Arabic & Eid

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Merrick

Happy June everyone! I’m currently blogging from Tucson, Arizona, where the air is hot and dry, I drink an unfathomable amount of water every day, and I study Arabic all of 7/7 days in a week.

Before I begin here’s a photo with my flight from Field Training on graduation day at the Propeller and Wings statue on Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

Now that I’ve reminisced on my conclusion of AFROTC for the summer, when I arrived in Tucson at the beginning of June, Ramadan had a few more days left. Allow me to provide a small backstory:

A HUGE aspect of learning a new language is studying the culture of the language, the people who speak it, and the places where it’s spoken. Culture is a dynamic part of a society that can be experienced through food, clothing, religion, dialects, music, stories, and much more.

While the best way to gain exposure to a language is to study abroad and immerse yourself in all the country has to offer, in my case I am in Arizona, so I relish in my limited but still essential exposure to the Arab culture.

Religion plays a large part in the Arabic language and culture from certain phrases within the languages, to religious holidays celebrated widespread in countries throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. Disclaimer: while not ALL Arabs practice Islam, and not ALL muslims speak Arabic, there is a large overlap.

Which brings me to my first topic of being in Arizona for the conclusion of the month of Ramadan, where muslims fast from sunrise to sunset with no food, water, chewing gum, or smoking. At the end of every day during this month long period the fast is typically broken by eating dates and having a large well balanced meal surrounded by family and friends. Now, at the conclusion of the entire month of Ramadan called Eid al-Fitr, Muslims gather in prayer and celebration, in which some of my classmates and I were welcomed with open arms to celebrate with the community in a huge outdoor park starting with prayer, then amazing food, and ending with great conversation.

Another student and I at the Eid al-Fitr celebration!

Aside from being able to celebrate Eid with so many wonderful people, in Project GO we also gain valuable knowledge and exposure to culture throughout weekly Dardasha events in which thus far we’ve had the pleasure of attending a performance from a Syrian violinist, meeting the Jordanian Ambassador to the United States of America, watching an Egyptian film, attending a Saudi cultural event, and talking with people from Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia about their countries and the role that language and culture play in everyday life.

I look forward to participating in many more cultural events this summer, continuing my Arabic studies, and hopefully some rain falling from the sky, as monsoon season thus far has been a dry one. Will report back soon, keep on keeping on folks!

!ما السلامة

AZ & AFROTC

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Merrick

Happy June everyone! I’m currently blogging from Tucson, Arizona, where I lay comfortably in the shade around 6am on a Sunday morning.

A few fun differences in Tucson from Daytona Beach include the high elevation, the extremely dry heat, the seemingly more intense sun, lots of cacti, and Tucson is surrounded by mountains on three sides, which makes for some pretty amazing views. Whenever I introduce myself to people here and tell them I go to Riddle their first impression is the I attend Prescott because it’s only a few hours away, but truth be told I’m an ocean soul and I attend Daytona Beach, which makes for an even more interesting conversation.

I am currently just finishing up two weeks in AZ which means I’m about half way through my first semester of Arabic 405 which is Advanced Arabic I at the University of Arizona where I have tests every Friday and I have already taken my midterm examination.

Arabic 405 is an intensive course in which Monday-Friday I have four hours of classroom time every day, followed by an hour break for lunch, office hours (which are essentially an extension of class) with the professor for two hours, followed by an hour of tutoring, a break for dinner, then two hours of language partner time, in addition to homework, projects, and additional studying I do on my own. My schedule is definitely busy, but typically it always is, and learning Arabic while challenging, is extremely fun.

I got some more photos from my time at Field Training during the Max 1 session!
Behold Alpha Flight at the Assault Course Finish line.

While I’m attending UA for summer courses with Project Global Officer there are students from all over the country here with me from the Army and Navy ROTC programs. My class consists of a total of five people, two of which are from Project GO. That being said, there are no extra “ROTC obligations” over the summer. Although naturally it’s encouraged to workout, we don’t have scheduled PT sessions or wear uniforms, and our primary job right now is to learn Arabic. I highly recommend studying over the summer because it makes it so much easier to give maximum effort when you don’t have any other classes to worry about.

Here’s a flashback from Dining Out this past Spring 2019 semester! Currently missing my AFROTC family.

Aside from this my acclimating to AZ has been a moderately rocky one, pun intended. My body was not used to the dry air or intense heat as I grew up on the coast and Riddle is by the beach too. But I’ve been running in the mornings or in the late evenings to escape the heat… even though the difference between 108 and 98 seems negligible, and I typically spend the weekends exploring Tucson’s coffee shops, restaurants, or going hiking or to the pool. Stay tuned for pictures of cacti and coffee to come. Will report back soon, stay cool folks. P.S. it’s monsoon season in Tucson and I’ve still yet to see any rain.

The Ins and Outs of ERNIE

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Emily

Embry-Riddle’s Network for Information Exchange or “ERNIE” is the system ERAU students, faculty, staff and applicants use to manage university business.

It’s no doubt that ERNIE will become your best friend throughout your college career. With ERNIE, you can stay organized, know when specific events take place, keep track of your funds, find textbook requirements, register for classes, contact professors, and so much more. I never quite realized how important ERNIE is for the students and professors here at Embry-Riddle. I’m going to give a tour of sorts on how to navigate ERNIE and explain some of the functions.

Using my ERNIE for some example screenshots, let’s review the 7 icons in the right-hand corner. This is where you will access your school email, and your OneDrive account, as well as find help, go into your settings, and see your “favorites”.

Speaking of “favorites,” let’s review the “tools” and “favorites” area located on your ERNIE homepage:

Some of your tools will be pre-populated, like Canvas and your Campus Solutions Student Homepage. You can quickly access Canvas (the learning management system used on campus to submit assignments, share documents, and access grades) in your Tools area. You can easily add more tools, like ALEKS the math placement and learning tool, RAVE, the emergency notification system, and many others. Simply click on the gear in the upper right corner to view more tools and add them to your dashboard.

Moving on to the menu that helps navigate information inside ERNIE, you’ll see some pretty self-explanatory categories: Departments, People, Forms, Training and Services. Of these options, perhaps the most useful to new students is Training. The training tab shows you how to do something in ERNIE. For example navigating to the Hunt Library, or learning to register for classes.

If you’re looking for information on tutoring, campus solutions, student employment information, or access your eagle card, you will find it under the services tab.

Your dashboard (sample pictured below) will help you to navigate to your class schedule, specific actions you need to take, and is an alternative way to access your Campus Solutions Student Homepage.

The student home page (pictured above) is probably the most important part of ERNIE for students. This is where you can check your funds and financial aid, view tuition due, see your graduation status, register for classes, access your academic advisor information and view your progress towards completion of your degree program. To access this page all you have to do is click the highlighted “Go To Student Homepage” link that is located in the Tools area, or the area where all your classes are shown. NOTE: applicants who have not yet enrolled will see an “Applicant Homepage” before they are assigned a “Student Homepage.”

There’s a lot to college, but ERNIE really helps minimize some of the stress by making it easier to manage business. It really just organizes everything and makes finding things easy for you, giving you one less thing to worry about. Hope this brief introduction helps introduce you to all ERNIE can do for you.

Training & Traveling

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Merrick

Happy June everyone! I’m currently blogging from Dallas, Texas, where I will be in the airport the next few hours waiting for my flight to Arizona.

Firstly, May FLEW by. Going from finals, to moving back from Daytona Beach to Virginia, then going from Virginia to Georgia, then to Alabama for Field Training, then back to Georgia, then to Virginia, now to Texas, then to Arizona, where I will reside until the beginning of August. Aside from training lasting two exhausting weeks in the Alabama heat, traveling (inclusive of packing and unpacking, then repacking and unpacking again) is also very exhausting.

I successfully got through spring semester with the highest term GPA I’ve had since starting at Riddle, and I credit that mostly to the hours I spent studying and not going to the beach, despite popular belief when I tell people I go to college in Florida.

In preparation for Field Training I cut out caffeine beforehand, which was gruesome, but you truly don’t realize how dependent you are until you pass through the withdrawals and realize that a good amount of sleep is a good substitution for a cup of coffee or tea. Nevertheless, upon completion of Field Training, despite getting 8 hours of rest every night, I was absolutely exhausted and my airport Starbucks run was very much appreciated.

My favorite part of Field Training was hands down the people. I was in a flight of twenty people that hailed from all over the country and I most certainly underestimated how quickly you can become attached to strangers in two weeks. The transition from individuals to a team to a family is literally awe-inspiring. In a nutshell, Field Training was an experience that will stay with my for the rest of my life and definitely fit the stereotype of “the most fun you never want to have again”.

The Alphacados with our amazing FTO and CTA, FT MAX 1 Summer 2019

Now that I am almost to the end of hopping around the country in such a short period of time, I am excited to go forth with my Arabic studies at the University of Arizona through Project GO, get back into a routine of class and working out, and of course explore all Tucson’s coffee shops while soaking up the sunshine & becoming aquatinted with some of the infamous saguaro cacti. Will report back soon, stay cool folks.

Endings & New Beginnings

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Merrick

Greetings and salutations folks. I am currently blogging from my hotel room and it’s my last night in Daytona Beach for a while, or at least until August. Tomorrow I’m road tripping back to my home in Virginia and about a week later I’ll be heading to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama for 14 days of Field Training at the first session for summer 2019. Upon completion of training, I have about a day to catch my breath before I head to Arizona for Project GO, round two furthering my Arabic studies.

Out of my entire sophomore year, and quite frankly my time at Riddle thus far, this past month has been the absolute best. Now I say best with the full disclosure that I had still had homework, quizzes, presentations, group projects, tests, and final exams, but I honestly had a great time because one: my mindset, and two: the people I surrounded myself with.

My grades this semester were the best they’ve ever been in college so far and nothing monumental changed in priorities. I’ve always put school first, but this semester I put myself first in a lot of situations too. I made genuine connections with friends that helped me to de-stress so much. I took time for myself to do yoga and meditate and workout. I wish I could tell you I got a ton of sleep this semester, but I didn’t, truthfully I had very many late nights and very stressful nights trying to grasp concepts while studying. My classes this semester weren’t easy, but somehow my outlook changed and I went from overwhelming myself with concern over grades to going with the flow and putting more focus on learning material, and also unwinding. My work/life balance this semester was something that definitely improved from freshman year. Even in studying for finals, I strategized by putting in a few solid hours of studying and practice problems, taking a break, then getting back into it. Rest is SO important, especially for your brain.

Now that the semester is over, I am spending my short break before I go off to training by reading, working out, and hopefully sleeping a lot more. Books that I’ve dove into recently are The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. I have also recently discovered my new favorite poet too, her name is Morgan Harper Nichols and her art is immensely insightful, powerful, and healing.

In other news, before leaving Daytona Beach, I had the privilege of going to brunch with some of my favorite gal pals, and I got to attend my good friend’s commissioning ceremony, where he officially became a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

Brunch with one of my best friends before we part ways for the summer.

Post commissioning ceremony with this newly sworn in Air Force Officer.

Now as I prepare for my journey back home, Field Training, and a summer of Arizona heat studying Arabic, I would like to leave you with this: every ending is an opportunity for beginnings. Will report back soon. Keep on keeping on!

Last day of my First year!

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Emily

My first year here at Riddle is coming to an end. Although I will be continuing to take classes during the Summer B semester, I’m still super-excited about the fact that I am about to be a sophomore, officially! To commemorate, I wanted to do a throw-back of sorts and showcase some of my favorite photos, old and new. Starting with the old:

And now the new! The Yuri’s Night event featured space activities, music, snacks and celestial viewing through the telescopes in the College of Arts & Sciences.

End of the Year!

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Maddie

Hi everyone!

This time of year is always so bittersweet. While summer is literally right around the corner, there are still a few large obstacles to get through before the sand is in between my toes.

Finals are coming up sooner than we probably would like but for me personally, I cannot wait to just take them and be done. You could say senioritis is in full swing.

After I graduate in two weeks (that sounds crazy to say), I am catching a flight to Hawaii. We are going to see my sister graduate from University of Hawaii and have a little vacation. Then we are going to Disneyland for a day before heading back to Colorado for me to begin working!

When my family comes, we plan to eat lots of yummy food, hang out at the beach, and go to Disney World. I’m so excited but I never realized how much goes into graduating. There are meetings to attend and celebrations and having your family fly out… It’s a lot!

As all my organizations wrap up, I’m genuinely surprised how reluctant I am to say goodbye. While in the moment for the past three years I may have complained about the silly things we have to do or the “pointless” meetings, I’m now kind of already missing them. It’s not that I think they won’t succeed without me, but rather that they gave me a fulfilling sense of purpose that lit up my life! Now, I will find new things, but I will always be grateful for the people I have met, helped, or learned from.

I went to the College of Business awards ceremony last week and won the John P. Eberle award, which is essentially an outstanding senior recognition. I was so honored to win but also just sitting at the banquet and telling my professors my future plans seemed surreal. I remember being a scared freshman in their class like it was yesterday. Am I really not coming back to see them next semester?! I remember being a freshman at the same awards ceremony and being jealous of the seniors saying goodbye… Now I’m jealous of the freshman who get to stay!

Freshman Year College of Business Banquet

These banquets and goodbye dinners have been so sad but I do have to say I am very blessed to have such great things ahead to look forward to. I have always been the person to look forward and be more excited for the future than the past. Still, every thing I do I can’t help but make a mental note that it may be my last. I submitted a paper last week… my last college essay. Then I did a presentation… my last college presentation. On the positive side of this, it’s very motivating knowing you only have ‘x’ amount of work left. It really makes you work harder to get it done!

From the Student Government Association Banquet – Student Court

That being said, I plan to continue to write at least one more blog. I hope these have been helpful and fun to read. Maybe the top ten things I learned in college? Hmmm, I’ll to think on that. It has been so exciting to meet the readers as they come to campus and say that my blog has helped them. One reader has even joined many of the organizations I am in! I cannot explain the joy it brings me knowing I have eased some minds and inspired others to become involved. If there is one takeaway I want ALL of you to get from reading these blogs – if I can do it, so can you!

Until next time, Maddie

Finals & Finishing Up

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Merrick

Happy April everyone! I’m currently blogging from Daytona Beach, where I will be until approximately the first week of May when I pack up and move out for the summer. I must add that the spring time in Florida is particularly lovely, and aside from the occasional outlier variations in temperatures, it has been for the most part in the 80s sans the one 98 degree day and the 55 degree day (shoutout global warming).

In recent news AFROTC has officially concluded for the spring 2019 semester, and this year’s Field Training Preparation Group ended with a total of 68 real mvps. Typically in ROTC the freshman class starts out with about 200 and each year the numbers get smaller and smaller. I’m honored to have had the amazing opportunity to stick it out with my group of 68 class A citizens.

Spring 2019 Det 157 FTP Group’s last PT at the pool!

I must include that I recently went to Cinnamon Tree Cafe with one of my best friends and afterwards worked on a group project for our Modern Middle Eastern World Affairs class on the topic of the Arab Israeli Conflict in the Middle East, outside in the Florida sunshine relaxing by the pool. The weekends are my favorite.

Crepes, coffee, and presentation prep on a Saturday morning with this gem!

Something that makes me extremely happy in lieu of the dark cloud of final examinations approaching is that the basil I planted in my room a few weeks ago when I hosted the staff activity at my building’s weekly Resident Advisor meeting is thriving.

My basil babies in all their glory. The morning light they get from my window in my room is so great and they’ve really taken off.

Another really great aspect of Riddle that I’ve recently opened my eyes to, is that despite our school not being huge, it has enough people that you’re always meeting someone new, but also has the comfort of being able to spot at least a few people you know wherever you are on campus.

Even though there’s one week left to the semester before finals begin, I’m still meeting new people and making new friends, which is honestly so unexpected. It seems to be that when you’re not looking to make new friends people walk into your life exactly when you need them the most, even if you don’t initially realize it.

Despite being very busy and stressed with classes, scheduling, and packing for Field Training this summer, I’m still finding ways to stay sane by going on runs with my friends from ROTC, having group study sessions at cafes, practicing yoga and meditating regularly, and going on walks to clear my mind. I highly recommend self care especially at particularly stressful moments in the semester.

Now, I’m off to turn in some Aerospace Flight Vehicles homework and go to my Differential Equations class. Keep on keeping on folks, study hard, remember to take time for yourself even if you may feel like you have no time at all, and I’ll see you on the flip side of finals!

I Got a Job!

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Maddie

I am hoping this serves as my Career Fair Part II since the topics largely overlap.

To begin, I went to the Career Fair in the middle of February. Here I only handed out a few resumes since I knew I would be interviewing with some other companies soon (neither of which attended the Spring Career Fair/Expo).

I interviewed at two companies which will remain nameless for the sake of privacy. I will clue you in on the fact that one was an airline and the other is an OEM (original equipment manufacturer).

My first interview was in Dallas, Texas and the company was one of my dream companies to work for. I had done a training session with them one summer and thought the culture was so unique and amazing! When I applied online for the Crew Scheduling position I thought I would never hear back since this company is very competitive. Crew Scheduling sounded so fun and interesting to me since I love puzzles and challenges.

I flew in Thursday morning to interview and then took the company shuttle from the airport to their offices. There was a waiting room that looked much like an airport gate area and I met some other interviewees. Then it was my turn to go back and interview. I felt very prepared and the interviewers were beyond kind. They asked a lot about my background and goals. I felt confident about my answers as I trusted ERAU’s education. Then I flew to Alabama to see Chris that evening after my interview. The next day, Friday, I received a call with an offer!

I had another interview the next Tuesday with my dream company. My nerves were crazy. That interview process was much lengthier than the other. This one was 7 hours and I had to make a presentation to present to them. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end! The company did fly me out and pay for hotel, food, and transportation. I got to see my family too, since this position is in Colorado (one of the reasons I love it so much)!

The company culture at this second interview was my dream company culture. After my internship over last summer, I learned I prefer smaller companies – at least for now. This one is a startup, so I really love how fun and innovative everything is. There are so many coffee machines with fancy creamer and a whole kitchen stocked with free food. Not to mention you get a free $20 GrubHub credit everyday and unlimited paid time off! There is also a gym and locker rooms so you have a balanced life. That Friday I got a call with an offer from them as well!!!

Ultimately, I went with the offer in Colorado! I felt I had more room to grow with this company and I am truly passionate about their cause. The startup environment will be challenging and it is definitely not where I thought I would end up, but I am very excited to grow in this first career position.

The funny thing is, after I accepted my offer I began to get many other calls and interviews and even offers from other companies. Many of these were ones from the Career Fair. I say this so if you don’t hear back a week or two after the Career Fair, know it does not mean they forgot. Many companies take their time to get back to you, so be patient!

Both interviews had teams of people that were very impressed with the caliber of students that Embry-Riddle produced. Knowing that, I wish I had been more confident in myself going in because I think we forget how truly unique we are in this industry.

Around Campus

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Emily

Spring is a beautiful time to stroll around campus.

And a great time to enjoy Bar-B-Que on the Quad while supporting a good cause.

My Life @ Riddle

Daytona Beach Edition