pov: My 2025 Spring Break in Daytona Beach, FL

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It’s Spring Break and you know what that means for a graduate student – more work! I don’t get a break these days, but I make sure to have fun every once in a while. I got the opportunity to visit the Daytona International Speedway for the IMSA Rolex 24 hour race! I absolutely love NASCAR and racing, and have so many memories of going to the speedway as a child. I grew up in Daytona Beach, so it was a yearly thing for my family and I to visit. Funny story: Apparently, I am so used to the sound of the cars that I fell asleep in my seat one year during the Rolex 24 hour, and everyone was wondering how in the world I was sleeping through such a loud race! I was about 6 or 7 at the time, but it was late and I guess the car engines lulled me to sleep!

I saw so many cars there – it was like a car show and race – all taking place on the infield. We had special IMSA passes that let us in certain areas. It was so cool! Of course I had to check out the Lamborghini shop and see my favorite sports cars.

I also visited the Tanger Outlets recently and stumbled upon the craft fair that was ongoing. I ended up meeting these artists that paint, and one canvas really caught my eye. I absolutely loved the rainbow bunny painting that she had on display. I ended up talking to them for 10 minutes, telling her all about my bun, Zelda. Needless to say, I left there with a new piece of art and, after I got home, she ran right up to me and loved her painting! I will be hanging this up on the wall in her “bun room.”

Taking a vacation as a graduate student is challenging but necessary. We choose to enjoy life and take many breaks when needed. We recently attended Megacon 2025 with our family friends in Orlando, FL and we had a blast! Stayed at the Hilton properties (as always) and met so many creative cosplayers and crafters. They had everything from Star Wars to Avatar to Anime. We even got to meet some popular idols in pop culture like Chris Sabat (Vegeta from Dragon Ball) and Kyle Herbert (the voice of Uncle Iroh from Avatar the Last Airbender)!

Even on Spring Break, life doesn’t stop. We are planning our wedding for July of this year and it is a LOT of work, but it has been such a fun process so far. We already had our cake tasting, photographer and honeymoon booked, and the venue deposit and food taken care of. I found a wedding cakery that is going to make a 4-tier cake and all gluten-free, with 3 different flavors: amaretto raspberry with cream cheese frosting, vanilla buttercream, and chocolate mousse cake! So relieved I can eat cake on our big day. Next up: bridal shop appointment and dinner rehearsals! We are both over the moon! Can you guess the color scheme of our ceremony based on our photos?

Believe it or not, that’s all for now. Can’t wait to share my next adventure with you happening next week. Stay tuned! Ciao!

New Semi-Local Adventure Discovery + Small Local Businesses

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Ok! So, I want to split this blogpost into two little parts. The first will detail a little adventure with some recommendations about it. The second will detail a few local businesses that I’ve found recently around campus.

Firstly, my boyfriend and I took a little day trip to Savannah, GA the other day. I was born/raised in Florida and never knew that Savannah was THAT close or that fun!! Driving from around campus, it was only about 3 hours each way which is the perfect length for a fun road trip. We left around 7am and got home by around 11pm. The historic area is the perfect few streets to have some good food and walk around little shops. The JW Marriott on the waterfront has an enormous lobby that is open to the public where you can see tons of fossils, rocks, and other cool displays for free. You can also drive a few minutes from the historic downtown to see a few local forts, walk on the beach, see the lighthouse, or visit the marine museum/aquarium. Those attractions usually close around 4:30pm though, so I would time your activities carefully. For dinner, we went to a restaurant that was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives called Sea Wolf on Tybee Island. The day trip was so fun, and surprisingly not too far from Daytona! I highly recommend doing this with some friends.

Secondly, I wanted to offer a list of some local, small businesses that I’ve discovered lately for you all to support if you would like. This ranges from fun activities and fitness classes to restaurants.

  • Pho To Luv
    • Their food is the BEST Vietnamese food that I’ve had in the area. It seems to be family owned and JUST opened about one month ago. They are so nice, and their pho is my comfort meal. All the prices are super reasonable too. They are right next to the Starbucks on ISB near the high school on the corner.
  • Art Rageous
    • They have a website where you can sign up for a bunch of different art classes. My boyfriend and I made some custom glass bowls. They also have some pottery and painting classes among other things. The instructor was so nice, and it was a great way to spend an evening.
  • CORE Pilates
    • This is a smaller local Pilates studio run by a really nice lady. As a hypermobile person, I can also testify that she really knows how to modify anything if needed, even for injuries. Her classes are a ton of fun and a really good workout (plus sometimes she brings her dogs).
  • Bounce and Bang
    • This is a cute place that does things like drum and bungee fitness. It has a cool night-club vibe with the lights inside, and they do a bunch of fun fitness classes throughout the week. This is a great way to do a little cardio with a fun spin, and the people are really kind.
  • Don Giovanni’s
    • This is a semi-local Italian place. They have 2 locations, one in Port Orange and one in Ormond I think. I go to the one in Port Orange which seems to be run by a family. Their food is SO GOOD, and the people the work there are fun and extremely nice. I come here super often with my family.
  • Beauty Lounge
    • I go here to get my nails done (highly recommend getting luminary gel). I personally go to Milan, but all of the people here are extremely good at what they do. This place is right next door to Home Depot on ISB, and they even have a little cafe next door that you can order from while you get your nails done.

More Semi-Local Activities

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I’ll start with the most local activity that my boyfriend and I did recently: glass bowl making. There is a place about 5-10 minutes away from campus in Port Orange called Art Rageous. We took a class that guided us through cutting our own glass pieces and arranging them into a pattern for a glass bowl (mine, of course, is the one with the planet in the middle). They will now take about 2 weeks for processing where the studio puts them in a kiln and melts it into a bowl basically. This was a great local, fun activity to do for date night; it is a small business that is good to support as well.
Then, my boyfriend did a 5k that was for St. Patty’s Day and hosted by a church in Orlando. Although we didn’t stay for all of the festivities, there was a whole St. Patty’s Day festival that day with dancers and food and other activities.
The day after, we went to Magic Kingdom which was so fun!! Again, if you don’t already know, the ICI sells Disney tickets. I got mine for about $100 which is very worth it compared to normal pricing. They also offer discounted tickets for other places like Universal, Busch Gardens, KSCVC, etc.

Local Concert Fun!

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I wanted to post about my recent concert experience because I thought that the venue was such an amazing semi-local find!!

I’ve been a huge mxmtoon fan for years since she was just uploading simple ukulele covers from her room. So, when she announced a tour, my boyfriend and I immediately bought tickets. Luna Li opened for her, and she was amazing. I now listen to some Luna Li almost every day. The venue was SO COOL though. The tickets were the best “bang for your buck” tickets I’ve ever gotten. The concert was at the Beacham in downtown Orlando which is about a one hour drive from campus. Most of the concert area is standing room which was $35/person. The Beacham is usually used as a nightclub (and was converted after the concert). However, the box seats were only a few dollars more at $50/person which was worth it for us. We were expecting just rows of chairs in a box, but it was so much more. It was a huge box to the right of the room, almost on top of the stage. We were super close, and there were only 6 other people in the box. There was one long padded bench/couch thing for sitting, and the balcony view was the BEST. If you ever have a chance to get those seats for a concert there, you really have to do it. That was the best concert experience comfort-wise that I have ever had (and only 1 hour from campus)!

LinkedIn Skills

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I think LinkedIn gets underestimated a lot. It is a wonderful tool for those wanting to grow their professional network, especially those looking for work. Please keep in mind that any advice I offer is coming from an aerospace engineering industry background and may look a bit different for everyone. Here are some things you should keep in mind about LinkedIn and its many uses..

  • Many employers and applications nowadays ask for your LinkedIn profile link. When going through a list of people for a job, the recruiter wants to see your resume which is usually everything relevant to that position and not too long. Having a comprehensive LinkedIn profile may give the recruiter a bit more context to you, as a whole person. Some amazing things that you can consider adding to your profile included volunteer experiences, languages, more notes on your educational background, other projects that did not fit on your resume, and more.
  • A good practice is to add people to your network semi-often that you have worked with in some capacity. This could be a simple connection request, or you can include a message about keeping in touch for future job opportunities, getting advice as a fellow engineer, etc.
  • Once you have some connections, make an effort to keep in touch! You know who you enjoyed working with or the people that just always seem to be doing really interesting things. Shoot them a message every few months asking how they are doing and what is the coolest thing they have done lately. Little things like this will help you in the long run and may teach you some things outside your usual area of work.
  • Interacting with your feed will get you more places than you think.
    • Comment and like people’s posts. If they are sharing an achievement, it’s always nice to support your colleagues and a good way to keep in touch.
    • Keep a lookout for job opportunities if that is what you need. Your feed may show you some posts from your connections’ connections who could post job openings or a message such as “if you are interested in this job, please reach out to me and let’s talk about your passion for this role”. This is your time to shine! Which brings me to my next point…..
  • Don’t be afraid to reach out to people. They are human, just like you, and you probably share passions for the same work! If someone posts a job opening, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask about their team, work culture, share your interests for the job, etc. You can also cold-message some people. It is always better if you have a mutual connection since they will be more likely to reply. However, you can look for people at the company you want from the college you went to, and message them about their job. Tell them your situation and share your excitement for what they are doing. You could get a job out of this, or, at the very least, make a new connection!

TLDR: Make a LinkedIn account, build your profile, and don’t be afraid to start reaching out to people.

AI Can Be Helpful

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So, for a really long time, I was super hesitant about using AI like Chat GPT or something like that. Recently, I have found a lot of uses for it though. Here is a list of them:
**If you are using this for anything academic, please double check on your professor’s policies beforehand. You may be surprised on how encouraging many are to you using AI in different ways within reason.

  • Fridge Cleanups
    • Type in random things that you have left in your fridge or cabinets, and let it spit out a few really easy recipes for you. You can even tell it how much time you have and what tools (stove, microwave, etc.).
  • Creative Ideas
    • This is a pretty general one, but if you need to come up with ideas for painting, drawing, holiday decor, etc., AI helps a lot.
  • Code
    • If you need to program certain logic, AI can help you brainstorm the most efficient way to do it.
  • Research
    • If you are having trouble finding papers or other research sources, AI can find a huge list of them very quickly, and you can specify the source and other things.
    • If you need to understand a very complex paper on a topic that you do not understand very easily, you can paste it into AI and ask it to paraphrase for you, explain it to a 3rd grader, rephrase it in football terms, or whatever will help you the most.

Some (More) Important Tips

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I have learned some things over the past year that I thought I would share with you all!

  • Work/life balance is so important. Even if you are working on things you love with people you get along with, work takes its toll on you, and the burnout sneaks up literally over night. Rests, fun activities, and self care are good for you and will help you to be more productive and happier in the long run!
  • Spotify Premium for students stops after 4 years. After many emails with customer service and their business partners, there are no exceptions to this role even though you may take longer to complete your degree or have an extra year (or more) to get more degrees. 🙁
  • Consistently having nutritious well-balanced meals will improve your mental health drastically and really makes all the difference during exam season. Freezing a bunch of meals that you made yourself before exam weeks is very helpful.
  • If you overdo it on the caffeine, you can struggle with heart problems and/or make your tolerance wonky so that it’s not as useful anymore (and costs more money for more bean juice).
  • College is the time that you make a lot of lifelong friendships and/or industry connections; have fun and make the time for it!
  • If you have meal plans to cash out but are craving something different, cash out on a bunch of ingredients to cook with at home! I used to get boxes of chicken tenders and then make chicken parmesan out of them. I also used to get boxes of salad bar items like spinach and mushrooms that made a great stir fry.
  • Set up a schedule for basic things (laundry, gym/fun movement, vacuuming, hair wash days, etc.); when life gets hectic, the schedule is essential.
  • Do a ton of internships, research, and other projects. This is the time to learn new random skills and figure out what you love to do the most.

Hollywood Studios

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I am born and raised in Florida. I am almost done with my time in college here. And the last time I was at Disney (not counting Disney Springs), I think I was maybe four????? I have really been wanting to go to the Star Wars area too, so my boyfriend took me the other day!! The food, I have to say, was way better than I thought it would be. Blue milk is not really my thing…..I think it tastes a bit like the bubblegum flavoring that they use in kids’ mouthwash. All the rides were SO COOL, and it was so nice to do something fun like this for a day to take a break from school and work. AND ERAU offers discounted tickets through the ICI office. My boyfriend has an annual pass from his family, but my day pass that I got through campus was only $125 after tax which is really good. If you are an ERAU student and want to do something local (Bush Gardens, KSC, Disney, Universal, a race, etc.), check the ICI office website first for discounted tickets because we get REALLY good prices.

AIAA SciTech 2025 + University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) Experience

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I can’t believe the number of opportunities I have received so far this year. It isn’t even February, and I have already traveled to two professional development events, and even moved into our own apartment! If you love all things aerospace and satellites, and are looking to learn about new opportunities, then this blog post is for you!

At the very beginning of January, I was incredibly grateful to have attended AIAA’s SciTech 2025 conference in Orlando, Florida. It was a 5-day event held at the beautiful Hyatt Regency of Orlando. This was one of the biggest conferences I have attended, as the conference website stated there were about 6,000 people who traveled to Orlando that week for SciTech 2025. I was able to sit in on seminars, hear about new research, and network with many other students and professionals in the industry.

I recently joined the BID4R (Biologically Inspired Design for Resilience) Lab at the College of Engineering on campus. I have accepted a Lead Systems Engineer position on Project COMET (CubeSat Optical and mm-Wave Enabled Telecommunications). I am also gathering data for my thesis this semester and weaving this project into my thesis topic as well. I plan to submit a my research to present at SciTech 2026.

The properties in Orlando never seize to amaze me with how gorgeous and luxurious they are. It was beautiful visiting this resort and really felt like a small vacation.

As part of the project, we had the opportunity to attend the University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) Kickoff event in Albuquerque, New Mexico this past week. It was a 3-day event with a rigorous agenda, but it was all worth it. We were introduced to many concepts, several already very familiar to me, including mission operations, CONOPS, satellite subsystems, and communication networks in space. In collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and the Small Satellite Portfolio, I spoke with many experienced military and government personnel and received great advice for our upcoming research with Project COMET. We have the next 2 years to mature the idea until we will return to New Mexico for the next part of the project.

It was a great opportunity to work on my public speaking skills, critical thinking skills, networking skills, and satellite engineering skills. It definitely was a challenge and enriching experience.

Almost forgot to mention the change of scenery to cleanse my mind and wake up my tastebuds was just what I needed. The views, the food, and the people were all incredible. The balcony view from my hotel room was just jaw-dropping: the mountain view, the sunset every evening, the sunrise every morning, and the cool desert air traveling through my room. Even though I only kept the door open for 5 minutes until I almost froze. However, despite it getting into the single digits, I can honestly say Florida in the winter is colder (because of the moisture in the air)! My sinuses definitely prefer sub tropical climates.

This semester is going to be a busy one. I am traveling A LOT this year and have so many things planned: Women in Aviation International 2025 in Denver, CO, Megacon in Orlando, FL, SmallSat 2025 in Utah, and best of all, our wedding! My fiancé and I have been engaged for 2 years now and we finally found the time to plan our reception, despite us both being full-time students and employees that work 2+ jobs each. Life can be challenging sometimes, but I am always up for a challenge.

To top it all off, we just got our own place! We moved into a gated apartment community and we couldn’t be more proud of ourselves. Our family, pets, and friends are all so happy. The complex is beautiful, safe. and everything we could have asked for and more. We live in an upstairs 2/2 and have the best lakefront view! We are planning our housewarming party, our wedding, and my fiancé is transferring to UCF this year. It has been nothing short of exciting and beautiful. We have a busy year ahead of us!

My current month’s to-do list consists of research, research, and research. Specifically, my thesis, the project I am leading at BID4R, and some personal research as well. I am getting really good at this research thing. I highly recommend taking EGR 600 with Dr. Steinhauer at the College of Engineering for any graduate student looking to pursue an engineering Masters/Ph.D. and is looking to do the thesis route. It is a wonderful expansion on the foundations of research and how to conduct research in an appropriate and efficient way.

That is all for now. I can’t wait to see what else this year brings.

Ciao for now!

Class #2 of the Semester

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The second class that I am taking this semester is SYS 505: System Safety and Certification. This class mainly covers safety and risk measures, methods, etc. for aircraft like planes. I hope to take the material learned here and apply it to systems such as rockets. Daniel Penny is teaching it this semester; he is a good professor. I have had him for previous MS SYS classes. His lectures make sense and are very easy to follow; he also lectures in a way that keeps you engaged and paying attention through those 5pm-8pm time blocks. Due to the fact that it is 5pm-8pm Monday nights, we only have one class per week which is really nice. The SYS classes are pretty straightforward in general which is great. This class has around 1 online quiz and 1 assignment per week with a final exam at the end. The workload seems very reasonable thus far. Overall, it’s a great class, and I look forward to learning more in it!