Happy New Year, everyone!! I hope you all had a great break.. however long it may have been :o) I’m a huge fan of the month-long vacation. Once again, I’d like to apologize for another late entry. My resolution: to get my journal entries in on time.

Well, my break wasn’t all too exciting, to be honest. I was sick for the whole thing. First doctor said I had a stomach ulcer.. too much stress in my life. Second doctor had no clue.. just changed the prescription. Sooo, in conclusion, I just wasted a lot of money.

Also, while I was at home, I worked through some difficulties with Monty. We’re back together and better than ever!! We even bought a CHiHuaHua puppy.. I’ve wanted one for as long as I can remember.

Christmas was great. I got a Furby.. always wanted one of those!! Plus, I got some other fun stuff like the 3×4 ft. poster my sister made me displaying an assortment of my swimming ribbons from previous years. Oh! And Jenny, my friend from BGSU (Ohio), bought me some AZD sandals. She’s a Chi Omega.. but I like her just the same as though she were one of my own sisters. As she says, we’re all Panhellenic sisters, anyway!!

Yes!! Phone call.. and that ringtone means Monty :o) I’ll write more in two weeks. Feel free to reach me by e-mail with any questions: olivab46@erau.edu.

Greetings to all in the New Year 2006! Hope all of you guys and gals out there had a great time these holidays! Ah, the time draws near, when the fun stops and the buck drops. The beginning of the new Spring ’06 semester is here. I used to hate the end of vacation time, because it meant dragging my sorry ass through another semester of high school, but now (much to my own astonishment) I find that I am actually looking forward to college starting up again! While I can’t say that I am sorry the vacations are over, I am not completely bummed out at their conclusion. I expect the coming semester to be a lot easier than the past one, first of all, simply because I’m used to everything at Riddle by now, and I’ve crossed the bridge from high school to college; and secondly, because this semester I am taking 6 credits of humanities and 3 credits of CATIA, which is computer drawing. Pretty much, I’ll only have to work at Physics and Math, I guess. Of course, those words could also be on my tombstone, so let me not shoot my mouth off too fast.

Also! I recently found out that I aced the placement test that I took at the end of the Fall Semester to jump over MA 242 and go into MA 243 and I was quick to drop 242 and get myself into an available 243 class. I’m happy about this because for one, I’ve saved myself 4,000 bucks in ultimate tuition; and two because I’ve saved myself a semester of Math I already know. This was possible only thanks to the generous help of Dr Nirmal Devi in the Math Department, who set aside time to make, administer and evaluate the placement test to me. Calculus III is pretty challenging so I’ll have to work at it, but at least I’m learning something, not sitting in class bored out of my mind.

Well, about my winter vacation, then! I didn’t do anything exciting just lazed around, did nothing most of the day, and enjoyed it completely. After the hurried hassled days of college, when every hour of every day was budgeted out, it was nice to chuck my PDA aside and know that I had the entire day to myself and the day after that, and the day after that as well. Ahhhh, the bliss of being lazy. Those idiots who say hard work is the only way are just that, idiots. I shot some pool, watched the NFL football playoffs, fooled around on my computer and lay in a semi-comatose state in front of the TV for hours and hours. I think I must have watched every episode of FRIENDS there ever was, because I worked my way through about 40 DVDs of FRIENDS episodes.

Anyway, I’m not really being sequential about this so, when the holidays began the dorms began clearing out, people driving and flying back home. I had break Housing till the 23rd of December, so I stayed behind until there was no one left. Now that was weird. I was so used to the usual commotion and activity in the halls that when they were left empty it didn’t feel like I was in the dorms at all! But I quickly got used to it. I slept real late, lazed around, and played computer games on my suitemate’s computer.

This break was really a lazy one for me. It was so nice to not have every minute of every day planned out. I decided that I would have maybe three things to do that week and I would do them, but then again, if the mood settled on me, maybe I wouldn’t! I don’t care what any one says, lazy breaks are the best kind.

On December 23rd I drove down to Holly Hill and stayed in a motel there for five days. I made it a point to run on the beach every morning, and I spent a good part of Christmas Day lazing on the beach. I also drove up to Tampa Bay one day. After those five days I drove to Orlando and picked up Dan, just off his flight back from New York, and stayed with him in his Port Orange apartment for the rest of the holidays. We certainly did NOT get drunk on New Year’s Eve and we did NOT hit on some lesbian chicks at a club we went to.

The playoffs began the next week, so I watched some very entertaining football, Dan’s a Giants fan and when Eli Manning got sacked three times in the last half of a game he was about ready to explode. Just before the holidays ended his roommates Megan and Ben drove down from Maryland too.

And then it was time to go back to the dorms. Like I said before, usually I hate the end of break, because it’s time to go back to the drudgery of school. But this time, to my surprise, I didn’t feel that way. I was actually looking forward to going back to school! Not that the break sucked either, because I certainly had some good times. I just didn’t feel bummed out that the vacations were over, I didn’t mind going back, really. I’m enjoying my life here so much, why would I want to be away from it for longer than I have to?

MOTTO FOR THE FORTNIGHT: Save a cow. Eat a vegetarian.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone’s holidays were the best ever. I sure had tons of fun with my three and a half week vacation. I really needed a break from the life here at ERAU, the end of the semester was much anticipated and I could not wait to get home. I really, really missed my friends from high school because they are so different than the people here, so my trip home was excellent in just that I really got to hang out with everyone for a long period of time for the first time since the summer. I also got to relax which was fun for a while, but then it really got boring because I’m not really the relaxed type of person.

New York City is truly the greatest city in the world, and I take it for granted until I leave it for a while. The amount of things at my disposal while I was at home was truly the best part of the visit. Just being able to walk around for once instead of being in a car was the thing I really missed the most. And walking was a theme for the first week of my break because of our city’s transit workers union went on strike, basically crippling the city. I stayed at home the first two days, which was horrible, but on the third day, I braved the cold to walk to Manhattan. I live a few minutes away by train, (subway) but walking towards the Brooklyn Bridge took me about an hour. When I arrived at the bridge, I took advantage of the city’s traffic restrictions and received a ride from a newcomer in the city who did not realize he need four people in his car to get across the bridge in the mornings, for the duration of the strike. Over the bridge in the car took literally 45 seconds and then I took the PATH train (run by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey) up to midtown. It was truly a long and awe inspiring adventure which turned what would have been a 35 minute trip into 2 hours.

Other things I did in the city after the strike was over was ice-skating at Chelsea Pier, seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center, and just eating all the different types of food I had come to miss. I know what you are thinking and no, I did not go to Times Square to see the ball drop. I’m saving that one for my mid- to late twenties. On New Years Eve I just went to a party with my friends and had tons of fun.

Overall I think I had a great time over break and it was just what I needed to get me ready for the long haul of four months away from home. I won’t be going home for spring break so I am totally going to need some support come March, when I am going to be dying for some good pizza. I’ll be sure to write about it and request a shipment of food from those of you from New York when the time comes. As always, write to me at willicdb@erau.edu.

Until Next Time,
Carlos

Hey, everybody! Well, here I am late again on my deadline for this entry. I got back to Daytona this morning and it’s actually pretty good to be back. I got pretty used to being home for a whole month, so it feels like somewhat of an adjustment being back now, but it’s a beautiful day today. I’m totally exhausted, but let’s see what I can come up with.

Break was really nice. Mostly I just watched TV and read a couple books and went to hang out with my old friends. I didn’t really think of this much before, but living far from home really does change you in some way. When I was hanging out with my friends that are going to school in WA, at first I thought there was something about them that was really different. Then I realized they hadn’t really changed at all, and it was me that was different. There were also a lot of things I felt they couldn’t relate to because they had basically spent the past few months at home. I don’t think that one is necessarily better than the other, going to school far away or at home, but I think you should be aware that some sort of change will take place. Personally, I know I made the right decision in going to school far from home, but I also know that what’s right for one person isn’t necessarily right for another. A lot of you have been wondering how I feel about going to school so far from home, but if you don’t feel right about it, don’t do it just because I said it was a great decision for me.

A first-time thing for me: I saw a person catch fire, in person. No one got hurt, everything was cool, it was just totally hilarious. If you are standing with your back to a candle and your back starts to feel really hot all of a sudden, move away, because you are probably on fire. So somebody had to learn that the hard way, but at least that mistake probably won’t be repeated any time soon.

Classes start on January 11th. I don’t know if I’m really ready to go back yet. Another couple weeks of watching TV and waking up at 2 would be totally fine with me. I would have no complaints whatsoever. But it’s time and I’m going to go with it. I’m kind of having trouble being optimistic about paying to my laundry now. Oh yeah, that reminds me, for those of you getting ready to go off to college, make sure you know how to do your own laundry. I can’t tell you how many freshman boys I’ve seen staring blankly and maybe even daunted, at the laundry machines for 10 minutes before they ask me how to use it, or what cycle such-and-such goes on. I have no doubt there are also girls out there whose mothers have always done their laundry for them, so don’t get offended, guys. But so far all the girls I’ve met here have known what they’re doing. If you can engineer spacecraft or fly an airplane, you can definitely handle a washing-machine, I promise! So if you can’t do laundry, well, you’re gonna have to learn sometime.

That’s about it for now. I should probably finish up unpacking all my stuff – of which there was a lot. I don’t really know how all that happened because I didn’t leave with that much, but somehow I ended up coming back with a 56 pound suitcase (but I didn’t have to pay the $25 surcharge. Thanks, airport lady!) plus a box full of all the other stuff I’m going to need which my mom is shipping to me- and that one must weigh like 70 pounds. So yeah, I’ve got some stuff to do, but feel free to email me with questions- kenyonj@erau.edu or post them on the discussion board http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/erau_ug/default.asp

Later!

Hey, guys!! Sorry this entry is SoOo late. I thought I sent one in, but it mustn’t have gone through. The Internet is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?!

Anyway, I’m at home, now. Back in Ohio until next year. WoW!! That sounds scary if you don’t think about the fact that next year is just days away.
Speaking of next year, Christmas will be here in FOUR days. Where has time gone?!

I ended the semester with a 2.84 GPA. Not anywhere near as well as I was hoping, but I make do with it. If I pull something like a 3.13 next semester, I’ll pull a 3.0 for the year. I can do it!!

Overall, I got an A, a ton of B’s, and a C in that computer class I couldn’t get out of bed for. Good thing I dropped the 8:00 time slot for next semester. In fact, I’m going to try taking all of my classes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday!! I think it’ll be nice to have two days off.. to do homework and get a job, maybe. I’ll just have to sit through 5 hours of classes 3 days a week, but even at that it’s much better than high school :o).

Well, I hope you all have a great Holiday Season!! I’ll talk to you all next year!!!

Well…it’s hello and goodbye from me through this journal entry – the holidays are upon us!

After a full semester of hard work it’s nice to be able to wake up in the morning when the sun is shining and there’s nothing really pressing to stop you from being utterly lazy. I love the feeling – I’m already addicted to it.

The results of Fall 2005 are in and….***drum roll***…FOUR POINT OH! Yes, I know it is shameless of me to gloat, but what the heck, I’m gonna glorify myself anyway. A perfect score! I am currently sitting on a 17 credit 4.0, and it feels goooooooooood. A copy of my first semester transcript is posted below, for those of you who are curious to know what a 4.0 looks like on paper –

I managed to secure an A in every class I took. Air Force Leadership Lab was a pass or fail course, and as my transcripts reflect, I did pass.

Next semester I’ll be taking 6 credits of humanities and CATIA, so the workload should be a lot less. I feel most gratified – at least my 17,000 was well spent. Of course the trick is to keep it up, and hopefully I’ll be able to do that.

And it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! All the stores, of course, have their decorations up, and Christmas music piping from every nook and cranny in the mall – it’s that time of year again! I love Christmas. Personally, it is my favorite time of the year, and not just because of the one month vacation, though that does have a lot to do with it!

I’m pretty much alone in the dorms right now – I’ve gotten Break Housing up till the 23rd of December. It seems so strange – there’s no roommate (Cameron has gone back to Canada), no suitemates (Ben flew up to California yesterday and Scott’s visiting his girlfriend in Kentucky), and no one on our usually bustling hall! It’s a sensation I haven’t gotten used to just yet, but I’m enjoying it alright.

Well, that’s it from me for this semester – I’ll be back in the spring with more jiving journals! Hope you all out there have a great holiday, don’t forget to hang up your stockings, and I’ll talk to you again in the New Year 2006. Peace out, dudes!

MOTTO FOR THE YEAR: HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hey readers! Well, this one I’m writing from home. It’s kind of nice to be back but it’s cold! There’s ice everywhere so I can’t go running outside and that kind of sucks. When I was in Florida, I forgot that cold weather has its effects. Like how you have to go slow on turns when there’s ice on the ground (one of my neighbors almost got their living room taken out this morning). So anyway, I’m mostly grounded to indoor activities at the moment.

I visited my high school today and yesterday. The seniors right now are my class, and it was a reality check seeing everyone from my class last year still being in high school, and realizing that just a couple months set us really far apart. High school and college are very different places in many ways, and it struck me how much I’ve matured since I was back there. Everyone was pretty happy to see me and I was happy to see them and it was fun telling everyone what I’ve been up to and seeing how the school had changed without me. I’m really glad that I took the step to go to college early because I’m completely satisfied with where I am right now. I like being mostly self-sufficient.

Anyway, now that I’m home, I’m basically just working out a lot to get ready for my next PFT, reading, watching movies, visiting friends and enjoying non-campus food. It’s also nice to sleep in when I feel like it. Well, I better be on my way, I have to enjoy this month home while it lasts! Keep the questions coming to kenyonj@erau.edu or on the discussion board http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/erau_ug/default.asp
Later everyone!

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday I finished my last finals and I am going home in the morning! I am so excited! I have been so busy lately and really stressed out. Even though I had only two finals, I still had projects and presentations and papers due this week. I was the most nervous for chemistry because the final exam was worth so much that my B could become as high as an A or as low as a D with that one test!!! Ahh! And Dr. Cameron said it happened to someone last year! I studied for a long time to make sure it didn’t happen to me. Calculus was my second and last final, and I think I did really well on it. Some of my grades are already posted, and it looks like I will have a 4.0 unless I really screwed up my chemistry final (which I think I did). That’s ok because I am just so happy to be going home after all this time!

Friday night my sorority had our Christmas party, and I brought my Polish friend Bartosz as my date. We had so much fun. Today I am just packing up, doing laundry, and getting ready to go home. My friend Danny is babysitting my fish (Ruby) for me over break. Danny lives close to ERAU so he is driving home. I can’t take a fish home with me on the plane, but otherwise I would. I already have lots of plans for break, and I will be writing about them for my next journal in January. Our second semester begins Wednesday, Jan. 11 th , but I may be coming back late because I want to go to a dance on Sat. Jan. 14 th . We also have no school on Mon. Jan 16 th , so I could stay almost an entire extra week and only miss three days of class. I will have to email my professors to make sure that I won’t miss too much. At least it will be nice to have snow for Christmas and then come back to sunny, hot Daytona Beach J

Well, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

~Sara

Hello EVERYONE!!!!,

Well, I have officially completed my first semester of COLLEGE!!! I am so happy/excited for myself!!! Well I still have my math final on the 12th and my meteorology final on the 14th and then I’m off for my break! My grades are good and I only missed 3 classes this semester, and it wasn’t because I skipped, it was because my lazy butt slept in!. lol.

I don’t think I am going back home to Pennsylvania for Christmas, I will probably go to my Mom’s house in Melbourne.

I told you guys how I totaled my other car right? Well I did, about 3 weeks ago or so. I got on the ball, searched eBay and found a nice car over in Orlando ! I actually bought a car off of eBay. lol, that was fun. I paid $2,000 cash for it, and I have my OWN insurance THANK YOU !, not many teens have their own insurance! So I’m low on cash right now!.

My dad offered to fly me home, but I haven’t spent a real Christmas with my mom since I was about 4 or 5, and I don’t even think I was that old, I’m going to surprise her!! Although I’m going to miss ALL of my friends back home and a white Christmas, but I talked to a couple friends of mine back home and they said they all might come down for a road trip! So that will be sweet!!

School is great and everything else is going even better! I’m going to miss all of my new friends! If any of you are reading this I love ya all!!!!! College offers great memories! I love college, it is WAY better than high school will EVER be, although I DO miss the good ol’ high school days!. lol

I have ALL of my laundry done and ready to GO TO MELBOURNE FOR CHRISTMAS! Abercrombie & Fitch gave me hell for calling off for Christmas, but they have this thing called “requested time off”! Therefore I requested time off and they got all mad, and I told them I didn’t care if I didn’t work but once a month, just as long as I don’t get fired so I can still get the discounts!!haha..

I am not sure if I will continue writing my Journal over break or not, I wish I were just to see how everyone is doing and all!! if I don’t, I will always be looking on the ERAU message board and everyone has my email —>> gibso35f@erau.edu and my aol name is once again —>> gibso2j,,, so feel free to ask any questions, for those of you who have e-mailed me, you all know that I take my time in answering all of your questions in full detail. So go ahead and ask me anything you’d like and I will take the time to get all your questions answered!

Well, just a few things before I go to everyone! I WISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!! And remember, Christmas isn’t just about gettin’ presents and stuffin’ your face at grandma’s house, it’s about Jesus, love, care, and friendship! All of you better be safe over the holiday! I mean it!! lol. I wish I had more to write about, but I don’t really want to take up anymore of you guys’ time, plus my friends and I are going out and finding Christmas light displays, YES, there are Christmas lights here in Florida. lol. ..

WELL EVERYONE, THIS IS JUSTIN SAYING GOOD BYE UNTILL NEXT SEMESTER OR UNTIL I HEAR FROM YOU BY E-MAIL OR AOL! BYE EVERYONE!!!

–Justin Brett Gibson (Aero Sci-ERAU) peace!!!!