Well, it’s been an amazingly long two weeks of the sparkling new spring semester. I’m finally getting settled in, but have been doing so many things, I’m glad my classes haven’t been too demanding. Not one of my classes leaves my jaw hanging wide open when I don’t understand a word the teacher is saying. (That was Chemistry last semester by the way.) Physics and Calc 2 are going at a great rate, enough to keep me busy, but not enough to overwhelm. I have a programming class that I love! I’m so thankful that I took a year of that in high school; not only did that knowledge help me get a job in SPRL, but it also allows me to just learn the new language in my class instead of hearing things like float and loop for the first time. Honors will be more difficult that last semester because our teacher is covering the subject of physics history and things like the atomic bomb. I don’t have much experience calculating decay or half-life, so I’m always hastily taking notes. We’re having a “mega-quiz” this Friday. Finally, I can’t wait to get started on the physics labs. Our first one was just a painful (especially because I hadn’t eaten) 3-hour introduction.

SPRL is going well. I’ve had a hard time getting enough hours in because I’m doing so many other things and even want to join the Society of Women Engineers this semester. My fellow freshman worker and I were suddenly promoted thanks to seniors and other lead people leaving this summer. I will be in charge of the two VERY northern Canada sites. We’re having training meetings every Monday of the semester to make sure we all will be able to run SPRL on our own next year.

I also have several fun things planned this semester and several built-in. For example, Alex (my suitemate who I always mention) is in three of my classes (honors, calc 2, programming) whereas we had none together last semester. Spree (my other suitemate who writes a journal as well) is in two (calc 2, programming) with us. And another good friend from Christian Fellowship Club is in Calc 2 and is my lab partner. She’s meteorology, so I never thought we would be in class together- what a pleasant surprise! It seems that I know at least 60% of the people in each class. What fun! I don’t have to feel alone walking between classes all the time. Plus, many of my friends and I stop for lunch in-between or go check the mail. Good times!

Christian Fellowship Club is in full swing again, too. We had a great lesson and discussion on evangelism for our first meeting and went out to pizza and buffalo wings. They had a $32 pizza with 64 slices. It was AMAZING! They had to put it on another table so it would fit. One of my pilot friends is also very talented on guitar and will be leading worship for CFC. Another girl and myself will also be helping out. We had our first practice on Thursday. Hopefully we’ll eventually get some more guitars and a piano player. We lost our two musicians from last semester to great NASA internships. I spent 2 hours earlier on Thursday with two CFC guys looking for Kelly Services so we could be hired to work at the Daytona 500. We drove by it several times, and were so lost, we called everyone we could think of. But, after finally finding the place, all three of us were hired. I get to work two 7 pm – 8 am shifts in a row watching the gate in February. Phew! Should be exciting, but very long! At least we also have Monday off that same weekend thanks to President’s Day. The final event I’ll mention for CFC is that I’m going to the Winter Jam concert at UCF with several people tonight (I’m writing this on the 19th). BarlowGirl, Skillet, MercyMe, NewSong, and Mandisa. I’ve seen the first three in a big concert festival back home, so this should be fun!

Last night was my roommate’s birthday celebration. I had fun gifts on her bed in the morning when she came back from Navy PT. Then, eight of us from the floor “kidnapped” her and took her to Downtown Disney to wander around. We also went to Fuddrucker’s for a late-night dinner. If you look at the pictures on my virb.com site, you’ll be able to see some of the fun stuff we did. Many people on Wood 5 chipped in to get her our group present- Super Mario Galaxy and another remote for her Wii. We’ve all been enjoying bowling and making our own Wii characters, so hopefully we don’t try to take over all the games now! 😉

Another thing that’s been keeping me busy/entertained has been playing cards with people on the floor as well as my Christmas gift from my parents- Blockbuster Online subscription for the whole semester. Alex and I have been fervently watching BBC’s new Robin Hood TV show. They’ve only done two seasons, so we watched the first with the DVDs and found a great youtube site for watching season two. Hooray Robin!

In closing, I’ll just briefly mention that I’ve had a ton of fun these past two weeks. We’ve gone to all kinds of stores like World Market, Publix, Barnes & Noble, Target, Michael’s… and even eaten at Outback Steakhouse. I’ve also gotten to do my best to help some floormates going through hard times as well as learning to say “No” when I need some “me” time. God has been so good to sustain me and I know I’ll have a great spring semester!

Until next time…

I can’t believe it’s almost February! (and that means Spamalot in Jacksonville with Alex & Daytona 500)

*Natalie Ann*

Pretty please e-mail me with any questions you have about anything (involving my experience or the school or engineering or whatever!). I’ve never gotten a single one!

spencern@erau.edu

www.virb.com/erauladyeagle

Hey Everyone,

Well, school has started back up – obviously – and it is already heading toward being a more hectic schedule then last semester. So far, my classes are going extremely well, I like them all and they seem to be fairly easy. I have been SO busy it is ridiculous, between school, homework, work, and all of my extra-curricular activities; it keeps me on the go a lot (and trust me I’m not complaining). I thrive on the busy life, it’s just that sometimes the busy life and your personal life add up to be too much.

There really has not been a lot going on around campus, it’s a lot of getting back into the swing of things and trying to keep up with all aspects of life. I’m still involved with the AcaFella’ s and I’m still doing ERRSA (Embry Riddle Resident Student Association) which are like my main activities, but on top of that, I’m still trying to balance Air Traffic Control Organization, and we are trying to keep the choir together, so it’s still crazy in my life. I have really just been getting re-acquainted at school and just trying to have fun.

It’s amazing that a break can bring friends so much closer, but this managed to happen over break, and I feel so much closer to many of my friends here then I ever have, so thank you Jo, Erik, Brent, and Davey, you guys are the best!

Here are my list of Classes:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Aviation Safety 210 (SF210) – Bill Martin
Communication 219- (COM219) – Sarah Fogle
Math 111 – (MA111)- Debbie Edwards
Tuesday and Thursday
Human Factors 201- (HF201) Eric Vaden
Aeronautical Science 120 (AS120) – Pete Rounseville

As I said, I love my classes so far and all of the Professors are awesome, which makes life easier. I’m hoping this will be a great semester and I am hoping that you all travel through it with me before you get you chance to shine here at ERAU! “… and did it MY WAY” –Frank Sinatra
Until Next Time, Joey Jaworski

Aim: HYPORBOY226

Email: Jaworksj@erau.edu

Pictures: www.virb.com/joejaworskiatc

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I sure did! I had a wonderful time back at home in Dallas, Texas, however, it’s now time to start my last semester of college. I can’t believe it’s finally here. It seems like yesterday I was driving to Daytona Beach about to experience my first year at college, and now I’m almost done. I never believed my father when he said one day you’ll wake up and be 50 and your life will be half over. But now I know what he means. Every year I get older, they seem to go by faster and faster. So my advice to you all is to cherish every moment of your life. Have fun, work hard, and enjoy everything around you. You’re only in college once, make the most of it!

This semester is going to be an interesting one. It will be very different from my last few semesters. I’m still going to be teaching and performing my Team Safety Leader duties, however, all of my classes are not related to aviation. I’m going to be taking Weather for Aircrews, US History, and Technology and Modern Civilization. Doesn’t sound fun, however, it should be interesting. It will be good for me to have a couple of different types of classes. I am also going to be taking the CRJ course later this semester.

Weather for Aircrews is going to be a very interesting course. We are going to learn how to read weather charts from all over the world, how to analyze and forecast weather, and about the different weather trends that occur in each country. This will be a skill that will be extremely useful in helping me interpret weather information before every flight. I can also pass this useful information over to my students after I learn everything. This should be an extremely rewarding class.

US history will definitely be my most challenging class this semester. I haven’t taken a history class since high school, so I’m going to have to do a lot of outside work and studying to ensure I do well. But it will be good for me to get back into history.

Technology and Modern Civilization is actually going to be a pretty fun class. It is my last humanities class and deals with how the development of technology has changed the social aspect of living. It will be extremely educational and fun at the same time. I love to write .

Finally, the CRJ course is going to be the best of them all. It will be very similar to the training I received at Continental on how to fly the 737-700. You can read about that experience in the journals I wrote while I was at Continental last summer. The only difference is that I will be learning how to fly the CRJ-200. I can’t wait. I’ll give everyone more detail on this class once it begins in March.

I look forward to sharing my last semester at Riddle with you all. Have a great week!

Well Everyone, I JUST, literally JUST got back to school and I thought I should write to you all to tell you about my break!!!! Even though there is not much to say, I’ll still tell you everything I did.
I got home on Monday the 17th as you all know from my last entry and I basically just crashed that night, I was soooooo tired. So the following day was a bunch of running around doing laundry and getting my room back to some sort of order. I waited patiently all day for my mom to get out of work, and I was so happy to see her when she came to pick me up!!! When I left for school, it was the hardest to leave her, so I knew it would be the most exciting to see her when I came home. We just hung out for the night and I was still tired, but I don’t think I went to bed too early that night. Well, one of the following days, I went to school with my friend Laura and I met all her friends and basically sat on a college campus all day (like I
haven’t done that before) but it was fun and it turned out to be a better day then I thought. So, due to the fact that there was like 3 days til Christmas at this point, I decided I should do my Christmas shopping, so I
got it all done in 2 days and I was so happy that it was over with!!!

I woke up on Christmas Morning at my dad’s house, and then I went to my mom’s by noon and spent the entire day there. It was so nice just to relax for the day and eat a good home-cooked meal, I had been dying for one!!!! Mostly, after Christmas I spent the entirety of my break catching up with friends, I did so much with my group from work, we have this A.C. Moore bonding night every Friday so we went Ice Skating, we had game nights, and then we went to the movies once, it was a lot of fun hanging out with them. OMG I saw the movie Sweeny Todd and it was so good, I don’t think many people would like it to be honest though, because it was a musical for one and it was really gory too. I know those two don’t normally go together but it did in this movie…. okay sorry for that sidetrack….. anyway, I got to go to Canada over break as well and that was so much fun… you see in Buffalo the fascination with Canada is that the legal drinking age is 19. So since I wasn’t there for my birthday in August, I celebrated it in December,
of course we did it responsibly!!!

I got to catch up with people that I haven’t seen since high school, and with frineds that I just missed like crazy –  which is what made my break so awesome, because without these freinds I don’t know who I would be because they have been there through everything with me and I love them, if you check out my blog site, www.virb.com/joejaworskiatc, I’ll put pics of them on there!!!

Something else that meant a lot to me over break was being able to sing with my choir again, I got a solo for the Christmas Eve mass which is the biggest mass we have and it was just so amazing to get up there and sing with them again. I went to see this display of lights with some people from choir and we went out to eat a few times, it was all a lot of fun.

Then, like the last 3 days before I left were like the most fun EVER…. I spent Friday Night, and Saturday Night with my AC Moore ppl and then the night before I left, EVERYONE came over for one last Hoorah before I left! We had so much fun!! Then, the day I left, I met another new friend that my friend Michelle knows from school, his name is Chas and Michelle said that we had a lot in common, which was so true once I met him, LOL. It was a good topping on top of a great break!!!!  Of course it was sad to leave, but I
knew with school starting I would forget about it soon…. I miss home sitting here right now, but I am also looking foward to a great semester!!!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I will talk to you all soon.  “Im flying high, defying gravity, and you can’t pull me down” – Wicked

Until Next Time,

Joe
AIM- HYPORBOY226
Email: Jaworksj@erau.edu
Pics: www.virb.com/joejaworskiatc

I’m right now in Newark airport, waiting for my flight to Charlotte. I’m catching a connecting flight to Orlando and should be back on campus around 6 o’clock. Phew.

Last time I wrote, I was packing my bags and headed to India for two weeks to celebrate various occasions with my extended family from practically all over the world. I left for India on  the 18th with my 82 year old grandma =] The rest of my family, because of college/work weren’t leaving until two days later. We flew for 9 hours, landed in Frankfurt and waited about a half hour for our flight and sat for another 8 hours to Bangalore. At the end of the 17 hours, I just wanted to walk around, maybe even run because my legs were so bored of sitting for so long. We flew economy with Lufthansa and since it was an international flight, the seats were actually decent, but there wasn’t enough leg room as always. Finally landing in Bangalore was such a relief but SUCH a mess at the same time. The airport was pretty tiny and there were only two international baggage claim carousels and so many flights had landed at the same time and wow was it crazy. It was only me and grandma and me with my big suitcase that I could barely lift and a few of grandmas smaller luggage was too much for me to handle, but I did, so I felt pretty accomplished. We stayed at my aunts house that night and the next. Bangalore was pretty rainy, which sucked =/ but my two younger cousins wanted to go for a walk with me really badly and I didn’t realize why until they ran outside and started jumping in all the puddles. It was real cute and reminded me of when my sis and I used to do that when we were much younger.

It’s great going back to Bangalore and seeing my younger cousins. It’s strange for me to have someone looking up to me. One of my cousins, she’s 11; she sat with me for a half hour and asked me to explain everything in my makeup bag. Kids grow up so fast these days. She had all these questions and it was such a different feeling for me to actually have someone that thinks of me as a kind of role model, because in my eyes, I’m hardly a role model yet. My parents and sis arrived the next day and off we were to Coimbatore (still in South India) for the reunion to begin!

We took a 20 minute flight to Coimbatore and almost missed it. I’m sure we aggravated more than a few passengers on board when the plane was delayed a half hour because of us. We were going to Coimbatore to celebrate my grandpa’s (mom’s side) eightieth birthday. Eighty is a big deal, especially in India. There are special rituals and such that go along with turning eighty and there’s always a big party too! I hadn’t seen some of my cousins on my Mom’s side in years, so it was great meeting everyone again, especially since we’re all close in age to each other. We stayed at a hotel in Coimbatore and in India room service is so cheap, it was amazing. When converted, you could get Iced coffee for a dollar (which was expensive according to Indian standards) and a whole decent gourmet meal for under 5 dollars. It was great! Sis and I ordered room service like crazy, just because if we did the same here, we would’ve spent at least two hundred bucks. Anyways, back to the main reason we were in Coimbatore was the party.

The first day, we got to dress up and be in the presence of a really long puja. Us kids got a little bored in the middle, so we went shopping. We definitely turned way too many heads when we walked on the streets with clothing way too grand for casual shopping. After the puja, the kids put on a show of sorts. A few of grandpa’s brothers spoke about life during the old days, the really old days. There was some singing and dancing and a lot of excitement. We went back to the room and got ready for day two! Day two was a shorter puja and more dancing. My sis and I wore sari’s today! I’ve only worn one, one other time, during my Grandma’s (dad’s side) 80th birthday. Mine was pink and sis’s was blue =] That day ended with a little more shopping and that’s it!

The next day all my mom’s brothers (she has three) families and us went to this place called TopSlip. It’s a hillside community with an elephant safari and other things. It was cool even though we went when most of the elephants were sleeping but we saw a million monkeys! They were practically following us because we had some food in a bag. It was really great watching them so close by. We left TopSlip and went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day!

The next day was Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I had an unusual one of sorts. There wasn’t a tree or holiday tv shows or lights everywhere, but there was a lot of family and a visit to a garment factory! So people in India don’t celebrate Christmas like they do here, so it wasn’t really a big deal. My aunt’s dad took us to this factory that manufactures clothes! I love shopping, so I thought it’d be fun. Dad wanted to show us how painstakingly hard it is just to make one t-shirt. We first went to this manufacturing plant called Jupiter. This factory was cleaner beyond anything I could’ve thought an Indian factory would be. The place was spotless! I felt like I was back home walking through that factory. They were an all inclusive factory so they did everything from making the cloth, printing the design and sewing a shirt up. They were mostly an underwear manufacturing plant, but it was cool to still see the overall process. Then we went to the plant called Prem Group Company (PGC). This visit was my favorite! They served us delicious coffee on bean bag chairs and it reminded me of being back home, which is always a good thing. This plant was the primary supplier to this Swiss brand called Switcher. They also did Calvin Klein and Ferrari among a few others. It was awesome! They showed us the start to finish of a t-shirt. There were assembly lines set up to put the shirts together after everything up to the cutting was done – that part is all automated. They said that there’s nowhere in the world that can automate the actual putting together of the shirt. They inspected each shirt made like it was gonna change the world if there was a mistake, which I thought was pretty good =] overall, the two factory visits were a real eye opener.

New Years was fast approaching and I was counting on my cousin to make sure sis and I had a good New Years. Unfortunately…we got sick =[ really badly sick. Two days before New Years, we went to a restaurant that didn’t suit my sis and I and we got possibly the worst stomach infection in history. I spent New Years hoping I wouldn’t throw up again while feeling sick to my stomach. It really sucked. The mixture of all this traveling coupled with uneasy food really got to us bad. My entire family got sick with colds and stomach viruses, it was terrible! I was leaving for home on the 2nd and, thankfully, by then I was feeling much much better. I was going back by myself which was going to be a bit lonely unfortunately =[ But in Bangalore, I got a free upgrade to Business class! It was awesome. A 9 hour flight in Business class is so much better than in economy. I only got it for half the way though because the flight was booked from Frankfurt to Newark. I had a few hours to spend in Frankfurt and I actually had access to the Business lounge so I called mom. My flight left Bangalore two hours late, so I missed my original connecting flight from Frankfurt to JFK, so when they rebooked my flight, I was landing in Newark! I enjoyed that plane ride a lot, with pretty decent food and everything. Once I finally landed in Newark, my journey wasn’t over yet. My parents didn’t want me staying at home alone so I was gonna go to my Uncles house in Pennsylvania and spend a few days there until dad came back that weekend. I was going to take a bus because everyone was at work, but my friend Kay was on his way to PA and was willing to go a bit out of his way to drop me off. I was so sick on the flight it wasn’t even funny. I had the worst cold imaginable (that’s now almost gone) and I just wanted to crash in bed. He dropped me off at my uncles, which I was incredibly grateful for being so sick and all.

I spent the next four days at my uncles. They’re opening a new tax service office and it was exciting being around a new business. Exciting stuff for sure. Dad came on Saturday to their house and we were going to leave that day, but knowing we would’ve have Indian food for a while, we stayed the extra day. We came back on Sunday and did four loads of laundry. My dad goes to Charlotte, NC for business every week, so he barely gets to be home too. After packing, we thought it would be a good idea to go out for dinner, so we went to that restaurant Ming I’ve mentioned during Thanksgiving. It’s a family favorite, a mix of Indian and Chinese food. He felt bad that I would eat pasta and pizza for the next three months, so we celebrated the both of us actually being home for once. I only got to spend a few hours at home, even though I would’ve loved just two days to wake up in my own bed and make my own coffee and take a shower in my bathroom. The benefits of home =] I didn’t see my mom or sis before I left for the airport today because they’re coming on Wednesday from india.

oh my. Classes are starting!!!!!! They’re starting on Wednesday. This semester is pretty challenging for me. Here’s my classes:

Calc II – Lombardo

Physics II –

EGR 115 – Intro to Computing -Lehr

Technical  Writing – Porter

Honors Seminar – French.

I’m nervous for classes to start. 😡 My flight’s almost here!

I’ve posted a TON of pictures from India, check them out and see how we celebrate an 80th birthday in India =]

I couldn’t upload all of them onto my virb, so I asked my cousin for the link to hers! Enjoy!

+ Enjoy your last few months of Senior Year everyone!

Well hello to everyone out there in internet land. Here it is 2008 and frankly, I’m not sure that it has hit me yet. I’ve finished my third semester here at Embry-Riddle which means I only have five semesters left. Time is flying by and I am having an awesome time. I had a pretty good break, but I’m ready to get back to the grind because I have some exciting classes. I’ll go into that later, but I guess I’ll tell ya about my break.

School’s out – Christmas Eve: After I finished up all my classes, I did a couple more flight activities and then ended up heading home for the break. I moved back into my old room and it felt like high school all over again. I starting working for my Dad and helping him out with different things to put some money in my bank account. This past semester I didn’t work too much, so my bank account has been slowly declining. Now I have some money in the bank though, so that makes me happy. On December 16th I drove down to West Palm Beach for my Mom’s graduation. She has been going back to school for the past couple of years and she just finished up working on her Masters. She has been doing night classes in Orlando, but the main campus is in West Palm. I drove down with my cousin and a friend, and we met up with my Mom. My Mom thought my sister couldn’t come because she still had to be in school in New York, but we arranged for her to fly down on that day to surprise her. We showed up right before she went backstage and my sister jumped out and my Mom was so shocked! She had no idea she was there. Overall it played out perfectly and I’m so glad she didn’t find out until we surprised her.

Christmas: After I finished up my shopping at 6 o’clock on Christmas Eve, there was a huge weight taken off my shoulders. And I needed that. On Christmas morning I did what I’ve been doing for years. I woke up with my Mom and sister and we opened presents. I ended up getting a lot of new clothes, some DVDs, and a PS3!!! When the PS3 first came out I wasn’t sure if I wanted one or not. Well, after playing it for a year in Walmart and Circuit City, I finally asked Santa to get me one. I’m not sure if that was a good decision because I have some pretty tough classes this semester, and a PS3 will definitely be a big distraction. Oh well, I’ll still be fine. After we opened presents, we drove to Orlando to visit with family. I got to see all my aunts, uncles, and cousins on my Mom’s side of the family. We had lunch and then I went with my sister to go see my Dad. We had dinner there and that was Christmas.

After Christmas – New Years Eve: After Christmas I just relaxed around the house and enjoyed playing some PS3 with friends. On the 28th my Dad, sister, and I flew up to Maine to visit some friends. My Dad went to high school in Maine and he kept in touch with friends, so now we visit them every year at Christmas time. It ended up snowing for a couple days, so there was snow everywhere. They have an ice rink in their back yard so we went ice skating and I tried to play hockey. I think I’m much better at watching it, rather than trying to skate and shoot the puck. I had fun, well mostly, until my friend Marissa checked me. I obviously fell and was waiting for a roughing penalty, but then I realized there wasn’t a referee and I was taunting her. So I guess I deserved it. Oh well, I’ll be training and next year I’ll be much better. On New Year’s Eve, my Dad and sister flew home but I stayed in Maine because I was going to visit my friend in New Hampshire. So I watched the ball drop with Marissa and some of her friends. We had a blast. Well, that was 2007. Now . . . 2008.

2008: On New Year’s Day I met up with my friend Alex, who I’ve talked about before. He was born in New Hampshire, moved to Florida for middle and high school, and now goes to college in Colorado. He picked me up in Maine and we drove to New Hampshire. I was up there until the 5th, and we did some snowboarding and tubing. We went in his back yard and made a small jump that we would hit while we weren’t on the slopes. We ended the trip with no broken bones or hospital visits, so it was a success. Two years ago, we weren’t so lucky. Alex ended up going down this wicked narrow trail and caught an edge on a tree trunk and broke his arm in three places. So that didn’t end too well. However, this past trip ended quite well. After I got back to the wonderful, hot state of Florida, I went on a business trip with my Dad and sister. He had to drive up to Atlanta for a trade show, so my sister and I went up with him. We helped him set up and run the show for a couple days. We ended up staying with my Aunt Wendy, who lives in Atlanta, so I got to see my cousins. I actually went to a hockey game with my oldest cousin and we saw the Atlanta Thrashers vs. the Florida Panthers. We had awesome seats, and we actually had a waiter come serve us! It was a blast, but unfortunately the next hockey game I’ll see, I’ll be in crappy seats. Oh well, I can still see the players, they’ll just look like ants. Overall, the whole Atlanta trip was fun, and it was exciting to see what my Dad does at trade shows. I look forward to the next show I get to see!

A Look Ahead: Well, this semester is going to be a tough one. I’ll tell you the classes I have, and next journal I’ll tell you about the first impressions and what-not. I am taking Air Traffic Management III, Aviation Legislation, Aerodynamics, Aircraft Engines, and Commercial Pilot Operations. These classes sound fun, but they are going to be very demanding. I guess we’ll see how it goes. Well, that was my break and I look forward to telling you about this year! As always, send any e-mails with questions if you have them. Also, be sure to check the pictures and videos, because I will be posting a lot up within the next few weeks! Stay tuned for next journal, and until then . . . go build a snowman!!!!! (Assuming you live in a snowy climate.)

Happy New Year! On Monday I am heading back to Florida and warm weather! There wasn’t much snow while I was home here in Illinois but it was below zero several times.

Classes start on Wednesday and I am ready to get started! This semester I am taking: Advanced Computer Based Systems, Marketing, Microeconomics, Business Statistics, Honors class, and my AFROTC class.

I am hoping my Computer class this semester will be more in-depth than last semester’s. My Honors class is about neuroscience and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.

I know 2008 will be great for all of us!
Well, I don’t have much to talk about but if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.

Until next time, Kaleigh

e-mail: sidesk@erau.edu

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