Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing great!!!

Ok, I will start with today. Couple of friends and I have got into this habit of playing volleyball and the more we play, the more I like the game; I was horrible when we started playing but now I am getting good at it. Yesterday we played it for three hours and today for two hours and we play it in one of the sand court by Doolittle hall. Today we had six people on each side for three games and later on four people on each side for another three games, it was absolute fun!! I have decided to play it often.

The Badminton club has organized its internal singles and doubles tournament first time in the history of Riddle; they are this weekend and the next weekend. I am glad I will be part of this event; I love playing badminton as a recreational sport. There are more than 20 members taking part in this tournament. And one more thing, I am the Public Relations Officer of badminton club. So I am really looking forward in publicizing the club and make it a successful one. So this is to all the future students, come and check us out!!!

I ran for the elections in Indian Student Association as a treasurer but luck didn’t favor and I lost. Even though I had a great speech and I interacted with members greatly; my counterpart who was a complete failure and had no sense whatsoever of the whole process, won. The rest of the executive board looks fine and I think they will balance out the things. But I have sincerely decided that I will drill the executive board this year and attend every meeting so that ISA could achieve substantial progress in this year. The main problem with students at Riddle is they keep studying and don’t participate in good stuff. I mean we are in college and we are supposed to have fun, I know school is important but that does not mean…blah…blah…blah…I don’t want to bore you all.

The research paper I did for my SS 325, Eastern European Studies class got me a good ‘A’. It was about Terrorism in Eastern Europe and my professor wrote that it was the best paper he received on that topic. So I was quite happy with that remark. In my technical writing class our group was doing a research paper on ‘Laser Propelled Space Travel’, but later we realized that it was too narrow for three people to work on, so we decided to change our topic to ‘Alternative to Rocket Propelled Space Travel’, I did a independent research on StarTram System, a propulsion method in which a space ship is propelled to an orbital speed of 8 kilometer/sec using Maglev (magnetic levitation) technology which is used in Japan for trains. Then it is released into space using a launch tube which can elevate 20 kilometers high from earth’s surface. The maximum speed achieved by trains in Japan using Maglev technology is 350 kilometer/hour, any speeds faster than this is physically impossible in atmosphere so to deal with this impasse researchers have come up with vacuum acceleration tunnel and launch tube for space craft. If the system is adopted then it would cut the cost of space explorations from $10,000 /kilogram to $30 / kilogram. The other group member did it on Space Elevator and Solar Sails, they’re interesting too, check it out.

As you guys know I am staying here for summer, I have already registered for summer classes and completed my housing formalities. I have guaranteed housing in summer because not many people stay here.

I will write back soon. Good luck to everyone for their final exams.

OVER & OUT!!!

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great spring break! I did too, but the weather didn’t work along with me I guess.

When the break started most of my friends left for back home and only a couple of us were left here, but that didn’t bring me down. Friday night we went to watch the movie Hostage, great movie. Bruce Willis was great performing as a hostage negotiator and later on, police chief. Thumbs up for Bruce Willis!!

Later in the week we went to beach, and it was great. A1A was overflowing with people and it was easy to spot spring breakers. I think hanging out with friends on A1A is the best thing to do during spring break. It was more like Mardi Grass kind of atmosphere and slow traffic moving along A1A and other stuff you all know what I mean. Once we went there in the evening and stayed there till two in the morning, it was simply amazing, actually it was more fun because for some reason A1A comes to life late night. There is a lot to do – especially in spring break, make new friends, go to the beach, go to clubs and much more. I didn’t get a chance to go to the beach a lot because of muggy weather later in the week. But that’s fine I will make it up in summer. Oh I watched the movie BE COOL, and I am sad to say it but I wasted my six dollars.

Back to school – The school is almost coming to an end now, one more month and then I will be free for only a week until the summer A starts. I have a long year to go until Christmas. From fall I will be taking my engineering level classes, commonly known as AE-level courses and I am so glad that I will be done with all of the prerequisite courses and then ready to dive into actual engineering science. I am desperately waiting for it because that is the stuff that interests me more. I have heard it from some seniors that the labs for engineering science are awesome and I am really looking forward to it, especially wind tunnel lab, in other universities one can see those lab in graduate studies, but at Riddle, I will be able to have hands on experience during undergraduate studies.

The elections for Indian Student Association, YUVA are next week and I am running for treasurer. I am suppose to give a speech but at this point I have not prepared anything and to be honest I don’t believe in preparing speeches for any kind of election. God knows if I will win or not, YUVA really needs some good executive board members if not then the chances are the club will close soon.

Right now, it’s 2:12 am on Monday the 28th and I have to get up at 7 to attend my EGR 115 class so I better get going. For those who have some questions and wondering how to contact me, my email is vyas85a@erau.edu and you can also buzz me on AIM at m100584m.

So until next time, chillax!! (chill + relax)

OVER & OUT!!!

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing great! So, where should I start…uummm?

Alright, last night (3/13) I went to a concert at the House of Blues, Orlando. It was my friends and I and let me tell you we had a blast. It was Strata, Future Leaders of World, Crossfade, Helmet and Chevelle. They all were good but Crossfade was one of the best and Chevelle was simply amazing. To give you all the basic idea; at the end of the concert I was soaking wet from head to toe, just think about the kind of fun we had.

Since I don’t have a car we hired one from those cheap rental places and we were on road at around three. We got there in approximately one hour and after a long wait in the line the show started at around six, by the time we got out it was midnight. Chevelle was the last one to play and he rocked the place.

The day before (3/12), I went skydiving with the club called AIAA, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, usually it costs $ 169 but because I was a member of AIAA it cost me $ 90. This is for everyone, try it, it is very addicting. The feeling of falling 110 miles/hour is amazing. We jumped from 13,000 feet and we were down on the ground in less than six minutes; the free fall for first minute was just breathtaking. Even though I was really nervous about the whole thing, I think I will do the course and get my license.

And the day before (3/11, the Friday of the bike week), my friends and I went to check out bikes. The atmosphere in the downtown was simply amazing; bikes were lined up on the both curbs, open bars, clubs were packed. It was girls and bikes everywhere. Bikers came from all over the country and they put on a good show.

On the school front I have three tests this week, one on Thursday (EGR 120) and two on Friday (ES 201 & SS 325). It is rough but in a way it is nice, I will be able to enjoy the spring break to its full content. Although I am doing really well in all my class, the EGR 115, C programming class is giving me some trouble but I know that if I spent some time reading then I will get it surely.

EGR 120 class is getting really interesting as we are learning more new techniques to make our engineering drawings precise. The key to that class is a skill of visualizing objects in a definitive manner. In yesterday’s class our teacher had brought in a blue print of a rocket and I was amazed with the precise graphical design (blue print); it was scaled to fit on one sheet but every single detail was taken in account while making that blue print.

The spring break starts at the end of this week, most of my friends are going out but some of us are staying back. I can’t comprehend the fact that people come to Daytona Beach from all over the country for spring break and some ‘Riddleians’ leave Daytona for spring break. I just can’t get it. But before the break starts I have to make sure that I do well in my three exams…so with that hope. I will write back later; you all have a wonderful spring break.

OVER & OUT!!!

Hello everyone – I hope everyone is doing great!!

So let me start with my new laptop, I just got it today. I am so happy. I had placed my order with Dell on Jan. 28, and I got it today – its quite late but I got it for a great price. Initially I was mad with them, but today when I saw my laptop, I forgot all about it. I am happy I wont have to run to 24 hour lab any more.

School is coming along great. While picking the classes for this semester I avoided those classes in which I have to write papers or some kind of projects, but to my surprise I have to do it in three of my classes out of five. Aahhh well……..

Let me explain what I am doing in those papers, for SS 325 (Eastern Europe) I am writing a research paper on Islamic Terrorism in Bosnia and Chechnya, I will have to focus on different aspects and factors leading to terrorism in the Eastern European area. The most important is the involvement of Al-Qaeda and their supporters working hard to exploit the youth of these two regions by misleading them.

In my COM 221 class, I am (my group) writing a technical report on the feasibility of laser propelled space travel. The problem our scientific community faces today is research and development of economic and fuel efficient technology which will grant us a permanent access to space. We have a way, the rocket propelled by fuel, which is highly expensive and not fuel efficient so the researchers are at work in developing these giant elevators which will make the travel from the Earth to space simple. These elevators are powered by high intensity lasers. Interesting right?!

And I am really looking forward to this one because we are working in a group of four persons, and each one of us will examine the feasibility of this new idea with respect to economic, environmental, technological and safety aspects. The project is really interesting because each person in the group has his/her own role; like editor, second editor, secretary, research manager and public relations manager. I am feeling like I am a professional doing an actual research.

The last but not the least is my C programming project where we are designing an actual program which we will use in the future, hopefully. I had my first exam for C programming today and I was up early-early morning preparing for it. I think I did ok in it. Last week I had my Static exam and I did great on it, got an “A.”

The spring break is just around the corner and I can’t wait for it. Officially we will have a week of spring break but unofficially eight (8) weeks, as schools from all around the country comes down for their breaks one after another, Riddleians will enjoy it all. How about you guys???

Leaving you all with that thought…peace.

OVER and OUT!

I hope everyone is doing great! Let’s start from Rolex 24; it is a 24 hour continuous endurance race for two classes of cars, Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring. We went there at around 6:00 on Saturday (already six hours in race) evening with an intention of coming back late night, but we ended up staying on ground and sleeping in our sleeping bags. The atmosphere was amazing, people were “grillin and chillin” in the infield. I personally saw two crashed and one burned car. By the way the winner was # 10, SunTrust Group racing their Pontiac Riley Prototype. The most amazing part of this adventure was that my friends and I were able to sneak in the pit road area where the cars come for refueling and tire change. I had seen it on TV before, the way pit crew waits for their car and as soon as it pulls they jump on it and get it going in few (12 to 18) seconds, I actually saw it and believe me, the scene was incredible. We also saw the place where the mechanical geniuses work on the engines and test that everything works precisely faultless before the race starts. The ticket was $10 with Riddle ID card.

The race was over on Sunday, noon. I was almost deaf after staying there nearly 15 hours but I surely enjoyed it, enjoyed the roaring of those prototype engines which were doing 180 miles an hour.

On Monday morning it finally happened, I missed my programming class, this time I woke up at 8:19. I was lucky that my professor didn’t take roll or any pop quiz. He posts his notes on web so I was able to look it up and study it by myself.

VERY IMPORTANT: Before I came here (I was kind of expecting it as Riddle is primarily an engineering school) everyone was complaining that the girl to boy ratio at campus is very thin (1:8), but now that I am here and school has started I don’t thing it is that bad. There are some decent good looking girls on campus.

Oh! One more thing I found a new job on campus. The office of records and registration is going paperless and every document is going on server, so for doing that they needed some students, so I applied and got the job. I will be able to work on it through summer. By the way, did I tell you that I am staying over here for entire summer and fall, then going back home in Christmas break – sounds great right??

We finally started working with Catia (in EGR 120 Graphical Representation), a program used by engineers to draw engineering drawings. The program is remarkable, one can virtually draw (design) anything with it. I think we will have great time learning it.

My COM 221 technical writing class is very interesting, currently we are working on a project where we have to design a pamphlet or an instruction manual on “How to wash dishes?” It is typically meant for Aliens who have just landed and have very little or no knowledge of what things is like on Earth. The document ought to be very technical and it should contain every detail avoiding any confusing text which might lead to lawsuits and loss to the company. In addition to that it should include visual aid, effective technical text, easy to understand language and user friendly format. Did I mention we are working in groups?? I will leave the rest on you.

Stay well and see you next time!

OVER AND OUT!!

All right everyone get ready for a ride!!

Last night we went to watch the movie Hide and Seek, this is to everyone; WATCH IT!! Dakota Fanning, the little girl looks scary and spooky and her dad De Niro was superb. The movie was extremely scary but I noticed a very different behavior from audience, during every scary scene people would laugh to hide their fear, to hide it from the person sitting next. I did the same, lol. Go and watch the movie in the theater to check it out.

Earlier this week on Monday I almost missed my C programming class which is at eight in the morning. Even though I knew that, I was up late and guess what happened, I woke up at eight thirteen and I decided to go to sleep as my next class was at ten thirty but a thought of guilt ran through my brain and I jumped out of my bed and ran straight to my class. And I thank myself for that.

On Wednesday we had students Activity Fair, and that was what I was precisely waiting for. I joined Badminton Club, Indian student Association, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Avion Newspaper and the Task Force a part of Student Government. Yes there are a lot of fraternities here but I am not a fan of it. We also had a demonstration of skydiving, the members of skydiving club had taken off from Atlanta, GA and they dived on campus where the fair was taking place and I think that was amazing. A week before Riddle was tranquil but now suddenly everything is moving at fast pace. A lot of homework, club meetings, research papers, sports and sleeping are taking all my time up now.

It snowed 12 inches in New Jersey last week and I really miss it. I miss the part where I have to shovel snow three times a day. I still remember my sister and me playing in snow last year and the year before that. I felt like flying back to Jersey for a weekend but it was not possible.

I ordered a new dell notebook this week, completely customized by me and I got it for a great price. I saved around three hundred dollars because Riddle has an affiliation with dell. This is how it works; while you order give them Riddle’s member number, and you get instant members discount because you are a student at Riddle.

So this was it for now, the time is 11:34 pm. Goodnight, and until next time.

OVER AND OUT!!

Finally, I am a student journal writer. Hurray!! Until today I was just reading these journals, but now I will be writing too. And it happened in a great fashion. She (supervisor) wrote me in the morning and asked a few question. I replied back with all the answer, not really expecting to get in. By the way, the name of my supervisor is Jill Meridith, a lovely lady with warm personality. I had some chore to be taken care of at undergraduate admissions office and I was waiting there for my turn when a lady asked me if she can help me. Her name was Jill Meridith; I saw that on her name tag. Later I realized that she was Jill Meridith, the lady who I was supposed to see for journal writing thing. So I went to see her in her office and that’s it. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t realize and now that I have it feels great.

My name is Manan Vyas. I am from Clifton, New Jersey but originally, I am from India. As we all know Embry-Riddle is ranked #1 for its Aerospace Engineering program, so that’s how I ended by being here. I turned in my application in September last year, got accepted and was ready to (impatient) move down to Daytona Beach.

Day-1

I arrived to Daytona Beach on 10th of this month; I had never before visited here, so things were very new to me. But it all came good. Everyone on campus is very friendly and specially the administrative staff. I attended the student orientation and I recommend it for every incoming student. It was simply great. We went back to our dorms at around 6:00 pm after which I organized my room. Later that evening I made a lot of friends in my dorm and not to my surprise we went to sleep at 2:00 in the morning.

Day-2

I went for Air force ROTC meeting, as I am interested in serving Air Force after I graduate but due to some technicalities I will have to wait till next fall to join ROTC. Later that day we were helped to pick our classes by academic advisors and the process went smooth. I am taking EGR 115 (programming class), EGR 120 (graphical representation class), ES 201 (statics), COM 221 (technical writing), and SS 325 (studies of Eastern Europe). Then later that day I made other new friends and we all went to eat together.

Day-3 and afterwards

Things are getting better every day. Now I know quite a lot people around here and in this short period we went out to eat at Hooters, Olive Gardens, a pizza place, went to mall, and went to Orlando. And believe me or not we have a group of 14 people now and we always hang out together. Its pure fun!!

A week and a half has passed since the school started so there is not much covered in class, but things are catching up fast. Professors are really good and always ready to help. So this was it for now and I will keep you all posted with future development. If you have questions, mail it to vyas85a@erau.edu.

CATCH YOU LATER,
OVER AND OUT!!!