I refuse to believe it. I refuse to believe I’ve been home for 3 weeks and I only have 1 left. Being a freshman, I seriously do not want to go back to college yet. I’ve made some friends, but there’s obviously a huge difference between knowing someone for a couple months verses several years.

I do have much to look forward to during this next semester, though, so I can’t be completely devastated. 🙂 I have only 14 credits, go back to warm weather, finish every day at the latest at 2 pm, get to continue work in the Space Physics Research Lab, and am going to become a physics expert.

Not so sure about the last one, but I will at least have a great spring break with my mom and will perhaps experience a semester flying by. I assume the first and last semesters of college are the longest… we’ll see won’t we?

And, best of all, it means I’m 4 months closer to a glorious 3 month summer to be with friends, go on adventures, work as an intern (hopefully), and finishing getting my pilot’s license. Regardless, I need to learn to enjoy the here and now of life. God is gracious to give me breath each and every second and if I’m always wistfully daydreaming about what’s coming, I’ll miss what’s here. That truth has become all too evident during this Christmas break. It’s not very fun to be hangin’ with friends only to think about how soon it will be over and that I won’t see them for FOUR MORE months. Although, that did help me to realize I definitely need to just pick up my cell phone and give people a call!! My shyness overcomes my loneliness too often…

In summary, I’ve had a wonderful birthday and Christmas, 4 days of working at Red Robin, time with the family, time with friends, Starbucks trips, restaurant exploration, movie-going, shopping, and New Year’s Eve games.

I am so thankful that we get breaks like these. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way the tree glistened with extra sparkle this December. Or the smiles on my loved ones faces each time we laughed. My whole life college has always looked so magical and wondrous. I never realized how much would change, how I would change. I’m so terrified and yet thrilled. I will certainly be praying for a deeper love for those around me at school. Right now, my heart is about to get broken again as I’m torn away from my beloved home and those who make it home. It’s just one of those transition parts of life, what can I say? 🙂

Happy 2008 from a reflecting freshman, Natalie Ann P.S. I’m kinda bummed because I never took any pictures with my friends this break. Crazy, huh? I still have time… I’ll keep my camera in my purse from now on… 🙂

spencern@erau.edu

Hey Everyone,
So this semester has finally come to an end. It has been a fantastic first semester, it’s just unbelievable how fast it actually went. I must say that while it was hard to be away from home, I definitely grew up a lot. I mean, not to say that I was immature or anything, but the fact that I have been away from home for 4 months has definitely been crazy and a life changing experience. Well, let me tell you a little about the past 2 weeks.

Exams are OVER (obviously) and I think and hope that I did well… My last exam was on the 10th. Since I was staying to sing for Graduation for the AcaFellas, I decided to take the extra week I had to go visit my sister in Texas. So on Tuesday I left and I had such a great time, I got to see my nieces, and let me tell you how much they have grown up. My older niece, Alyssa is now in pre-school and is one of the smartest in her class, and my younger niece, Taylor is growing up just as fast, she is starting to be able to talk in full sentences. I just can’t believe how much they have grown up and how big they have gotten. I came back on Saturday, and my friends picked me up from the Airport in Orlando and then we went out to dinner. We had a fun night.  When we got back to school we all hung out for a bit and then went to our own rooms. Well, campus was totally dead, since everyone had left for break already. I was the only one of my friends on that side of the Student Village and I felt very lonely LOL…. Well I turn on my computer to go talk online and I have a flashing message from my Weather Bug saying that there was a Tornado Watch for Daytona Beach. Then I realized that the weather was changing rapidly outside for the worse. So I called Jo and I was like…this is not good. I ended up going to her room to hang out with her and Erik. Well, we never went to sleep until like 5 am so we didn’t get up til like noon yesterday. So yesterday we all went out to breakfast and then Jo’s parents were coming in soon after so we did a little bit of shopping so that Jo could get some make-up and stuff then we headed back to campus.

Once I got back to my room I had to change because the AcaFellas were singing at the Masters Hooding Ceremony, and then we were going to the President of the University’s house to sing for some company he was having over. Okay, his house was HUGE and when I say huge I don’t think you can imagine how big it was. He served Prime Rib and Lobster for dinner and then we sang like 7 songs, which was really nice and we all did really good. I had a lot of fun that night. So I went back to campus and then went to bed
to prepare for Graduation today. So we sang the National Anthem at graduation in front of like 700 people and then at the end we sang the Alma Mater. We did great and I had a lot of fun.

Well, I had a flight leaving at 3:30 and it was 1:00 by the time we got back to campus, so I quickly packed and then headed out to come home. I found out that one of the guys in the AcaFellas that also lives in Buffalo had the same flights as me home, so we hung out in the Atlanta airport and then we came home. I now sit here writing to you from FREEZING cold Buffalo, New York. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… I’ll talk to you when I get back to school… Stay Safe!

Until Next Time,

Joe Jaworski
AIM: HYPORBOY226
Email: Jaworksj@erau.edu

Hello everyone!

It’s my birthday today (18th) and I can hardly believe I’m almost done with the teenage years. It is so wonderful being home! The last two weeks were torture just because we could all feel the semester coming to an end.

After getting through my last Calculus, Graphical Communications, and Chemistry tests on Monday, I was able to relax a bit until finals got closer. I even gave myself a haircut. It turned out pretty nice. It was fun to surprise my family with a new look. A

nother thing I was able to do before flying home was go to my first real sporting event. I went to the basketball game when we played our rivals, Flagler. It’s also the school my sister graduated from last December, so that’s another good reason to go. It was very exciting to see our guys take the win!

I also enjoyed having a free, tasty lunch for Honor’s kids and even a dodgeball tournament at church. Christian Fellowship Club had a great Christmas party with carols, games, and free stuff and food. It was a nice way to celebrate finishing my Calculus final earlier that day.

I also went to Starbucks and Target with Alex. I found a Secret Santa gift for a guy on my floor just in time. We went back and exchanged gifts. It was really fun. There were many creative gifts. The rest of the weekend involved packing, laundry, and studying for the dreaded Chemistry final.

I nearly cried when I finished and walked out of the engineering building. It had been a long semester of learning and struggles. I’ve never had to work so hard for a class in my life. I had little to no background in chemistry and there I was taking our hardest chem course. God got me through and taught me it’s ok to get a low grade on a test or two when you really study well and try your best. Dr. Cameron was generous with the extra credit and although I got two tests in the 60 range, I got an 87 overall. The final was an 82, so I’m proud of that.

The rest of my classes were all A’s, so I’m happy to say I’ve finished my first semester of college in the “hardest” major (so it’s rumored) with a 3.83. It’s bizarre to not have a 4.0 anymore, but at least I don’t have the pressure of keeping it. And there’s no reason to be ashamed of what I’ve accomplished with my Lord and Savior’s help!

Now that the drama of Chemistry was over, I could really enjoy my Christmas break. I’ve gone to a hs basketball game, Christmas concert, trip up to the snow with my dad, church college kids open house, and a class party at my best friend’s house that turned out to be a surprise party for me. How blessed I am to have such wonderful friends and family! I can’t believe how much we always take for granted and how hard people are working to take the real meaning of this celebratory month away. And so, although it is indeed a wonderful holiday season, I close by saying: Merry Christmas! Let us all rejoice together in what we have been given and the heavenly gift born on that special night in Bethlehem!

With love,
Natalie Ann
spencern@erau.edu

These past two weeks have been busy, busy, busy. I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep this entry short because I’m sitting in about twelve suitcases worth of clothing and stuff (that I have to stuff into two) in my room back home in Jersey!

When I last left you guys, TFO was preparing for our semester event Tropical Holiday, which I think, was a success. The night was a bit chilly but I went into the inflatable boxing ring with one of my friends, who happened to be a guy and I got to punch him all I wanted, it was great.

The night before our event we had planned to paint the rock and the funniest thing happened. We went there close to eleven so it would hopefully not be painted over by morning time, but just after we painted the first side, the sprinklers turned on, it was hilarious. Once I get the pics from that day I’ll post them, we all got wet and the paint started to drip so we placed a plastic bag over the big sprinkler, but that obviously didn’t work. Then I ended up pretty soaked because one of my friends dumped a bag full of freezing water on me thinking it would be funny, lol.

That was that week, Saturday (8th) was my first final, Calc! I spent hours and HOURS studying for it. It was definitely worth the effort though cuz I got an A! WooHoooo.

Then I had a Physics final on Tuesday that I really needed to study for because according to ratemyprofessors.com, it was going to be hard.

Saturday Me, Roomie and Suitemates all took a break from studying for finals and had a chick night. We all wore matching t-shirts that said SMILE! and we watched chick flicks while eating some AMAZING chocolate we bought from this store called the World Market nearby. They have the best variety of Lindt and other foreign chocolate at great prices. It was a fun night.

I spent the rest of the weekend studying for physics. All the physics professors had review sessions for the final which was really helpful, and there were study sessions going on all over the place, it was just a matter of asking someone.

Anyways, during all this, my flight out of Florida changed! I was supposed to leave on that Saturday, but my last final was Tuesday and with this whole India trip, I would only get to spend two days at home, so Mom changed my flight and I left Tuesday, out of Orlando instead of Daytona Beach and now had a stopover in Charlotte, which sucked but it was much better than going home four days later. Charlotte was a cute airport, I did a little bit of shopping for my family and my flight was delayed almost two hours, which sucked so much, but it was still much better than going home on Saturday, so I sucked it up again.

I remember leaving Daytona in a T-shirt and jeans feeling hot and landing in Newark airport wondering why I was idiotic enough to think I wouldn’t need a jacket. The day after I came, there was a snowstorm! Brr, it was cold. Ooh I forgot to mention we did a Secret Santa thing for our floor, it was a lot of fun. I got a bunch of cute bath stuff and some really really yummy good chocolate, you can never go wrong with giving me chocolate.

After I came back home, it was a little weird. I got so used to waking up every morning and basically doing my own thing hanging out with the same people almost every day and not being in that atmosphere is almost a little strange. I remember going downstairs the next morning and I was like, wait, I have to cream cheese my bagel myself? lol, as strange as that sounds, Einstein’s (a dining facility at Riddle) has been putting cream cheese on my morning bagel for me for months! I adjusted quickly though, after all this is home.

It feels great, but I’m going to India tomorrow! I can’t wait. There’s going to be a big celebration and I’m going to get to see all my family and go shopping, woo hoo! I’ll be sure to take pictures and show everyone how we celebrate my Grandpa’s 80th birthday.

The next entry won’t be for a little while, so I hope everyone is busy submitting applications and such for Riddle, trust me it’s worth the effort. Enjoy your Christmas, New Years and any other holiday I’m missing! Take care everyone!

Hello from freezing Illinois!

My flight left Daytona Beach on Wednesday afternoon, I had a long layover in Atlanta and I made it home to Illinois late that evening. The Atlanta airport is crazy and each time I land there, my gate gets changed. This time was no exception because the gate was changed three times!

I am so glad to be home for a visit and having completed my first semester at ERAU. The last two weeks at school included my flight’s Christmas Party, study day, and finals. On December 2nd, my AFROTC flight had one last activity together—a Christmas party. We decorated sugar cookies, watched a movie, and exchanged presents. The gift I got was a car that moves when you push a button. I thought it was pretty cute and was glad that I didn’t end up with the fish someone brought. My flight was a great group of people and I hope that next semester I am just as lucky to get such a good flight. The Christmas party started to get me in the Christmas spirit and my mom sent me a box full of homemade Christmas cookies and that helped too.

We didn’t have class on Friday last week because finals started on Saturday and they give us a day to just study. The Honors Program provided us with a free catered lunch that day to provide us with a break in studying. The food was pretty tasty and I needed something to break up the study day.

The last two weeks of school were sort of boring because no clubs were having meetings and ROTC was over, so I didn’t have anything to do except study. I don’t mind studying but after awhile I began to get bored, so I went over to a friend’s room and together we helped one another study.

I had a final on Saturday night and we ended up being able to use our notes. Monday I had two finals in the afternoon including my Honors final which was short answer and multiple essays. Afterwards, I felt like my fingers were going to fall off. I had Tuesday off and then Wednesday morning I had two—my math and computer final. Before my math final, I got together with another girl and we studied our old tests and that helped a lot.

My finals all went pretty well and I am really happy with my final grades. They were all done really early on Wednesday and my flight wasn’t until later, so I cashed in all of my meal plans and finished cleaning my room.

The Student Village put up a twelve foot Christmas tree and I took a picture of it and put it on my website. Also, the College of Business building was pretty much finished when I left and I included some pictures of that. Now, I am going to go make some chocolate chip cookies!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Until next time, Kaleigh
e-mail: sidesk@erau.edu

Well hello to everyone out there in internet land! I’d like to first start by apologizing to everyone who reads these on a regular basis. As you may know, my fellow journal writers had there journals online by last week. Unfortunately, I have been running a little late.

This past week was the last week in school and I had 4 tests and my big paper due. On top of that I have been having some personal troubles which translated into a pretty tough past week. Overall, school has been going great, but other things haven’t. It’s nothing to worry about though, life goes on and I’m excited to be done with school! I’ll go ahead and tell you about my last weeks of classes . . .

TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Weather – We had an option final exam, if we wanted to take it. The final would replace our lowest test grade, but since I had an A average, I didn’t need to take it! Overall, this class was beneficial, but I’m glad it’s over. It was early in the morning, but it did cover a lot of valuable information that I will use on a regular basis. I have some friends that are minoring in weather, which is something that I think I’ll pass on. This class was a great overview of all of aviation weather, but I don’t think I would like to go way in-depth like other classes.

TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Business Communications – I am so relieved this class is over. I was dreading this class from the beginning and I couldn’t be happier now that it’s done. My group turned in our paper and I could feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders as we handed it to our professor. I was really impressed with what we accomplished. I’m not sure of my grade in the class, but I have been making Bs on all my papers, so hopefully I can at least get a B. An A would be great, but I am a horrible writer! Can’t you tell just by reading! 😉

TTH 12:45pm-2:00pm – Intermediate Aeronautics – This class has been great for numerous reasons. For one, it directly pertains to my flight course and what my instructor and I have been doing, and two, the professor was great. He made the subject fun and interesting, and I liked him so much I signed up for a class of his next semester. We took our third and final exam and I got a 95! I ended up with an A in the class, so I’m pretty psyched about that! If you have read my previous journals, you know about the three steps in attaining your pilot’s license. There is a written test, an oral test, and a practical test. Well, the same goes for your instrument rating. I took a practice written exam in our class which simulates the real thing and I got a 91%. There is a test bank of 926 questions, and I have been studying non-stop for the past three weeks. I was so happy when I found out I got a 91!!! Now I have to sign up for the real one, and I’m getting kind of nervous. Hopefully it won’t be too bad.

TTH 2:15pm-3:30pm – Air Traffic Management II – Well I am very happy I chose to minor in Air Traffic Control, because it really has enforced everything I have learned. I enjoyed the class as a whole and I’m looking forward to next semester because I am taking ATM III with my two friends that I was with in ATM II and another friend. For ATM III, we actually get headsets and have to look at screens and talk to each other, so it should be fun.

TTHS 5:30pm-8:30pm – Flight – I am at the point where I have learned almost everything I need to know, and now I just have to review it and practice. I am going to take a break until next semester, and I’ll pick up where I left off in January. Over the break, hopefully I’ll have a lot of time to study, but I know that I’ve said that before! I’ll give it a shot though, if I don’t study over the break, I’ll slowly start to forget things. That’s not good!

Well, I’m going to have to cut the journal short this week. To be honest this past week has been one of the toughest periods in my life, even if school wasn’t part of it. But then you throw finals and papers on top of that, wooah. I promise that next journal will be longer and more informative. Until then, I’m going to do some working over the break, maybe do some snowboarding, and try to enjoy life.

I hope everyone has a good holiday season and I look forward to seeing you next year!

-Blake
email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com

pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasteofsoap/

videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=blakeguiles

Hey Everyone,
Well, once again, life on the Embry Riddle Campus has been crazy. There has been so much that has been going on, some good, some bad, some I’m just not sure how to take it. I’ll be letting you guys know what classes have been like and what I am taking next semester. Well I hope you all are doing well and let’s begin!!

CLASSES
Air Traffic 302 (AT302)- William Coyne
This class has surprisingly been going a lot better than it has been previously. I know it has taken a whole semester but the professor is just not that great. I know that sounds mean to say, but he is an extremely nice guy, but I just don’t get his teaching methods. I was talking to another Air Traffic Control professor and this is what has been going on: I am in 302, and there is a 300 class before 302. Now, the 300 class has a prerequisite of AS 120 to it, but 302 does not have any prerequisites  to it at all.  So this professor knew that I was struggling in my class. What I did not understand was why I was not informed of this earlier when I was doing my scheduling. Basically, what I’m trying to tell everyone that is coming here for ATC, don’t let anyone tell you that it is okay to take 302 before 300. If you don’t have your private pilot’s license you have to take AS 120 so take that, then take 300 and eventually take 302. Don’t make yourself struggle through an entire semester like I did.

Intro to Contemporary Mathematics (MA006)- Debbie Edwards
Hopefully you all won’t be in this math, this is a “refresher” type of math class for transfers students who have not taken math in a long time, like me!!! So the class has been going well, I really like the professor for this class, she is an amazing teacher, and it is really hard to find good math professors anymore so I’m really glad that I had her. I actually am taking my MA 111 class with her too.

Introduction to Psychology (PSY101)- Jessica Cruit
I really liked this class this semester. I had always wanted to take a Psychology class and I’m glad that I got the opportunity to do so. The teacher is amazing! She knows how to make you interested in the topic and she is extremely generous with letting you know what she will be testing you on. I got a 94 on my midterm, and it was basically because she went over every little thing that would be on it the class before we took the exam. We just handed in our case studies in which we had to make a story up about a client that we had and diagnose them with a Psychological Disorder and then treat them. This was actually pretty fun and it would have been a lot more fun if I didn’t wait until the last second to do it.

Business Administration (BA201)-Tamilla Curtis
Business class has also turned around from the beginning of the year. We just presented our end of the semester projects and my group members and I got a 90 on it. We had to create a business and create an in detail business plan or its structure, financial data, and all that fun stuff. My group decided to do “The Mile High Bar and Grill” It was a lot of fun. For our presentations, everyone was wearing like ties and dress pants but since we had a sports bar my group decided to show up in jeans and sports jerseys. We didn’t know if we would get criticized or if the teacher would like it, but she complimented us on how we matched with each other and with our business plan. Otherwise we are just preparing for our final exam.

Introduction to Meteorology (WX201)
Meteorology is a fun class, the material we learn in completely boring but the professor is cool and the people that I sit around are a lot of fun. We all always compare homework in the beginning of class and we have gotten like all 100 on our homework. I finally did semi-good on a test in that class. Those tests are ridiculously hard but I managed to pull off a 78. Yes I know that sounds bad but it was a miracle LOL. Now that all of our tests are done, we are just going over final exam material.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR  ACTIVITIES
ERAU Choir
Choir has been going very well but very slow. Last week we still didn’t know all of our songs for our concert this Wednesday. It’s very irritating because there are a handful of us that are putting in all the effort and then there are just people that care about being there but are not exactly putting in the effort. I don’t like that they are the ones holding us back. It’s like learn your part and remember your part. Every rehearsal it seems like we are going back and learning songs that we have gone over so many times. I still have fun though!!!

AcaFellas
AcaFellas is going very well. We have done a few National Anthem gigs and we are doing a few holiday party gigs, so that is a lot of fun. At least with AcaFellas, when we learn music, people actually remember it and we don’t have to continually go back and learn over and over. We get to sing at the President of Embry Riddle’s house on December 16th, so I am pretty excited about that, and then we are singing the National Anthem on December 17th.

ERRSA
ERRSA is still as amazing as ever. I have been doing a lot with lately. We had our Residence Hall week just recently, and we had events for like 5 days in a row. They all went very well and I had a good time with them all. My friends in ERRSA have also been as amazing as ever. They have been there for me in the past few weeks when I have been having some problems, and I feel like I have been there for them too. They are all amazing people and I know I have said that before but there are just no words to describe what great friends they are.

I know that this semester has been awesome and I know that I have made so many new friends, but I cannot wait to go home. I really just need to see my family and spend time with them. I think that has definitely been the hardest part about this semester. I miss my family and friends back at home. What is good about the upcoming few weeks is that when I am done with exams on the 10th I am going to Texas to see my sister and nieces. I’ll be there until December 16th and then I am coming back to school to sing at graduation and the President’s house. I am so happy to go see them, they moved in August and it has been tough not seeing them.

I’m going to the Space Shuttle Launch this Thursday, December 6th, so I will let you guys know how that went, but other that I think that is all that I have. I hope that everybody has a great end to their semester and I’d like to hear from you all to see how everyone is doing with the Admissions process  and/or school selections. Any problems just let me know and I’ll get them answered for you. “There’s a kind of a sort of cost, there’s a couple of things that get lost, there are bridges you cross you didn’t know you crossed until you’ve crossed.” from the musical Wicked.

Until Next Time,
Joe Jaworski
Email- Jaworksj@erau.edu
Aim- HYPORBOY226

10 days  9 hours  29 minutes  18 seconds… until I’m halfway home!

…and that will be even less by the time I’m done writing this and by the time you read it! Yes, the thing on everyone’s mind here is HOME.
After all, I’ve never been away from it for more than two weeks before and I didn’t get to go home for Thanksgiving.

Things have been pretty easy going here the past few weeks. I’ve just been working in SPRL and doing little quizzes and homework assignments. We had a nice 5-day break for Thanksgiving. A friend and I went to the beach, had some Starbucks, and saw August Rush at Ocean Walk on Wednesday. I got to use Safe Ride for the first time since Kerry was able to drop us off and do Thanksgiving shopping with her grandpa’s car, but we needed a way back. It’s only $8 a ride within the zone and $1 for each extra person. So we split $11 (tip, too), which is not bad!

The next day, Thanksgiving, it was painfully slow waiting for 2:00 to arrive. Campus was so quiet and mellow it was bizarre. The buffet had great Thanksgiving food up already on nice tables and silver dishes. I introduced another friend from our floor to stuffing. He was hooked. That’s my favorite thing, too. He came with us, as well as the girl I went to the beach with the day before, who I know from Christian Fellowship Club. The last member of our party minus my roommate’s whole family was a mutual friend of Kerry’s and mine. I know him from Chem lab and she knows him from the Catholic Student Union. Phew! Now that introductions are all over (cleverly minus names! ;)) I can tell you about the rest of the day.

We stopped to get some last minute supplies and met some of Kerry’s siblings. At the house, we played Cranium and Apples to Apples and enjoyed goofing off with the kids. They were full of energy and hilarious! Our Thanksgiving feast was wonderful and I enjoyed some dishes I’d never had before.

On Black Friday instead of going shopping (I severely miss that because it’s a huge family tradition back home) we braved the crowds at Epcot. I hadn’t been to that park in several years, so it was fun to go back. We started the day by doing Fast Track and getting fastpasses for Soarin’ over California. Next, we wandered through the countries. Now that I’ve been to several more represented, it was even better. We made our way around and I became nostalgic seeing British tea, French pastries, and German bratwurst. Good stuff. For lunch I had a ham and chesse croissant and a cream puff. For dinner, my friend (Yes, the one from the beach and yesterday- sorry I have to be so
confusing!)  and I had Chinese food. Finally, it was time for Mission Space- my favorite! We both had such a great time on that one. Then we saw a huge Christmas concert and managed to get front-row seats. It was beautiful. To close the night, we ate crepes in France while watching the huge fireworks show. Lovely.

For Christian Fellowship Club, we went out to Denny’s and then Super Target. I was so excited to find that their Black Friday sale went 2 days so I got some cheap DVDs!! I also bought a cute 3-foot $10 tree for the room as well as some small glass ball ornaments. It looks so nice! I had some purple lights already and it looks so nice when I plug it in.

As for this past week, there isn’t too much to say. It’s just the same old stuff. We did have our last Calc test; I think I did well. Wednesday was crazy because at midnight, we surprised my suitemate with a cake and gifts. Some silly guys started a cake fight and two guys and two girls ended up screaming, yelling, and getting covered in cake. It was exciting to say the least.

And I’m officially finished with Chem Lab because we had our final on Thursday. I got the last one I wanted, but I managed to do ok, I think. It’s so nice that only one final is actually during finals week. That means coming home earlier! I took the birthday girl out to Chili’s later that night and we had a great time. We also wandered through Wal-Mart with some others getting a cake and gift yet again for another person on our floor whose birthday was Friday.

So now, here I am close to finishing my first semester of college!
I’ve got plenty of time to study for my few things left and to pack.
The second I get home I’m gonna enjoy the Christmas tree (It’s snowing in WA right now, too!!), bake something, and go to my favorite restaurant, where I work, Red Robin with my parents! I think I can make it…

Happy December!
Natalie Ann
spencern@erau.edu

Let the countdown begin!  Only nine more days until I get to go home!  I am so excited and ready to go home for a break, after four months of being gone I am ready to see some cornfields and the stars at night.  In Florida, there are too many lights at night to see the stars clearly.  These past two weeks I got to go to the movies, on a helicopter ride, Air Force ROTC ended for the semester, and I went sailing.

I didn’t get to go home for Thanksgiving, so for Thanksgiving Day I went to a professor’s house with a bunch of other Honors students.  I had a really good time and got to eat pumpkin pie.  On Black Friday, I went shopping and bought some Christmas presents to take back home with me.  That evening I was bored and I convinced some guys to take a trip to the movies because I though it would be fun.  I hadn’t been to the movies since I had arrived at school. Once we got to the movie theater we couldn’t decide what to see—I wanted to see Enchanted (a Disney film) and they wanted to see a bloody, scary movie.  Well, guess what movie three guys and I went to see?  Of course, Enchanted!  They did admit later on that they liked it.  Afterwards, we went to get ice cream at a place called Cow Licks and it reminded me of the ice cream place I worked at back home.  Thanksgiving break was nice and long but next year I plan on going home rather than staying here.

On Wednesday, November 28th I got to travel to Georgia and visit Moody Air Force Base.  For the trip I had to get my Battle Dress Uniform (BDUs) and I was pretty excited to finally have all of my Air Force uniforms.  A month earlier I got to sign up for this trip because I was in the ROTC detachment at the right time.  The main reason we were going was to ride in a helicopter, more specifically a HH-60.  I had never ridden in a helicopter before and I was thrilled to have this chance!  The drive to the base took 3.5 hours and then we had to have the doctors check all of us before we could ride in the helicopters.  Then, we got to meet our pilot and co-pilot who gave us a briefing on safety and the helicopter.  Only five cadets could ride at once, so when the first group went up the rest of us went to eat and see the base.  I thought the base looked pretty small, but I don’t think we got to see all of it, and I have never been on an Air Force base before, just Navy bases.  We got in the helicopter and I got a seat next to the door, which was great because the doors were open for the entire ride.  Unfortunately, my headset didn’t have a place to plug in and I didn’t get to hear any of the conversations.  The helicopter is equipped with two guns and they fired those at targets like old cars and airplanes.  Then my favorite part—I got to launch a flare!!  All I had to do was push a big red button next to the gunner, but not everyone got to do it.  The ride lasted about 35 minutes and we landed and took-off a couple of times.  When the last group was going, my group got to talk to some of the officers and enlisted people and the whole experience was great.  Then we all jumped back into the van for another 3.5 hour drive back to Riddle.

Air Force ROTC ended with an event called Pass-in-Review which is a big event where the cadet officers switch, awards are passed out, and all the flights march around the soccer field.  Everyone has to wear their service dress which means a tie and a jacket; this event is one of the fancier ones.  I wasn’t expecting to get an award and I was shocked when my name was called.  The award I got is the AFROTC Commendation Award and it means my performance was pretty outstanding and I should get a ribbon to pin on my uniform.  I still can’t believe I made it through an entire semester of AFROTC!

On Saturday, I went sailing with my Honors class.  We didn’t go out on the ocean we just stayed in the Halifax River, I was hoping for some bigger waves, like ocean size. The boat was huge compared to some other boats that were docked at the yacht club.  I was told that the boat we were on was 50 feet long and I think that’s pretty good size.  Also, we got a tour of the yacht club and it was really nice and all decorated for Christmas.  When I was in the building it felt like December and then I stepped back outside into the 70° weather.  My next journal entry will be written from Illinois were hopefully it will be snowing.  Good luck on your finals!

Until next time,

Kaleigh

e-mail:sidesk@erau.edu

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break because I did! I got to go back home and spend a good four-ish days with my family. My uncle, aunt, and cousin came from Pennsylvania and my grandma was there so we had a good time. I got there on Tuesday evening and my mom saw my dyed hair for the first time and was like, omg, what happened? No one said I gained weight, which is definitely a good thing because I ate all that ice cream just a few days before leaving. On Tuesday I didn’t do much, I was glad to be home so I wore my pajamas played a bit of guitar hero, hung out with sis, and finally got to relax for the first time in a while. Wednesday I went out for a few hours in the morning to meet some people, which was awesome and then went out to this Indian-Chinese restaurant called Ming. If you’re afraid of trying Indian food for the spice, this restaurant is perfect. The food is so delicious. Family from PA came this night and slept over for Thanksgiving. We don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey and cranberry sauce like most families do, mostly because we’re all vegetarians and it never really became one of our traditions to celebrate it. So we went to an Indian movie that night and sat in a crowded theater to watch a pretty funny movie. It made me feel better to know that we weren’t the only people who weren’t eating all day. After the movie we went to a nearby restaurant and ate some spicy food. After coming to Riddle I’ve been able to handle much less spice than I used to. I coughed when I was eating some home cooked food which prior to coming to Riddle wasn’t spicy. Then came Friday! Me, my sis, and one of my best friends went shopping all morning, it was awesome. We were planning to buy Digital cameras for sis and me, but then … somehow we didn’t. I can’t remember exactly why but we postponed it to December because we didn’t have enough time to figure out exactly what we wanted.

I came back from home Sunday morning and had to get work. I had exams in so many classes that week, but one was postponed to today, which was nice =] I studied all Sunday and Monday and studied major for my Calc exam, which I know I did well on, yay! Then came this past weekend. I hung out with my suitemates and roommate and a bunch of one of my suitemates navy friends. I played some video games, watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith for the first time and oh yeah, CLEANED. One of my friends from the hall helped Alex and I clean our room so we could walk from one end to the other without being stuck with a thumbtack. It looks amazing now; I can barely believe it’s my room. Housing is a stickler when it comes to fall checkout. Everything (including chairs) has to be off the floor over December, the bathroom should be spotless, and they just have so many ridiculous demands for us to have our room clean. It’s crazy.

Today in my Honors Seminar class we had a debate. There were eight of us participating in today’s debate and another set of eight on Wednesday’s debate. Our debate question was, should Embry Riddle develop new Humanities majors like art, literature and the like. I was on the con side, opposing the idea. We lost, but we definitely put up a good fight. The judges were three students from our class and the result of the debate doesn’t affect our grade, so I’m not worried. Both teams planned a lot for the debate so it was definitely a lot of fun and a new experience for me. I like giving presentations and talking to people about stuff. I think it’s the training I’ve gotten my past four years at my high school where I’d end up giving a presentation at least once in three weeks. The best part is, of course, getting to dress up! For once I didn’t just wear jeans and a sweatshirt and wore nice shoes instead of flip-flops. lol

TFO has our big event this Thursday! I’m so excited. Riddle has this rock in the middle of campus called the Spirit Rock. People from different clubs (and even randomly) spray paint the rock to advertise, etc. We’re going to paint the rock on Wednesday to promote our Tropical Holiday Party! It’s going to be great. Our event is like palm trees with holiday lights and Santa in a bathing type of thing. An inflatable boxing ring is our main attraction and there’s going to be a ton of food. We even got local businesses to donate things like a digital camera for our raffle. Riddle also donated an hour of flight sim time and a free of hour of flight lessons, which is AMAZING! The event is going to go from about 4-9, but clean up will run later. Friday is study day, so I’m going to do exactly that, study.

Saturday is my first final and its calc, so I really want to start studying as soon as I can. My suitemates, Alex, and I decided that we were going to dedicate Saturday night to ourselves. We’re going to make a Target run and buy a lot of chocolate and then lock the door and watch movies all night. No boys allowed. With the overflow of guys at Riddle, it’s definitely necessary to have at least one night a semester with just your girls, chocolate and chick flicks like A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and Grease!

So there’s my two weeks in a nutshell. I’m sorry for not putting up pictures yet. I’ve been waiting on sis to send me some because I left the digi cam at home, oops. But I’ll take a TON of pictures on Thursday during the TFO event and post them, so you guys can see what a Riddle event looks like. I can’t wait!

Feel free to write to me about anything you want to ask. I’ve gotten a few emails and I do try to respond as soon as I can, so don’t hesitate. Make sure you get your application in soon!

Next Journal entry I’ll be back home packing to leave for India on the next day! Oh my, what an exciting two weeks it’s going to be.