Hello all! It has been an insanely busy (but interesting nevertheless) few weeks! The life of an engineer is really getting to some people. It is not easy to make it through it. I’ve already lost on hours and days of sleep, but it will all be worth it (I hope). So much has happened over these last two weeks it’s unbelievable to think that it’s only been one month since I was home!

On Tuesday the 18th, the Student Activities organization held the Activities Fair. If you recall from last semester, we had a similar one to the one in September. My picture was once again featured in the Avion (the school’s newspaper) once again! I decided to try out a few new clubs, like the Catholic Student’s Association, while still maintaining membership in old ones like SWE. I felt a little sad that the Hispanic Student’s Association wasn’t present…or at least I didn’t find it. I went to talk to my advisor, Mr. Stickney, who is in charge of the club. He told me it was dying out because of lack of participation. I’ll try contacting the current president and see how that goes…Wish me luck!

That same weekend, the Indian Student’s Association held their annual kite-flying event/picnic. Because my roommate is part of the club, she invited me to tag along. I must admit I’m not a big fan of Indian food, but I made some great new friends while still bonding with old ones. It really put our aerodynamics lessons to work! I learned the hard way. After having punched a hole through my kite, I ended up attacking people with my new weapon—it kept spinning in circles out of control!!

This past Thursday (I believe…), we held our welcome back dinner for the FIRST mentor program (Female Initiative Reaching Success Together), hosted by the Women’s center. The program pairs up upperclassmen with freshman students. It’s especially great, since our mentors can advise us who not to take as a professor (but shh….nobody needs to know that). Cindy Oakley-Paulik, the director of the Diversity Center, filled us into this semester’s activities, which includes a trip to the Space Center for an up-close tour of the facilities! Oh, and did I mention that the person who attends the most events and has the highest GPA gets a $1,200 scholarship…?

The end of this last week was kind of bad, though…living in Daytona certainly has its downs during this time of year. Yes, yes, racing season is just rolling into town. The speedway hosted its first big event—the Rolex 24. For us students living on campus: a 24-hour, nonstop, LOUD race that will drive you crazy. For those racing fans: well you might just be in heaven. Although I didn’t go, I did hear a lot of good things from people who did. Racing fans, of course—so I attached a pictured of that for you to see.

However, things did end on a high note! Girl’s weekend on Sunday! My roommate, and 3 of my other friends (Sam, Mary and Jess) went shopping in Orlando. We even saw a Justin Bieber look-alike (we think), and got lost on the way to the mall because we were trying to follow him. A lot of silly fun, but it’s what we do best! It was a very nice change from the constant testosterone overdose we receive at Riddle…

Well, that about does it for me today! I’m off to do a million and one pages of drafting homework, math problems…and well you get the idea. Until next time! Watch Alex’s videos!