This should be one great entry.. to say the least. For those of you who are not CNN addicts, this news may be new to you.. for the remainder of ya’ll, this is old, but I (along with 23 other amazing Alpha Xi Delta sisters and Sigma Chi brothers) was on the Princess cruise ship that caught fire at 3:00 in the morning, last week, on the way from the Grand Cayman Islands to Jamaica. Luckily, we are all 100% okay, if not better (we got an all expense-paid cruise out of it!!), but one person did die from a heart attack.. many people lost everything they had with them on the ship. And the fire was literally no more than ten doors down from where some of us girls were staying on the Aloha deck.

I have TONS of SPRiNG BReaK ’06 pictures, but am currently trying to compile them all. As soon as I do, probably this afternoon, I’ll send another e-mail. Hopefully, we can post them!!

As for the cruise, I had an amazing time when you get past the good 6 hours spent “sleeping” in a muster station (British for where you gather in an emergency). I saw some of the most beautiful places in the world.. had some great food and drinks.. made great friends. It was really a great time.

This coming weekend is initiation for my little sister and the three other Alpha Xi Delta new members. I’m really excited :o) I’ll be posting pictures of that in my next entry. Stay tuned for that!!

As far as the school life is going, things are doing pretty well for not having gone to class in two weeks due to SPRiNG BReaK and the car accident I got into the week prior. It was very minor, but I tore some stuff in my left knee.. leaving me on crutches until further notice (aka.. probably the summer).

I have a paper due in 2 weeks for my elective literature class.. I’m really far behind in reading, there. I also have two tests on this coming Wednesday: AT 300 (Introduction to Air Traffic Control) and WX 201 (Introduction to Meteorology). I’m feeling pretty confident about the meteorology test.. hoping to feel the same about AT after tonight. There are a lot of great guys in that class who I plan to spend some quality time with, later.

Prior to break, I started dating a guy, here. We decided to make things official the day I got back.. so, I believe I have a boyfriend (some cruise drama is complicating the situation, right now). And I’m very excited. I haven’t had a meaningful relationship in about 6 months, now.. so, I’m hoping that all goes well and we can work through these tough times to start a wonderful time together. I believe there are pictures of the two of us together (who took them.. and how to find them is the question), but as soon as I find them, I’ll post them, as well.

Other than that, not much is going on. I’m looking forward to summer, though. We’re planning our next cruise for May in honor of the graduating seniors.. and our 25% discount :o)

Have a great week, everyone!! Thanks to those of you who take time to e-mail (olivab46@erau.edu) and IM (LiL sUnKiSS 1015) me.. I appreciate your positive comments and enjoy attempting to answer your questions. Keep the feedback coming

MARIA