Its been a while! So far being an instructor has been a lot of work, however this experience has been good and I have learned quite a bit. There is a lot of pressure on me as an instructor to train my students above standard. Throw in the military and my personal life, the work never stops. Sometimes I wonder if this is really what it’s going to be like until I stop working. Well I’ll soon find out.

The days are becoming more routine. Wake up at 5:00am; get to work by 6:00am. I’m in the air 15 minutes later training my students. I have roughly 4 to 5 activities per day, 5 or 6 days a week. Sometimes the longest break in between flights is 2 minutes all day. Your body begins to adjust to it though. After a day of flying and being in the office, I’m home by 6:00pm. After that I run and go to the gym for about 2 hours. By the time I finish all that and eat dinner, its time to go to sleep and do it all again! On the weekends I am training with my infantry unit. For those readers that don’t know, I am a combat medic with Delta 1/124th Infantry.

As far as the flying part of my life goes, it’s pretty simple. However everything else is complicated. My deployment is getting closer and closer. I am getting great offers from the military to fly. I ask myself all the time if I should deploy and take the 18 months off from flying, or go to flight training for the military and miss my chance to be in combat with my friends in Delta? I want to move to Tampa Bay because I’m getting into a serious relationship; however there is not that much work over there for full time pilots. I have student loans to pay, and the holidays are coming up. I have a lot to think about but I’m not to worried. The training and education I received puts me a step ahead of my friends and peers so I know my future is secure.

I still think I have the best job in the world. You will not find a place that is more structured and challenging, yet caring and rewarding, than ERAU. You are put to the test every day and only the strong survive!

I studied for a little bit for my meteorology test. I actually still have a big headache. I know I at least got half of them right. I am hoping I get more than half of them correct.

Now I have to focus on my speech presentation I have due tomorrow. I am not sure exactly how I am going to say everything. I have a little bit of a problem with transitions. I don’t really like giving speeches. I get so nervous that I feel that I am never going to be prepared. I also hope the people find the St. Louis Arch interesting. I think the one thing about this class that is different from the rest of my classes is that we are a unique group of people.

We are not necessarily friends but we feel comfortable around each other in class. We talk about the most random things. Of course the boys always complain how there aren’t enough girls in the school and they think of creative majors that they think would attract girls to come to Embry-Riddle. One of them was actually Aviation Nursing. Another one is that one of the guys showed up wearing his Spongebob Squarepants pajamas. We just started talking about Spongebob and how they had a show where they questioned his sexuality. Yes I know; it’s random.

As much, as I don’t like my Speech class because I don’t like speaking in front of people I really enjoy this class. Also the professor has a sense of humor too. She wants to make sure we learn the material she teaches us plus she wants us to improve in our speaking skills. She reminds us that we will be giving presentations once we get into the work force and I agree.

After going to bed late on Sunday night and waking up early to catch my flight back to Orlando, I rush back to Daytona Beach to make sure I arrive to my Introduction to Psychology class on time. After my Psychology class, I have a test to make up in my business management class. I asked the professor if I can grab something to drink because I hadn’t eaten anything yet. I just grab a drink because the rest of the snack machines require you to have money in your Eagle Card. I haven’t put money on it, but as soon as I get some, I am going to put at least $100 on it. I took my test and she graded it on the spot. I did really well on it.

Also I became an official pledge of Alpha Xi Delta. I went to their meeting and they had someone from one of the other fraternities speak about Up Until Dawn. They do fundraisers to help children with cancer. One of the guys started showing a video about a little boy with brain tumor and I just started crying. I had to leave the room. Normally I don’t act like that but my test is coming up. Many of my family members on my mom’s side have cancer. My uncle and my grandpa both died from cancer. Two of my uncles and my aunt are currently fighting their cancer battles. I am scared to receive bad news when I do take the test.

Vicki is definitely being supportive. She said she was willing to go with me or have some of the other sisters come with me to take the test. I will have to wait and see how I am feeling that day.

I am pretty much crushed for the rest of the night and I have a huge meteorology test tomorrow. I have read all the chapters but the study guide questions seem pretty hard. I guess I’ll wake up early to study for it.

Greetings again from beautiful Daytona Beach. My Lord, has this past week been insane. This past week was my first full week of exams. I had four exams spread out over four days: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. My first exam was not too difficult because it was on Shakespeare’s Hamlet and I have read the play about six or seven times. However, my Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Differential Equations/Matrices exams were much more difficult. I probably studied more hours then I can count and slept less hours then I care to think about. I don’t mean to scare anybody but I did put in a tremendous amount of work for this week. However, I feel I performed extremely well. So, a little bit of advice to all of you prospective students out there, work hard and give it all you’ve got. And just when you think you have nothing left, give a little bit more. I swear on my life, it will pay off. That’s two years of college of experience telling you how to get through exams.

Well, enough of that scary exam talk. The other half of being successful in college is enjoying the experience. The last two weeks have also been filled with good fun times that include going to class (yes I love to learn), going to work (yes I love earning money), and hanging out with all my great friends. To start out with, my classes are awesome. They may sound intimidating but you learn some crazy concepts and fundamentals that have so many real world applications. At first they are complicated, but the more you use them, the more you understand and trust me when I tell you that there is no greater feeling then when you finally fully grasp a subject. There have been a couple of times that I have felt totally accomplished and it just made my day. I have also been working a lot lately for the catering company on campus. I actually had three years of catering experience that made this job relatively easy. We set up for special events around campus such as banquets or executive meetings. I mostly work in between classes putting as many hours as I can. It’s a nice balance between work and school. This way I still have the evenings and weekends to get school work done.

The best part of this past weekend is being able to enjoy time with my friends. We have managed to find time to hang out, even if only for an hour, almost every night. It has made getting through homework much easier by breaking up our work time. Usually we all come back from classes and get the necessary homework done and then we watch one of our favorite shows. Last week, we finished getting everybody caught up on one of the best shows on the tele: Lost. I will probably plug this show a lot and there is a reason. If you haven’t watched, you need to start right now. The third season starts on October 4th at 8PM. Buy the first and second season and watch them. I swear you will be hooked and desperately awaiting the start of the new season. On the weekends, we try and go out to the city. Last weekend, we went down to Oceanwalk, which is the entertainment district or nightlife area. We basically walked around just as a nice break from the week. This past weekend we went back to Oceanwalk and saw the movie Accepted which is hilarious. It’s a great movie for college or prospective college students. Then we went to a party hosted by the Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) fraternity at Cancun Lagoon. It was great time with dancing and friends. We also try to eat out every once in a while during the week. The food here at Riddle is just fine and the meal plan system is great, but sometimes it’s nice to get out and enjoy a treat at one of the local restaurants. Other than that, we try and go to the movies shown on campus by Touch N’ Go Productions. Those guys are awesome. They put on tons of events around campus. Last week we saw “X-Men III” and this week they were showing “Pirates of Caribbean II.” Next week they are showing “Thank You For Smoking” and I can’t wait because that movie is awesome.

This campus is definitely an amazing place to be. The lifestyle is definitely a slower pace, which I love compared to the rush of the Los Angeles, CA lifestyle. I will be honest; the obvious small population of women on campus can get to me sometimes. But, a lot of the time I am focused on class work or having fun with my friends. The academic workload is definitely there, but once I got into the flow of the week I was able to balance my daily life and I have never had more fun. I also keep in contact with my family through the wonders of the Internet and the telephone and I recommend everyone do the same. My family is a cornerstone in the foundation of my life. They bring love and support that no other source can match.

One last thing I want to mention is get involved. It totally makes the experience that much better. I represent Wood Hall in ERRSA, which is the Embry-Riddle Resident Student Association. I have made so many new friends and connections in that organization and I am really having an impact on the path of the university. I am a member of the Skydiving club and plan to go get certified in skydiving before the end of the semester. That is really going to fulfill one of my greatest dreams. Also make sure that you participate in all your Hall events. I have the greatest RA. She is one of the nicest and hardest-working people I have ever met. She does everything she can to be of assistance to all of us on the hall. She plans events for the hall with an extremely limited budget and makes living with everybody so much fun.

Well, for now that’s all. The next time I write will be interesting because I will have taken a couple of weekend trips. This up coming weekend a few of the guys from the hall are going to Miami to stay with the family of one of the guys going. I’ve never been to the southern tip of Florida and I can’t wait. The weekend after that I am going to a retreat for ERRSA and that is supposed to be a blast. Until then, I leave you Cool Cats with some pictures and best wishes in all your endeavors. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Peace out.

St. Louis has been exciting. I am so tired and drained though. I have been really busy with everything that I am trying to just make sure I am holding on. The first thing I did in St. Louis was go to the arch. I didn’t go all the way to the top because it was raining. I bought some books about the arch and took pictures of it so I can use it for my project. I have an informative speech due on Wednesday.

I went to the Homecoming game at my old college on Saturday and that was exciting. I met up with an Embry-Riddle graduate, Will who just moved there and is working for the government. We watched the game and fireworks and then I showed him a little bit of the city. I also went shopping for a white dress and white shoes. I basically spent $18 for a dress and shoes. I love bargain shopping. I have my Pledge-In on Monday for Alpha Xi Delta.

If you have any questions, let me know.