Wow! It’s so hard to believe the third week of school is almost over. I feel like I just got here. At the same time, though, I feel like I’ve been here forever. I’ve already made so many new friends, and they’re amazing. I absolutely love it here. I can’t imagine what it’d be like anywhere else. Embry-Riddle is my home 🙂

Before I get into my experiences here, I should introduce myself. My name is Maria. I am a 17-year-old Applied Meteorology major, here, at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle. I’m from Ohio, born and raised, about 14 hours away from here by car. I am the oldest of four. I have two great sisters, Alexa and Phillipa, and a brother, Nicholas. I also have the best parents (don’t we all?!) who have been there for me through everything. Without them, this college experience would be IMPOSSIBLE. Oh.. can’t forget to talk about my BoYFRieND. His name is Monty.. well, it’s Eric, but we won’t be calling him that anytime in the near future. He’s 21-years-old and living back in the OH. I miss him a lot, but we’re doing great. We don’t really have a date on which we became an “official” couple as most other long-term/long-distance couples do. We’ve been hanging out for a little over a year, now.. and things started to get serious around SeNioR PRoM. So, that’s the scoop on the Monty.

My favorite color is pink.. in fact, my entire side of the dorm room (as well as a bit of my roomie’s) is a B-e-a-uTiFuL shade of pink. And I LOVE to eat. I have a lovely stash of junk food in my closet, and it’s getting lower by the day.

Other than that, I’m just your average 17-year-old female.. living in DAYTONA BEACH, FLoRiDa!! Gosh.. I still can’t believe that I can say that. I know I’m here.. trust me, you can feel it when you walk outside (HOT!!).. but it doesn’t seem real. I’m seriously living like four miles away from the Atlantic Ocean. How lucky did I get?!

Anyway, back to the school bit. I got here a week before the first day of orientation. I stayed with my family and boyfriend in a hotel on the beach. The Wednesday of orientation, we got to the school around 10. The students and faculty who took charge of the ordeal were so great. They were full of information and more than ready to do anything they could to help you out. The entire soccer team helped me move into my room 🙂

With my family still being in town, I didn’t spend too much time at school the first few days. When they left, Friday, though, I got my first real taste of what college life was all about. After crying for about 10 minutes (gotta miss the crew!!), I went back to my room and spent some time getting to know my roomie and suitemates. My roomie is from Korea. She already had a few friends, here, since she’d been here an additional day. So, I got to spend some quality time with them before going to the PoOoL PaRTie with my suitemates. It was so much fun. I got to meet a TON of other people, including upperclassmen. And the games were so much fun.

That Saturday or Sunday, I went to the beach with a few people I met around campus. We had dinner and just watched the waves for a bit. It was nice and relaxing.

On Sunday morning, I went to the 11-am church service. It was a good time. I didn’t really know anyone as I walked in, but that changed in a matter of seconds. And, now, we’re all great friends. I haven’t been back yet, because I spent the following weekend with my boyfriend and was sick with a NaSTy cold this past weekend. But.. I do plan on going back. I wish I could make it, this Sunday, but I’m leaving for a wedding in Tennessee, tomorrow.

Sometime over the weekend, I went to the mall. I met a cool upperclassman who gave me a lift because I don’t have my license, right now. Do not speed in Ohio!!

When classes started, Monday, I was so nervous. Most of my teachers were great, though. The same is true for Tuesday.. since classes aren’t the same each day, anymore!

Now, three weeks into the school year, I feel as though I’ve been here forever. I love it. My classes are going well.. I’m struggling a bit with Calculus 1, but my friend, Beth, who is in all but two of my classes with me, has been helping me. She’s already taken the course. So, the material isn’t as new to her. I’m considering a tutor, actually. I’m still undecided.

Yesterday was the Activities Fair. I found EVERYTHING I could ever imagine wanting to do. I found the Meteorology club.. which I’d already attended a meeting for, Young-life, Surf club.. another one I’d already attended a meeting for, Swimming & Diving, and OOO so much more. I cannot wait to get involved.

Last night, Beth and I went to her friends’ pool to try scuba diving at night. It was so much fun, but still being a little sick from that cold I’m getting over, I didn’t stay in long. Her friend, Herbie, made me some chicken and noodle soup, though. It was so sweet. The people here are just perfect. I couldn’t imagine having any better friends.

Well, it’s going on 7:00. I have to get started on an English paper. I look forward to the next time I get to share with ya’ll.

Hey, everybody! What’s up? I’m an Aviation Maintenance Science major from Issaquah, WA but originally Virginia. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Northwest, which I’m sure many of you are, Issaquah is about 20 miles east of downtown Seattle, and one of the homes of the band Modest Mouse, if you know them. I’m seventeen because I graduated early to make a long story short. I live on the second floor of McKay Hall and am participating in Air Force ROTC. Now that my little intro is done, I’ll get onto the stuff you might want to know.

First up is move-in day. Move-in day for me wasn’t very traditional. My flight left Seattle at 5AM, and I got in to Daytona at 9PM. It was nothing short of exhausting because I had two stops, one in Salt Lake City and the other in Atlanta, and since I flew down by myself I had to be keeping track of all my stuff the whole time even though I never had a chance to go to bed the night before. The trip down was a blast though, and all of you who would be flying down next semester or next year, I definitely recommend coming down by yourself, as that is the way to go. It’s actually a lot less stressful too, because ‘rents tend to freak out last minute about whether or not you have everything. Anyway, when I finally got here, one of my roommates, Tifany, came out to help me get my stuff into our dorm. Since I got here so late I basically missed everything we were supposed to do like residence hall meetings and setting up student accounts and stuff, but that’s basically all that goes on the first day, besides meeting the people on your floor and making friends, obviously. The rest of orientation week, I spent figuring out where everything is (which really isn’t too hard since the campus isn’t very big), and getting adjusted to the new environment. Nothing was really mandatory, so I just went to whatever I felt like going to.

Since I’m in AMS, my deal with classes are pretty different from everyone else’s. I’m doing the A&P part first, so I can get my A&P license, and then finish up all my academics afterwards. I start my AMS classes at 0730 and finish at 1530 every day, but for those of you who think that’s too much class for college, don’t worry because nobody besides us AMS/ROTC people spend that much time in class. For example, when I come back to my dorm to eat at like 1230, my roommate Kerrie hasn’t even left for class yet. In addition, on Mondays I have Lead Lab from 1530-1730 and Wednesdays I have my Air Force class 1530-1630. PT (physical training) for Air Force is Wednesday and Friday 0615-0715, but I’ll get to all that in a bit. Even though my schedule is pretty long, it’s really not that bad at all. I have three AMS classes, 2 of them are 2 hours long and the other is 3 hours long. Since they’re FAA regulated, you can’t be late unless you feel like making class up later, and if you miss more than two days, you automatically fail the course. Skipping class in AMS really isn’t something you want to do. Even though my classes are long, I really don’t mind at all, because 1) I know I’m learning things I am actually gonna need to know, and 2) we get to DO stuff, like go to the hangar and work in lab. We also don’t really have homework, just studying, so basically your performance in class depends on how much time you want to spend studying in your spare time. It sounds stupid coming from me because I have the hardest time sitting myself down to study these days. It’s all good though, I really like what I’m doing.

For the girls, you might think being one of four girls in your classes would be distracting, what with a bunch of guys around all the time, but it really isn’t. I actually think its much more distracting when you’re in classes where the ratio is about half and half, because then you’re all trying to figure what guys you like and all that. But being surrounded by dudes all day, I don’t really even notice them because I’m already really used to them being there that I don’t really even think about it. So that much you don’t have to worry about, I don’t think. Studying on the other hand, like I said, can be difficult when it’s up to you to get your work done and your friends are doing other stuff.

Social life. That was definitely a big concern of mine before I got here. Honestly, I’m still getting used to my schedule so I’ve been too tired or busy to go out much since I’ve gotten here. One of the perks of living on campus, though, is that most of your friends are close by, so hanging out at all hours is no trouble. My second night here, I went to this party with my roommates, and I get at least 3 party invitations a weekend, so this place is by no means dead, especially if you like to have fun. Life is really just what you make it. If you want to have fun, no one’s holding you back. If you are interested in a frat or a sorority… well, let me just put it this way: they won’t give you the opportunity to say you didn’t join because you didn’t know. You’ll know about them, alright. Personally, the whole sorority thing doesn’t interest me at all. One of the nice things about college is that popularity is not at all the hype it was in high school, so you can just be yourself and make really good friends that you have a lot of fun with.

About the area, I haven’t been around Daytona that much since I got here. When I visited last year (Halloween until election day, an ugly time to be in Florida) I went to the beach and stuff with my mom and saw the main touristy stuff, and that was pretty fun. I walked to K-mart about two weekends ago, and I’ll just say Daytona Beach is one of the most pedestrian unfriendly places I have ever heard of, but I made it.

Saving the best for last, ROTC. The first week, I had to get up at 0400 to get to NSOP, but let me tell you, it was worth every second of it. ROTC is one of those things that if you aren’t that into it now, chances are you won’t be later, but I’m absolutely loving it. It’s the highlight of my day. Since my high school didn’t have JROTC and I was too young to ever enlist, I came with minimal knowledge of drill, other than what I learned from watching war movies 24/7, and some pretty bad coordination. Luckily, though, it’s starting to come along alright. Back home when I was thinking about college and ROTC, I thought if one thing was going to turn me off about ROTC, it was going to be the PT. Somehow I couldn’t really imagine waking up at five to run and do calisthenics would be fun, but it so is. The best part is seeing how much farther you can get than you probably thought you could have. Plus, you’re doing it all with your friends, so that can give you a bit of a boost as well. I got Graves’ Disease when I was 11, and one of my many symptoms was that I couldn’t run more than 100 feet to save my life. After I got my medication and everything was straightened out for the most part, I started working on my endurance and running is a lot easier these days. So if you’re thinking you might want to do ROTC but you aren’t looking forward to morning PT, just start running and working out and you’ll be fine. If I can do it, you can do it. For us girls I’d say it’s a pretty good accomplishment to finish, since we have smaller hearts and lungs and everything, and we still do the same stuff as the guys, so we know we’re working harder. The fact that we do the same PT but have different minimum PFT scores is an inconsistency I still haven’t figured out yet, but whatever. PT is a party and a half. I took the AFOQT this morning (by that I mean yesterday because is 0500 and I have yet to go to bed) and it was way too long. It wasn’t all that bad, for the most part it was a lot like the SAT with an easier verbal section. It just kinda sucked because we were told we were going to be taking the new version that was short by comparison but we ended up getting the old one, including sections we were told not to study because they said we wouldn’t be taking them. I don’t know if you’ve experienced this before, but when you’re on a plane after a couple hours, maybe 2, you know how everyone starts coughing all the time and then by the time you’re off the plane you’re feeling all sick? That’s sort of how I felt, so I’m a little congested right now. Other than being longer than I would have liked, it wasn’t too bad.

It is definitely time for bed now, I don’t want to mess myself up too bad for the rest of the week. If any of you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at kenyonj@erau.edu.

Hello everyone, I am now a student at the school of my dreams!! YEAH!!, and this is my first on-line student journal entry, so you should feel lucky to read it!! hehe. . lets see, what to write about. . umm, college is just as I suspected, it’s tough at times and at other times it’s just having lots and lots and lots of fun with your new friends. .there’s lots to do around here in Daytona, not just on campus, , DUH! so far, it feels as if there hasn’t been a dull moment yet, it’s the best, . . I didn’t think Embry-Riddle would be like this, I figured it would be a study study study study school . . although you do study, .. people like to have fun too. just like everyone else, . .. the only hard thing for me is that I’m from wwwaaaayyyyy up north, and I get homesick sometimes, but hey, people miss the place they grew up at. . ya know? but the fact that I am in DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, overrides that most of the times. . umm. . some things that I have done since I’ve been here, .. well, my first night at Riddle, some sigma chi brothers took me and my suitemates to one of their parties, met some cool people, went to the beaches, movies.(movies theaters down here are humungous!!), putt putt golf is insane, huge entertainment buildings everywhere w/ go carts, lasertag, games, etc. . . the pool is here on campus, hang out w/ friends till the early morn. . .I’ve been to molly browns a few times. if you don’t know what that is look it up .. : ). . umm wow. there’s just so much,. .. if you have any questions on what there is to do , just email me at gibso35f@erau.edu.. k? cool

I am an Aero Sci major, which means, I’M A PILOT!! I have no flight experience what so ever, but that’s the best way to go here at riddle cuz you’re learning the RIDDLE way of flying, cuz pilots who already have their private, have to learn new things the riddle way. . but yup . . I do have 2 hrs in the simulator though, which is so real, you might as well be up there. . . I caught my self leanin’ a couple of times in the sim. . it felt so real, it’s the greatest feeling to sit in a cockpit of any kind, .. I got goosebumps. . people are a lil behind on their flight time due to tropical storm Ophelia.. it lasted about 4 days and swept the beaches away and they had to import sand so we could have a beach again. . I’ve been laying low and hitchin rides from everyone else cuz the gas prices are ridiculous, although they are going down, they are still high.. umm. . to wrap things up .. the main point I’m trying to get across to all you guys who plan on attending riddle, it’s a great environment , it really is .. the upperclassmen will make sure you have a good time if you meet the right ones. . the teachers are nice ( well, mine are) . . ummm. ( I’m really scatterbrained if you can’t tell ). . the annoying thing about riddle, is that most of the classes are on-line, which gets pretty weird sometimes. . I still not really used to it. .. well ladies and gents, .. I have to get ready for work, I hope I gave you a decent impression of what you might expect form riddle, if anyone has ANY questions, email me or msg me on AIM my screen name on AOL is gibso2j …. . .I don’t have my laptop yet cuz I spent the money fixing my car I wrecked before I came down so I would have a car, but I’m gettin one for my b-day which is September 30th and my Abercrombie&Fitch co-workers are throwing a big party for me!! should be great, .. buy ya, any questions? feel free to get back at me. . buh bye!

Hey all you journal readers, I cannot begin to explain how exciting this is for me. Less than a year ago I was in your position. Sitting at home on my computer reading about people who were living the life I wanted, down in Daytona Beach, learning to fly, making new friends in a new environment. Now I am here, meeting some of the people who I read so much about and felt like I knew, although they didn’t know me. One journal writer from last year is my resident advisor; another is my peer mentor in my College Skills class, BA 101. I know how much these journal entries meant to me last year so I will do my best to make it meaningful for all of you.

Well, now that the formalities are out of the way, HI!!! My name is Carlos; I’m 18 and a freshman here at ERAU. Yes, I know it says that on top, but I like you to hear it from me. The first thing I can tell you about ERAU is that it was a HUGE culture shock for me when I arrived. I live in the biggest city in this country, where everything is packed together, large building everywhere. Landing in Orlando, all I saw was grass, trees, water and houses. Here in Daytona, that gets multiplied. There are wide open spaces, fountains everywhere, wide roads. It took me a while to get used to that. Another thing that I had to get used to was that in New York City, there are so many things to do. Here, you have the movies, a club, and the beach. Everything fun takes place in an area called Beachside, about 10 minutes from school over a bridge.

The first week here was the most exciting time in my life. I got to move into my new ‘apartment’ also known as a dorm room. I met new people from all over the world. I really got into the college spirit. It felt like summer camp for the first week, because we didn’t have classes. We played games that you would find in a camp setting. We learned the rules and our new structure. Then the weekend before classes started, a new feeling set in. I was on my own. There was no one to force me to go to bed, to come home at a certain time. I think this is the most dangerous feeling one can experience. Don’t fall into the trap to go crazy. I went out to parties but I didn’t go crazy with it. Responsibility is a big part of being ‘grown’ and it should not be taken lightly.

Classes started August 29th, which is another adjustment, because school in NYC doesn’t start until after Labor Day, so looking at the calendar while I was doing schoolwork was very different. My classes are very cool, because for once I am not doing the general education things I did in high school, now classes are more concentrated. My classes are BA 101, Intro to Management (BA 201) Accounting (BA 210) Business Calculus (MA 220) Intro to Computers (IT 109) and World History (SS 110). Some of my classes are really challenging, but others are things I already know, but I cannot prove to the school that I know it without taking the class. The moral of the story is TAKE AS MANY AP’s AS YOU CAN! If you are a senior now in AP classes and decide not to focus after you get accepted to college and to skip on taking an AP, think again. It will save you so much money in the long run if you earn the credits now. And you can get a boatload of credits by doing just that.

Time to move on to, in my opinion, one of the coolest things in college. Dorm life is interesting, fun and exciting. Living with a complete stranger is a completely different thing than anything in life. I live in Adams Hall, one of the newer dormitories in the student village. I have one roommate and the living is tight. In Adams, I live in the Penthouse (5th floor). It is absolutely the coolest floor in the whole school. We go crazy here, with respect to the rules of course. Our resident advisors are cool, it is different for us because we have two, Marquitta and Kristina, who is an Associate R.A. Their main job is to keep us safe, and respecting that is important. They are not your parents, they give you all the freedom you want and all the help you want. It is a very, very cool experience.

When I’m not in my room, I am getting involved in school. This is very important to me because I was very involved in the activities of my high school. So far, I have joined EaglesFM, our campus radio station. (You can listen on the web @ EaglesFM.com.) This is very cool because eventually I will have my own show and be able to talk about what I want to talk about and play the music I like and share that with the other students here at Embry-Riddle. I also plan on getting involved in our freshman government, Task Force One, whose first meeting is actually tomorrow. The biggest thing I have decided to do is pledge a fraternity. This was a big decision for me because I was not sure if I would pledge this or next semester being that I wanted to be settled into the college environment. After talking to the brothers at Pi Kappa Alpha I felt that my studies would not suffer because of the fraternity involvement. So if I am offered a bid to pledge in this coming week, I plan on accepting it. I will keep you updated on my student involvements throughout the year.

Before I end my first journal entry, I would like to tell you about your high school years. Don’t take them for granted, don’t wish to grow up quickly. No matter what your situation is and believe me, I do know about tough situations, make the best of it. Enjoy your childhood; your adult years will come soon enough. Be responsible, you do know right from wrong. You are an amazing person in your own way. You don’t need to change yourself to please others. Be yourself and make sure you focus on your education. If your studies suffer, you can’t get to be what you want to be, here at Riddle. So work hard, and then play hard.

You’ll be hearing a lot more from me soon.
Good Luck in your school year,
Carlos

Hello to all the journal readers. The time has come for me to say goodbye. I have had such an enjoyable school year filled with a little of everything. When I look back on what I have accomplished, I am proud and content, but then I look forward and know that there is much more to come in this game of life.

I would like to start off by saying that I have finally become a licensed Private Pilot. I cannot tell you how happy I was the day I finally received my license. It has been a long road to get to that point, but I did it! So flying for this year is done; I will come back next year to start and finish my Multi-Engine rating.

Academically, I have one final left to take today. It is for my Aircraft Engines & Turbines class. I have not received as good grades as I thought I would, but they will suffice. Unfortunately, not all my finals have turned out that well, so it was no surprise I got some of the grades I did.

I will finish this year with 49 credits though, just about 10 shy of being in junior standing. I will take six credits back home and will be on track for a graduation in spring of 2007. I will probably look into internships and co-ops though, so my graduation in 2007 is still a big question mark. All that will be figured out and decided as my time here at Riddle goes by.

For the Summer, I will be lounging back in California and will enjoy time with my family, girlfriend, and friends. I look forward to hitting the waves on the beaches, going Jet Skiing in the lakes, and visiting some nice places like Yosemite (I love to camp) and Catalina Island (a nice place to just get away). It’s going to be nice to have a car again, as well as a nice big bed and a whole house to just kick-back in. I’m looking forward to having fun, mixed in with some school and some work.

Lastly, next year, I will come back and be taking mostly core classes which are needed for the Aeronautical Science degree. I am living in McKay once again. I chose McKay, obviously, not for its appearance, but for the space that you get. It was the cheapest option for me that provided me space and convenience. I can still wake up 15 minutes before class and be on time every now and then. Many of my friends have made arrangements to live off campus, so I figure I’ll be on and off campus depending on which day of the week it is.

Well, some final (and very random) words to all of you journal readers. Enjoy your college life wherever you go. I had a different experience than most of my other friends because I was doing different things than they were. I remember getting a call on a Friday night from a friend of mine who asked whether I was partying or just kicking back that night. I responded by saying that I had a two-hour cross-country to plan and was in need of sleep due to a 7 AM flight the next day (yes, you fly 7 days a week here).

Well, sometimes, I made sacrifices in order to make ends meet – as some would say. New things popped up all the time: money became an issue, time became an issue, scheduling my life, my weekends, my days, my nights all became an issue. I now had to buy all my own stuff (never, ever forget toilet paper!), I had to remember to wash my clothes before I run out of undergarments (sometimes the last clean pair of boxers I have are the ones I wear while I’m washing clothes), to eat correctly because no one stopped me from eating anything (Propellers’ burgers and Caesar Salad are great!), even waking up became an issue (set two alarms, the first one will never work…trust me).

Don’t forget to set your alarm, no one will wake you up. Office hours aren’t there for your professor, they are there for you, so make use of them (especially if you missed the class because you slept through it). Make use of all your resources, many are always made available (tutoring is always free!).

Lastly, enjoy college. It is a time of life where you should be having fun and enjoying your time. If you ever don’t feel right where you are at or just feel like things aren’t working out, step back and take a look at your life, sometimes that is all we need.

Enjoy the college life and good luck to all of you. Whether you are going on for another year in high school or going on to college, follow your dreams and never lose sight of your goals.

If you are coming to Embry-Riddle next year, feel free to stop me if you see me to say hello. It would be nice to see who exactly read my journals and what you guys really thought.

Well, I have to get going. Got a final today, then a flight, then the summer! Have a great summer everybody!
Sergio M.

Hello readers, I hope that studying for finals is not depressing you too much, I know for one of the boys it all became a bit too much, I don’t want to go into details, but it’ll be alright Weirdo. I am late writing this entry, as it has been hectic trying to get all of my presentations finished and getting some study done. All is well now though, I got everything handed in and I only have three finals left that I am not too worried about.

Anyway, I had a great time in France the week before last. The wedding was great; it was in a small village outside of Nice called Pellion. I fear that I might not do it any justice trying to describe it, so try and use your imagination. It was on the side of a mountain; very picturesque and quaint, just what you imagine a small village in France to look like, but nicer. The ceremony itself was great, very tasteful, and the champagne all day wasn’t bad either. The partying didn’t stop until the following morning at 6:30am, just as it should be. Coming back after that was possibly worse than returning after Christmas, you know what it is like when you have been looking forward to something for a long time and then it is over and all I had to look forward to now was finals. Devastating.

I am at present sorting out accommodation for next semester. Luckily one of the lad’s parents is buying a house and I have managed to bag a room. It’ll be fantastic to have my own room, not to have to worry about a roommate and being able to cook my own food in my own kitchen. I would love to be able to get a car next semester too; I hate having to rely on people to get around. I say that now but I am pretty lazy and I’ll probably manage not to bother going for my driving test. Good intentions, I’m full of them.

I am just a week from getting home for two and a bit month. I cannot wait. An old cliche I know, but this year has flown by, a whole year of the dorms, the village, essays, and tests, all over. And before I forget I would like to say that the staff in the village is a great bunch of people who can’t do enough to help you, and whatever they get paid is not enough. Also I would like to put a shout out to the boys on the team and in the dorms that have put up with me all semester and made this experience a bit more bearable. After all my complaining throughout the year I have to say that I have made some great friends and I have some great memories to take home for the summer.

It’s all come to an end. I wish I had something poetic to say but I don’t, so all I have to say is that I have enjoyed writing these articles and thank you to any of you that have taken the time to read them. I know it must have been painful for you especially with some of my writing. Thanks Hugh Davey.

There’s never any rest for the weary and the last week of classes certainly doesn’t deviate from that. Though it’s been a rather boring and no-energy kind of semester so far, these last two weeks have done nothing but rain gobs of work, projects, studying, exams, homework, moving, travel issues, etc. into a very small period of time. Unfortunately, few of these things could have been taken care of earlier, as they’re pertinent to these last few weeks of school, such being Color Parade, finals, end of year evals and other paperwork that cannot be done until things are near completion.

End-of-year stressors aside, it’s been an interesting and fruitful year. Though it didn’t end as strong as I’d expected it to, there was a tremendous amount of learning and growth throughout. For those looking to learn in a brief moment the lessons I learned in a year, I would suggest the following:

• Be aware of your options. Constantly ask yourself, “What are my possibilities for action at this moment?” Had I done so two years ago, I probably would have worked and established myself in Daytona rather than Orlando since I knew I was going to ERAU, but was still acting on what were then empty, preconceived plans of action.
• Know what you’re getting into. A lot of people don’t like where they end up in university, occupation, etc. simply because they didn’t find out what the place they were going to actually offered. Where college is concerned, be sure you ask questions about lifestyle, academic breadth, as well as get a sense of the overall cultural climate of the area. These things are best done by spending some time at the universities you are interested in. Be sure to do so on several ‘normal days’ and not just an orientation or open house day when everything is geared for selling the school and not showing what it’s really about.
• Never quit. This speaks for itself. No body will believe you’re truly interested in something, not even yourself, if you give up without fighting with all you’ve got.
• Be professional in everything you do. Don’t read this as to say you can’t have fun, but when our country is rolling towards highly educated and capable individuals and, more importantly, is cracking down on those who refuse to do a job properly, you cannot afford to behave like a high school freshman anymore. Aviation’s not for everyone. We do need someone to flip our burgers.
• Above all things, remember where you’re from. Though you may go on to do great things, make a name for yourself, and travel far from your home both physically and mentally, your heritage is what got you where you are. If you do not embrace and respect that heritage with personal humility and do not pass along those values to the next generation, then expect your glory to fade faster than it came to be.

On the verge of another major turning point in life, I wish all of you the absolute best that life has to offer. Life is nothing more than a fantastic adventure. So long as you control it and not let it control you, expect the most from this journey.

To my friends and colleagues, I send my deepest appreciation for your support and humor.
Namaste, and Onward + Upward,
David

OH MY GOSH!!! It’s down to the last little bit. Nothing but finals to do right? NOPE! As usual, we’re left taking a test in every class, and finishing up like two or three chapters of homework. And then start finals (from what I hear) on the 30th!!!! AHHH!!! I’ve got two programs to write, well, make that one; I just finished the other one. And, on top of that I have to learn an eight page spiel for the Boat Ride at EPCOT, before May 1st, that’s my assessment after 4 days or so of training. Wish me luck on that y’all. I’m working on my comp sci II project. It’s crucial. And of course I started working on it WAYYYY late!! We had about 3 months to do it. I’ve started 2 days before it’s due. Let us hope that this turns out well, haha. And it’s not like I procrastinated, it’s been a crazy couple of months around here. School and recent work and everything else, bahhH!! It probably won’t calm down until August for me, work and all, but that’s cool.

I went to the American Hi-Fi/Bowling for Soup concert. It was pretty good. I must say that the first two warm-up bands, I think, weren’t all that great. The first guy really stunk. People in the crowd were yelling for him to get off the stage. And when he announced it was his last song, everyone cheered. It was just funny. I won’t talk much about that though, I’m sure that everyone else will.

We had a recent cold snap here, got down about 50 or so at nights for a day or two, but now it’s back to normal. Hot-ish. I was thinking about going to the beach or something, but who knows. I haven’t been there in a long while I don’t think. At least this year is ending better than it started. I must say that Florida in the winter time is nice, but I definitely like it better in the summer.

Now, on my off time, I like to go to the Disney Parks, especially since it’s free for me again. I went to Disney/MGM Studios the other day. I had a need to ride Tower of Terror for some reason, then finished it off with Illuminations: Reflections of Earth fireworks show back at EPCOT. Next week, probably a day at Magic Kingdom, then maybe some time at Animal Kingdom, who knows. It’s the “happiest celebration” going on soon, so there’s some different stuff going on all around the ‘world’. May 5th is the actual day so if anyone wants to take a trip to see Riddle, come on down and stop by Disney while you’re in the Central Florida area.

Anyways, I had better get back to work on my project and the 15 other things that I need to get done today. Later yens (felt like getting REALLY southern on that one, haha).

-Darryl

Hello Everyone,

Things are finally starting to come to a close, this being one of them. It’s my second to last journal, and I’ll soon complete my first year of college. The past two weeks have been spent preparing for this coming week, finishing up all the material so we could review and start finals on Saturday. I had my last tests before the finals and a paper due, all of which went well. If I am able to do well on all my finals again this semester, I’ll be able to maintain my 4.0! Hopefully all will go well and I’ll find time to study amidst all the other things going on.

I’m still searching for a house to buy and move into next year. It’s been fun, but I’m ready to find something so that I have those plans for next year secure. I’ll miss not living on campus and being close to everything, but I’m really looking forward to having my own space and a kitchen to cook and bake. I miss not being able to make my own food; thankfully I have amazing upper-classmen friends who allow me to come over and bake at their place if I’m really desperate. Also, having my own washer and dryer will be nice. It gets expensive, but getting 5 loads of laundry done at the same time was nice for a year.

I need to start packing up my stuff to put in storage; we have to be out of the dorms the day after our finals are completed. My mom is flying down to drive with me back up to Michigan for the summer. It will be fun to have that time to talk and catch up on all that has happened this past semester.

My summer is going to be completely crazy, I have so many things that I want to accomplish. I’m planning on taking a class at the local Community College in my area, get my pilot’s license, work, and visit with my friends. Also I’ll be attending Oshkosh with ERAU to work at their tent for the event. I’ve gone every year with my dad since I was in 4th grade, that’s how I found out about this school. It will be so rewarding to go this year as a student, encouraging other young people to follow their goals and encourage them to look into attending Embry-Riddle! Look into coming to the event, it’s the biggest airport/ tower in the world for that week, and it’s mesmerizing. They have great acrobatic air show in the afternoon, acres of airplanes on exhibit to see (kit planes, war birds, new factory built, classics, ultra lights, sea planes), and barn/tents of displays from everything and everyone who has anything to do with aviation. Every year that I’ve gone I’ve found something new to look at or a new area to explore. If you think it might be there, it probably is :-). For any pilot or person that enjoys aviation it’s a must see! Hopefully I’ll see you there!

Back to the present, off the Oshkosh Tangent, if you couldn’t tell I really love that place. This past Saturday I went to the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity’s Chartering Banquet with Ben and had a wonderful time. The fraternity was chartered two weeks ago and Pike is the newest fraternity on campus; they were all very excited and were initiated this weekend before the banquet. It was a great experience and I was happy to be a part of it. Girls love any excuse to get all dressed up.

Well, I hope all is going well for you as you begin to wrap up your academic year. I need to get back to homework; I didn’t get much of it done this weekend.

Until next time, Happy Landings!
Kristina

Hola, hope all finds you well. I got into some trouble with housing and campus safety this week and one of my best friends got kicked out of school, so I am most definitely anticipating the end of this semester. Most of this semester ran pretty smoothly, so I’m afraid I’m making up for lost time now, but as long as I can make it through to the end, I should be set.

I’m pleasantly surprised to find that many of my classes are ending early. All of the content has been covered prior to the last week of classes (and we get Friday off!), so many of my finals are this week as opposed to during “finals week” next week. I’ve also decided that 9:15 classes and 3:30 classes are equally bad. Same goes for anything before or after these time blocks..either I can’t wake up or I can’t sit still. Hopefully I’ll take advantage of this finding and plan my classes better in the future. You’ll figure out what works and doesn’t work for you pretty early on.

Daytona Beach has been crazy lately. Between speed week, bike week, perpetual spring break, cheerleading competitions, and BCR, this semester has been a giant tourist attraction. It can get pretty annoying when it takes 4x as long to drive anywhere, roads are conveniently blocked off, and waiting in line at your favorite ice cream store takes an hour. The beaches have been pretty packed, but we’ve all figured out less-traveled roads to get there in hopes of keeping our sanity.

I was talking with a friend today, it’s just really weird to sit back and think about how this year is really over. It still feels sort of unnatural to say that I’m a college student, and here I am 1/4 of the way finished. “College”, for me, has always involved living in Wood Hall, and that’s going to change soon. I won’t be able to run next door or upstairs to visit my friends at 2 in the morning, in fact, a few of them won’t be here at all :-(. I’m pretty settled into my routine now, and it’s going to be uprooted very shortly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for summer and taking it easy..but I’m having a good time here. It doesn’t help that everyone is going home for the summer and “home” is NJ, but my parents moved down here, so I’m stuck. I’m definitely heading up to visit my friends and catch some shows though. I’m going to see Finch in the city in May and check out Skate and Surf Fest and Warped Tour in Jersey. There’s a definite shortage of shows in FL and it’s killing me. Bowling for Soup did come to campus on Sat night (with MC Lars, Riddlin Kids, and American Hi-Fi)..was a really good time. It’s been months since I’ve crowd surfed, and it reminded me of old times. 🙂

Take care of yourselves, keep pushing through those awful last few weeks of the school year, and I’ll let you know how finals go. As always, any ?’s: pugh754@erau.edu

Melanie