. . . And the ball is rolling.
We are moving into a normal routine here at Riddle and everything is starting to settle down. We have been in classes for two weeks total and I am starting to get a feel for how much time I am going to have to allocate to each of my classes. Actually, I am quite surprised about how I am handling it so far. I am taking 18 credit hours this semester which is slightly over a full load. I thought that I was going to be weighted down really badly and already crying in a corner by now, but so far it seems like I will be okay. I have a lot of great professors, along with some interesting ones. For the most part, my classes should be awesome. It is really exciting to go to classes and, instead of just working through general ideas and concepts, get to work on real world application problems. When you finally get to apply all this knowledge to a real wing or aircraft problem, it makes you think that maybe the fifty million headaches you had in physics were worth it
Besides having good classes, I actually have fallen into a funk (funk is good in my dictionary) with lots of friends. When I first got here to Riddle I was tentatively moving into a freshman dorm since I already had two year of college under my belt and I was two years older then anyone living next to me. But I have soon come to find that these friends I couldn’t do without. We hang out on the weekends, eat together throughout the day, study together, play poker on the weekends and get together during the week to watch out favorite television shows. It has definitely become an environment I love. The other great aspect at Riddle regarding friends is that there are tons of people around you that share your same interests. What I am getting at is that outside my hall I also have some buddies that have been crucial to my education. I first met them in ERRSA (Embry-Riddle Resident Student Association) last semester where we realized we all had the same classes. So along with studying and doing homework together all the time, they are a great bunch of guys to hang around with on and off campus.
We just had the student activities fair last week and that is definitely an important part of your college experience. When I attended the California State University, Long Beach, then University President Dr. Robert Maxon told me that “If all you do is go to class, you aren’t getting a full education.” I learned very quickly how true that is and I will do everything I can to express to each new student I meet how incredibly important it is to get involved around campus. You meet tons of people, learn how to socialize in professional and casual scenarios, and most of the time you are participating in an activity you love. We have everything here and I promise you will find something you love. Take me for example. I just joined up with ERFSEDS (Embry-Riddle Future Space Explorers and Developers Society), the firearms enthusiasts club, and the skydiving club. All completely different interests yet all totally awesome organizations. Tell you what, if you are nervous about it when you get here, find me and I will gladly go around with you to look at the organizations.
What else has been going on . . . Super Bowl Sunday is coming up! Woohoo, even though the Saints won’t be there. I am totally excited for the launch scheduled for March this year. Daytona 500 is also coming up which is sweet. The Rolex 24 hour race just happened this weekend which was really fun and the Daytona 500 is coming up and it will be the first time I have ever attended. I’m really stoked about that. The only other thing is that Spring Break is quickly approaching. I know what you are thinking, it’s only January and I am thinking about spring break already. Hey, it comes up fast and I want to have an awesome time. Hopefully, if I can find a cheap trip, I want to head to Germany and the Netherlands to get in touch with some of my ancestry. I also have tons of friends who have coincidently decided to come to Daytona Beach this year for Spring Break. I wonder why? But that will be awesome because I will get to see my friends.
Other than that, classes aren’t too crazy yet and I am enjoying the material. Friends are great and I have a couple of great weekends coming up. Oh yea, I just was thinking about the weekend when all prospective students are invited to the campus. I believe it is called Preview Day, at it will be held April 14. If you read this and are planning on attending, make sure to stop me and say hello if you notice me. It would be great to see that my journals are read and see that they actually have helped some future Riddle students.
That’s all for now. Time to get some math homework done. As always, if you have any questions, comments or just want to here about some aspect of Riddle that I haven’t mentioned, shoot me an email at vonkr497@erau.edu <mailto:vonkr497@erau.edu> .
Until next time, stay cool.
