February has been a really special month for me. So far, I celebrated both my dad’s birthday and my 18th birthday. Even though I didn’t spend my birthday with my family because of the load of homework that I had, my new family, my Casa Cuauhtémoc family, cheered me up and we all had a great time.

Overall, I am having a good time here at UC Davis. The weather is now hot, and there are more outdoor activities taking place on campus. I am also really satisfied living here at Casa Cuauhtémoc, because I have the chance to interact with other Latinos. There are not many on the whole campus.

My current major is Aeronautical Engineering, but I am going to try to double major in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering. The classes that I am currently taking are Chemistry 2A, Calculus 21A, Co-Calculus, and University Writing Program 1. Personally, I think that chemistry is somewhat hard, but I am obtaining all the help I can, and now I understand chemistry better.

Classes for engineers are categorized as "hard classes." In the end, many engineers decide to drop engineering and change majors, because of all the work and long hours of study required. Many upper classmen I have talked to tell me things like: "Engineering is really hard;" "Engineering will take a lot of your time." Or, they simply say, "Good luck with that, because you really are going to need it." I know that engineering is hard and that it will take a lot of my time, but it is what I want to do. I have decided to stick to it and make it my fulltime job. An academic counselor I talked to encouraged me to continue with engineering, and he took the time to help me organize a daily schedule that will help me manage my time effectively.

This quarter, I played intramural indoor soccer. It is very different from field soccer, but I have to admit that I had a great time playing with my teammates. Indoor soccer was a way for me to take the stress off, and to have fun playing my favorite sport: soccer.

I plan to play field soccer during spring quarter and put a lot of effort into doing all my homework in order to do well on my midterms and succeed in becoming an Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineer.

Jose Martinez