Hello everyone, and welcome to the second installment of my student journal. These past two weeks have flown by, but so much has happened. Two weeks ago my buddy, and ERAU alumni, Andrew Lashlee got married, just wanted to give him a quick shout out. Congrats Andrew and good luck!
Embry-Riddle is such a great community and when a student comes here they are sure to meet great people and make lifelong friends. In addition, the student body here is so diverse, you are guaranteed to interact with students from all around the world. A perfect example of this is my current humanities class. For Summer A I am taking both MA222 (business statistics) and HU330 (values and ethics). On a side note I recommend taking classes at ERAU during the summer. Embry-Riddle is a great place to have fun and learn, even during the summer months, and nothing beats getting the required courses done so quickly, but I digress. Although Values and Ethics typically has rich and stimulating conversations, no matter what university you attend, the mere fact that a large portion of my class is made up of international students allows for such great conversations. Hearing the perspective of an international student from Greece, United Arab Emirates (UAE), or Germany, really helps give the American student an idea of what others think. I have really had a lot of fun with the class and I recommend anyone thinking about taking it to do so.
Last summer, while at ERAU, I made it a point to try and go out and find something new every weekend. I am trying to do the same this summer, since I still have not exhausted all of the local attractions. Last weekend, after my internship in Orlando (which I will talk about later), I decided to check out two national parks on the way home from work. The first, Wekiwa Springs, is a moderate sized national park, which is home to a host of great outdoor events. They have everything from swimming to SCUBA diving to camping. I visited the park just to check it out in person and pick up any extra information. Although much of the information is listed on the website, linked above, I always like to see what they have at the ranger station. On a side note, Florida has some wonderful state parks, which are immaculately taken care. These parks are a great service to the residents and visitors of Florida. Although I didn’t have much time to spend in the park that day I am planning my next trip to go there, either this summer or in the fall. In addition to Wekiwa Springs, I also checked out Blue Spring State Park. Blue Spring State Park is known for their Spring (Who would have guessed?), which is home to the manatees during the winter months. I also picked up some information from the ranger station and am planning on spending a day or two there as well. I highly recommend for anyone who is into nature and the outdoors to browse the websites I linked above and see what else there is to offer in this area.
The past few weeks at my internship have been very slow. As with anything in the workforce, Fridays (the day I go to DEA) is usually the “easy” day. I have nothing to really report to you guys other then I have been working hard with the agents in getting paper work done. Unfortunately, life at the DEA is nothing like the show on SPIKE TV. Since February, when I started, there have been a few days with high intensity, adrenaline pumping, police work but the majority of it has been spent doing mundane paper work. Although office work is boring, you learn to enjoy it, since you are still working towards the main goal. As with anything, to quote my Dad, “you gotta work hard to play hard.” This motto really goes hand-in-hand with federal law enforcement, where as you need to really put in a lot of footwork and planning ahead of time to be able to execute a trouble free arrest. I wish I could say I was kicking down doors and slapping on hand cuffs, but the truth of the matter is I am just an intern helping out with office automation, which I am still happy about nonetheless. As I am sitting here I have one quiz to study for and another to take online, along with some other homework I need to complete, so I better get on it. As usual, please feel free to email me or contact me on facebook. I hope everyone is having a great summer and don’t forget to check back in two weeks for my next report.
Sincerely,
Michael Kokes
