New Year, Busy Me

This new year, and a new decade, has gotten off to the quickest start. Classes are already talking about first exams, clubs are kicking off their semesters, time seems to go by quicker and quicker with each minute, and you still have to figure out how to fit work and sleep into your schedule.
This semester is a semester full of projects for me. I am quickly learning that time management for me if more than essential to living on an everyday basis. I wake up and am immediately given notifications about where I need to be when, but it keeps me on top of my game.
As I am approaching my expected graduation in December, I am trying my best to get the most out of my last year at Embry- Riddle. I am taking an industrial math research class where I am in contact with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that works under the U.S. Department of Energy on a project to use math models to interpret data from nuclear energy, and it is truly a class for practical experience. I am also in a senior capstone project class for my space studies minor that focus on the practical operations of mission control operations. In addition, I am getting proposals ready for undergraduate research this summer, hoping to explore the ways the space industry impacts the environment.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse


With such a busy, but promising semester, I am trying my best to stay on top of things as my schedule gets busier with projects and meetings. Staying healthy both physically and mentally is my top goal for 2020 and am lucky to have friends and workout partners to assist me in keeping on track. Even with a busy schedule, I have still found time to hang out with my friends and go to the beach and the lighthouse (an activity we do often to relax), and despite the fact that we have had a bit of rain and cloudy days, we still manage to find ourselves at the beach with the clearest skies.
This year will be the year of progress and learning how to make the best out of the busiest situations and I cannot wait for every second of it!

The light over the horizon at the beach

HBD & Homesickness?

Happy January folks! I’m currently blogging from Daytona Beach and it’s cold! You might be telling yourself, well it’s winter, but last week was 80 degrees and now the nights are in the 40s! You may say, okay, well wear a jacket and it’s warmer in the sun, and I agree those are great solutions, except when you’re at PT before the sun is up and it’s also extremely windy! Florida cold fronts are no fun, all in favor of bringing back beach weather say, “I!”.

As I sit here typing this blog, in between finishing an Electrical Engineering lab report, sending a slew of emails, finishing some essays, and in preparation to do homework for my Arabic and Solid Dynamics classes I have to add, I’m tired!

I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday at the Rolex 24 hour race at the Daytona International Speedway, so Sunday was my only “weekend”, if you constitute more than 12 hours of homework as a break? To say the least, I am looking forward to the end of this week and hopefully getting 12 hours of sleep!

In other news, my sister turned 28 last week! So, HBD-Happy Birthday!!! To a wonderful human, mentor, role model, overall good person who I aim to be like.

Something a friend who lives in Arizona asked me recently is, “How do you help your residents cope with homesickness?” I wanted to address this on my blog because you are not alone! There are so many college students who feel homesick, and I am here to offer you some great tips.

Tip 1: The Counseling Center, you can absolutely go to counseling to talk about your day or how you’re feeling, and they are professionals! 

Tip 2: Text/call/FaceTime/social media message your family when you miss them, or set up specific times or days in the week where you can sit down and talk to them! If it’s important to your mental health, add it to your schedule, that way you ensure it is your priority.

Tip 3: Make friends! College is full of people looking to find their “people.” My friends and I call it our vibe tribe, which isn’t necessarily what you have to call it, but have someone you can talk to, hangout with, study with, or just do nothing with. Homesickness dissipates when you are having fun and aren’t feeling lonely.

Some of my tribe & I!

Tip 4: Join a club, organization, ROTC, or a sports team! Be a part of something bigger than yourself. ERAU had an Activity Fair last week and there are SO many clubs and groups you can be a part of, it filled up the entire Lawn with tables! And if you can’t find the right club for you, you can always make your own! All you need is some friends and one faculty advisor and you’re in business.

There are so many things you can do to find a sense of community and a true “home away from home”. Find your people, find your place, and do your thing! Will report back soon. Keep on keeping on folks.

A New Semester

We have officially entered a great semester and a new decade. Syllabus and introductions into your course days are behind you and now, now we are going to truly get our hands dirty with our courses. 

Winter break is over and we just finished our second week of school. This transition from relaxation to school work, work, and extracurriculars is a tough one to navigate and reacclimate to. I’ve been a college kid for 3 years now and I still struggle but I have developed some self tips to help me manage.

Tip #1 Google Calendar is your best friend.

The biggest change from break life to school life is the impending need to plan and effectively time manage. This app will help you plan out a day-to-day schedule and provide reminders for each task. Most people have planners, but an electronic planner is a nice reinforcement to ensure you are on top of your tasks and are fully aware of your free time, so you can plan out times to unwind and have fun.

Tip #2 Utilize Office Hours early on.

Many people tend to rush to a professor’s office hours days before a final hoping to understand all content and material covered in class in merely one or two sessions. Do not follow that lead. Establishing a rapport with your professors early on will allow them to see how much effort your are putting into the course and in the long run will help you understand the content more. If office hours with your professor doesn’t provide enough aid, don’t you fret, there are so many more resources available to you. Supplemental Instruction sessions are available and schedules can be found upon entering the College of Arts and Sciences. The tutoring center provides aid in many subjects such as: math, chemistry, physics, writing, ES courses, and EGR 115. Utilize all your resources around, not as a cram tool but rather a regular tool in order to do well in your courses.

Tip #3 Organize your space. 

Now that your schedule is in place and you’ve received aid from school, it’s time to begin your studies. Choose which space works best with you, whether it be working in the library, studying in the college buildings such as the College of Engineering or College of Business, or even the comfort of a desk in your own living space. Choosing and organizing said study area is extremely important. Make sure you provide yourself a space void of distractions and where everything you might need for your coursework is readily available. A clean space can mean a more welcoming environment for learning and a more productive study time. Just remember to give yourself study breaks so you don’t burn out.

Tip #4 College is a time of hard work but also a time for fun.

It’s super easy to go into a new semester running, but make sure you don’t wear yourself out. It’s been around a month or more since you’ve re-entered the strange world of being a college student. During breaks, more than likely, your routine was calm, so its best to gradually merge into your new schedule. To avoid burnout, please plan out times in which you can unwind and relax. It doesn’t have to be a whole day or costly. Plan a movie night in the dorms one weekend, schedule a board game night with friends, or even leisurely read. Just make sure you make time for a breather.

And lastly remember just try your best! You’ve got this!

Updates & Welcome Back

Happy January everyone! I am currently blogging from Daytona Beach, Florida, still reminiscing on winter break, but back a few days before classes start for my RA position doing Spring Training and preparing the residence halls for students to return.

Part of this prep includes the “new year new me” philosophy and I took part by getting a well needed hair cut.

Although I do love my friends at school, I have also found myself missing being around my family tribe at home. I got to travel a little bit along the east coast over winter break going to southern Virginia to Philly to DC then back Florida.

While I was in Philadelphia I got to visit and meet a bunch of my cousins! We also celebrated my brother’s birthday by attending a Philadelphia Eagles versus the Dallas Cowboys football game at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Eagles ended up winning against Dallas and as you can imagine, the post game fireworks and overall atmosphere of the stadium was one of a kind. It’s fitting that I wanted the Philadelphia Eagles to win just as much as I want the Embry-Riddle Eagles to win.

Yes, there are a lot of us, and yes we took up an entire row of seats. I highly recommend going to NFL games with a large group. It was my first game and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I am now off to finish hall decorations, make door tags, and do room inspections for my RA position. I also need to write some essays for applications for Study Abroad Programs for Summer 2020 to continue learning Arabic. Will include pictures of my hall decorations, classes I’ll be taking this semester once my schedule is finalized, and first week of school updates in my next post.

Keep on keeping on folks, happy New Year, and welcome back! Will report back soon!

Back in the Swing of Things & Spring

Happy January everyone! I am back blogging from Daytona Beach, Florida, it’s the first week of school and I can tell already that this semester is going to be a busy one. 

I started off my classes with AFROTC training on Wednesday morning, followed by my first day of class, meetings with my cadre, stopping by Ernie Central to get some paperwork approved for study abroad applications, my first RA hall tradition of the semester, and RA duty! I know that may seem like a lot for one day, but honestly that’s a typical day for me, always on the go and super busy. Along with classes I also had my first AFROTC Instructional training of the semester, and took a Fitness Diagnostic, which is an unofficial version of the Air Force’s PT test.

I appreciate being back at school because I get to come back to my room every evening and look at all my door decorations.

This year I decorated my hall with a movie theater theme. About once a month RA’s update their hall bulletin boards, this months theme was consent!

My hall bulletin board!

My Spring 2020 class schedule is now finalized and I got seats in all the classes I needed to be on track with my academic plan. I’m taking AFROTC Leadership Laboratory, AFROTC Air Force Management & Leadership, Electrical Engineering Fundamentals, Electrical Engineering Fundamentals Lab, Arabic, Solid Mechanics, and Jet Propulsion.

Will report back soon folks, hope everyone has a smooth transition getting back into the swing of things. Will report back soon!

Finishing 1st Semester & Family Time

Happy January everyone! I am currently blogging from Daytona Beach, Florida where I left after finals in 80 degree weather in December and returned to 80 degree weather in January. 

To provide a small bit of background, I set goals every semester, whether it be goals for my RA position, goals for my classes, my personal fitness, or my AFROTC position. I started off Fall 2019 semester riding the wave of my Spring 2019 semester GPA being the highest its been since I started my college career, so of course I made the goal of making Fall 2019 even better. I would like to officially report back saying that, while 18 credit Fall Semesters are not my favorite, I have proven fairly successful and I achieved my goal of raising the bar higher for my best semester GPA.

That being said, now I have a new goal to beat and maybe one day I’ll make it to that 4.0? Game on Spring 2020!

After finals, closing the residence halls, and a few plane rides, I made it back to Virginia safely for the holidays where I spent time relaxing, working out, watching the Grinch one too many times, reading, hiking, and drinking all the kombucha and tea.

Some of my favorite moments from Winter Break were going to an ornament making class with my family and a bunch of friends and cousins. (Yes, my non-conventional holiday experience included a Christmas palm plant instead of the traditional tree. I live by the beach!)

I made a clay gingerbread man ornament!

Another highlight from my time off from class was seeing my pup, she’s a pitbull named Kita and loves naps (JUST like me)!

We love a good restful vacation. I’m excited to be back to school though. Will report back soon. Big things to follow, stay tuned folks.

Thanksgiving Season

It is this time of year that always gives me the extra reminder of what I am thankful for, and this year I am especially thankful for my Housing and Residence Life (HRL) family.

Staff Team Bonding


This Thanksgiving, I was on duty as a Resident Advisor (RA) for a majority of the break, meaning I cannot leave campus and must respond to calls as needed. As much as it was not pleasant to be away from my family for the holiday, everyone in HRL is amazing and truly a second family that I got to spend some time with this year.

Staff participating in seasonal activities


This Thanksgiving one of our HRL supervisors organized a Thanksgiving meal for all the RAs that were not able to go home. We had a turkey and stuffing and we all brought our favorite holiday dishes to share. It was an amazing time and reminded me how thankful I am for the people I work with and the friends I have made throughout my time on HRL staff. Thanksgiving marks about a year since I have been hired on staff and my life has changed a lot since I joined my second family. Everyone in Housing and Residence Life is always so supportive and willing to help. I have had the honor of getting to know the new professional staff members this year and they are all amazing and ready to lend a hand with any issues you could possibly have. In addition, I have made an abundance of friends that I enjoy working with every day.


Thanksgiving is a great time to remember the little things in life that we may tend to take for granted, and I am very thankful of my home away from home and all of my school mates I spend every day with. I am very thankful for this school and everything it has brought me.

I hope everyone else had an amazing Thanksgiving, too.

Travels & Thanksgiving

Greetings and salutations folks! I am currently blogging from Charleston, South Carolina at the airport en route back to Riddle in all my post Thanksgiving glory.

I started my break migrating north from Daytona Beach to Norfolk, Virginia where the November weather was blissfully crisp for about 5 seconds before I got cold and realized that my Florida wardrobe was not prepared for 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Once back in VA my family packed up and road tripped it to Charleston, South Carolina where I spent the remainder of my holiday. 

In Charleston, my family and I ran a 5k in the historical district on Thanksgiving morning, followed by heading back to our hotel to get ready then driving a few hours to our cousin’s house where we spent the remainder of the afternoon eating and napping.

We spent the rest of the break exploring the outdoor city market in downtown Charleston, stopping at local eateries and coffee shops, as well as sight seeing and of course making a stop at the beach.

I wish the Thanksgiving break had lasted longer, but because of how late the holiday fell in the month of November this year, upon getting back to school we only have one more week until finals!

I wish I spent my break relaxing and sleeping a lot, but honestly I stayed up late doing homework in hotel lobbies, came to the airport early to knock out assignments before my flight, and hid out in multiple coffee shops during the trip trying to catch up on assignments. I came back from break a day early to do homework and work on projects before class on Monday too. It’s super difficult relaxing knowing I have a bunch of deadlines and final exams looming around the corner. On the bright side though, I suppose there is only a few weeks until the semester is over, and I plan to sleep a lot over winter break!

I hope all of you find your post Thanksgiving Break groove and proceed full speed ahead to finals season! Will report back soon. Winter break is around the corner, keep on keeping on!

The Entertainment’s Here

What a wild few weeks it has been at Embry-Riddle.

My friends and I after the concert


In the middle of everything going on here at Riddle, we recently had the honor of the band AJR coming and performing a belated, but rocking, homecoming show. We were all ready for this show. Before AJR, came on the preshow was performed by the Mowgli’s, and they put on an amazing performance to get us ready to hear the main act. AJR came and burned the house down with their set which was the perfect combination of popular hits and songs from their new album Neotheater. Not only did they perform an amazing set but everyone at Riddle was so excited to be there and take a break from the everyday stresses of college. We all went and hung out together listening to some great music. We had avid AJR fans with hats and T-shirts, and someone even made signs to get the band to attempt a backflip. My friends and I had a great time, and even though it was a little cold out, it was a beautiful night that ended with amazing fireworks as AJR did their finale.

After the concert, many people stuck around just to hang, Touch N Go Productions was handing out free t-shirts. My friends and I had a blast spending time together we otherwise wouldn’t have spent together, and after the concert scene had settled down, the campus was crazy with students having fun playing volleyball and hanging out.


Now that we had our fun, it is time to crack down to get these final projects down and our brains in tip-top shape to do the best we can on our finals. Can’t wait to see how well everyone does this finals season and soon we will have the holidays to look forward to!

Almost Break & Finals Anxiety??

Howdy & happy November folks! I’m currently blogging from Daytona Beach on quite possibly the coldest day of the semester thus far, a whopping 57 degrees Fahrenheit with overcast skies, spotty rain, and wind. Nothing says cold rainy days like, you guessed it, weekend classes (on not only Saturday, but Sunday too). And with finals looming around the corner, the cherry on top of that stress, is the anxiety of classes on the weekends. On a more positive note, Thanksgiving Break is about two weeks away so that is HUGE iridescent light at the end of the tunnel, but for those of us with back to back tests now on weekdays and weekends, it’s a life full of challenges…not to mention finals haven’t even started yet (AHH).

The metaphorical grind that you may have heard of referenced in pop culture truly extends to the life of college students, in particular Riddle students, faculty, and staff…yes we ALL work on the weekends, 21 days and counting, hollllla! Deadlines are approaching and I have to say in the midst of the seemingly endless back to back “work” days, the highlight of this has been that we’re all trucking through it together. The other night I went to gym after I finished up with one of my evening classes to meet up with some friends, knock out arms and abs before going on a run, and LET ME TELL YOU, the gym was PACKED. One thing Riddle students appreciate almost as much as the stress of classes, is the opportunity to destress (particularly in a way I absolutely recommend) with workouts!

Truly in the face of this adversity I must add that although I am challenged, tired, and sometimes flustered, I would not trade the experiences I am going through right now for anything because we are truly so privileged to be in the situation where we can even complain about problems of “too much school”. Shoutout to the surplus of opportunity for access to education, honestly we’re extremely blessed.

Group photo of the girls in my AFROTC class before a Morale training event the other weekend!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Break to unwind and recharge before grinding through finals. Don’t forget to stock up on your coffee, tea, and snacks! Will report back soon y’all, after I have had ample sleep and home cooked food over Thanksgiving (YUM), keep on keeping on!