the Holy Quran.

Eid Al-Adha was no exception to this merging of tradition and modernism. Eid is like a three-day Islamic version of Christmas. You’re supposed to eat, sleep, pray, and pass around babies. (I swear this is the informal criteria. Emphasis on the eating.) The second morning of Eid, the ten cousins sleeping in one room woke me up and we all began changing into brand new clothes. I’m talking head to toe, undergarments to head scarf, it has to be new. Walking into the sitting room, you must pay your respects to the elders and begin the traditional process of drinking coffee, eating dates and cutting fruit. We spent the day watching hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, on TV.

In a strange conclusion to the day, at night my thirty female host cousins picked up Pizza Hut for a picnic which culminated in the classic game familiar to every U.S. youth, Truth or Dare. A scandalous dare consisted of one of my cousins running around a tree ten feet away while waving her hands in the air.

Sometimes when I come home, my host family is watching a traditional Turkish soap opera, set in a small village in rural Turkey. Other times they’re watching So You Think You Can Dance. For dinner, there may be the customary Omani chicken and rice dish or it could be hot dogs. My very first night in my host family, they fed me a creamy pasta dish. I asked them what it was called in Arabic. They looked at me and said very slowly ma-ca-roni. Well, then. How exotic.

Beyond the food, the dinner conversation may be in Arabic, Swahili or English. The only thing you can be sure of is that they will talk about football and they will make you eat more. That’s the true Arab way. After eating with our hands and washing it down with the mandatory tea, I just say shukran, asantay sana, and thank you to be sure I’ve covered all my bases.

Surprisingly, I’ve gotten quite used to this strange combination of activities, foods, languages, and cultures. I never know what will happen or what customs I’ll be adhering to for the day. Just to be safe, I keep a head scarf in my bag and LMFAO on my iPod; I could need either at a moment’s notice. Now, there’s something I didn’t expect.

To say I’m picky about my coffee is almost an understatement. I have been known to drive an hour into the city of Chicago just for a decent cup of Joe and even wrote my college application essay on the topic of my caffeine of choice. Rather than face another burned espresso from Fivebucks  – er, Starbucks – or singlehandedly reverse the recession through my frequent support of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, I settled for dining hall tea and coffee as soon as my flex ran out. That is, until I discovered the charming, cheap, and convenient Last Drop Café.

Close enough for an enjoyable walk or bike ride but not so close that you feel guilty about driving, the Last Drop Café is located just a few blocks away from Pomona’s campus on Harvard Avenue among many of the village’s quaint and sometimes quirky shops. Keeping with the small-town vibe, the café itself isn’t very large – just 4 or 5 small tables inside – but its décor offers interesting photographs, up-to-date interest magazines, and some of the friendliest staff I’ve ever encountered to keep you entertained while you wait for your perfectly crafted order.

Ordering itself can be the hardest part when over 5 different kinds of fresh brewed coffee and more than 15 different tea flavors are available, not to mention flavorings and milk substitutes galore. Navigating the menu is a daunting task, so I advise newcomers to ask the barista for suggestions – the coffee I was directed to, Vanilla Vanilla, didn’t disappoint (and neither did the price –a small costs only $1.75). I enjoyed a slightly sweet blend of French Vanilla coffee with Vanilla creamer that held a surprisingly smooth finish. Charbucks  Starbucks lovers, get ready: your taste buds have been trained to expect the bitterness of burnt beans masked by 500 calories of sweetness that you will not find here. If it is sweetened supercaffiene you crave, the Mike’s Special is a tantalizing alternative to an energy drink. As a Yelp! reviewer accurately describes it, “the Mike’s Special is a layered espresso drink that has three different flavor profiles and three different temperatures.”  All this with the added kick of a massive dose of caffeine – one cup of this is equivalent to three cups of coffee – this super-drink promises to tease your tastebuds and keep you wired for hours. The layers of caramel, cream, vanilla, chocolate, Irish cream and espresso, are really something you have to experience for yourself. For less than $4, it’s more than worth it. Perfect with finals quickly approaching and flex for the Motley running out…

If you decide to spend a few hours at the Last Drop taking advantage of their free wifi to watch funny YouTube videos study, you may find yourself tempted to try an interesting soup-sandwich combo. Give in and indulge: the make-your-own roast beef sandwich is fresh and includes generous fixings, and the soups taste homemade, and has a vaguely spiced with the aftertaste of the French onion. Pair it with a vegan banana chocolate chip cookie (sound familiar? Last Drop is where the Motley gets their batch) and you’ve got a fully fulfilling meal for under $10. A variety of bread options gives the food menu, too, virtually limitless possibilities, bringing you back to try different combinations. Speaking of combinations, I’ve heard the amusing blend involved in the avocado banana smoothie is something you must try, simply for the novelty if for nothing else….

If this doesn’t pique your interest, stop in and have a chat with Mike, the owner. Another friendly village shop owner, he knows most of the regulars by name and order and will happily describe to you how his coffee, smoothies, soups and sandwiches are all lovingly prepared daily. If nothing else, he’s a great guy and sympathetic to listening to you vent about finals. That being said, it might take a while for you to make your way to the cash register if there’s a long line since the staff takes their time to take care of each individual customer, but it’s well worth the wait.

Out of 5 stars, I’d easily give the Last Drop a 5.  Yelp! agrees. You can’t find a place like this anywhere else in the Claremont area.

The Last Drop Café is located in the village at 119 Harvard Avenue. It is open Monday through Saturday at 7:00am and Sunday at 8:00am.

All photos are from the Last Drop Café’s Facebook page.

So this Thanksgiving, I want you to think about those people who lit your path, built your character, and had faith in you when you didn’t have faith in yourself. Instead of (or in addition to) thanking God, fate, or some nameless faceless universe for your good fortune, make an effort this year to thank the actual people in your life that have made a difference. I’ll offer up some suggestions (with a side of cheese, I admit) of who I’m thankful for that may resonate with you too. If this person exists for you, thank them this season, or at least think of them and direct your inner gratitude their way.

That Professor: Many of us had that one class that really clicked with us in high school or early college that made you say “I want that to be my major!”  For me that class was AP Government and Politics in my junior year of high school. The class was great, but the professor was the reason that class led me to come to CMC and major in Government. He was highly energetic, so passionate, and endlessly knowledgeable about the subject. My experience is hardly unique, and it’s likely you’ve had equally influential professors.

That Connection: Maybe it’s a friend you’ve had since you were ten, maybe it was your freshman year roommate, maybe you don’t even remember how you met. More than likely you have found people over the years that just get you. People you can go without talking to for months or even years, and upon reunion it’s as if you’ve never been apart. You talk for hours about nothing and everything, and never truly say goodbye. Those are the connections that make life worth living, and they deserve your thanks.

That Employer: Have you ever had a boss who became a role model? In CMC lingo, perhaps one termed a “transformational leader” (Leadership Sequence shout-out!)? This person may have given you responsibility you didn’t know you were ready for, set a high bar and challenged you to meet it. And you did. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re are capable of, and at those times it’s important to have those who believe in your greatest potential.

That Weirdo: Maybe that sounds harsh, but I promise I mean “weirdo” in the most endearing sense of the word. Has anyone ever made you open your eyes to a world you didn’t know existed? Made you consider reality in a new light?  And they did this by no means other than being themselves. Whether you think their view is ridiculous, has merit, or is just plain and simply different, it’s good to occasionally question the reality you live in, and ask how and why you do the most basic of actions. Sometimes it takes talking to someone who sees things differently to invoke this line of questioning.

That Opportunity: Is there any opportunity you took advantage of where think back and say “WOW! I am so glad I did that!” Not just any opportunity, but one that really helped you make great connections with people, or led to a deeper understanding of yourself, interests, and skills. It could have been a program you participated in, an adventure you embarked on, or an internship you accepted. There must be someone that made that opportunity available to you, and others who made the opportunity memorable and life changing.

That Tragedy: This could be in the form of a person, an event, or a rejection from a company. Whatever the cause, remember a time you were devastated. Now, reflect on how you grew from the event: How did you react? And how did it shape your future reactions and decisions? Hard times build character.  You may be at a place where you’re thankful for the event or to the person, but maybe you can get to a point where all bitterness has left and you can recognize how the tragedy has allowed you to grow and made you who a better person.

That Loyalty: Anyone you know who would be on your side until the end of the earth. You could have committed the most heinous of crimes known to man, and this person would still assume you had valid reasons for doing so, and would stand valiantly by your side. It’s these people who both get you through the bad times and are still laughing with you in the good.

That Family: Of course a gratitude list wouldn’t be complete without at least some reference to those that have raised and loved you your entire life. Thank your family for allowing you to follow your dreams, teaching you to be an upstanding citizen, giving you the freedom to both succeed and fail, loving you unconditionally, calling you on your crap, and being a continuous channel of care and support.

This Thanksgiving I know exactly  what— and who— I’m giving thanks for.  Do you?

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to feast with some wonderful friends and family. Cheers Forum readers! Happy Holidays to you all!

The Center for Civic Engagement, for one, is planning a service trip for those remaining on campus. The center will be “going to St. Ambrose Church in Claremont to serve community members in need, with an emphasis on the homeless,” explains Monica Cason ’14. “Students will have the opportunity to pass out food, interact with people, and participate in activities for the children,” she says. The trip will be meeting at the Center for Civic Engagement office across from the Hub at 9:30am on Thanksgiving Day and returning to campus around 1:30 pm.

For your own consumption needs, too, the Center for Civic Engagement has organized a Thanksgiving meal at Harvard Square Café at 5:00 pm, which will be subsidized to $10 or less. Cason describes it as “a delicious all-inclusive traditional Thanksgiving meal, a great way to hang out with people still left on campus, and way better than Easy Mac alone in your room.” The center will also be planning various activities throughout the day ranging from games of Apples to Apples to watching old movies. Collins Dining Hall will also be open throughout the break and will host a combination brunch and Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24.

Should you get into any holiday shenanigans, refer to Dean Eric’s list of on-duty RAs (found in your inbox). Remember, too much tryptophan can spell disaster. Well, not really. Just a long, long nap.

While much of CMC’s student body will be gone for the holiday, I have some words of advice for those sticking around campus – relax, enjoy each other’s company, and eat great food. The break presents a great way to give back to the community at a time meant for giving thanks. A subsidized turkey-licious feast won’t hurt either. Happy Thanksgiving!

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Monday, November 24 at 2:30pm.

Recently, my darling Heath has been begging me, along with many other members of the class of 2013, to contribute to the Forum‘s Letters to Home series.  But as much as I’m sure that “Letters to Home: How I Fell Off a Swing By Myself and Split My Head Open in Chile” would be an instant classic, I’m saving it for my memoir.

So here’s the back up plan: write about fat girls.

Like it or not, we’re all thinking about it – the prospect of going abroad with that cute little California beach body and coming back only to have been transformed into a whale hanging out at Scripps pool.  I might weigh 135 pounds, but that’s only 60 kilograms, so that means I’m actually skinnier in South America, right?  That’s a thing.

Let’s start from the beginning.  Before I’d even booked my plane ticket for my big Southern hemisphere adventure, I knew what was up.  My friends warned me about it all summer, teasing me endlessly.  “All the girls that go to South America get fat,” they reminded me.

One put it a little more tenderly, providing some charming advice: “Mimbs, don’t f#@king get fat down there.”

Easier said than done.  When you’re in a world of new, good habits are hard to maintain.  You’re only abroad once is frequently our rallying cry, our excuse to tear into anything and everything put in front of us.  It isn’t healthy, but who knows.  Maybe it is our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have Dulce de Leche and Coconut flavored ice-cream.  And, yes, I could probably find that back in the States, thanks to globalization and what not, but shush.  Don’t tell me that.  Let me savor this mouthful of wonderfulness like Argentina and I are going to break up – and this is my last opportunity to savor our rich, rich relationship.   Besides, I haven’t had a real waffle cone since, like, 1998.

My tortured existence on this deserted continent of fine wine and Latin lovers now consists of two ever hounding thoughts: “when is my next meal coming” and “I should really be more careful at my next meal not to get fat.”  The pendulum unpredictably, and unproductively, swings between the two.   Thinking about it is not helping anything, but taking the time to stay in shape isn’t easy.  Going for a run is difficult – especially when there are modern art museums to see and chocolate chunk lattes to try.

I don’t think I’m alone in this experience. After Skyping with friends studying in many parts of the world, I’ve reached one final conclusion – more likely than not, I’m not the only one going crazy over food while abroad.

Rather, we’re each asking questions: is my on-campus boyfriend still going to love me when I come back from Europe looking like I just ate a Frenchman?   Are the new freshman going to be hotter than me?  And how the hell am I going to fit into all my American Apparel body suits for theme parties in the spring? By the way, screw the lingerie party.

More then once on this trip, I’ve found myself quoting Mary Scmich’s “Wear Sunscreen” essay.  The essay, packed with fitting life advice, was adapted to music video in 1999 by Baz Luhrmann, and features one increasingly relevant line: “You are not as fat as you imagine.”  Dreamy and idealistic, but also not so far from the truth.  While there’s less research on weight gain of college students during their junior year, one recent study showed that the “Freshman 15″ isn’t actually a real thing.  It is nothing but a panic-inciting, salad-diet-inducing myth: the average student only gains about 3 pounds their first year in college.  At the end of the day, it’s more in our heads than we realize.

I could feed you some sort of cookie-cutter “cherish the moment” advice, but you’ve had enough cookies already, girlfriend.  Let’s just put it this way – there’s something more important to study abroad than counting calories.  As one CMC alum sagely advised me –  ”If you are going abroad, eat, drink and party like they do. Weight is something that can be lost, but experiences can’t.”

So breathe, you’re still a hottie.  And if you put on some weight, it’s not the end of the world.  There’s always Jessica Mao’s killer kick boxing class in the spring to get you back into shape.

Besides, Pirate Party’s not till May. Ya got time.

Food images courtesy of Elizabeth Petit ’13, currently studying abroad in Sydney, Australia.  Photos were taken during a trip to New Zealand. 

When not teaching neuro-economics at Claremont Graduate University, Professor Zak has dedicated himself to exploring the science behind human affection. I recently had the chance to sit down with him.

It started with a hug.

I imagine anyone that had stumbled in to discover two 6’5”, undyingly masculine strangers locked in an intimate embrace might have been somewhat confused. But Paul (we moved to a first name basis immediately following our brief, standing cuddle session) has found hugs to be a simple yet powerful trigger of oxytocin, a chemical that he has discovered to serve as the foundation for trust, which in turn provides the crucial foundation for love.

“I sort of came into the study of love through the back door,” says a tank-top and baseball hat-clad Dr. Love. “First and foremost I am an economics man, and I became interested in the human aspect of business and more specifically what causes the level of trust and confidence in others necessary for these interactions to happen successfully. From there I was led to oxytocin, which I ultimately discovered to be a key factor in not only business, but in love.”

According to Paul, this “magic” chemical is all around us. As inherently social beings, we crave it. It boosts our mood, reduces stress, and most notably heightens feelings of connection with others, whether those feelings are sexual or platonic. It can be found in hugs, in eye contact, in displays of affection, and even in emotion-triggering movies and social networking. He notes, “As humans, our brains have seemingly not fully evolved to allow us to distinguish between the feelings caused by seeing a sad film or looking at an acquaintance’s Facebook activity, and those caused by real life human-interaction.”

So next time you’re tweeting be sure to remember that your words may hit harder than you think. #OxytocinAwareness.

It couldn’t have been more appropriate at this juncture in our interview for one of Paul’s co-workers to bring in his new-born son. Aside from being utterly adorable, the baby served as a perfect example of our most basic human desires. When the infant started to cry in Paul’s arms, I, now being a second-hand expert on matters of emotion, asked if something as simple as a baby’s tears could be a product of the very same oxytocin that affects adults.

“Even in infants we can see this natural, primitive desire for social fulfillment. Cries for attention can reflect the basic crave for oxytocin that comes through interaction with others, and crying when he’s removed from his father’s arms and placed into mine may be a product of feelings of departure from a comfortable, safe environment.”

Ultimately, one of the largest components of love is this same level of trust and comfort, both of which are products of oxytocin. Naturally, as a hormonal 19-year old guy with somewhat of a desire to make women fall at my size 15 feet, I asked Paul what one can do to increase the chances of making the one you’re interested in be interested in you right back.

According to Dr. Love himself, there are several, simple ways you can induce an oxytocin release in others. Food is a huge trigger (Take a date out to eat). Gifts and displays of generosity are triggers as well (Get them some flowers). Cutting distractions is always a plus (For the love of God, turn off your iPhone). Make eye contact and listen (It’s easier than you think). Appropriate touch can be effective (Hit ‘em with a hug). And finally, if you’re capable enough to pull it off in a charming and consensual manner, have some sex (And make it passionate).

Paul has also found there to be a correlation between oxytocin release and varying levels of stress. High stress inhibits it, yet interestingly enough moderate stress does the opposite and in fact induces it. Need a killer idea for a first date? Go to Disney Land. Take your date on a roller coaster. Be a little spontaneous. Maybe save sky diving for date #2 to spare your partner from thinking you’re just a total nutjob, but even that can have impressive results: “I went sky diving with an instructor strapped to my back,” says Paul, “and the first thing I did when we hit the ground was yell ‘I LOVE YOU MAN!’ It’s the same reason that we see people fall in love with those they have been in stressful situations with. Look no further than Christie Brinkley marrying the guy she was in a helicopter crash with. Obviously, I didn’t actually fall in love with the guy I jumped out of a plane with, but it’s the same mechanism. It all revolves around oxytocin.”

Finally, as one of many college students that has dabbled (ultimately unsuccessfully, I might add) in long distance relationships, I was curious as to whether he had any thoughts on them.

“They’re always going to be difficult,” he responded. “Phone calls and video chats can only do so much to make up for the loss of that oxytocin release that accompanies physically being around the person you love. Women especially need that constant feeling of trust and comfort, and this can be easily lost through separation. Throw some unsatisfied testosterone in the mix, which women of course have but  we as men have about ten times as much of, and you can be in for a rough time.”

So, to those of you trying to go the distance, be patient with your partner and try to hang in there. And if ultimately it doesn’t end up working out, realize that the scientific odds were stacked against you (Shoutout ex-girlfriends everywhere).

Paul and I ended our interview as we started; with a hug.

Oxytocin (and intense feelings of affection) ensued.