I seriously can’t believe it. Two years ago I was graduating high school, I got accepted to Riddle, and life was going by so quick. Now, here I am saying good bye once again at the end of my sophomore year of college. This year has flown by and, when I thought nothing could top my first year of college, I couldn’t be more wrong. My second year was amazing and I’m glad that I got the opportunity to share it with all of you! I have had a busy month, so I have a lot to tell, but let’s begin by wrapping up the classes!
MWF 10:30am-11:30am – Air Traffic Management III – Well, I’m really going to miss this class next year. Fortunately, I will be in another class which will be even harder! This class dealt with Daytona’s airspace and next semester we’ll switch to Orlando’s airspace! It should be pretty fun. I ended up taking our final test and I got an A in the class, so I’m definitely happy about that.
TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Legislation – Well, after I wrote my paper and did my presentation, the class was pretty much over. We had an optional final exam that would replace the lowest test grade, but I didn’t need to take it because I managed to pull a 90%! Overall, this class was pretty cool. Although I didn’t enjoy the writing aspect of it, I did like learning about the past of the airline industry. A lot of interesting stuff happened to the airline industry in the past. You should google it some time!
TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Aerodynamics – I got an A in this class as well! I liked my professor so much that I signed up for another class in the Fall with him. He is a really cool guy and I like his teaching methods, so I figured why not take him again? Overall, this class was definitely one of the most interesting. Learning how all the aspects of a plane fit together so that it can produce lift and actually fly is pretty wild. You tend to not think about it once you are surrounded by airplanes, or even just fly them for traveling purposes. You never really stop and think about how amazing it is that something so heavy can cut through the sky…sorry, didn’t mean to get all weird! Anyways, cool class.
TTH 11:15am-12:30pm – Commercial Pilot Ops. – On my way to a 4.0! I got an A in this class, so I’m definitely happy about that. I enjoyed this class for a couple of reasons. One, the stuff we went over directly relates to what I am going to be doing, which is nice. Not crazy situations or stuff that will never happen. Also, the way the class was structured, there was no hour and a half lectures followed by hours of busy work. It was an open discussion type of class with only work that directly pertains to what we were doing. I liked that. It felt like I was learning exactly what I needed to rather than some nonsense gibberish.
TTH 3:45pm-5:00pm – Aircraft Engines – Well, this semester was going good, then I got a B. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those people who have a nervous breakdown at the sight of a B, I just prefer A’s! I got an 88% and I just couldn’t seem to break the 90 barrier. Oh well, the class was cool though. Jet engines are fascinating and now I know a lot more about them than I used too!
TTHS 7:45pm-12:00am – Flight – Well, I finished up my instrument rating and I jumped right into my commercial course. I asked my friend Ryan if he had any availability, and he scheduled me for a bunch of activities. I mean, a lot of activities. Usually, you’ll have about three activities per week, well Ryan scheduled me for three activities one day, two the next, and then another two activities! I have recently slowed the pace down, but I’m definitely glad I was able to get a jump start on it. I’ll be working on my commercial over the summer, and then if all goes to plan, I’ll start working on becoming an instructor at Riddle! I could even be your instructor one day! That is kinda scary, not in a bad way, but it seems like just yesterday I had never flown a plane and now I’m getting closer and closer to showing other people how to fly! It’s crazy!
Well, this past month has been amazing. No exaggerations, this has been one of the best times in my life. I’ve been busy with so many things, so time just flies by. From Frisbee to AOA to random flights and concerts, it’s been awesome.
Next semester, I signed up for some pretty tricky classes. I am taking Air Traffic Management IV, Aircraft Performance, Aircraft Systems & Components, Flight Physiology, and my Flight Instructor ground lab. It should be a pretty busy semester.
One of the best choices I have made this semester was joining AOA. After being in it only a semester, I am already kicking myself for not joining sooner! There are so many cool guys that are graduating, so I won’t be seeing them next year. Fortunately, there are still a lot of cool people still in, and hopefully more joining next semester.
In April we gave tours of the College of Aviation (COA) building to all the new students for next Fall. Maybe one of you saw me! I was in a burgundy shirt, well, so was everyone else… Anyway, I had a lot of fun giving tours and answering questions. I’m looking forward to doing that some more next year. A couple of weeks ago we had a fundraiser for AOA by bowling, and me and my friend Cris placed 5th out of 15. Not too bad considering we both suck at bowling!
One of the best memories I have had this semester was when I went to Charleston, South Carolina for an AOA retreat. There were about 15-20ish of us that drove up to a friend’s beach house and spent the weekend up there. We went to Fort Sumter and downtown Charleston and had a blast. It was a great experience and I got to know everyone on a different level, so it was definitely a good trip. There are so many memories, but I’ll share one with you. You won’t get it, but I will never forget this: “I could really go for a cheeseburger.” HAHAHAHAHAHAH I’m laughing now, maybe you’ll get it someday, but you really had to be there!
Next year I will be the Philanthropy Chair for AOA which means I will be in charge of all the philanthropy events that we do, which is a lot! My friend Jake was the chair, but now he is going to be the president. I hope I can do as good of a job as he did, but I have some big shoes to fill! If you are a future student reading this and are majoring in Aeronautical Science, you should definitely come check us out. There really is a great group of people here, and we have a lot of fun doing what we do!
In mid-April, I went with my friends Cris and Adam and flew to Miami for the day. We rented an airplane and flew down in the morning. My friend Cris lives in Miami, so we got picked up from the airport and had a lunch cooked by his mom. Then we went out to the beach for a couple hours and had dinner with his dad. We cruised around South Beach and saw some pretty amazing cars. We were cruising around in a 1977 convertible baby blue Bug, so we got some looks too. Overall, it was fun to get out of Daytona for the day and fly to Miami.
Any golfing fans? By the grace of God, I somehow had the opportunity to fly to Augusta to watch the practice round of golfing at the Masters! Four of my friends in AOA were going to fly to Augusta for the Masters and to see Hootie & the Blowfish, but one of my friends had to cancel at the last minute, so they asked me! We flew out after my last class and landed in Augusta in just enough time to grab some food and go to the concert. I have been listening to Hootie & the Blowfish for a long long time and I am so glad I got to see them in concert. They put on an awesome show and I would definitely see them again if they come to Florida. The next morning we went to the Masters and saw the Par 3 Contest and we got to see all the golfers practicing. It was wild; I mean I’ve seen it on TV, but seeing it in person is amazing. I’m so thankful I got the chance to do that!
Speaking of concerts, I went to go see Pepper in Orlando and let me tell you, they put on an awesome show. I went with my friends Cris and Adam and we had a blast. I just found out that Pepper is going on tour with Slightly Stoopid (best band of all time) this summer! They are coming to Florida and I am wicked psyched that they are coming back. They actually just played in Virginia, and while my roommate Adam was home, he saw them and actually got to go backstage and hang with them! He got one of the singer’s numbers and he said to give him a call when they come down to Florida to get backstage after the show! That would be amazing if that actually happens!!!
Well, sadly we had our last Frisbee game one week ago, but we are trying to see who will still be around for the summer so we can still play. I went to the team barbeque last week and got to hang out with some of the guys on the team outside of when we are playing, which was pretty fun. We had a lot of fun and had a lot of food. Seriously, there was so much food.
Oh, another flight I went on was to Savannah with my friends Aaron and Chris. We flew up to see my cousin who goes to SCAD. We went out to lunch and got a tour of the city. We ended up flying back a little later, but it was a lot of fun. I like to just hop in a plane and go fly somewhere. It really is fun.
This past weekend my friends Annita, Stephanie, and Leslie came down from Gainesville to hang out in Daytona. We went to the beach and hung out, and then we went to Razzle’s, which is a club in Daytona. I’m not really a club guy, but somehow they convinced me to go and I’m glad I did because I had a lot of fun. Probably sometime in about two weeks, me and some friends will make the trip up to Gainesville to go hang out at the University of Florida. Should be good times!
Over the summer, my friend Jake is doing an internship with American Airlines and he will be writing journals like mine. I don’t have the link yet, but I’m sure it will be somewhere off to your left around late May. You should definitely go check them out and send him emails asking him to do the Soulja boy dance. Trust me, its well worth it!
Well my friends, here we are at the end of the journal, but this journal isn’t like the others. This is the last one! I know I thought that one year ago I would be writing my last journal, but I got the chance to write it for another year, and I couldn’t pass that up! But now it is time to pass the torch (figuratively speaking…I don’t have a torch) to the next person! I hope that you have enjoyed reading these journals as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Hopefully you learned something or laughed or something along those lines. I’m definitely excited to be here and you should be too if you are on your way here! I hope everyone has a good summer and a good life after that! Stay in school, drink your milk, and fly planes as much as possible. Trust me, once you get in a plane and you are the only one flying it, there’s nothing else you can do; you’ll be hooked. Just make sure you get hooked at Riddle, they’ll show you how to turn your passion into a career. I’m already on my way, and I hope you’ll be there soon too!
-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
