Well, we’ve made it to the six-week mark. It’s hard to believe, but nice to have the experience. I finally walk around campus as if I know where I’m going and what I’m doing. Whether or not that’s always the case is another story…

Some days I have been so tired, but Thursdays and the weekends have saved my tired self. In Calculus 1, we’ve been moving along with more quizzes and derivatives and integrals. Honors Seminar has taken me through another film, Happenstance, and we’re now reading A Fine Balance. Despite hearing all of the different sides, I have not changed my belief about the world and determinism vs. chaos. You’ll have to ask me if you want to know! 😉

By the way, I apologize for the extra “?” in the last entries. It was my good ‘ol Auto Correct making 🙂 into the smiley symbol which the webpage didn’t recognize. So, 🙂 was me smiling. Ha.

Back to the class summaries: Graphical Communications has been more challenging but also more fun because we are working through CATIA. I can’t believe all of the buttons and things you can do with the 3D parts. We have created some very nice-looking things. I only hope I can remember procedure should the test involve making something from scratch. I’ll try to put up some pictures of my homework.

And of course I can’t forget… Chemistry! I am finally beginning to feel a little bit better. I feel like it will be one of those classes you always hear about that you keep working hard and despite feeling like you failed, the grade is surprisingly good. At least, that’s what I’m hoping! 🙂 So, I promised to tell you about the test. On the way to Chemistry two days after, I saw someone dressed in a costume in front of me. I thought, “Who is this weirdo?” It was a red and black grim reaper costume including the sickle. I looked down at his hands and they were wrinkly and clutching what appeared to be tests. “No way! It’s Prof Cameron!” I started laughing and the whole class joined in when he opened the door. He proceeded to write that many of the test scores were lower than they should be. I was. It was the lowest grade I’ve ever seen on a test that belonged to me, but compared to not being able to finish quizzes, a C isn’t terrible. It’s just difficult for a perfectionist-type gal to see something lower than a 90-something. But don’t worry, I’m no genius, and it’s important that I learn to not be devastated by not getting A’s. I have some very, very hard classes ahead! But, don’t look at this and think there’s no way you want to do Engineering Physics! Chemistry is my only hard class right now, so if you want to be an engineer and love space, go for it! Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t! We have so many great resources like tutoring, fellow classmates, and patient
teachers- you would be just fine!

So I don’t leave you with all negatives from Chemistry, here’s the good news: In class on Friday, a miracle happened- I finally finished a quiz with the right answer and everything! I drew a sun on my paper and when asked why by Prof Cameron, I said, “I’m happy! I finally finished a quiz!” He smiled and walked away. I love my teachers.

On to EP 101: We had several interesting presentations and guests including quantum mechanics, NASA, and caution against drinking, drugs, and too-little sleep. This class is very helpful and interesting!

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go on the short retreat put on by Campus Outreach in St. Augustine on a Friday and Saturday.

We carpooled from the ICI center and stopped at Chipotle for dinner. I enjoyed the worship sessions and teaching time as well as playing board games into the evening while the best beat-boxer I’ve ever heard strutted his stuff. He did a great job of acting out things with it and included the gospel very well. To close everything off on the second day, we had a yummy picnic lunch in the windy, sandy beach area. The Embry guys had the idea to go to Deb’s ice cream ( I forgot the name) where we had delicious gelati. It’s like frosting ice cream with a layer of shaved ice and then another swirl of the ice cream. I got mango and it was delicious. It was also a blast getting to know more Embry Christians.

For the Honor’s Society, I was able to go on a field trip to visit Piper Aviation Company in Vero Beach. I had to work extra-hard on Tuesday to make it possible by doing a Chemistry lab from 8-11 am, making up a Calculus quiz, and telling Dr. Olivero that I couldn’t make EP 101 on Thursday.

A quick side-note on the lab: It was fun and interesting! It was nice to have a change of partner and such. I think the stirring tablet (magnetic) on the Bunsen burner with the magnetic stirrer is brilliant! We had a blast making the solution turn pink. I’ve never had Chemistry lab before, so it’s been a struggle, but very exciting.
Good times.

Back to Piper: When we first gathered, I happily recognized one girl from Honor’s Seminar and a guy from my floor. There wasn’t much conversation on the way down, but I used the time to read and then daydream out the window. It was pretty overcast, but still warm as ever. We stopped in Vero Beach to throw away our box lunches and get a peek at the actual beach before driving back to the plant. The buildings took up a ton of space, but I’m used to Boeing, so they were small. The workers were all so close and the company was much smaller than I expected because of knowing their prestige. It was a delight talking to the different people who were kind enough to be our guides.

We even met several Riddle graduates. I was really impressed with their efficiency and planes. I had such a huge desire just to touch one and climb on in for a flight. I can’t believe how much I miss flying! But, back to the trip, it did help me visualize the kind of job I could have. I love Boeing, but I also love a more intimate work experience. Boeing is huge! We paused to visit the gift shop and then take a picture by the Piper sign. I bought a cute Piper pilot teddy bear as well as a bright yellow classic Piper Cub T. I hope someone puts up the group picture we took.

As for friends and down-time, I’ve enjoyed a little bit of both! I still call my parents several times each day. I know that surprises some people, but it’s nice to hear what’s happening back home and share my experiences.

After that infamous Chemistry test, my friend took me to Wal-Mart to get a new calculator that I needed and then we stopped at my favorite place: Sonic Drive-In! I got the fabulous French toast sticks and a sonic Blast with Reese’s. It’s nice to have a gift card (my parents gave it to me for graduation). I also have spent some time relaxing while watching all of the new TV shows of the season. It’s so cool that we get free cable! And, every once in awhile, I drink tea and watch a movie. My room is a nice sanctuary after hard days and weeks.

Also keeping me interacting with others is Christian Fellowship Club.
One week, after a message on Job, we all went to CiCi’s. Everything looked delicious, but I had already eaten dinner. The guys pigged out on pasta, pizza, and cinnamon rolls since it’s all-you-can-eat Italian place. Back on campus, several of us played video games in O’Conner and laughed at YouTube videos. Fun, fun!

The flag football team I mentioned last time was cancelled, unfortunately. I guess I have to find another way to exercise. There’s a little room with treadmills and bikes right by the bridge in the Student Village, so I should check that out. My friend and I ran on the beach one night, but I don’t have a car, so that can’t always happen.

In closing, one of the awesome things about college is the random events happening on campus. On the way back to the dorms, a friend and I saw a sign for free Smoothie King smoothies and an inflatable obstacle course and wall climbing. We entered a drawing for prizes, laughed our way through the course, and took a smoothie for the road.

The obstacle course was hilarious! You slide down one thing and the bounce launches you through the next. I slammed against the wall several times! That strawberry banana smoothie was lovely! 🙂

Less than 5 weeks until my Dad visits; less than 7 weeks until Thanksgiving; and less than 10 weeks until I’m going home for Christmas break!

~~~~~

Well, hope my stories were organized enough for you! Please feel free to e-mail me any questions you have. Senior year, college applications, and decisions are difficult and I was just in those shoes!

My e-mail: spencern@erau.edu

Thanks for reading!
Natalie

Time flies when you’re having fun!  I have found that saying to be so true here at Riddle.  Already it’s October and the middle of this week marks the halfway point!  In my Business 101 class, our advisor was talking about how registration is coming up and we need to decide what classes we want to take.  I am excited about picking new classes!  My schedule now has mainly morning classes and I hope to keep it that way because I would rather have my afternoons and evenings free.  As an incoming freshman, you don’t have any say in your schedule so you might find that you really like morning classes after all.   I will keep you updated on the whole registration process.

ROTC continues to be an adventure!  These past two weeks have been jammed packed with all kinds of activities including:   a cookout, paintball, uniforms, volunteering, and painting the spirit rock.  First of all, I had the pleasure of taking the AFOQT (Air Force Officer Qualifying Test).  Think ACT or SAT testing and you kind of have an idea of what it was like.  The test lasted about four hours; if you would like to see the format or take a practice test you can find a book at your local bookstore.  The test has two math parts and the great news is you cannot use a calculator.  I don’t know about all of you but I NEED a calculator!  However, I think I did okay and in a couple of weeks I will find out for sure.  The same weekend my flight commander had a cookout at his house after extra drill.  I had a wonderful time and got to know some people in my flight a little more.  My favorite part about ROTC is the instant bond between all of us cadets.

Paintball was something I had never done before and signing up for this was equal to physical training.  The Air Force only trains twice a week on Wednesday and Friday.  I don’t mind running but every once in a while your legs would like a break.  All I knew about paintball was from the movie Failure to Launch and this was a little bit different.  We were in the sand pits and I don’t think I actually hit anyone.  I got hit once and in my finger—my trigger finger!  I could see someone and right as I put my finger on the trigger they fired.  I couldn’t believe I had been hit and I will admit it did hurt a little.  I do plan on trying paintball again and next time I will have a better idea of what I am doing!

Ever since school started my Air Force uniform has consisted of blue jeans and a t-shirt.  Well, I received my service dress uniform which is blue pants and a light blue shirt.  The detachment had an alterations company come to alter our uniforms which is good because my pants needed to be a lot shorter.  A pointer for anyone doing AFROTC next year—be early!  I was waiting in line to get my uniform and had to leave because I had class.  The next day I made sure I was there ten minutes before schedule and there were already several people in front of me.   I should be getting my battle dress uniform soon which is the camouflage pants and blouse.

Another cadet from my flight and I volunteered to help a local soup kitchen serve dinner.  I had never volunteered at a soup kitchen before, so I was ready for another new experience.  We got lost on the way there and drove out of Daytona Beach because the road to turn on was hidden and didn’t have a very big street sign.  We eventually figured it out!  Once there, we helped wash the tables, make cheeseburgers, serve dessert, and then clean up.  I enjoyed the evening and we only spent two hours at the soup kitchen.  Unfortunately, we got lost on the way back to campus and we traveled into Port Orange; however, we made it back about an hour later.  The soup kitchen is about fifteen minutes from campus.  My flight also painted the spirit rock and I posted some pictures of the wonderful artwork.  The spirit rock is a big rock in the middle of campus that all the clubs and organizations can paint.  We plan on painting it again because later that night someone painted over our artwork.

One of the clubs that I am involved in is Silver Wings, but before you can actually become a member you must go through the associate process.  The process involves doing a group service project, taking a test, and going through an interview.  Members can be both Air Force cadets and civilians and what the organization does is service projects throughout the community.  My group is doing a clothing drive on campus to collect clothing for the homeless shelters.  Next week for the meeting we have to wear a suit and since I didn’t bring one to campus I got to go shopping.  Luckily, I was able to find a suit that fit perfectly and everything I bought was on sale.

Well, I think these past two weeks have been the busiest.  Homework keeps on coming and I have really had to take advantage of the time I get between classes.  On Thursdays there is a free movie and I went to the one last week—Evan Almighty.  I enjoyed relaxing and watching a movie.  Next week is Live Free or Die Hard and I plan on going to see that because I didn’t get a chance to see it when it came out.  One last word of advice – bring a good umbrella because it rains daily and the wind can be ferocious.

Until next time,
Kaleigh
e-mail: sidesk@erau.edu

Hey Everyone,
So I decided that I got involved with way too much, way too fast. However, I do have good news! I made the AcaFellas!!! For all of those who don’t know who that is (which is probably all of you) it is an all male Acapella singing group at Embry Riddle. They are a really good group and it was an honor to be accepted into the group. It has been a CRAZY few weeks. I have now had a test in all but one of my classes. I must say that when you go to study, study the opposite of whatever the professor tells you to study LOL… Just Kidding! But on a serious note, I studied my butt off for my ATC exam 1, and I went in there knowing exactly what I thought was going to be on the test and it was the exact opposite of what he told us to study!! I was quite upset to tell you all the truth. I pulled a 79 on it, but it was a wake up call and a reality check… STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!!

Now, I have to do my “Getting Involved Speech” I am currently in 7 organizations and I must say it is time consuming!!!! It is really nice to be involved on campus but just watch out how much you do. I must say my two favorite organizations are ERRSA (Embry Riddle Residence Student Association) and the AcaFellas. Between those two organizations, they take up a lot of my time! This campus is awesome when it comes to getting involved though… there are always different org’s to join and different things to do….. you should NEVER EVER be bored on this Campus!!!

This past weekend, I went on the ERRSA retreat and it was like the BEST thing that I have done here so far…. We did a lot of Team Builders all weekend and I met some people that I will probably be friends with for life. This is like the best group of people on campus… What we do on campus, is that we are the liaison between the residence and the department of housing. We put on a lot of programs, and we really work hard to make YOUR life on campus a lot better. Our office offers rentals of movies, vacuums, DVD players. We also have video game systems for you to play IN OFFICE ONLY!! I truly had a great time this weekend and I urge ALL OF YOU to join!!!!

Well I don’t want to make these too long, because we all have things to do, but like I said, If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email me, I would be more than happy to answer some of your questions!!! Have a good one!!

Joe
Email: Jaworksj@erau.edu
Phone: (716)713-9397
AIM: HYPORBOY226

Hey Everyone, since this is my first blog post I thought I should formally introduce myself, at least as best as you can by way of the computer, but I’m Joe and I will be here all year for you to come and read about what college life is like, what it’s like being and Air Traffic major, and to tell you about the great things that happen here at Embry Riddle! I hope you enjoy reading these and it brings insight as to why ERAU is such a prestigious University! LET US BEGIN!

Once upon a time…. JUST KIDDING!

Orientation:
Let me just say that the orientation process was CRAZY! They throw 590437759834985 different things at you and think that your going to remember it all, and do you? No! It’s a great way to get to know the University a little bit better, and it gives you a chance to understand more about your major, meet some professors, and developing friendships that are sure to last a lifetime! My orientation was spent figuring out why my financial aide was not going through ( I suggest you figure that out B4 you come here LOL) but it was eventually settled and took a load off my shoulders!

Housing:
I came to check in to O’Conner Hall which is a hall for many of the transfer students. Throughout the weekend before classes, I got to know a lot of my suitemates and I knew from day one that they all were going to be great!!! When I checked in, I was not supposed to have a roomate, however, I did get one and I’m very happy that he was a nice guy. He’s from Kenya, Africa, and I don’t know aboout you all, but I thought it was awesome to get to room with an international student. He told me a lot about his life and how he just felt so blessed to be in America, since that is everyone’s dream back where he is from! I thought that was super cool! Anywho, the housing situation was perfect and it made for an easy transition after my parent left to go back home!

Registration:
OH MY GOSH!!!!! That was the craziest thing I have ever gone through in my entire life! BUT don’t worry! For Freshman, your schedules are pre-made for you so you don’t have to go through any of that hassle! For transfer students however, it was insane. They had classes that didn’t match course numbers, they were trying to sign us up for classes we had already taken, and then when it came down to the wire, we were limited with class choices anyways due to the fact that we were the last to register! It was crazy, but as I said, unless you’re a transfer student you have nothing to worry about!

First Week of Classes:
Contrary to the fact that registration was so bad, MY CLASSES ARE AWESOME!!!!
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
8:00-9:00 – AT302 w/ Mr. Coyne, 9:15-10:15- MA006 w/ Debbie Edwards,10:30-11:30- PSY101 w/ Jessica Cruit
Tuesday, Thursday: 8:15-9:30 BA201 w/ Tamilla Curtis, 9:30-11:00 WX201 w/ Chris Herbster

I’m so happy with all of my classes and all of my teachers are great!!!!! We did get quite a bit of Homework for the first week of class but, WELCOME TO COLLEGE!!!! It’s really not that bad!

So I think that will be all for this time around! Make sure you check out pictures of my room and stuff like that, and if you want pictures of any part of the campus just to know what it is like, let me know and I’d love to take them for you!

If you ever need to get ahold of me, my door is always open (not literally, I do close the dorm room door!) but do not hesitate to email!

Until Next Time!

Joe Jaworski
Jaworksj@erau.edu

Well, well, well . . . it is time for journal number two. Overall life is going good down here in the wonderful sunshine state (although it has been raining all the time). Last journal I talked about my summer adventures and I now have those pictures up on my website and hopefully I will soon have the videos. I also posted some pictures of my recent trip to Colorado and the simulators here at Riddle. I will explain about both of those later, but for now I’ll clue you in on my classes and my amazing schedule!

I’m guessing a majority of you readers are in high school. When I was in high school, I had class Monday-Friday from roughly 7:00am – 3:00pm. I’m assuming that most high schools have a similar schedule, and my first year of college was somewhat like that. On Monday Wednesday Friday, I had a flight block from 8-12 and two classes from 1:00-3:15pm, and on Tuesday Thursday I had four classes from 8:15-3:30 with a lunch break in between. This means I basically had class from 8-3:30ish five days a week. Well that was fun to do for my first year, but now that I’m a sophomore, I feel that I needed a lighter schedule. Don’t ask me how I pulled this schedule off, but I only have classes Tuesday Thursday from 8:15am-3:30pm with a flight block that starts at 5:30pm. So this translates into me having a 4 day weekend! You heard right, one day of class, then a day break, then one more day of class, then a 4 day weekend. So far I am really enjoying this schedule. I originally had one class on MWF, but I took a test and got credit for the entire class. I’ll explain that in a little bit as well. So four classes + only two days a week = a very good schedule.

TTH 8:15am-9:30am – Aviation Weather – This class is very different than my previous weather class. My first weather class was very generic and didn’t directly relate to aviation; however, aviation weather deals a lot with aviation (kinda obvious, I know). There are nine separate sections of aviation weather, which means nine different classes that are all going over the same material, and my professor is the one who creates the PowerPoint slides for all the classes. So instead of someone just reading something from a slide, my professor actually created it so he knows what he is talking about. I can already tell that I am learning a lot more than my previous class. My professor seems really cool and I think I’m going to enjoy the rest of the year.

TTH 9:45am-11:00am – Business Communications – I’m not going to lie, I was not looking forward to taking this class, in fact I thought about pushing it off until my second semester as a senior. This class is basically a bunch of writing, and writing in class is my least favorite thing ever. I enjoy writing these journals and things like that because it brings me enjoyment, unlike writing in class where I get no enjoyment what so ever. So I was definitely a little afraid of taking this class, but I think it will turn out alright. The kind of writing we have to do is stuff like writing memos and letters so they aren’t 10 page papers, which is a big relief. We have already turned in our first project which consisted of 4 memos that were about 300 words long and a summary of about 750 words, so nothing too crazy yet.

TTH 11:00am-12:45pm – Lunch – This is where I eat food. Sometimes cheese burgers, while other times chicken wraps. I’ll go into detail about Embry-Riddle’s delicious foods in another journal.

TTH 12:45pm-2:00pm – Intermediate Aeronautics – This class once again is the class that is most vital in my career. We are discussing every aspect of instrument flying and that is the number one thing airline pilots need to know. I think its pretty cool to think that what I am learning in this class right know is what I will do in a plane in a few weeks, and what airline pilots do on a daily basis. My professor that teaches the class has got to be one of the nicest teachers I have ever had. He is so funny and easy to learn from, and I know that I will enjoy this class.

TTH 2:15pm-3:30pm – Air Traffic Management II – I enjoy this class for several reasons: 1. My good friends Aaron and Zach are in there 2. I really enjoy the professor and 3. A majority of the information covered is a review. Since I am a pilot, I have already needed to learn things like airspace and radio calls, but in this class, not everyone is a pilot so they don’t know about it yet. Therefore, while I am still learning things, I am also getting a review of the stuff that I already know and that I will need to know for a long time. We just took our first test the other day and I got a 98 so that always makes me happy.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier about my schedule. The 4 day weekend is a major plus, but the fact is that I really enjoy all my professors. They all know what they are talking about, they are very nice and approachable, and they all enjoy their jobs. They make class fun and they actually make me want to go! Imagine that.

TTHS 5:30pm-8:30pm – Flight – And now the good stuff! I have just recently started my flight activities and I am so excited! So far I have had one oral, two sims, and one flight. It feels great to get back into the airplane and go flying. I flew a couple times over the summer break with friends and family but I am definitely ready to start flying a lot more. The only down side of flying now is that I am training for my instrument rating which means that I don’t get to do anything visual. Basically, I fly around with things called foggles, which limit my vision to only my flight instruments. So I can’t look outside or enjoy the scenery like I was able to do for my Private pilot’s license. It’s all good though, because I get to learn about flying only by my instruments so I can fly in bad weather. My instructor is pretty cool and I think that he is going to make the next year go by pretty fast. He is a new instructor and I was actually his first student, which I though that was pretty exciting. He is always trying to make it fun and shake things up, for example, we had a sim the other day (sim=video game with the exact controls that are in the airplane but you are safely on the ground), and we got done a little earlier than expected so he had an idea of how to use the last 5 minutes. Apparently who ever designed the software for the simulator had some spare time because out in the middle of the ocean there is an aircraft carrier and I landed on it! I put some pictures on the picture website so be sure to check those out. It was fun to do that because I got the chance to practice a short field landing and now I can say I landed on an aircraft carrier, kind of.

So that is what is happening in my school life. I have to prepare for some tests that I have coming up next week and I also have homework here and there. I mentioned earlier that I had a class scheduled for MWF but then I didn’t have to take it. The class was IT 109 which is a basic computer class that all freshmen have to take. Well I didn’t know that I needed to take it when I was a freshman, but fortunately you can take a test and get credit for the class without taking the class, which is what I did. I’m pretty happy about that because now I have a 4 day weekend, which means I get to do fun things like fly to Colorado. That’s what I did last weekend because my friend, Alex, was celebrating his 20th birthday with his brother and I flew out to Boulder, CO to surprise him. He had no idea I was coming and I just showed up on his porch. We went hiking on a mountain that is right next to his school and we also went to a football game. The game was the Colorado Buffalos against Florida State and unfortunately Colorado lost. I usually don’t get into football too much, but being there in the crowd with thousands of people was pretty cool. I have some pictures from Colorado posted on the picture site, so those are there to be viewed.

Another thing that I have been up to lately is playing some volleyball, the BAMFs are back! For those of you new to my journals, last year I played on an intramural volleyball team titled “The BAMFs”. The name came from a Dane Cook joke and we are being led by Aaron who is a friend of mine that was the captain of his varsity team in high school. Unfortunately, we didn’t win a single game last year, and this year we already started with 0-1. But we have fun and we actually are getting a lot better. Who knows, maybe we’ll win a couple games this year!

Well that about sums it up. Life is going pretty good right now and hopefully it will stay that way for a while. I’m enjoying all my classes and life in general, so nothing to complain about. I guess I’ll try to find something to complain about for next journal, so wish me luck with that. As always, good luck to everyone out there reading. Hope your school/job/sitting at home is going well. If there are any questions/comments/concerns/facts/knowledge/food that you would like to share with me, just shoot me an email! Until next time . . .

-Blake

email: wasteofsoap@yahoo.com

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

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

Ouch. These past two weeks, have hurt. My arms have felt like jelly, my legs felt like they wouldn’t be able to move, my head was about to explode and my eyes have been unable to keep themselves up but I’ll tell you that story a bit later.

Let’s see, since September 10th, I’ve been club surfing, working really hard and having fun! I’ve learned to seize every opportunity I can to get free food, because at the end of the week, if meal plans are left over, I can stock up my fridge, so I don’t have to wake up early to get breakfast in the morning. Life has definitely fallen into a good routine. Last weekend was the Honors Picnic and it was a lot of fun! We all just hung out and got to meet the others Honors kids. I definitely want to be an active member of the Honors Student Association. Their goals are to balance scholarship with service and social. They’re organizing different tours of airplane manufacturing facilities and planning a trip to Universal, see? A balance of everything interesting. Oh yeah, and I want an officer position later because that’s what I like to do.

Now, back to the ouch. College is all about knowing your limits, whether it’s socially or academically. Let me just say, I should’ve known better when I showed up to my first Kickboxing class with my makeup done, while I complained about how the recent rain has been ruining my hair. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Embry-Riddle has about a million different clubs you can join, a million! For possibly anything and everything you could ever want to do. I wanted to kick box! We used to use Billy Blanks’ Tae-Bo videos in high school and they were so much fun, I guess I hadn’t realized that kickboxing, unlike those Tae-Bo video’s, actually consisted of physical contact and one heck of a workout. My first day and my last day of Kickboxing with Riddle’s premier Kickboxing team was on Monday the 17th and it was intense! We had to kick 200 times (100 of which I wimped out of) for each leg into this really hard cushion and also hold while our partner kicked. Hence, my arms and legs both wobbled the next day. I just wanted to do a cheesy video and be done with it; it was excessively competitive for me. There were marines and really buff guys and I almost considered sticking with it, just to get in shape, but then I realized that the reality is that I’ll never be able to flip over 150 pound person in my life, so I might as well find something else more my style.

That night, I went to my first Task Force One meeting. Task Force One is like the Freshman Government Council, so freshmen get more accustomed to the school. It’s almost completely run by freshmen. I wanted to be an officer really badly, because I like doing that kind of stuff, but I wasn’t informed of the first two meetings, so I missed them, thus not letting me run for an officer’s position. It’s okay for now though, I really want to be a part of the Student Government Association (SGA) it’s exclusive and you get a lot of responsibility when you’re a part of them, but you can’t be until I think spring semester. One of the speakers at graduation, Nate Clapper, the president of SGA is like my idol right now. His speech during convocation was so down to earth and boy would I love to steal his spot one day. FYI, something you definitely don’t want to miss is the free, that’s right, free, espresso in the SGA; it’s awesome. I get a few cups every day, because I love my cappuccinos that much and every now and then, I throw a couple bucks into the donation box. Yep =] There’s always so many things going on, on campus that it’s really hard to keep everything straight. There’s a heart walk scheduled for the end of September which supposedly 1000 kids show up! That should be a lot of fun.

We’ve started having tests and it’s only the third week of school! College is faster paced than high school ever was for me. There’s always a project to complete, always a paper to start and always math problems up to your neck. I love being here and all, but seeing my family and friends back home, would definitely perk up my spirits. You quickly learn that your hall mates, especially you roommate, will become your family away from home. When you don’t get how to do your math problem, you can’t ask your sister any more or when you accidentally get punched in the face during kick boxing, mom can’t give you something to make the swelling go away. A plane ticket back home to Jersey, if booked way in advance is about $200, so if I ever do get incredibly homesick, I’m always welcome home for the weekend.

The weekends here for me, are filled with watching movies, doing my nails, and chillin with the people around me. Last weekend I dyed my hair for the first time! Mom never let me dye it when I was in Jersey, but when I asked her, she didn’t care. I’ve attached a picture =] Us Wood 5 kids are a pretty crazy, we started a uh, type of club that I can’t mention, cuz it’s a secret. Basically, we like cookies and pies, a lot. The picture on my door of the last supper, isn’t the last supper, it’s pie, cuz we like pie.  There is a building here on campus, Spruance Hall which used to be the administration building and they’re breaking it down this week. I attached a few pics of that too. The best thing to happen these past two weeks is me getting my laptop! It’s PINK!!! I was so excited.. I got a matching mouse and bag too =]

As an ending note, don’t expect the Florida weather to be gorgeous every day. Just so you know, there’s a phenomenon called the “four o’clock rain” and you can practically set your watch to that timed rain.

Don’t forget to either post on the message board or email me at shankars@erau.edu if you have questions about anything!

Later guys!

Hello!  Wow, time sure does fly when you are having a good time!  I can’t believe I have already been here a little more than a month.  Well, a lot has happened since I wrote last, including the big news—Starbucks is coming to campus!  I am pretty excited because that means we will have another place to use our meal plans.  It will be located in the library with an entrance from the outside and the menu will include lunch and breakfast items plus the usual coffee.  The construction hasn’t started yet but it is scheduled to be open next semester.

Last week was the Activities Fair which was held on Heritage Walkway and consisted of a booth for each club.  I was amazed at how many different clubs were there and truthfully, there is definitely something for everyone.  I decided to sign up for Silver Wings, Women in Aviation, Airport Management Club, and since I am in the Honors Program I am automatically in the Honor Student’s Association.  I choose Silver Wings because it’s a service organization with both cadets and civilians, Women in Aviation because it links all aviation related majors, and Airport Management Club because one day I want to be an airport manager.  The exciting part with the Airport Management Club is that we will get to go on “behind the scenes” tours of different airports.  Clubs are a great way to network with other students that you might not get to meet in your classes or dorms.

On September 14th the Honors Program had a picnic on the beach.  I had a good time swimming in the ocean and talking to some new people.  The Honors Program also hosts monthly lectures featuring different professors.  This month the lecture was titled “Sunni-Shia Relations in Iraq’s Political Predicament” and was given by Dr. Mohamed Camara.  All the lectures are open to the whole student body and I would recommend going to some of these because I learned a lot of new information about Iraq’s history.  My Honors class has been very interesting with all of the books and stories we are reading are about the sea.  In a couple of weeks, the whole class is going to go out on a sailboat for several hours.  I am excited because I have never gone sailing and I have wanted to for a long time!  Soon, I will give a PowerPoint presentation on sea creatures and I just finished writing my first paper.

AFROTC is keeping me entertained and I am enjoying all of it!  I am in Hotel Flight and we try to get together outside of ROTC events.  We go to the new fitness center and workout together or this last time we decided to play sand volleyball.  I have never played sand volleyball before and I had a great time!  Also, every Sunday evening we have extra drill to work on the flight’s marching skills, and one evening after the practice we challenged another flight to a game of basketball.  I am, by no means, an athletic person and the only sport I have played was basketball throughout grade school.  Amazingly, I scored a basket and my flight won the game!  Tonight I got the job of being a flight adj.; which means tomorrow I will be in charge of getting the flight in formation and then reporting to the squadron adj. that everyone is present.  We still haven’t got our true Air Force uniforms yet, but I think we will pretty soon.

I hope all of you high school seniors have started to fill out your college applications!  Good luck!

Until next time,

Kaleigh

e-mail:sidesk@erau.edu

Welcome to my online journal of life at Embry-Riddle. I hope you will find my stories helpful, informative, and interesting whether you are a current or prospective student, parent, or faculty member. Whew— quite a mouthful, but very true!

I certainly will never claim to be an expert on campus events, classes, etc… but I will do my absolute best to describe the activities of at least one freshman on campus— me!

So, let’s get started! I have an exciting two weeks to recap:

Being a Washingtonian through-and-through, the trip to the opposite side of the country was quite a journey with “lay-overs” and such.

However, I count myself blessed considering that one of my suitemates in Wood Hall DROVE from Canada (north of WA). I did have a difficult time taking 18 years of accumulated stuff with me. Many things, of course, stayed at home.

When we finally picked up all of the baggage and the rental car at Jacksonville Intl., we stayed the night in St. Augustine. My sister graduated there from Flagler College last December, so we were very familiar with the area. It’s always a blast to walk the streets of the beautiful old town and get delicious food and gifts from chocolate to purses to flip-flops (Can you tell this was written by a girl 😉 ).

We drove on to Daytona and stayed in a gorgeous hotel resort right on the beach. My mom got a great deal on the room and I enjoyed every minute of staying there! So, I highly recommend the Ocean Walk Resort to y’all (Look at me using southern words already!).

At the dinner for the Honors Program, we met some great staff from Riddle. I sat with a girl from Illinois named Kaleigh and her family since I hadn’t met my roommate yet. Not much later, Kaleigh and I discovered we would both be on Wood floor 5 and be online journal writers. We are already good buddies. What are the odds? After the event, I finally met my Navy ROTC roommate- Kerry. We are very similar in that we both like quiet study and/or alone time and aren’t interested in being big partygoers. We do, however, enjoy watching chick flicks and going to the beach with friends from the dorm, Facebook, classes, and/or ROTC. The best way to put it 🙂 We are outgoing in a non-irresponsible way!

By the way, the Honors Program is awesome- don’t be afraid to apply!

You get priority registration (i.e. you pick the classes and teachers YOU want before anyone else. That way, they don’t fill up before you can even breathe.), a free personal PC that comes equipped with GPS, great Honors Seminar classes where it’s all about reading great literature and discussing deep topics, and you make close friends!

But, let’s get back to my first week: Orientation was perfect for getting used to campus, getting all the information you could possibly want, and meeting other freshmen. I won some free things and had great food, too. Using up meal plans was unbelievably fun. We had 14 like normal, but because Orientation began on Wednesday, there were plenty of extras that we could use on drinks, snacks, cereal, fruit, and more!

Orientation came to a great end with the luau. Free t-shirts, Polynesian dancers, games, and BBQ… perfect! The next day, I enjoyed my last full day with my parents. We decided to drive back up to Saint Augustine to visit the Gator Farm. Fun, fun! How can you visit FL without seein’ some gators?

Next, we stopped at a fancy seafood restaurant for dinner. Yum! And of course, the day ended at… Wal-Mart! It’s just what every college student needs… and Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Linens & Things, and Target…

On Sunday, I couldn’t believe it was almost time to say goodbye! We went to church at Riverbend Community and I was so pleased to find it felt like home. Many of their pastors went to the same seminary that ours did, so the teaching was right on. I know my faith in God will get me through these difficult but exciting years. My prayer is that I will be a testimony of Christ to everyone on campus.

I couldn’t help but cry as I hugged my dad and mom goodbye. True, I will see them in four months (My dad in about two; he’s coming the first week of November to visit.), but it was just the thought that I had a new home; that Arlington house will never really be part of my everyday life anymore. But, my family always will! Time, new friends, and cell phones made the separation easier, but it still wasn’t a pleasant first week without them.

In celebration of completing the first five days of classes, Kaleigh and I walked to the nearby Volusia Mall. We don’t have cars or bikes and it’s not that far anyway. We found some great deals because of the Labor Day weekend. I had to eat at Chick-fil-A since we don’t have those back home. Then, after more ROTC shopping for Kaleigh, we went across the street to Olive Garden. That’s always been one of my favorite restaurants. It was starting to rain, so we quickly rushed back to the dorms.

On Sunday, I got a ride to Riverbend again. It was just what I needed after a week of new things and sometimes overwhelming experiences. I felt kind of alone, but at church, I met some more people from ER and we’re going to start up a Bible study. Should be great! Plus, I’ve even been able to let people know about the Sunday services and a few from my floor are glad I can help them with carpooling. I’m very excited for next week!

Labor Day came and it was time to go to the beach! A guy I met on Facebook and at breakfast that day, Ben, was willing to take Caroline (girl on my floor) and I. The sun was out the waves were high… lovely! We even stopped at a bookstore and then a DVD/CD/Record store and found some great reads and flicks. I even got a nice gift for my dad.

(I won’t say what it is since he might read this someday! 🙂 )

Enough about my weekend, I bet you want to hear about the classes.

Well, Calculus seemed daunting at first, but once I got used to Prof.

Spradlin’s teaching style, I realized that I have experience with everything we’ll be learning, so it should be a fairly comfortable review but also challenge me to become more apt. Most teachers put all of the assignments and grading rubrics on Blackboard (ER’s online site), so it’s not too hard to stay on top of things.

Engineering Physics 101 is a great class! It’s like University 101, but obviously, for EP and Space Physics students. We get to know each other by doing introductions in the front of the class and are free to ask Dr. Olivero any questions we’d like. We will also hear from interesting guest speakers. The class actually ends before Thanksgiving and the only assignments are keeping a journal and writing a short paper on an aerospace subject.

I already spoke on the Honors Seminar classes, but I must mention my excellent teacher, Dr. Kain. He is very fun to listen to and does a great job of presenting points of view from all kinds of beliefs.

Graphical Drawing/CATIA for Engineers has also been fun. It only happens twice a week, but we learn about lettering correctly and how to make diagrams. This information will be very valuable for our future jobs in the industry!  Professor Sun is very patient and very artistic. I’m excited to learn from her!

Chemistry is by far the most challenging class I have this semester.

Dr. Cameron knows what he is doing and expects us to be proficient at working chemistry problems. It is a huge learning curve for me, but I’m planning to go to tutoring as often as I need.

And I haven’t been to a chemistry lab yet, but I’m very intrigued to see what I will learn in that once-a-week experience!

I apologize for the length of this excerpt, but I imagine I won’t have quite as much to say once I get used to college life. Thanks for listening! Feel free to ask any questions or make comments. I’ll do my best to get back to you!

I’m going to go check out the new fitness center. Looks amazing!

Until next time…

Natalie Ann

You can also use the site to ask questions and share your thoughts!

Hope to see you there!

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Hello!!  I can’t believe I am actually at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and writing this journal!  A little piece of information I learned at orientation is everyone calls the school Riddle, instead of having to say Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University all the time.  Since I was a freshman in high school, I have been dreaming about coming to Riddle.  I guess I should probably tell you a little bit about myself.  All my life I have lived in Sidney, Illinois; no it’s not near Chicago— its two hours south.  My town is about 1,000 people and my high school is five towns combined to form a graduating class of about 112.  The University of Illinois in Champaign is about fifteen minutes away, so I got the best of both worlds I grew up in a small town but had the city close enough to do fun things.  My high school experience was a little different because I graduated a semester early and attended a local community college.  I was a few credits short of being a sophomore, but I am glad that I was able to get a feel for what college would be like.

My mom, dad, and I drove from Illinois to Florida because there was no way all my clothes, shoes, and other stuff would have fit on an airplane.  We arrived in Florida on August 20th a day before orientation was to start.  The plan was to have a day to explore Daytona and go to the beach.  Well, as we all know the best laid plans never work out; instead of hanging out on the beach I was sitting in a dentist office with one side of my face twice its normal size.  I had my wisdom teeth taken out in June and one of the holes decided to become infected causing my face to swell.  We found a great dentist, Dr. Lloyd, who performed surgery to drain the poison.  Afterwards, I felt 100% better and thought that the worse was over.  WRONG!!  I began to feel worse that evening and throughout the entire orientation week I was sick which we think might have been due to an allergic reaction to the penicillin.  What a great way to start college!

Orientation week starts with move-in day which is crazy because all the new students are moving in at the same time.  The whole process was pretty fast though, and a nice thing is they have shopping carts to load your stuff into and then take it up to your room, so you don’t have to make twenty trips outside to get all your stuff.  I am living in Wood Hall on the top floor (fifth) and looking out my window I can see the Daytona International Speedway stands.  Several people have told me that you can see the actual racetrack from the roof which is pretty cool!  Many things go on at Orientation but the event I remember most was the reception with the College of Business.  The College of Business is the smallest college on campus but next semester they will have the newest building!  The reason I chose to study aviation business is because one day I hope to become an airport manager.

This semester the classes I am taking are Macroeconomics, Principles of Management, a Computer class, Applied Calculus, Honors Seminar, and an Air Force class.  Also, every freshman is required to take a class that helps orient you to the university and your specific college.  I am in the Honors Program; that requires you to take the Honors Seminar and a number of Honors classes within your major.  Another adventure of mine was I decided to do Air Force ROTC and so far I am really enjoying it.  I am not the most coordinated person and I confuse right with left a lot which means learning drill and how to march has been somewhat of a challenge, but I am always up for challenges.

If you have any questions, you can shoot me an email.

Kaleigh

e-mail:sidesk@erau.edu