Hope you all are all doing well. Seems like January has flown by, granted we were only in school for half of it. Classes are getting harder and the weather has been cold, but we just have to make it through the spring break..and I think we’ve got another 3 day weekend coming up in February, wooh! I don’t think we’ll be lucky enough to get another hurricane break this semester.

I had a bit of fun over Christmas break…went to visit my friends in Jersey and then took a cruise to the Bahamas with my friend Katie. I had an awesome time but my debit card isn’t very pleased with me. So it seems I’ll be stuck with school food for awhile. ): I’m glad to be back though..I’m settling into a routine again, which always helps. Some people decided to transfer this semester. I knew the drop-out/transfer rate was part of the whole college scene, but I didn’t really have any major problems first semester so it’s a little baffling. Guess it’s all subjective..

I had Special Ops tryouts again Jan 30th. You have to try out every semester to be on team and be on for at least 2 semesters before you can apply to be on staff. Going from 8:45 AM to 5:30 PM covered in water, sand, and mud definitely motivated me to try and step it up a notch this semester so I can make staff and never have to go through it again. ‘Twas definitely an experience though.. I thought the watered-down tryouts last semester were hard but this time around, tryouts kicked my ass! Definitely the most physically demanding thing I have ever done in my life. I woke up the next day all bruised, scraped, and unable to move, so I just laid in bed for half the day. The only things I could reach without having to get up or roll over were my cell phone and my water bottle so I just made phone calls all day and whined a bit. And this is what ROTC kids call fun…?! Hrmm.. But it’s so worth it.

I started work again..taking on a few more hours this semester (still in the Career Services office). I fixed my Tues/Thurs schedule so that my first class isn’t until 2:15. This works nicely, because I can roll out of bed late, go to work at 11…and take it easy before heading off to class in the afternoon. I guess it’s a personal preference but using trial and error, I’ve found that anything before 10:30 and anything after 3:30 just doesn’t work well for me. Lucky for me I’ve got a 9:15-10:15 and a 3:30-4:30 on M/W/F and I go til 5 on Tues/Thurs. Freshmen register last so hopefully I’ll get some of my first choices next semester. I’m also hoping to do summer abroad for the 2nd half of the summer in Paris/London. If that works out, I’ll get 6 credits for the price of 3..not to mention knocking out some Physical Science credits and getting to travel Europe. If all goes well, I’ll have 48 credits when I start my sophomore year (between classes, AP credits, and study abroad). Then I’ll be able to take a light schedule next spring when I’m going through field training prep (FTP) for AFROTC.

Later guys..any questions, you know the drill. Melanie

Hello everyone, thought I would start this one off with a joke. A blind man walks into a store with his seeing-eye dog. All of a sudden, he picks up the leash and begins swinging the dog over his head. The manager runs up to the man and asks, “What are you doing?” The blind man replies, “Just looking around.”

Everything has been quiet since I got back from Orlando. I’ve just been settling into classes again and trying to sort out my depleted financial situation after a long Christmas. I applied for my social security number after only 6 months of living here. Not too bad for me! I might be able to get paid for my on-campus job that I have had since the start of last semester. I was working out how much I should get in my first pay check from E.R.A.U. that has been building up since September of last year. My expectations of a substantial amount where sorely disappointed, because contrary to popular belief on-campus jobs don’t pay that well. The fact that I am an international means I can’t work off campus. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful because I would be a lot worse off if I had no job at all, and to be honest it is not the hardest work in the world, actually enjoyable most of the time. The professor that I work for is a good laugh and has no problem helping me with any of my classes. I am just bitter that I could be earning more money than I am, and as a student I always have to have something to complain about.

The soccer team are back training now, so that is a good thing because my evenings where getting depressing for the past two weeks. I know I have said this before, but our spring season is a lot more relaxed than our fall season, which is our main focus. We only have a few exhibitions and an alumni game, but in the fall we are officially hosting nationals. That is the reason that the soccer field looks like the beach at the minute, renovations. There are big plans for renovations of the soccer field, intramural field (that will now be outside of Adams hall), and a new softball field that will no doubt bring up the percentage of female students at Riddle. I know that this will make a few of the lads on the team happy, as well as the majority of the male student body.

I had my first flying experience in a Cessna 172 on Friday night, as a passenger only, but it was good none the less. It’s hard not to get caught up in the whole flying thing, being a student at Riddle. To be honest I didn’t even know that much about Riddle before I came here and didn’t care much for planes or flight. However, I am now thinking about doing a minor in Air Traffic Control, it depends on whether or not I can use it when I go back home. Nobody I have talked to can seem to give me a straight answer, so if anyone knows if the regulations for ATC are the same in Europe as they are in the U.S. could you log on the discussion board. Cheers.

I’m looking forward to my first Super Bowl experience, I know I’ll only be watching it on T.V. but there has been that much hope about it that it had better be good. I’d say that it’ll be the same atmosphere as was in Ireland for the World Cup finals in Japan. But not as good, and by the way that is proper football i.e. no hands. What is the craic with the weather? I didn’t move here from Ireland for this, I am sure that this place is meant to be hot. I mean I got here in August 04 and there were hurricanes for a month and now the weather is freezing.

Another thing, is that the pool on campus is closed until March for some reason, does anyone know why that is? Anyway I am finished complaining now so I will head on. All the best.