Half way! It’s really hard to believe that I am already over halfway done with my freshman year of college. This year has really been flying by (pun intended). I’ve been back at Riddle for almost three weeks now since traveling home for winter break. Boy was it good to see my friends and family back in Seattle and spend some time with them over the holidays. It really never felt like I even left! My room was the same, my clothes were still there and my dog was still happy to see me. I was able to get some snowboarding, hiking and some good ole’ R & R in the three weeks I was home for. It was a much needed break. It worked out well because by the time I was boarding my flight to head back to Florida, I was ready to hit the ground running for the spring semester. I’m going to have to keep that mentality going because I have a busy semester ahead of me. I’m taking six classes, ROTC, working, playing intramural sports and getting ready for a Private Pilot check ride, just a few of the involvements I have ahead of me the next few months!
After returning to Florida in early January, I got right back into the swing of things with my flight training. The first day back my instructor did my dual cross-country and flew to St. Petersburg. We were able to get quite a bit done during the week before classes started despite relatively bad weather. The flight operations discount all flight activities by 50%. It worked out perfectly because I was able to get all of my cross countries done during that time. Last week I did my local solo and my first solo cross country. For my solo cross country I flew to Gainesville and back. It is about a 150 Nautical Mile round trip and takes about 2.3 hours. Tomorrow I am scheduled for my long cross country where I will be flying to the Tampa area, then up to Gainesville and back to Daytona. This is a much longer trip which is about 250nm and should take close to three hours. After that, I have a couple of practice flights then I’m up for my check ride! It’s hard to believe I’m already at the end of course. A bunch of my buddies and I already have plans to go flying once I get my license, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.
My classes are going great. I was able to pick my classes and set up my schedule this semester and I have to say, I did pretty well. I really like all of my teachers and I am very interested in the classes I am taking. I will go into greater detail about my classes and ROTC in my next post which will be in the next few days.
Stay tuned for important updates on the Daytona Speedway, college professors, Florida weather, flag football, aviation, and possibly even surfing, all to come next week. Happy New Year!
Cruising above the clouds on my solo cross country.
