I can’t believe how busy the first week and a half of classes has already been! I’ve barely had time to catch my breath after a fantastic winter break. The last week before classes I got the chance to travel to Honduras with Engineers Without Borders where we got a lot of work done on our design of a rainwater catchment system. It was such a great experience — we had a lot of fun as a team exploring the culture and getting to know the villagers, and I also learned a lot about fieldwork in civil engineering. We spent much of our time surveying the schoohouse site, meeting with contractors and materials suppliers, getting advice from Peace Corps volunteers, and even talking with the mayor! I’m extra excited for my civil engineering classes this semester because I’ve seen how useful the “book knowledge” I’ve learned so far can be when applied practically.
Speaking of this semester, it’s going to be a busy one! I’m taking 7 classes:
CE 207: Introduction to Structural Design
CE 225: Mechanics of Deformable Bodies
CE 325: Dynamics
CE 402: Computer Methods for Engineers (this one is probably going to be tough, since I am NOT a fast programmer)
MUSC 400: Diversity in the Broadway Musical (my last GE, and it should be a pretty fun, relaxed class)
MPKS 150A: Beginning Piano (I’m really excited to learn a new instrument)
ENGR 100c: Engineering Honors Colloquium (a super relaxed class where you get to listen to a different speaker every week)
Other than that, there are some cool events coming up. Campus Crusade is hosting an event called Maze, where an illusionist performs some really sweet illusions. One trick that isn’t an illusion is when he quickly stabs the spaces in between his fingers with a super sharp knife. I’m really excited to see him perform.
Our design for the rainwater catchment system in Honduras is almost complete, so I’m sure that I’ll spend a lot of time working on that, drawing our designs using AutoCAD, and getting ready to implement the system (hopefully this spring break).
Lastly, I’m excited to spend a lot of my weekends snowboarding at June Mountain. I bought a season pass this year (which for college students is only $99!)
Hopefully I don’t get too crazy busy and still have time to relax and enjoy life. Although I may end up getting stressed out at times, at least this spring is guaranteed to not be boring!
Some pictures from Honduras:
Brian, a really cute kid from our village
Distributing water filters to the villagers
Delicious pile of meat that our team shared for dinner one night
The beautiful waterfall in the nearby village of La Estanzuela
