On Monday, I prepared myself for my internship interview. I did some research on the company and their history. I wanted to know what they stood for. I had gone to the career center and found someone that had done the internship had applied for a couple of years ago. I noticed that some people that did the internships I had applied for were pilots. I enjoyed reading about the different positions the interns have had in the past. The one I am being interviewed for sounded interesting. You are in charge of emergencies. You would have to make sure that the response to those emergencies are being executed correctly and then you look at the glitches your program may have. After you do the simulation, you would have to evaluate the exercise and look for areas of improvement. It is an unpaid internship though, but it’s in Seattle. I just can’t pass this opportunity.

I did my interview on Tuesday and I think it went all right. I feel that I need to work on my interviewing skills though. I kept saying “and stuff” a lot. We covered that in my speech class. I’ll be working on staying quiet instead of trying to fill in the silence. Later on that night, I went to Flip Its with Holly and hung out with Matt and friends. We went to a guy named Adam’s place and played Wii for the rest of the night. I managed to beat Matt in the boxing game, but couldn’t beat him in anything else.

On Wednesday, Holly and I went to the beach and ate at Johnny Rockets. Matt also joined us for dinner. We watched a movie and talked for a bit.

On Thursday, I met up with Holly and Lisa and went to Razzle’s. The cover charge was $15. No, I do not think it’s worth it. I think they also increased the price because of the Spring Breakers. It was so packed in there, I couldn’t dance in peace without someone hitting me or pushing me. I might give it a try another time, but I’d rather go to Aqua.

I was finally happy because Friday finally arrived. I got my test scores for my Aero Sci class and it was a low B. I wanted to get a high B or a low A, but given the circumstances I think I did well. 🙂

I also went to Ocean Deck with a couple of people. It was my first time going there so it was quite fun. It is a Spring Break hot spot here in Daytona. There was a $ 10 cover charge, but because I was an ERAU student I got in for free. I love free stuff. I also dropped off my roommate’s friends at the airport at 5 in the morning. They were having a hard time getting a taxi and of course my roommate was sleeping. I really liked them. Overall they were nice. I just wanted to make sure I had all the rest I needed to keep up with classes and all the work I had to get done.

On Saturday, I drove to Orlando to see my friends from my old school. They were coming from a cruise and I wanted to see some familiar faces. We ate at Benningan’s in Orlando. Four of them were driving back to St. Louis, while my friend, Andy, stayed for the night to catch a flight to NM. I brought Andy back to Daytona and we ate at Adobe Gila’s. Then we walked on the beach for a bit. It was a beautiful day. I was sad to say good-bye to them because I miss them so much. We have been friends for four years. Most of us did AFROTC together. We also had classes and worked on group projects together.

This is what college is all about: Going through good and bad and learning how to deal with it. College is where you meet you lifetime friends and your future co-workers. I know I am going to see most of my classmates here at ERAU in the future. We all have one common interest and that is safety. 🙂

My roommate, Cheese, had some friends from PA traveling to visit him for Spring Break. You can say it was a week of being woken up by drunk people. It was stressful for me because I had two tests that week. I wanted to do well on my Human Factors in Aviation class and my Intro. to Aeronautical Science class. I passed both of my tests which was a good thing. Instead of studying though, I spent most of my time falling asleep. I am not the type of person to take naps. One night I pulled him aside and told him that he needed to keep it down because I had to be up early and had a test the next day. He tells me that it was Spring Break for him and that I was being inconsiderate. He’s so lucky he had guests in the house. He moved his little party to his room which I was happy but by then it was 4 am and I had to be up by 7 in the morning. After my 8 o’clock class, I went to work and fell asleep on the couch. I was quite embarrassed because the Department Chair kept walking in, but I couldn’t keep my eyes opened to do my work. I thought I was going to get in trouble, but I didn’t. My boss knew that I was having a hard time at home because of my roommate.

On Wednesday, the sorority had an event called Xi Man. In this event, we choose our sweetheart. It is also one of our Philanthropy events. The boys put on an exciting and fun show. I would recommend you to watch it next year.

I also had a study session for my Intro. to Aero Sci class. My professor sets up a study session the day before the test to make sure we don’t have any questions and we understand all the material we covered. He asks a student that has some of flying experience to run the study session and help the non-pilots. For me, it’s a difficult class. I think I mentioned this before, but you must have a passion for flying.

I am glad when Friday came around. I went to my room and caught up on sleep.

Oh and I did a call back for one of the internships I had applied for. 🙂

Hey readers!!!!..Hope all of you out there are doing well. I sure am! The reason is because I am OH so close to doing my solo!!!!!! It should be on this Friday the 17th, so wish me luck!!!!

Remember I had to change instructors? Well, it turns out that my new instructor is not that bad! He’s a really cool, kicked-back and fun guy, so YAY!

Ok, so..school!

How has school been going for me? Well, let’s just say the work never stops; but it has significantly reduced within the last week, so I’m pretty happy about that because I’ve been finding more time to go hang out with my friends. I’m also pretty satisfied with my grades in all my classes, because I’m pulling nothing lower than a B! YAY haha

So, I had to do a speech for my speech class the other day and I did it on airliner fleets. I got two words to describe the audience’s reaction: LOVED IT! Also, I had my Info Tech test today – now, THAT was LONG and TIRING! WHEW!..but I am SO glad it’s over with and I should be expecting an A in it! YAY!

Ok, so this weekend MARDI GRAS AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!! YES! So, my friend Matt walked into my room while I was sleeping around..eh, 1pm (yes, I’m a late sleeper after partying on Friday night, don’t laugh; you know you do the same!). Anyway, he picked me off my LOFTED bed and made me get ready to go to Universal Studios. Well, I thought it was just me and him, but little did I know when I got outside, it was like 2 cars filled up with my friends, so of course I was like YAAAY! We ended up getting into Orlando around 3pm and stayed there until 10pm. SO much fun! We did the rides, then watched the parade and got a lot of beads! Music, people, everything was exciting; the atmosphere so active and fun! After the parade finished, we went out into ‘Citywalk’- which is like a little boulevard connecting Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure that’s filled with clubs, restaurants, and so much more! I would love to go back on the 24th of March to see Sean Paul perform live, but that brings me to the topic of SPRING BREAK!

In less than a week (Saturday), I will be boarding and MD-88 from Daytona Beach to Atlanta, then connecting onto a B738 to Port of Spain, Trinidad then as soon as I get there at 8:05pm I have to board the 9pm commuter express from Trinidad to our sister tourist island of Tobago- where I will be basking in the beautiful Caribbean sun on the beach. CANNOT wait..Be jealous! Haha just kidding!

Anyway..so, I’m about to go deal with my roommate because he’s being a little skeez to me these days. Haha, just kidding. I love him with all my life; best guy I could ever have to be my roomie! Love ya lots, Jeremy!

Stay good, ya’ll..don’t do anything I wouldn’t do..out of the club haha!

Fly high!

Quote of the week: “YOU JUST HAVE T0 GO AFTER WHAT YOU WANT AND IF IT DOESN`T WANT YOU BACK, THEN SO BE IT. — IT DOESN’T DESERVE YOU ANYWAYS!” -Nicole Richie

Hey Folks.

The End is in sight. We are about to leave for Spring Break, which is a real reality check as to how close we are to the end of the semester. This is the last week before we get a nice break from our routine lives. When we get back, there are only fives weeks left and then we are done. It is going to fly by. With this in mind though, I must note that these last two weeks have been a little bit tiring because of all the midterms I have been taking. I have had exams in almost every single class. And two weeks after we get back, I have more exams. It is really pushing but it keeps me on my toes. All those exams returned good results and I have set myself up for a good end to the semester.

Looking ahead academically, I have registered for summer session courses, which I did mention last journal. I have a little advice for those of you who ever decide to take summer session courses. If you register for courses, keep an eye on the capacity of the class. I learned from my advisor that the courses have to have around 10 students for the class to run. If not, that section is closed. I am beginning to realize I may have to rearrange my summer schedule because one of the courses I am registered for is most likely going to close for this very reason. Other than that, everything in that department is going well. I am waiting to see information about registering for the fall semester. This next year is going to be really exciting because I am approaching the higher level courses for the aerospace engineering degree and that makes me, being the dork that I am, very excited. Also, look sharp for news about Riddle switching to a 4-day school week. I have heard rumors about the university switching to this format for various reasons. It would be nice to always have 3-day weekends.

For those of you who don’t know, Bike Week just ended here in Daytona. It was cool to see a lot of awesome bikes, but the constant traffic and change in atmosphere around town was a pain. Not much to say about Bike Week except that you need to be careful both as an automobile driver or a motorcycle rider. I am sad to report that a Riddle student was involved in a motorcycle accident this past Sunday and he passed away. It is a tragedy and our hearts go out to his loved ones. Today, I also watched an accident unfold right in front of me. A motorcycle was cruising down Clyde Morris, just north of the campus, and a car pulled out right in front of him. He could not react in time and struck the back of the car flipping his bike and his body over the top and down the street. I have not heard anything on his current condition but he was fortunate enough that this occurred right in front of Halifax Medical Center and an ambulance, EVAC vehicle, and nurse just happened to be behind him headed toward the hospital. These situations are terrible and I can only hope that you heed my warning. Be Careful while driving and riding. Your life, along with the lives of everyone around you, hangs in the balance.

That was a sad note. On to something more cheerful. I went to the beach today for the first time since the beginning of the semester and it was beautiful outside. It was literally the perfect day to say hello to the ocean again. Random news, I have started working out again. I used to go to the gym every night back in California. I have been slacking so much since I got here and I am beginning to not like the way I look. So, I am finally getting back into shape. To go along with this, I got a sweet new case for my ipod and new earplugs to listen to music while running. The earplugs are sweet because they cancel out noise and enhance bass, just trust me on this one guys, its rockin’.

Most recently I have just been focusing on course work and there has been a lot of it. Keep sending me your emails with questions. I am glad that I can respond to your concerns and answer any questions you may have. Again, I apologize if I take a long time to respond. Give me some time, I try and answer as many as possible in between classes and homework and you can always post your questions on the discussion board. I hope everything is well with everyone and your families. Make sure to stop by in two weeks for my next journal.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and enjoy your Spring Break, whenever that may be.

Until next time

Peace Easy

Last weekend was fairly uneventful, but it did mark the beginning of bike week. I’m not that into bikes, but some of my friends seem to like them. All I know was that traffic was horrible, so getting anywhere was a real chore. I spent most of my weekend inside.

The week was kind of busy. I had a few tests, went to the gym, worked some, etc. Not really too much else to say about that.

I worked an evening shift Friday, and then that night we went to see 300- the new movie about the Spartan warriors and some crap (I got kind of lost in the details). It was really good. All the men were very hunky.

Parking was a nightmare, though. Saturday I woke up somewhere around noon – which is so nice when you have to wake up early every other day. And Wood 5 decided that we should have a cookout and make hotdogs and smores.

So we bought wood, hotdogs, chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers, pokers to put the hotdogs/smores on, huge matches, and Steve bought some camping chairs. Then we went to Daytona Beach to this little fire pit, and there was a number that said we needed to make a reservation, even though nobody was using it. So I asked a Beach Patrol guy if we could use it and he was really mean to me.

We were still trying to meet up with my friend Kim, so we decided we would go to New Smyrna Beach to meet her at the airport.

When we met up at the airport, we both didn’t know how to get to the New Smyrna beaches, so we decided we would go inside and ask someone. One of the flight instructors gave us directions which turned out to be bad. We did end up at some park, and we asked some locals for directions, which turned out to be bad. Eventually we found the New Smyrna beaches on our own and when we got there it was dark. But then one of the boys saw a sign that said “No open fires.” We had already dug a hole, so a few of us sat around it and ate cold smores. It was kind of bleak.

We were next to the cars getting ready to leave when I realized that I had lost Ryan’s (my boyfriend) ring when I took it off to dig in the sand. He gave it to me for our one year anniversary, so it’s kind of important. I checked the pocket I had put it in and realized it wasn’t in there and proceeded to freak out. I seriously could not breathe and I felt like I was going to throw up. So Kim and Steve were coaching me to breathe and calm down and the search commenced. After about five minutes of searching, Kim found the ring in the sand – it was a one in a thousand type thing. I burst into tears, and the day was saved.

You guys don’t lose valuable stuff at the beach.

Then we went back to the dorms. I set my alarm for 6:30, because I use my cell phone and it corrects itself for daylight savings. But it also pushed my alarm time forward, so I woke up at 7:30, which is when I was supposed to be at work.

I got to work at 8. Thankfully, it was really foggy, so no one showed up for the morning flights. And then I worked for eleven hours straight, but I’m not complaining!!! As much as I don’t like being at work ALL day on a weekend, I REALLY don’t like not having money for the rest of the week.

Monday was a typical Monday, I suppose. It was a very long day. Classes until 3:30, and then I took an absurdly long nap in the afternoon. That’s the thing about college – you learn to sleep when you can. In the evening I went to the gym (which I’ve been doing a lot lately), and then drove ALL the way past Orlando to pick up one of Boris’ Bulgarian friends who is staying in the dorms with us.

We didn’t get back to Daytona until around 12:30 or 1 am. But that’s okay.

Plans for Spring Break include going home, hopefully flying some, visiting family in Pennsylvania, And we’ll see.

Shoot me an email if you have any questions – I respond to all of them!

– CAT rumbebb5@erau.edu

Well, it has been pretty crazy around here in Daytona, and it’s not slowing down any time soon. I have been keeping myself pretty busy with concerts, Bike Week, classes, and flying. As usual, I’ll start with the classes and then tell you about experiencing Bike Week first hand! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TTh – Physics 104 – Well, two tests down, two to go! I managed to get another A so I am pretty happy with that. Other than that, not to much going on in physics. It’s still very early in the morning and it is difficult to convince myself that I need to go. But somehow, I manage to get up and I haven’t missed a class yet. One thing that I have noticed is that a class can be very different depending on the professor. For example, last semester my physics teacher would assign homework very frequently, but this year I haven’t had a single homework assignment. So depending on who your professor is, your experience will be very different.

TTh – Basic Aeronautics II – Well I just got done with my last test in this class, and it’s already time for Round 2. We have been discussing multi-engine systems and we are going to have our first test covering multi stuff on this coming Thursday. On the last test, I had to study for quite a bit of time which is kind of unusual for me. Whenever I have a test coming up, I will study, just not for hours on end. Well, for my aeronautics test, that’s just what I did. I studied and studied and studied, so that means I’m going to have to do that again for this upcoming test. I’m looking forward to that.

MWF – Air Traffic Control I – We took our 2nd test in this class as well, and he still hasn’t posted the grades on-line yet. I’m not sure how I did, and to be honest I can barely remember taking the test. We took it a week ago so I have no idea how I did. Other than that, nothing too exciting going on in here.

MWF – Intro to Psychology – I also had a test in my psych class last week and I did pretty well. The test went over states of consciousness, learning, and memory. Psychology still seems to be one of my favorite classes and almost everything I learn I find very fascinating. Not to knock on my other classes, but the ideal gas law that we went over in Physics isn’t as exciting as learning about learning. So I’m still pretty happy with my psych class and I’ve been thinking about taking other psych classes over the next couple of years.

Flight – As much as I enjoy some of my other classes (such as psychology) I still think flying is hands down the best part of Riddle! If you read last journal, I talked about the three tests that you must pass in order to get your private pilot’s license: written, oral, and practical test. I took my written test last week and I passed with an 83%. I took tons and tons and tons and tons of practice tests and on average I got a 93%, but when it was time to take the actual test, the pressure is on and the environment is completely different. In order to pass the test, you need a 70%, so I’m in the clear with an 83%! Since I have finished my written, I am now studying for my oral test. I have also been doing some cross-country flights; I have done a total of 4 cross-countries, one of which was at night. Now, my next activity is a local solo which is like a normal flight, but I never see my instructor. Before when I soloed I was with my instructor and we flew to an airport, my instructor hopped out, I did some solo take-offs and landings and picked her back up and flew back to Daytona. Now I am 100% alone and on my own! I am pretty excited and I’ll be sure to let everyone know how it goes.

Well, Bike Week 2007 was a success! This past week bikers from all over the world came to Daytona to celebrate bikes. Surprisingly, I have never been to Bike Week in the past because traffic is usually horrible and there are way too many people. Well, this year I have been trying new things so my friends and I decided to go check it out. But we didn’t want to just drive over there and walk around like everyone else; we wanted to submerge ourselves in the culture. . . . So we rented scooters. We went to a local place right near the beach and paid $30 for two hours on these pretty nice scooters. I went with my friends Zach and Aaron and we had a blast. We were riding right next to the bikers and we kept up for the most part. Over by the beach, the speed limit never goes beyond 40mph and the scooters topped out at around 45mph, so we weren’t blocking traffic too bad. We were just cruising down A1A right next to the beach and just drove around for 2 hours. We ended up going down Main Street which is where the street is 100% lined up with bikes all along the sides and where everyone goes to check out all the cool bikes. You could walk down Main Street and see live music, choppers, all sorts of custom bikes, and three college kids on scooters. We drove right down Main Street and we definitely got some funny looks! It was fun to see bike week from a biker’s perspective . . . well almost.

Other than cruising around the beach on scooters, I went to a couple of concerts as well. I went and saw G. Love and Special Sauce and then I saw Pepper. If you are a fan of good music, I recommend checking out these two bands. A band called Redeye opened for G. Love and the Suppervillans and Mad Caddy opened for Pepper. Overall, every band I saw at both concerts put on one heck of a show. I hope that I will be able to check these guys out next time they make it to Orlando.

Well, Spring Break is right around the corner and I still have so much I need to do before it starts, so I am signing out! I don’t want to give anything away for my spring break, but I will tell you that I will be snowboarding . . . a lot of snowboarding. So I am pretty excited about that. Well, as always be sure to check out the pictures and videos website to see all the crazy antics of life down here in Daytona! I’ll be putting up some pictures of Bike Week and of the Scooter Boys (that’s what we heard someone yell as we went down Main Street and they also asked us to ‘pop a wheelie,’ but I would have fallen, so I didn’t). So be sure to check that out. I hope everyone is having a good year so far and continues to do so and I will see ya in 2 weeks! Adios!

-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com
aim: wasteofsoap
videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

Hey everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. My past two weeks have been busy with events. The Sigma Chis won all the events for the week and they even won the contest for Relay for Life. They raised over $2000 for it. It’s exciting all the Greek organizations getting together and hanging out for fun and games.

On Saturday night, I went to Orlando to pick up Hilda’s friend from the airport. We then went to Club Paris in downtown Orlando. It was my first time in downtown Orlando. I had a great time. It was $5 for 21 and over and $ 10 for under 21. It felt good to be away from Daytona for a bit. I also forgot about the time change so I got home late.

All of last week, I have been spoiling my little sister with presents. I am so excited when she finds out who I am on Saturday. I was also late for Relay for Life because I had been working on my presents of the day for her. At the Relay for Life, they presented all the people that were survivors and their caregivers. I was surprised to see that half the people on stage were in my sorority. It was encouraging to see some people I recognized there to support the survivors. I walked for a couple of hours and then went home. After Relay for Life, we had a bike wash for a fundraiser.

On Sunday, we had the girls play flag football. The Powder Puff game was brutal. It reminded me of how rough girls can get. The gold team won this year’s game. One of the girls on that team messed up her knee and now she’s on crutches for awhile now. I had a great time playing because it gave me the opportunity to meet other girls that I don’t normally interact with.

On Saturday, I went to my semi-formal. I brought one of my friends, Dan with me. It was at the Museum of Arts and Sciences here in Daytona. I had heard about this museum but I wasn’t sure where it was. I was pretty impressed with what I saw. I am planning on going some day when it is open just because they had some nice paintings that I would like to learn about.

On Friday, there was a homerun derby with each of the presidents from each Greek organization. I also found out who my Lil for the sorority is going to be. I am so excited because I get to spoil her for a week with presents.

On Thursday, we had a Greek speaker come in and talk to us. He is well-known and travels around the country giving speeches. He had valuable lessons for us to learn. He was telling us how we should focus on our academics and to do something we really want to do in life. He also explained to us that if we were going to drink that we should do it responsibly. He said it’s not worth it to drink and drive and he hates going to funerals when those types of fatalities have occurred. No one would hire us if we had an alcohol-related incident especially the pilot world, it’s true. No one would hire you because they might see you as a liability. He also told us that if we had any problems, he would be willing to talk to us and that we can e-mail or call him anytime we needed to.

SPRING BREAK!

Spring Break was fun.  I had to work the Friday night before, so I didn’t fly out until Saturday.  I got to VA around noon.  I spent some time with my best friend (whose birthday is today), some other friends, my family, and my boyfriend.

I also got to fly, which was nice.  I flew to the airport where I got my training for my private pilot’s license.  It is currently being redesigned and renovated.  So far, I don’t like it much, since it is very different from what I’m used to, and it’s still all plywood and nails.  I’ll probably warm up to it when it’s finished.

Steve had a birthday over Spring Break (he’s 21 ooooooh), and I missed it.  But prior to Spring Break Cassie and I gave him his gift, which was a teddy bear named Sampson Von Kriegenbergh that we made at the mall.  It sings the most annoying version of “Happy Birthday” that I have ever heard.

APARTMENT!!!  Steve and I signed up for our apartment – we finally got all of our paperwork filled out and turned in, and we picked out which apartment we wanted.  We chose a second story apartment facing the woods.  There’s also plenty of lawn behind it for my dog (Sophie, pictured below) to run around in.  We’re both very excited about it.  We’re also excited about adopting a kitten once we move in.  Everybody loves kittens.

Over Spring Break I also got a chance to hang out with another good friend of mine and play with her new son.  He was so sweet, and although prior to his birth, I really disliked children, I think I’m warming up to them now.  He’s also pictured below, isn’t he cute?

The return home was relatively stress free.  In fact, this week has gone by very quickly, and all of a sudden… I have two tests tomorrow and one on Friday.  So I’m off to study.

Email me with questions/comments!

– Cat

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working hard on my school work. I did horrible on my first two tests of the semester. I was disappointed in myself. In my other two tests, I did awesome. I aced my fire protection test. I thought I was going to do badly since I had so much going on the night before. I studied with someone else for about an hour. I know that helped me out because there were some terms and questions I still had that my friend was able to answer.

The Daytona 500 was crazy. I arrived to Daytona from Miami when there were three laps left in the race. I am so happy I saw the ending of the race because I had never seen anything like it. In the end, I did not work during race week because my job was cancelled. I went to the University of Miami with another ERAU student for a conference. The conference was on how to end global poverty and what we can do to help people. There were many different ideas; of course some of them were very controversial; while others were acceptable and doable. People are trying to help out the poor and we also need to keep in mind that people that are homeless were not always poor. One of the speakers was earning six figures in a year and because of his wife, he ended up living in the streets because he could not support her habit. Now he lives in one of the homes that help homeless people. He is currently trying to get his life together. There are also other places like the food bank that try to give people food. They feel bad because they have to turn people away because they don’t have enough food to distribute.

The one statement that hit home is the fact that many kids (in the thousands) go to sleep hungry every night. It reminded me why I enjoy helping people. I am philanthropy chair for my sorority. Helping children is our priority. I am currently working on a couple of projects so we can interact with children. I am excited about that.

This week is Greek Week. We had a Xi man BBQ on Sunday so we can meet all the contestants. So far we haven’t won in any of the events for Greek Week. We had a Chariot Race and a Soap Box Derby. Our Soap Box derby didn’t even finish the race. I knew we were going to be racing on grass, but we weren’t anticipating on sand. So our little Soap Box got stuck in the sand. I helped in finding the parts for it, but Isadora built the whole thing. I fell asleep with my contacts on and the next day I woke up with a red eye. My eye still hurts. I don’t drive at night or anything just because my eye is sensitive and I have people driving me around to places.

I saw a motorcycle accident today on my way to school. He flew a couple of yards. He did not have a motorcycle helmet on. He was not conscious. He was just laying there. I really hope he’s ok.

My apartment is starting to get full of people coming down for Spring Break. Dave had his ex-girlfriend down here for a couple of days from PA. Now we have two of Amy’s friends from MN staying at our place for a couple of days. I love meeting new people even though I am shy.

For the rest of the week for Greek week, we have a pyramid contest, tug of war and a powder puff game. Our sorority is having a semi formal with a Mardi Gras theme to it. Next week is also Relay for Life followed by a Car Wash.