December 11th:

Semester one has been completed! I can’t believe just how quickly time has flown by these past four months.  It feels like just yesterday when my parents left me to fend for myself with new people, a new environment and to do my homework on my own.  During that time I have made a countless number of new friends, shared many laughs with them and stressed out over homework and projects.

Here’s a quick recap on this past semester. I have attended two airshows, one at Cocoa Beach and one at Daytona Beach.  I have also camped out at an airport with the Sport Aviation Club. Lastly, I have built a model airplane in my dorm room and have flown it 20 times since it’s been completed.

During these past couple weeks, classes were beginning to wrap up.  All the final projects and tests seemed to occur during the same two days during the last week of classes, which caused a little bit of stress for me and kept me in my dorm room most of the day.  After that, it was time to study for finals.  I only had one final to study for, which was math.  Instead of studying, a couple of my friends and I went to the flying field and flew model airplanes from the late morning until the mid-late afternoon.  This is NOT something I would recommend doing on your study day.  For the next study day before finals, I will take advantage of that study day and actually study.  After my math final was complete, I celebrated by going to the flying field and getting three flights on my airplane before dark.  One of my friends recorded a flight for me, and I will be posting that video on my Youtube channel within the next day or two.

On the flight training side of education at Embry-Riddle, I came up a little short of my goal of obtaining my pilots license by the end of this semester.  All I need is two solo cross countries and then another two or three flights to prepare for my check ride, and then my actual check ride.  The weather took a turn south this past week and I wasn’t able to fly at all this week.  Hopefully I’ll have my license by the middle of January, and then begin working hard on trying to get my instrument rating by the end of next semester.

If you have any further questions, feel free to email me at colanm@my.erau.edu. You can also add me as a friend on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/matthew.colan or follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MColan94.  If you do wish to add me as a friend on Facebook, send me a message to let me know that you read the student blog so that I know it is not spam.  I have received multiple friend requests on Facebook that I am not sure who that person is.  If I have not accepted your friend request, send me a message so that I know you have read the student blogs.  If you have a Youtube account, you can subscribe to my Youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/flycl756355?feature=results_main.

‘Till next time, have a great Christmas and New Year’s, and see you all next year!

Matthew Colan

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About Matthew

**Name:** Matthew Colan **Major:** Aeronautical Science **Minor:** Applied Meteorology **Hometown:** Swanton, Vermont **Career Goals:** To obtain a degree from Embry-Riddle, and fly for a major airline, preferably JetBlue **Why I chose Embry-Riddle:** I chose Embry-Riddle because of the vast amount of opportunity within the aviation field that the college provides **Activities:** Sport Aviation Club, Radio Control Airplane Club

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