February already? Hard to believe that in less than one month, I’ll be heading home for Spring Break! I know I know…why go home when you are in spring break central, right? To be honest, the beach is not exactly my favorite thing. Plus I love San Francisco! The first exams of the semester are coming up this week. Math, physics, and two papers due on Friday. Goodness…sometimes I wish I wasn’t in the honors program (for the essays). Turns out I also have to take Calculus 3 honors next semester too! I suppose it will all pay off in the end (hopefully).

Last weekend, a few friends and I went to the Angell and Phelps Chocolate Factory down the road, right by the beach. They have some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted! After Ghirardelli, of course. They offer free tours 6 days a week of their facilities. It was quite interesting, but the best part of it all was the free samples at the end. If any of you ever go there, try out the chocolate covered potato chips. Sounds disgusting, but it is just amazing! I promise. That same day, ERAU hosted a Leadership conference for its students. It was hosted in the Instructional Center (where our auditorium is), and was filled with many workshops designed to help students reach their leadership potential. I couldn’t go, but my friends who did said it was very worthwhile (minus having to wake up at 8 in the morning).

Sunday was just my homework day, as was the rest of the week. I finished all the activities on my drafting workbook, much to my surprise. I think I have found a new love for drafting. It’s so much fun! We also started on the program CATIA, which allows us to make 3D representations of objects/concepts. For our class, we have another textbook which contains a series of tutorials for the program. I wonder how long until I finish that…

Speaking of CATIA, I decided to purchase a student license of the program to avoid having to go to the computer labs late at night to do homework. Because the program only runs on PCs (I have a Mac), I had to buy a new laptop. Yesterday (Saturday), I went to Best Buy to pick it up. The place is right down the road on International Speedway Blvd, just a few miles down. Emphasis on the SPEEDWAY—Yesterday also marked day one of speed weeks, with the Budweiser Shootout at the Race Track. I can officially say Daytona has been invaded by NASCARNation! I have never seen so many people gather around that road since I’ve been here. There’s never any traffic and suddenly, BOOM ! It took me a good 20 minutes to get to Best Buy! Oh, and did I mention parking around the area was well over the $40 mark? Thank goodness the shops offer shopper passes (good for two hours)…because goodness that is too much! I can’t possibly imagine how crowded it will be for the Daytona 500…at least Campus Safety does a very good job at keeping danger at bay! Still, better be safe than sorry—so you won’t see me out and about at night-time. What was really surprising, however, is that you can’t hear these races from campus, like for the Rolex24, which kept me up all night. Let’s just hope this keeps up for the rest of the month…

Just one final outlook on what’s coming these next few weeks until I update you again: another trip courtesy of the Women’s Center (hint: Discovery), and parent weekend!

Until next time, Adri.