“When it rains, most birds head for shelter; the Eagle is the only bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the cloud…”  Author Unknown

There may be a point in time while in school that everything will seem difficult with no end in sight. Life is going to find a way to test you. At times, you may feel that this is unfair. The urge to quit during these times are the highest but don’t give in. At this point you have to tell yourself: it’s not about how good you are, but how bad you want it. Whatever your dream is, if it’s important to you, then fight for it. Just remember that there is more than one way to achieve your dreams. If one way doesn’t work, just change your strategy.

Follow your heart

Never giving up doesn’t mean you keep doing the wrong things over and over, it means to be smart and figure out the correct actions to take and then taking them until you achieve your dreams.

This semester has proven to be challenging to me, but the challenge is well worth it. In choosing to become an Eagle, I have taken the oath, the chance, the challenge to soar above the limits of normality. Each student here has their own their own desires out of life. Me? I choose the forecast my future for clear skies, and engineer my flight to the stars and beyond.

As Lanston Hughes once said, “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”

Spring break has come and gone and there are only five weeks left of my first year here at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This year has gone by so fast and it is weird to already be making plans for my summer.

I am looking into taking some courses over the summer at a Community College near my house. This is a good way to save a bit of money and get some of your general education credits out of the way. I am also looking for a job where I can make enough money to pay for next year’s tuition. So, if anyone knows of any openings please don’t hesitate to contact me. Hopefully I can make enough to fund my instrument rating as well, wouldn’t that be nice! Anyways, now that we are on the home stretch, it means that final exams are approaching and I will most likely be spending most of my time in the coming weeks studying at the library.

One thing I have noticed about college that is different from life in high school is that during college, there are distinct “phases” throughout the academic school year. In other words, every couple of weeks seem to be different in terms of what you are getting ready for. It seems like you are always preparing for something (i.e. an exam, presentation, break or a new unit), whereas in high school it seemed (at least for me) that there would be weeks, if not months, where school just felt unproductive, time-consuming and, for lack of a better word, boring. Things are much different here at Riddle and therefore, that is my theory as to why time literally flies by when you are in college. However, I will understand that this might change as I get closer to graduation.

As I wrote earlier, I decided to wait to take my Private Pilot Check ride until after spring break. Now that it is “after spring break”, I should be flying towards the end of this week or beginning of next, weather and schedule permitting, so stay tuned for updates on that. Other than that, I don’t have too much else to inform you about. Sorry for not having a plethora of pictures for you this time (I know that is what everyone looks forward to). The camera on my phone which I usually use to take pictures for my journal entries has decided to stop working for me. However, I didn’t want you to leave feeling empty handed so here is a picture I thought was pretty cool which I took with my iPod on my way back to Florida after spring break.

Sunrise at 35,000 feet

I normally try to start each entry with a type of “hook” to grab the reader’s attention. But, to be honest, I can’t really of anything clever to say without sounding like a broken record. So I’ll just get right into it. Last weekend was family weekend down here at Riddle. The University put on a bunch of events for parents and families to attend while visiting their Riddle student away at college. Festivities kicked off Friday with the “College Student for a Day” event, where parents were able to sit in on classes with their son or daughter. Unfortunately, my parents weren’t here for family weekend, but I assume that this was a pretty cool opportunity for most parents and something they enjoyed. This school definitely had a different look with parents and families walking around everywhere all weekend. One of the most popular events of the weekend (not surprisingly) was the “take your parent flying” opportunity. As you would expect, many of the students were eager to showcase their flying skills to their parents. I also assume this was one of the highlights of the weekend for most parents and families. Some of the other events of the weekend included an ERAU baseball game, a magician and a showcase of the ERAU Jet Dragster (shown below), just to name a few.

Photo credit thanks to Jay Weiss

My flight course has been going well and I am almost up for my end of course checkride. Hopefully by the next entry I will have my Private Pilot Certificate, but some of that will depend on the weather and how quickly I can get scheduled for my checkride. Once you get to the end of course, you have to spend some time going over each and every maneuver you were taught earlier in the course. It’s taken me a few refresher flights to make sure I’ve got each maneuver nailed down. Hopefully I’ll just need one or two more flights to practice landings and I’ll be ready to go. Another part of the end of course check that often gets overlooked is the Oral Check. Basically, you have to sit down with a Check Airmen while he evaluates your cross-country flight planning, knowledge of weather and use of charts, publications and data, knowledge of operations of systems in the aircraft you are being examined in, Aeromedical factors such as hypoxia and spatial disorientation, night preparation and other items relating to Private Pilot Test Standards. To say the least, it’s a lot of studying and reviewing key terms and procedures. But, nevertheless I am feeling confident about the end of course checkride and oral and will keep the internet world updated on how it goes in the next couple of weeks.

I recently applied for the Resident Advisor (RA) position here at Embry-Riddle. A Resident Advisor is an older student (Sophomore, Junior, Senior) who is in charge of overseeing the living halls and making sure policies and rules are followed. For freshmen, an RA should also strive to create a sense of community for his/her residents and be a good friend and leader for them. I applied for the position because I thought it would be a great experience and just a good solid job. So far, I’ve been through two interviews and up next is a four week class which meets for two hours on Tuesday nights. After the class, the Housing & Residence Life Office will make a decision on the final selection of Resident Advisors.

Lastly, I just wanted to add a cool picture I took from the top of Joe’s Crab Shack the other night right after the sun set. The weather has been beautiful the past couple of weeks!

View from Joe’s Crab Shack looking south as the sun sets on Daytona Beach