I’m back in Daytona Beach, ready to take on yet another semester. I hope everyone had a safe and fun break and enjoyed their holidays, I know I did. The first night I got back to my hometown was a lot of fun, catching up with friends I had not seen during Thanksgiving and reuniting with the ones I did see. It felt so good to be able to sleep in most of my vacation and just take it easy, preparing for the spring semester here. I spent my holidays at my friend’s house because every year he throws a big Christmas party, once again it was a lot of fun. My family did our big dinner and gift exchange a few days after Christmas because my brothers went to their girlfriends homes so we wanted to wait until everyone was together. New Years was another memorable night for me. I went to another friend’s house and saw so many people I lost touch with since I graduated high school in ’03. After looking back on the break I wonder where it went, time flew by so quickly. I am glad to be back in Daytona Beach, though I am going to miss all my family and friends. I am not going to miss the ice cold weather. It was like paradise walking through the airport terminal in Daytona, getting my luggage, and then walking outside into the beautiful weather. I’m hoping we will have some colder days here though because I just got a whole bunch of new sweaters! But there is no way I am going to complain.

I got my final grades a few nights before Christmas and I was really satisfied. I thought I did horrible on my meteorology exam but I guess I didn’t do so bad after all, actually I think I did well on it. My current GPA is exactly where I want it to be and I am hoping to do even better next semester. Today was actually the first day of classes and do I have a terrible schedule! My day felt like it was never ending and my professors are all really big on attendance, even my 8am professor. It will keep me in check though, so I guess I have no choice but to look at the positive side of it. I am really excited to be starting my first ATC simulator lab. Our class is going to be divided into two rooms. One room is going to be the actual radar sim lab, and the other room is going to be like the pilot response room. The ATC simulator students are going to talk directly to the fake pilots and give them commands and wait until they comply. It seems like a lot of fun but in reality, this is business. This class should give me a good idea if I am cut out for ATC or not, no matter what I have done in my past. It seems like it is going to be tough but that’s how the industry is and I have no choice but to step it up from here on out. How’s that for pre-semester motivation!

I am really glad to be back here at Embry-Riddle and am looking forward to another semester full of crazy times. My fraternity partied with ‘Al Bundy’ this week at one of our brother’s houses, but unfortunately I wasn’t there and although missed out, it is a good sign that this semester will have a lot going down. We have the Daytona 500, all the smaller races, bike week, and, best of all, spring break coming up. Most of my new classes are the dry types you need to graduate with, so staying focused will be a challenge this semester, but I’m determined. Its good to be back and I will talk to all of you soon. And to all of you high school seniors who are applying to ERAU be sure to get all of your paper work in early and good luck!

Hi Everyone!

I can’t believe semester break has come and gone already! It feels like I just got here and now I am leaving to go back to Daytona tomorrow morning. I needed that break more than anything. It was great to see my family and friends again, sleep in my own bed, take a hot bath, drive my car, play in the snow, get waited on at the restaurant I used to work at, watch football with my grandpa, and especially spend time with Doug. I saw him nearly every chance I had over break. We especially had fun driving to Minneapolis to go to the Mall of America, Zoo Year’s Eve, movies, and going out to eat. I wish I could stay an extra week but I couldn’t change my plane ticket. So, I leave tomorrow morning for a full day of traveling. (I don’t get into Daytona until 10pm!) Classes start on Wednesday with a three day weekend after so I will have time to get settled again and back into study mode. I am hoping this semester will be much better than the last one, and I am so happy that I will only be away from home for two months instead of four this time.

Happy New Year, everyone!! I hope you all had a great break.. however long it may have been :o) I’m a huge fan of the month-long vacation. Once again, I’d like to apologize for another late entry. My resolution: to get my journal entries in on time.

Well, my break wasn’t all too exciting, to be honest. I was sick for the whole thing. First doctor said I had a stomach ulcer.. too much stress in my life. Second doctor had no clue.. just changed the prescription. Sooo, in conclusion, I just wasted a lot of money.

Also, while I was at home, I worked through some difficulties with Monty. We’re back together and better than ever!! We even bought a CHiHuaHua puppy.. I’ve wanted one for as long as I can remember.

Christmas was great. I got a Furby.. always wanted one of those!! Plus, I got some other fun stuff like the 3×4 ft. poster my sister made me displaying an assortment of my swimming ribbons from previous years. Oh! And Jenny, my friend from BGSU (Ohio), bought me some AZD sandals. She’s a Chi Omega.. but I like her just the same as though she were one of my own sisters. As she says, we’re all Panhellenic sisters, anyway!!

Yes!! Phone call.. and that ringtone means Monty :o) I’ll write more in two weeks. Feel free to reach me by e-mail with any questions: olivab46@erau.edu.

Greetings to all in the New Year 2006! Hope all of you guys and gals out there had a great time these holidays! Ah, the time draws near, when the fun stops and the buck drops. The beginning of the new Spring ’06 semester is here. I used to hate the end of vacation time, because it meant dragging my sorry ass through another semester of high school, but now (much to my own astonishment) I find that I am actually looking forward to college starting up again! While I can’t say that I am sorry the vacations are over, I am not completely bummed out at their conclusion. I expect the coming semester to be a lot easier than the past one, first of all, simply because I’m used to everything at Riddle by now, and I’ve crossed the bridge from high school to college; and secondly, because this semester I am taking 6 credits of humanities and 3 credits of CATIA, which is computer drawing. Pretty much, I’ll only have to work at Physics and Math, I guess. Of course, those words could also be on my tombstone, so let me not shoot my mouth off too fast.

Also! I recently found out that I aced the placement test that I took at the end of the Fall Semester to jump over MA 242 and go into MA 243 and I was quick to drop 242 and get myself into an available 243 class. I’m happy about this because for one, I’ve saved myself 4,000 bucks in ultimate tuition; and two because I’ve saved myself a semester of Math I already know. This was possible only thanks to the generous help of Dr Nirmal Devi in the Math Department, who set aside time to make, administer and evaluate the placement test to me. Calculus III is pretty challenging so I’ll have to work at it, but at least I’m learning something, not sitting in class bored out of my mind.

Well, about my winter vacation, then! I didn’t do anything exciting just lazed around, did nothing most of the day, and enjoyed it completely. After the hurried hassled days of college, when every hour of every day was budgeted out, it was nice to chuck my PDA aside and know that I had the entire day to myself and the day after that, and the day after that as well. Ahhhh, the bliss of being lazy. Those idiots who say hard work is the only way are just that, idiots. I shot some pool, watched the NFL football playoffs, fooled around on my computer and lay in a semi-comatose state in front of the TV for hours and hours. I think I must have watched every episode of FRIENDS there ever was, because I worked my way through about 40 DVDs of FRIENDS episodes.

Anyway, I’m not really being sequential about this so, when the holidays began the dorms began clearing out, people driving and flying back home. I had break Housing till the 23rd of December, so I stayed behind until there was no one left. Now that was weird. I was so used to the usual commotion and activity in the halls that when they were left empty it didn’t feel like I was in the dorms at all! But I quickly got used to it. I slept real late, lazed around, and played computer games on my suitemate’s computer.

This break was really a lazy one for me. It was so nice to not have every minute of every day planned out. I decided that I would have maybe three things to do that week and I would do them, but then again, if the mood settled on me, maybe I wouldn’t! I don’t care what any one says, lazy breaks are the best kind.

On December 23rd I drove down to Holly Hill and stayed in a motel there for five days. I made it a point to run on the beach every morning, and I spent a good part of Christmas Day lazing on the beach. I also drove up to Tampa Bay one day. After those five days I drove to Orlando and picked up Dan, just off his flight back from New York, and stayed with him in his Port Orange apartment for the rest of the holidays. We certainly did NOT get drunk on New Year’s Eve and we did NOT hit on some lesbian chicks at a club we went to.

The playoffs began the next week, so I watched some very entertaining football, Dan’s a Giants fan and when Eli Manning got sacked three times in the last half of a game he was about ready to explode. Just before the holidays ended his roommates Megan and Ben drove down from Maryland too.

And then it was time to go back to the dorms. Like I said before, usually I hate the end of break, because it’s time to go back to the drudgery of school. But this time, to my surprise, I didn’t feel that way. I was actually looking forward to going back to school! Not that the break sucked either, because I certainly had some good times. I just didn’t feel bummed out that the vacations were over, I didn’t mind going back, really. I’m enjoying my life here so much, why would I want to be away from it for longer than I have to?

MOTTO FOR THE FORTNIGHT: Save a cow. Eat a vegetarian.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone’s holidays were the best ever. I sure had tons of fun with my three and a half week vacation. I really needed a break from the life here at ERAU, the end of the semester was much anticipated and I could not wait to get home. I really, really missed my friends from high school because they are so different than the people here, so my trip home was excellent in just that I really got to hang out with everyone for a long period of time for the first time since the summer. I also got to relax which was fun for a while, but then it really got boring because I’m not really the relaxed type of person.

New York City is truly the greatest city in the world, and I take it for granted until I leave it for a while. The amount of things at my disposal while I was at home was truly the best part of the visit. Just being able to walk around for once instead of being in a car was the thing I really missed the most. And walking was a theme for the first week of my break because of our city’s transit workers union went on strike, basically crippling the city. I stayed at home the first two days, which was horrible, but on the third day, I braved the cold to walk to Manhattan. I live a few minutes away by train, (subway) but walking towards the Brooklyn Bridge took me about an hour. When I arrived at the bridge, I took advantage of the city’s traffic restrictions and received a ride from a newcomer in the city who did not realize he need four people in his car to get across the bridge in the mornings, for the duration of the strike. Over the bridge in the car took literally 45 seconds and then I took the PATH train (run by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey) up to midtown. It was truly a long and awe inspiring adventure which turned what would have been a 35 minute trip into 2 hours.

Other things I did in the city after the strike was over was ice-skating at Chelsea Pier, seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center, and just eating all the different types of food I had come to miss. I know what you are thinking and no, I did not go to Times Square to see the ball drop. I’m saving that one for my mid- to late twenties. On New Years Eve I just went to a party with my friends and had tons of fun.

Overall I think I had a great time over break and it was just what I needed to get me ready for the long haul of four months away from home. I won’t be going home for spring break so I am totally going to need some support come March, when I am going to be dying for some good pizza. I’ll be sure to write about it and request a shipment of food from those of you from New York when the time comes. As always, write to me at willicdb@erau.edu.

Until Next Time,
Carlos

Hey, everybody! Well, here I am late again on my deadline for this entry. I got back to Daytona this morning and it’s actually pretty good to be back. I got pretty used to being home for a whole month, so it feels like somewhat of an adjustment being back now, but it’s a beautiful day today. I’m totally exhausted, but let’s see what I can come up with.

Break was really nice. Mostly I just watched TV and read a couple books and went to hang out with my old friends. I didn’t really think of this much before, but living far from home really does change you in some way. When I was hanging out with my friends that are going to school in WA, at first I thought there was something about them that was really different. Then I realized they hadn’t really changed at all, and it was me that was different. There were also a lot of things I felt they couldn’t relate to because they had basically spent the past few months at home. I don’t think that one is necessarily better than the other, going to school far away or at home, but I think you should be aware that some sort of change will take place. Personally, I know I made the right decision in going to school far from home, but I also know that what’s right for one person isn’t necessarily right for another. A lot of you have been wondering how I feel about going to school so far from home, but if you don’t feel right about it, don’t do it just because I said it was a great decision for me.

A first-time thing for me: I saw a person catch fire, in person. No one got hurt, everything was cool, it was just totally hilarious. If you are standing with your back to a candle and your back starts to feel really hot all of a sudden, move away, because you are probably on fire. So somebody had to learn that the hard way, but at least that mistake probably won’t be repeated any time soon.

Classes start on January 11th. I don’t know if I’m really ready to go back yet. Another couple weeks of watching TV and waking up at 2 would be totally fine with me. I would have no complaints whatsoever. But it’s time and I’m going to go with it. I’m kind of having trouble being optimistic about paying to my laundry now. Oh yeah, that reminds me, for those of you getting ready to go off to college, make sure you know how to do your own laundry. I can’t tell you how many freshman boys I’ve seen staring blankly and maybe even daunted, at the laundry machines for 10 minutes before they ask me how to use it, or what cycle such-and-such goes on. I have no doubt there are also girls out there whose mothers have always done their laundry for them, so don’t get offended, guys. But so far all the girls I’ve met here have known what they’re doing. If you can engineer spacecraft or fly an airplane, you can definitely handle a washing-machine, I promise! So if you can’t do laundry, well, you’re gonna have to learn sometime.

That’s about it for now. I should probably finish up unpacking all my stuff – of which there was a lot. I don’t really know how all that happened because I didn’t leave with that much, but somehow I ended up coming back with a 56 pound suitcase (but I didn’t have to pay the $25 surcharge. Thanks, airport lady!) plus a box full of all the other stuff I’m going to need which my mom is shipping to me- and that one must weigh like 70 pounds. So yeah, I’ve got some stuff to do, but feel free to email me with questions- kenyonj@erau.edu or post them on the discussion board http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/erau_ug/default.asp

Later!

Hey, guys!! Sorry this entry is SoOo late. I thought I sent one in, but it mustn’t have gone through. The Internet is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?!

Anyway, I’m at home, now. Back in Ohio until next year. WoW!! That sounds scary if you don’t think about the fact that next year is just days away.
Speaking of next year, Christmas will be here in FOUR days. Where has time gone?!

I ended the semester with a 2.84 GPA. Not anywhere near as well as I was hoping, but I make do with it. If I pull something like a 3.13 next semester, I’ll pull a 3.0 for the year. I can do it!!

Overall, I got an A, a ton of B’s, and a C in that computer class I couldn’t get out of bed for. Good thing I dropped the 8:00 time slot for next semester. In fact, I’m going to try taking all of my classes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday!! I think it’ll be nice to have two days off.. to do homework and get a job, maybe. I’ll just have to sit through 5 hours of classes 3 days a week, but even at that it’s much better than high school :o).

Well, I hope you all have a great Holiday Season!! I’ll talk to you all next year!!!

Well…it’s hello and goodbye from me through this journal entry – the holidays are upon us!

After a full semester of hard work it’s nice to be able to wake up in the morning when the sun is shining and there’s nothing really pressing to stop you from being utterly lazy. I love the feeling – I’m already addicted to it.

The results of Fall 2005 are in and….***drum roll***…FOUR POINT OH! Yes, I know it is shameless of me to gloat, but what the heck, I’m gonna glorify myself anyway. A perfect score! I am currently sitting on a 17 credit 4.0, and it feels goooooooooood. A copy of my first semester transcript is posted below, for those of you who are curious to know what a 4.0 looks like on paper –

I managed to secure an A in every class I took. Air Force Leadership Lab was a pass or fail course, and as my transcripts reflect, I did pass.

Next semester I’ll be taking 6 credits of humanities and CATIA, so the workload should be a lot less. I feel most gratified – at least my 17,000 was well spent. Of course the trick is to keep it up, and hopefully I’ll be able to do that.

And it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! All the stores, of course, have their decorations up, and Christmas music piping from every nook and cranny in the mall – it’s that time of year again! I love Christmas. Personally, it is my favorite time of the year, and not just because of the one month vacation, though that does have a lot to do with it!

I’m pretty much alone in the dorms right now – I’ve gotten Break Housing up till the 23rd of December. It seems so strange – there’s no roommate (Cameron has gone back to Canada), no suitemates (Ben flew up to California yesterday and Scott’s visiting his girlfriend in Kentucky), and no one on our usually bustling hall! It’s a sensation I haven’t gotten used to just yet, but I’m enjoying it alright.

Well, that’s it from me for this semester – I’ll be back in the spring with more jiving journals! Hope you all out there have a great holiday, don’t forget to hang up your stockings, and I’ll talk to you again in the New Year 2006. Peace out, dudes!

MOTTO FOR THE YEAR: HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hey readers! Well, this one I’m writing from home. It’s kind of nice to be back but it’s cold! There’s ice everywhere so I can’t go running outside and that kind of sucks. When I was in Florida, I forgot that cold weather has its effects. Like how you have to go slow on turns when there’s ice on the ground (one of my neighbors almost got their living room taken out this morning). So anyway, I’m mostly grounded to indoor activities at the moment.

I visited my high school today and yesterday. The seniors right now are my class, and it was a reality check seeing everyone from my class last year still being in high school, and realizing that just a couple months set us really far apart. High school and college are very different places in many ways, and it struck me how much I’ve matured since I was back there. Everyone was pretty happy to see me and I was happy to see them and it was fun telling everyone what I’ve been up to and seeing how the school had changed without me. I’m really glad that I took the step to go to college early because I’m completely satisfied with where I am right now. I like being mostly self-sufficient.

Anyway, now that I’m home, I’m basically just working out a lot to get ready for my next PFT, reading, watching movies, visiting friends and enjoying non-campus food. It’s also nice to sleep in when I feel like it. Well, I better be on my way, I have to enjoy this month home while it lasts! Keep the questions coming to kenyonj@erau.edu or on the discussion board http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/erau_ug/default.asp
Later everyone!

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday I finished my last finals and I am going home in the morning! I am so excited! I have been so busy lately and really stressed out. Even though I had only two finals, I still had projects and presentations and papers due this week. I was the most nervous for chemistry because the final exam was worth so much that my B could become as high as an A or as low as a D with that one test!!! Ahh! And Dr. Cameron said it happened to someone last year! I studied for a long time to make sure it didn’t happen to me. Calculus was my second and last final, and I think I did really well on it. Some of my grades are already posted, and it looks like I will have a 4.0 unless I really screwed up my chemistry final (which I think I did). That’s ok because I am just so happy to be going home after all this time!

Friday night my sorority had our Christmas party, and I brought my Polish friend Bartosz as my date. We had so much fun. Today I am just packing up, doing laundry, and getting ready to go home. My friend Danny is babysitting my fish (Ruby) for me over break. Danny lives close to ERAU so he is driving home. I can’t take a fish home with me on the plane, but otherwise I would. I already have lots of plans for break, and I will be writing about them for my next journal in January. Our second semester begins Wednesday, Jan. 11 th , but I may be coming back late because I want to go to a dance on Sat. Jan. 14 th . We also have no school on Mon. Jan 16 th , so I could stay almost an entire extra week and only miss three days of class. I will have to email my professors to make sure that I won’t miss too much. At least it will be nice to have snow for Christmas and then come back to sunny, hot Daytona Beach J

Well, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

~Sara