Hello again everybody.
Since last time, it has been amazingly busy here in Daytona Beach. Now that I am into my fourth week of classes, I can accurately say I have a pretty good routine going. The work load is definitely starting to pick up and is becoming a lot more challenging, but nothing overwhelming.

I am taking two air traffic classes and I absolutely love them. They are very interesting and I enjoy going to them every day. In my one class, we just learned all about the history of ATC and now we are starting on the ATC system as a whole. In the other, we finished the teamwork, documents, and communications section and are just starting the aircraft identification section. Each of these classes is structured around the FAA’s demands. Everything we learn will most likely be seen again if we get accepted to the FAA training academy in Oklahoma City.

I am also taking a meteorology class and a human factors class. My meteorology professor is actually the weatherman for central Florida’s Channel 13 news station. It is kind of strange to see him in the classroom, and then 4 hours later on my TV, but the class is very interesting. This past week, I had been bombarded with tests, just about every day of the week I had a test in each one of my classes, a lot of studying and work, but I pulled through..

So that is how my academic life is going. Now on to my social life.

Embry-Riddle has so many clubs and organizations to pick from! About two weeks back I ended up joining the scuba diving club and the surf club when they held the activities fair. There are hundreds of activities to choose from, whatever interests you they probably have here.

The University also held a Greek night where you go around to the Fraternities/Sororities table and decide which one you like enough to rush and possibly join. In my personal opinion, Sigma Pi here at Embry-Riddle has the most to offer and is probably the best Fraternity on campus. After going around and seeing/ hearing what all the others had to offer, nothing could compare to Sigma Pi, I had to rush them.

Rush week is when all of the interested students hang out with the Brother’s and decide if they like the organization enough and want to pledge. It also gives the Brothers a chance to determine if they like you enough and think you are worthy of pledging their organization. At the end of rush week, if everything worked out, they give you a bid and invite you to pledge the Fraternity. I was lucky enough to get a bid from Sigma Pi and of course I accepted it. So now I am a pledge and have to go through the new member education process.

My pledge brothers are really cool and I enjoy hanging out with them, so things aren’t too bad yet. This past week they assigned me to my ‘Big Brother,’ Chad. He is like a mentor to me and will help guide me through my pledging process. Every day I am developing more and more respect towards the Brothers. They are all really cool and know how to have a good time. Yesterday we cleaned up Clyde Morris, the highway in front of the University. Sigma Pi actually adopted that entire road. It was so hot out, but the Brothers made it into a fun time. Out of all the Fraternities on campus, Sigma Pi by far is the best one in my opinion.

On another note, I am really glad I chose to live off campus since I was eligible because I am a transfer student. I have a huge apartment, my own bathroom, and no RA looking after my every move. On the other hand I have to drive to class every day, make my own meals, and most of the friends I met live on campus, so I’m kind of out of the loop. Either way you look at it, there are definitely pros and cons with off-campus living.

In these upcoming weeks, there is going to be a lot to look forward to in the Daytona Beach area and also the University. Homecoming is coming up and from what I hear; things get crazy on campus during it. Also, Biketober Fest is just around the corner. It is when bikers from all around the country come to Daytona to show off their stuff, sell things, and party. It should be interesting once they all come. People say that the area gets so loud and the roadways get clogged with motorcycles. I am looking forward to Sky Fest most of all for the upcoming month. It is a huge air show over the airport with all kinds of stunt pilots and vendors from every where all relating to aviation, it definitely sounds like fun.

To wrap things up, I am really enjoying it here, from the new friends to the new experiences, everything is going really well for me. If any of you ever have any questions regarding academics or the social scene here, email me at beim582@erau.edu. It would probably be best though if you continue to ask me questions through the discussion board. If you see me on campus, let me know if you read my entries. Until next time, do good in school and stay out of trouble.

Whaaaaaaaaazaaaaa,

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was alright. I had a chemistry exam and Psychology. I¹ll let you know what I got on them when you contact me J . By the way ..only one person contacted me and read my entire journal, I found that pretty unique.

I was supposed to go home this weekend to St.Petersburg, Florida where my parents live and spend the weekend there but I have a Math Exam on Tuesday so I chose to stay here because its harder to focus at home with all those distractions going on around you. My classes are still going pretty well except chemistry, I was not happy what I got on my exam. I rushed it and didn¹t do too well. Over the weekend I got in touch with several of my friends back from home in St.Petersburg, Florida too bad not Europe, its expensive over my cell phone. But it was nice, I talked to my friends and told them that I will probably be going home in 2 weeks for the weekend unless another Exam interrupts me.

So my friend Justin broke his collar bone playing Ultimate Frisbee down near the ICI Center (sport complex). It is funny how people imagine that sport as being so innocent. Well, he jumped to dive to get the Frisbee, he succeeded but fell on his shoulder as if someone dropped him upside down to the ground. So I drove in his car and took care of him for like two days and felt very bad for him. Since the collar bone is one of the most sensitive bones in the body required for movement, it is very hard for him to move such as taking showers, dressings.etc. I helped him with the best I can. A few days ago he had to go back to the hospital and they put a cast around his shoulders and armpits. At least he looks buff now with his whole shoulders being placed back and straight up. I wish him well.

A car here at Embry-Riddle is not really THAT important. If you need to go shopping or such, there are always people around that have a car and that will drive you. If you just want to kill money and time + gas, then go for it. I personally don¹t believe you need a car unless you are planning on getting an OFF-Campus job. Many students work on campus and have a flexible schedule. Here at Embry-Riddle, many people understand the need for your work to be done, so if you needed to leave your job or something they would understand. Now off campus, I would say it would probably be different.

If anybody is considering a visit, I encourage you to do so and so does probably everyone else here. When you visit your University you are planning to attend you just feel different. You can ask questions from people who are NOT trying to take your money, but to help you. Our Financial Aid Office is beyond exceptional, they do all the work for you with the lenders.

I know its been a short journal, so I haven¹t done pretty much anything over the weekend. I pulled another ALL-Nighter on Saturday (for no reason) with my buddy and now I am tired. So guyss let me know if there is anything I can answer for you. I already did for one person, and thanks for reading it ALL!! – Dinko R.

WoW!! If no one has done so, yet, let me be the first to inform you that college is ROUGH. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m loving every single minute of this awesome RiDdDLe experience, but it is NOT easy by any stretch of the imagination.

So, it’s been about two weeks, I’m assuming, since my first journal entry. At that point in time, things were going pretty well in all of my classes. I was slightly struggling in MA 241 (Calculus 1), but that was the worst of it. Things, now, have started to get MUCH harder. I took a test in my World History class, last Thursday. Let’s just say that this class has been a challenge to get through since day one — the teacher is EXTREMELY boring, and she will admit to this. Well, the test was IMPOSSIBLE. I don’t know where she got ANY of the information that was on the exam. Needless to say, I (along with every other person I talk to in that class) don’t think we did so well.

On Wednesday, I had my first Calculus exam. We’d already taken one quiz which was worth about nothing. So, this was pretty huge. How I did on the exam is still up in the air, but there is about a 50/50 chance I passed. YIPES!!

Anyway, looking back at last week, my best friend, Beth, and I have come up with a new way of going about studying for classes. We’re now buckling down, reviewing both before and after each class to prepare ourselves for what’s to come. I hate having to set extra time aside to do things that aren’t really of much interest to me in the first place, but I’d hate it even more to get a bad grade in any of my classes. By the way, my other classes are going very well!!

As far as things on the homefront in Ohio, things are going well. Monty, my boyfriend, is planning on coming down to Daytona Beach for my birthday which is in exactly 13 days. I’m young, though, so will only be turning 18. However, that is a definite reason to party. My family is supposed to be sending down presents!! I cannot wait for that. And my friends Beth, Herbie, and Greg are going to make me a cake. They’re also taking Monty and I to Disney World for the weekend!! HoOoRaY 🙂

Things are going really well, here (minus being pretty sick to my stomach — YUCK!!). I’m liking this place more and more each day. This past weekend, I went to Orlando with the crew. We went shopping, saw fireworks, and just had a good time. Oh, and on Friday night, we went ice skating. It was awesome.

The previous weekend, I spent with the sorority girls on campus with preference parties and such. And, I got my bid card on Sunday.. I’m pledging ALPHA XI DELTA!! Tomorrow night is our big coming in event. We all have to wear white dresses. And I’m really excited!! If I get the chance to talk with Jill, I may start posting pictures up, here. The girls and I are really big into pictures, and I thought it’d be fun to share them with you so you can do more than just read about life here at ERAU.. you can see it, too!

Anyway, I could go on and on forever about how things are going, here. However, homework is definitely calling my name. I should’ve written a few days earlier. As you’ll realize, though, things tend to slip your mind while you’re at school. Have a great next week or two. I cannot wait until the next post!!

Hey, hey, hey , it’s time for your fortnightly shot of Junior’s Jiving Juice from yours truly, Veda Jr. A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away….

Whoops. Wrong reel. Backtrack…

Embry Riddle. Well, these two weeks sure have been momentous. I don’t think I ever realized how nice things like sleep and regular meals are, and I no longer remember what leisure time means. Sound familiar, anyone?

Earlier I had written about the AFOQT – my scores recently came in. Well, they aren’t great. And compared to my SAT scores, they’re dismal. But I’m pleased as punch, coz I expected to do much worse, what with time playing hide and seek so’s I can’t study. Free Time. It’s like a mirage. You think you see it, it almost crystallizes…then you realize you really imagined it. Well, I never wanted to be a pilot or nav, so that didn’t matter to me.

Anyway…The AFOQT consists of five subsets, each independent of the other. Pilot, Navigator, Academic Aptitude, Verbal and Quantitative. Their purposes are self-explanatory.

The scores are in nationwide percentile, and mine were – Pilot 52, Nav 71, AcApt 90, Verbal and Quantitative 86. I was pretty happy with the Pilot score – I’d have probably gotten a large zero if it hadn’t been for Cameron – he has a Private Pilot License and he gave me a crash course in how to interpret gauges and some common aviation FAQs, and I didn’t do bad at all. Nav was brilliant, donno how I managed that! I expected higher in Verbal and Math, but oh well.

Okay, another word before I quit about my military career. We had an ‘Ability run’ last Friday – we had to join a group based on how fast we could run 1.5 miles, or 2.4 kilometers. I joined the 10 minute and 30 second group because I thought I was in shape – on my scholarship PFT I ran it in 9 minutes so I thought it’d be a breeze. Guess what? WRONG! Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant. But just this morning I ran the same distance in just over nine-and-a-half minutes. I’ve vowed to train regularly…if time doesn’t play truant again.

Hmmm…speaking of time, very early after my last entry I realized that I had tried to swallow an elephant, when I could only chew a chicken. My schedule got so frantic with ROTC, work, studies and all the clubs I had joined that I just had to dump some. Either that, or dare gravity from my fourth floor window. So I didn’t pursue either Arnold Air Society or the Motorcycle Club. I really want to join the AIAA, but their meetings are on Thursdays and I have to work Thursdays, but I’m hoping to resolve it somehow. As for the ISA, I’m dithering on that…maybe I’ll attend one of their meetings and then make up my mind. But I am definitely going to pursue being VJ the DJ!! Hopefully, as a second hand musician, I will be found noteworthy! (yes, the pun was deliberate) First training session is this weekend, so lets see what happens.

The day after I went to Ponce Inlet Park near Ormond Beach for the honors student association picnic. It was fun. In the wake of Rita, the waves were awesome…some were almost 5 feet above my head! I was half scared I’d drown coz I had just one week’s experience in staying afloat, but I quickly got the hang of riding the wave and letting it carry you toward the beach. Awesome! I can’t wait to learn swimming better so I can have even more fun diving into the waves.

Had my Math and Physics exams this week – I did okay, I’ve already done it all back in India. I also attended the Embry-Riddle chapel this Sunday – I guess I have a lot to be thankful for.

I have a job at the Annual Fund of Embry Riddle – the pay is marginally better than most jobs on campus. We call alumni for four hours a day, three days a week, including a compulsory Sunday, and ask them if they want to donate money back to our school. Money we get is used to help and enhance the experience of the students, and several student clubs and organizations depend on Annual Fund money to run and conduct activities. To my surprise, I made 2100 dollars in my first two days, which is some kind of record.

It’s a demanding job. It can get really boring at times, meeting the same responses, saying the same things. Well, if I had to relate all the anecdotes from my job at the Annual Fund, I’d be writing for ever, and I’m sure you have stuff to do, so I’m gonna sign off here. For those of you too lazy to scroll down, my contacts are vedajr@gmail.com, nayak48c@erau.edu, AIM vedanayakjr (I don’t use Yahoo or MSN – too much spam). If you have any questions at all, do contact me and I’ll be glad to help out best I can…till next time, cheers, dudes!

VJ

Motto for the fortnight: Always borrow money from a pessimist. They don’t expect it back. And if you do a good deed, get a receipt…just in case St Pete is like the IRS.

Hey everybody! I’m sorry, I won’t have all that much to report on for this installment as I was sick with bronchitis this past week and definitely have not been up to much. To start off with, though, I’ll just say that taking care of yourself really is as important as people say it is. The past couple weeks I kind of went on thinking that I was invincible, and 0-4 hours of sleep a night for a week would cut it. Not so. Trying to tough it out all the time isn’t always the way to go. With a whole bunch of class hours and PT in the mornings, I didn’t realize that I couldn’t get away with running myself into the ground like that. Anyway, I paid for it, feeling sicker than I have in a while and missing a total of about four days of class.

The thing that sucks about missing class and being in AMS is that because its FAA regulated, you have to make up all the class you missed with extra work. So I’ve got a bunch of make-up work I still have to do before class tomorrow, plus I have to plan out all my classes for the next few years for when I meet with my Air Force class instructor, do my math homework from last week and study for whatever quizzes and tests I missed and those that are coming up. I don’t know about everyone else here, but I definitely had a lot more work in high school than I’ve had here so far, so just because I’m complaining, don’t think it can’t be done.

In other sick day related news, I also had to miss Lead Lab last Monday. Fortunately, since I had numerous notes saying I had bronchitis, I got it excused and have the opportunity to make up the class I missed if I so choose. Basically, there was just no way in hell I was going to stand at attention for twenty minutes in the sun and march around campus with a fever. I also got on MRS for PT, which means I still had to show up, but instead of running and all that, I worked on the computer in the ROTC building.

Finally going back to class was difficult. When you don’t have someone yelling at you that you need to go to school, it can be hard to make yourself do it after having a five day weekend. All in all though, things are going okay. I’ve also gotta say I’m surprised to have gotten responses to my writing so quickly, that’s awesome. Keep ’em coming, I’m glad to hear from you. Once again, you can reach me with questions at kenyonj@erau.edu

hello journal readers,

hope everyone is having a good day!! things are going good here in Daytona Beach, Florida that’s for sure. I’m really exciting about working at Aercrombie&Fitch tonight. It’s the Christmas season preview and all the customers get their pics taken with the employees and I’m not sure if we’re having some models at the entrance or not, but it’s gonna be really fun! and yesterday was my b-day (( 19 !!! ) and my manager said that if there is an Abercrombie party after everyone gets off, it could be my b-day party thing too. So that’s cool! So my work life is absolutely amazing. I went to the beach last night with some friends of mine and had a good time, then it started pouring down rain, then it stopped, then it poured again, then it stopped, lol,. . but that’s how it is here!

School is pretty much settled down now, everyone has their schedule and classes memorized, everybody knows where everything is, and what’s going on around campus, new friends just keep piling up and up . I love it here. school can get hectic at points but that’s when you buckle down and take about 4-5 hours alone and get things done, or however long it takes for you to do your work/study. I have been doing all the online stuff on my roommates computer, but i will be getting my laptop in less than 2 weeks, it’s one of the dell inspiron ones. the widescreen one with everything, i went all out!! my dad got it for me for my b-day and is sending it down over-night once it gets up there! i’m excited.! ERAU is asking all of us students what we think about putting another fitness center in where the old counseling center used to be, i told them that not very many students would want that, i think it would be cool if they put something else there. . like a day spa or something, for students only, and we could all use our Riddle Bucks to pay! that would be sweet!! i was going to go home this weekend and see my mom who lives in melbourne, but this whole work thing is a big deal at A&F and if i don’t go i could lose my job cuz it’s only a select few that got scheduled for this big day, and i had plans , but i think it will be worth it!! i mean, who wouldn’t want there picture taken with a bunch of hott girls! i have to rap things up here pretty quick, i was up late last night and just woke up a bit ago and it’s already 3 o’clock and i have to get ready to go to work cuz it’s a big day!!! and i still need to shower and stuff. .ummm i’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from people lately, and my box is crazy every day, so if anyone has any questions, please post them up on the discussion board under the appropriate category and other journal writers and myself with do our best to answer you questions to the fullest extent! well everybody, sorry so short, my next entry will be more detailed and longer, i promise!! i’m in a rush right now .. sooooo hope everyone is good and i will talk to all of you soon!!

ps, my AIM screen name is gibso2j if anyone has AOL IM. . it’s always fun to chat instead of mailing and posting questions. . bye guys!!

Hi everyone!

Well, school has become much more challenging in the past few weeks. I had two tests in the last couple of days- calculus and chemistry. Even though I have taken calculus in high school as well as a college chemistry class, neither of the classes I have now are easy. I don’t know how I could survive without having already taken those classes. I’m beginning to wish someone had told me that every math and science class I took in high school has a huge impact in college. I never bothered to memorize formulas because they were always given to me during tests. Now, I just had to memorize the unit circle so I could take my calculus test. I have also decided that chemistry is my hardest class. The test we just took after one month of class covered more information than most full-year high school chemistry classes. One of our “booger” homework problems took me and my roommate, Marjory, nearly 6 hours and 10 pages of work to complete. (A “booger” problem is what Dr. Cameron calls his toughest stoichiometry questions.)

I am also trying to adjust to a different lifestyle than the one I had at home. Before I came here, I got plenty of sleep. Now, I will be lucky to get to bed before midnight. It is partially because of studying, but also because I have other things going on that take up my time. I am now on the crew team, (which is so much fun but hard work!), and practice is 4-6pm every day plus Saturdays. I also joined the Society of Women Engineers, and I play and referee volleyball two nights a week. I like being paid to ref. volleyball, but if my schedule gets too full that will be the first thing to go. In college, time management is one of the most important skills to master- especially as an engineering physics major. The rest of the campus knows our small groups of EP’s as either “the smart kids,” or the students who are “completely nuts.” I get one of those two everytime I am asked what my major is. (More often though I hear “are you crazy?!”) I’m not trying to scare anyone away from this major, but it does require quite a bit more work and time than other degree programs.

I can still find plenty of things to do over the weekends; there’s always something fun going on around here! I go to the beach almost every Saturday with the guys in my hall, I went to Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney, Orlando last Friday, and a few weeks ago I went to my first frat party. (Except it was broken up by the cops only an hour after I got there.) The Sunday after the frat party I also got to go flying to the gulf coast with Jason and Matt. They are both pilots that live in my hall, and Marjory also came with. We went to a small town called Crystal River and had ice cream and then flew back after dark and saw Orlando lit up half way back.. It was so cool to see Embry-Riddle from the sky too! Well, I have work to do so I will update all of you in a few weeks as far as what’s going on. Please feel free to ask questions on the discussion board or email me!

~Sara~

What’s going on guys.

My Name is Dinko and I have lived in the USA for 8 years. I am originally from Bosnia, but I moved to Germany at the age of four because of the war in Bosnia.

My Parents came to this country only because of one reason, me. They want me to get an education. They received theirs in Bosnia but that was all destroyed. So here we are with nothing, just as we were when we entered Germany. You can contact me if you want more information about me.

Ok….so I read this Journal thingy just as you did, my year prior to entering College. How is it? I’d say its freedom. You really think its so hard and all day studying…etc….But no no no . That’s when exams are around. When classes are present, you might want to just review your stuff so you don’t lose track of that. But since ERAU is a private college, it is not like the public ones where you would have over 100 kids in a classroom. Right now my biggest is about 60. The rest about 30. Some 15. You choose your classes when you come with a person that helps you throughout your four-year program, which is called (AD – Academic Advisor). Now in the Fall, you will have about five to six classes. All of those classes will be broken up which means you will have maybe three on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The other three or two on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So its unique and you won’t get tired. You have so much freedom after your classes that you don’t know what to do with it. But just don’t be a clown and do nothing.

Attendance is pretty much taken by all instructors, but there are a few that do not. So it is mandatory to attend since it represents about 20% of your grade. Most students here lack sleep and therefore sleep in. They go to bed around 4 and have class the next morning. That is no good because I do it and did it ( But never skipped a class). The dorms are OKAY here. Some Universitys are worse where bugs are all over the place. I haven’t seen one here since maintenance is really good around the campus.

I am a guy and of course I expect to see GIRLS GIRLS, but no. Embry-Riddle’s ratio guys to girls is pretty high so not many girls are around here as you would expect in a Public University. But there are of course many that you can talk to and hook up (smiley). Getting into the College, I would say to get recommendation letters, especially if you are Flying, from Instructors or any Retired Pilots because that is one of the key entries also. But if you have a really low low GPA than it will play too. Now Embry-Riddle is easy to get into, but one of the hardest schools to stay. Now the school has created this class called University 101. It teaches you how to prepare your life here and how to study effectively. They will give you the history about ERAU and its current status, pretty interesting, a 1 credit class that is very easy.

My major Air Traffic Control has been decided by me at the beginning of my Sophmore year in High School. I graduated from a Medical Magnet High School in St.Petersburg,FL and I wanted to become a Cardiologist but realized that I don’t want to be in school for 10+ years. So I heard ATCs talk over the internet and was amazed by their communication. So I got into it and started to listen more. Soon I started to practice it via Flight Simulation over the Internet with real people on Multiplayer. I learned all the Approach Plates phraseology..etc that was essential to Air Traffic Control. I decided that this will be my major.

Now for you guys who want to reach me and ask me questions feel free to do it anytime, I do not mind, I would love to help you guys out. My E-mail is DinkoResidovic@hotmail.com and my AIM screen name is Mafia6663. Feel free anytime to drop me a message. It was a pleasure to write my first journal and I appreciate whoever read the ENTIRE Journal, it was very kind of you.

P.S For those who say I don’t have enough money for education, I don’t believe you.

A big hello and welcome to Junior’s Jiving Journals, everybody! Join me as I take you through life here at Embry Riddle – and hopefully the ride won’t be too bumpy!

So let me introduce myself, take my bows. My name is Veda, aka VJ, and to those unfortunate people who feel like making a ‘Darth Vader’ joke (you know who you are), do yourselves a favor and don’t. That said, I am originally from Torrance, California, though I have lived for several years in India, near Bangalore, so I guess you could say I’m from either place. I’m in aerospace engineering (if you haven’t already gathered that). So far my activities include Air Force ROTC, the Honors Society and Student Association, the Indian Students Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, working at the Annual Fund, learning to swim, skate and keep ahead of the workload here at Riddle.

Now, onto the main event…

Well, where to begin? I feel overwhelmed just thinking about it. That first week of college rates as one of the most disorienting yet exciting times of my life. It’s all about how many roads you travel down before you admit that you are lost! It was especially so for me, cause I couldn’t attend most of the preliminary introductory stuff that happens over orientation, which began on the 24th for US citizens. I had a problem with my exit permit while leaving India, so I couldn’t fly on the 21st as planned and I missed Orientation ( Maybe that’s why they call airports Terminals). But I managed to get a flight to Chicago a week later, and landed up in Daytona Beach on the 27th local time, jet lagged to hell and back, but very excited at my first real taste of American life all on my own.

Well, because I arrived late I found I was behind on quite a few things, most of all on ROTC. So that meant running around…then running around some more…

Anyway, I got my Eagle card, checked into housing, met my roommate Cameron (who’s from Canada), and ran around campus like a headless chicken chasing down one thing or the other. But the fun began on my very first night at ERAU – we went to a show by a hypnotist, Tom DeLuca. I didn’t think I’d really see much that would impress me, cause I knew and I still know that it’s all one big trick, but what I saw there was so good it made me wonder just how much the hypnotist had paid his volunteers to make them do the crazy stuff that they did. It was the best hoax I have ever seen in my life – and if you weren’t as cynical as I am you’d have believed it, it was that good.

He sort of hummed to them (with a lot of flamboyant hand gestures for theatric effect), then for almost 75 minutes made them do and say and act out the nuttiest stuff.

He made one girl unable to say her name, another believe she was the ‘Chief of the Fun Police’ (she screamed obscenities at the crowd for laughing) and another to forget the number six. She knew she had ten fingers, and kept counting them, but got eleven, because she skipped from five to seven -and if it was an act, her perplexed face was pretty well rehearsed. Loads of other hilarious stuff too…in any case, trick or not, I laughed pretty hard, which made it an entertaining evening for me.

Well, the next big event was AFROTC. The others had started training and drill and gotten uniforms – there were loads of rules and protocols to be learnt. But I guess I was lucky – we’re all divided into groups called flights; my Flight Commander called me up and gave me a rundown of all the rules, and helped me out with the drill.

There’s still a lot I don’t know and a hell of a lot to remember or you get your hair yelled off (whatever’s left of it after the regulation haircut), but I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. And I donno about you, but I find a weird pleasure in yelling GOODMORNING, SIR! at the top of my lungs. And when you watch us practice, all the flights together, it does look impressively military.

Okay. So the first week, I was exhausted. I mean bone tired. I had been getting up at 4 AM to be at drill by 5:15, and going to bed at midnight so I could catch up on all my homework and studies. I had been going on all cylinders. I had put my head together only to find the rest of me had fallen apart. Monday was Labor Day, so I was looking forward to the extended weekend. But on Saturday I got an email saying that the Detachment was organizing relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. They would be filling up a 53 foot tractor trailer with supplies – mostly water – for the victims, and they needed Cadet Volunteers to drive around town from 1100 on Sunday and request local businesses to contribute money or supplies to help those poor people.

I got up at 10:00 AM (after my first eight hour straight sleep in a week) and read the email at 10:30. I gotta tell ya, I felt like ignoring it. What the heck, I might never have read it. Besides, it’s voluntary, right? And I’m weary, I haven’t eaten, and I just don’t feel like trudging around town in the stifling humid weather and asking people for money. But then I thought of all those people in New Orleans – I think we all have – and who knows – some day a hurricane could strike Florida and I may be stranded without help. So with a few others I drove around a part of town, and solicited local businesses help. There’s a lot of community spirit, and I think people really are helping the best they can.

A quick word about my classes – I’m taking Honors Humanities, which is good because Prof Kain’s classes are discussion based and really stimulating. Also I don’t have to take COM, a basic writing course – instead I’ll be focusing on Transhumanism and humanism with reference to Frankenstein, Goethe, Bacon and Sophocles. I’m also taking Calc I with Spradlin, Intro to Engineering (EGR 101), Intro to Computing (EGR 115) with Kindy, ROTC, Physics 150 and UNIV 101 – which is a class about making it through college, attending classes, that kind of stuff. I don’t think I really need to be told that – I’ll be spending almost a quarter of a million for that unique ERAU education, and since I’m not made of money (like some lucky folks), I don’t think attendance will be an issue with me!

Embry also has some awesome equipment in the Lehman Building and I can’t wait to get in there and try it out. I also learnt to swim! Yeah, I know it’s unbelievable that I didn’t know before, but Cameron’s a champ swimmer, he competed at the Junior National Level in Canada, so I learnt pretty quick. I also intend to learn skating, cause it’s just such a pain walking across campus from class to class.

I also went to the Student Activities Fair last week. All the clubs and sororities and fraternities set up booths along a long walkway, and you can walk down, see what you’re interested in and sign up! They have clubs for everything – from flying to Japanese sword fighting, from space payload design teams to a model UN…and everything in between.

I joined the AIAA, the Indian Students Association, the Motorcycle Club, Arnold Air Society…and…the radio station! That’s right – if my application is accepted I will be on the Eagles Radio waves as VJ the DJ! Everyone here at Riddle is so busy, but if enough people call in I’m thinking of doing a request show or something. So you all better tune in and jive to my music and tell me if I suck or not (Statutory Warning: If you think I suck I reserve the right to tell you to stuff it in a possibly graphic manner).

Recently I went with the Honors guys to the beach – we had some fun, swam in the waves, surfed, played beach volleyball, pigged out and stuff like that. I wanted to go along with some pals to watch LORD OF WAR but couldn’t…because I had to take the AFOQT the next day. That’s the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test, which you have to take if you wanna be a fighter jockey or wizzo…or graduate as an officer, for that matter.

Despite the crazy schedule, the humidity, the lack of sleep and the irregular meals – I’m enjoying myself, I’m happy, and hey, what more can you ask for!

Well, that’s it from me for now – I’ll be back in two weeks with more! You can catch me by email at vedajr@gmail.com or nayak48c@erau.edu. My AIM is vedanayakjr, although I’m not on AIM very often. So if you have any questions, comments or insane ravings to share, do feel free to get in touch, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Till next time, keep jiving, dudes!

MOTTO FOR THE FORTNIGHT: Beware of the toes you step on today…they may be attached to butt you’ll have to kiss tomorrow.