Christmas in New York City

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Everyone has seen the Christmas movies that are set in New York City. The famous Rockefeller Christmas tree, the Rockettes, window displays at the department stores, and all of the decorations around the city are all very well known. New York City at Christmas is iconic, and I always dreamed of experiencing it during the holidays.

A few months ago I decided to make my dream a reality, so I purchased a ticket to New York City in December. I left a few days after Finals finished up for the Fall semester. My sister and boyfriend both joined me on this holiday adventure.

I had been to New York City a few times before, which was helpful since I pretty much knew my way around Midtown Manhattan. We stayed at a hotel a few blocks away from Times Square. Of course, while we were there for three days it was the coldest it had been all December. We were freezing! Nevertheless, we walked around for three days straight. It was nice to stay right in the middle of the city, since it was a close walk to all of the holiday sights we wanted to see.

David and I in Times Square

David and I in Times Square

My sister had never been to New York before, so our first stop was Central Park. It was raining, but we still had a fun time walking around looking at the ponds, as well as the ice rink! The weather started to get pretty gross, so we headed to the Plaza Hotel to try and see the iconic lobby. We weren’t aware that you had to be a guest to get access to the lobby, but at least we got to show my sister the most famous hotel in Manhattan. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Midtown looking at the storefronts, as well as looking for good restaurants.

Lauren and I in Central Park

Lauren and I in Central Park

The second day we were there was the coldest of them all. Luckily, we had tickets to see the Radio City Rockettes. However, it was about a 15-20 minute walk from our hotel to Radio City Music Hall. We braved the cold, and it was totally worth it! Seeing the Rockettes in person at Radio City was one of my bucket list items. They’re amazing dancers when you see them on TV, but even more incredible when you see them in person. The show was spectacular, and it really put me in the holiday spirit.

During the show

During the show

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

After the show, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). It’s located about halfway up Central Park, so we decided to take an Uber up there. I had seen TV shows that occasionally took place in and around The Met, but they definitely didn’t do it justice. The museum is massive! We walked around for about two hours and were nowhere close to seeing all of the exhibits. My favorite exhibit was the Egyptian exhibit. I loved seeing ancient art pieces from way back.

Sitting on the steps of The Met

Sitting on the steps of The Met

The next day we woke up early to go to one of the best bakeries in Manhattan. It is called Magnolia Bakery and they have a location in Rockefeller Plaza. We then headed to the Top of the Rock. I had been to the top of the Empire State Building twice before, so I wanted to see the city from a different viewpoint. Once you’re at the top you can see all of Central Park, which was my favorite part. It was a gorgeous day to be on top of Manhattan, since you could see all of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, the boroughs, and New Jersey. We stayed up there for awhile taking in the sights and snapping as many pictures as we could.

Central Park from the Top of the Rock

Central Park from the Top of the Rock

Once we were done, we headed down to SoHo. I’d never been to SoHo before, so we walked around the stores down there. It took us awhile to get from Midtown down to SoHo, but it was worth it. It was awesome to see all of the huge retailers flagship locations.

Each night we ended up at Rockefeller Plaza gazing at the Christmas tree. I always used to see it on TV during Christmas specials, but it was so much larger in person. The lights shimmered perfectly in the cold New York air, and the hustle and bustle of the large crowds helped to forget about the cold.

Rockefeller Plaza

Rockefeller Plaza

Decorations near Rockefeller Plaza

Decorations near Rockefeller Plaza

I’ll never forget standing there under the tree, overlooking the ice rink, and watching the light show on the side of Saks 5th Avenue. Christmas in New York was an unforgettable experience, and I encourage everyone to try and make it there at some point during your lifetime!

Until next time,

Lindsey

Holidays Travel Tips

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Here are a few travel tips as we go through this holiday season:

Before The Trip
Pack light: You should only bring the necessary stuff you need for your trip. If you are allowed a free checked-bag on your airline, use it instead of bringing a carry-on. This will accelerate the boarding process and reduce delays at the gate.

Carry-on: You should pack your travel documents, medication, car keys and spare lithium batteries in your carry-on or in a bag as your personal item. If you are bringing liquids, they should be 100g/100ml (3.4 oz.) or less. Make sure your carry-on luggage has the right dimensions and weight depending on your airline. Many air carriers are strict about this and will make you check your bag if it’s too large.

Bringing gifts?: If you are carrying gifts onboard the aircraft, you should keep them unwrapped until you go through security. It’s just easier for the security officers if they have to inspect your gifts.

Flying international?: If you are flying out of the country, make sure you have all the documents you need to enter the foreign country such as passport and visas. Ensure your passport is valid and is not expired prior to your trip.

24 Hours Before The Flight
Check-in: One day prior to your flight, you can check-in on your airline’s website or on their mobile app.

Flight status: Enable your notifications on your smart phone so you can know the status of your flight. If it is delayed or cancelled, you will know before heading to the airport for nothing. Winter weather delays can be expected even if you are not flying to/from the north as your inbound plane and the crew might be coming from Minneapolis for example.

At The Airport
Arrive early: If you are flying early in the morning or out of a major hub, definitely arrive early before your flight. There are a lot of people at the airport checking-in for their flights, dropping their bags and going through the security check point, which means longer wait times. Early for me means between 2 hours and 3 hours before departure.

Security checkpoint: To expedite security, I would recommend that you put your phone and wallet in your bag or your carry-on. You’ll have less loose items in the bins that you can lose. If you have a laptop, put it in a separate bin. Keep your boarding pass and ID with you as you go through screening. If “TSA Pre” is written on your boarding pass, just put everything in your bag and go through the walk through detector with your shoes and belt.

Boarding the Aircraft
Boarding time: Only go closer to the boarding area when your boarding zone is called so you won’t block any passengers in line that are boarding an earlier zone than you. To increase the odds your flight leaves on-time, only board when it’s your turn. I was boarding a flight earlier this week and a passenger tried to board during  Zone 1 while he was Zone 5…

Onboard: If you have a carry-on, store it with handle out or wheels out to make space for everyone on board. If you have a winter jacket, don’t put it next to your carry-on. Squeeze it on top of your carry-on or put it under the seat in front of you with your personal item.

Comment below if you have other good #traveltips to give to our readers!

Happy and safe travels!

Nicolas

Holidays in the Sunshine State

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When you think of the holiday season, you normally don’t think of Florida, although, the Sunshine State has a lot to offer during the holidays. It’s always hard to balance the excitement of the holidays with the stress of Finals Week, especially when you’re surrounded by so many holiday events.

Earlier this month I went to the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando to see the ICE! display that they put on each year. The display is in their convention center and it is composed of tons of ice that has been carved by professional ice carvers. It was my first time going to the display, and I was excited because the theme was Charlie Brown Christmas.

Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown

Snoopy

Snoopy

Besides seeing the ice sculptures, one of the best parts of the display is that it is inside a nine degree freezer. They claim that nine degrees is the perfect viewing temperature for ice. Since I’ve been in Florida for three years, I was definitely not used to the cold. I brought my own winter jacket, even though they are also provided for you at the display. It was awesome to experience a winter temperature while still living in Florida.

David and I holding an apple made out of ice

David and I holding an apple made out of ice

It’s always nice to get away from the stress of Finals to get into the holiday spirit. Now I’m off to Disney World and New York City to see what else this holiday season has to offer!

Until next time,

Lindsey

Another Semester Down

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Well we did it! Approximately 16 weeks of school officially over and done with. What’s next you may ask? Well I have about another three to four weeks before school starts again so I can only assume adventure!

Of course, the break is what I make it so I’m making a promise to myself to actually go out and do stuff this time. Then again, the New Jersey winter can be very limiting and New York City is a bit tricky to navigate with snow on a ground.

A lot has happened to me the past few days, and these events really made me rethink about the direction I was heading and how far I’ve come as a person. Unfortunately some doors closed on me, but some new ones opened as well. We don’t really have a whole lot of control over the things that happen in our lives, but life is what you make it right?

Despite these minor setbacks, I’m very excited for what Spring 2017 has in store for me. I’m finally starting to advance in my engineering courses and am slowly starting to appreciate all of the hard work and thought that goes into engineering. Hopefully I can apply what I learned these past few months to my daily life.

For now, I am just worrying about packing up my stuff for a 12:30 p.m. flight out of Daytona this Saturday. Enjoy the holiday break, and we’ll result our regularly scheduled broadcast in January.

It’s Over!

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I can’t believe the fall 2016 semester is already over. I feel like it was not a long time ago that I ended my summer internship. I’m very happy that finals are now over and that we have a bit less than a month of vacation.

I had my last final on Tuesday evening. This semester, only has two finals during the four days that are considered “finals week.” In most of my classes, the professors gave the final during regular class time on the last day of classes. Instead of being a big comprehensive exam with the material we saw from the beginning of the semester, it was just a normal exam with the material covered in the last few weeks. To make it even easier, one of my finals was open book and we were allowed to reference our textbook, our computer (with no internet access), PowerPoint slides and notes. It was definitely my easiest exam!

I am now at the airport waiting for my flight to go home for the holidays! Before I left Daytona Beach, I made sure my schedule was set for next semester. I was on the waitlist for one of my classes that only had one section. Fortunately, the Department of Physical Sciences decided to add a second section of Biology because many students were on the waiting list for the class. If you are currently on a waitlist for one of your classes, you have a few options. First, you can wait until the first week of classes in January where the class might open since many students drop classes. Second, you can try to force entry in a class, but this process is more complicated since you have to talk with your Program Coordinator, the Department of your class and the professor teaching the course. Finally, you might be able to take the class online* through Worldwide. You can read my blog to see if an online class is a good option for you.

I will be home with my family until January 1. On the first day of 2017, I will head with my family to London for a week!

Happy holidays and see you in 2017!

Nicolas

*Current residential campus students must submit appropriate paperwork before enrolling in online courses through the Worldwide Campus. Consult with the Record’s Office, your advisor or admissions counselor before deciding whether online courses are right for you.

Fall 2016 Is Done!

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Hello All!

I am quite happy that the Fall 2016 semester is officially over; only two more semesters are left for me at ERAU!

Shockingly, all of my final exams/tests were extremely easy, but studying a lot for them definitely helped. In one of my classes, I just had to get a 1% on one of them to get an A in the class which made it pretty stress-free.thumbnail_img_1967

To celebrate finishing finals, I headed to the beach one more time. One of the nice things about Florida is that sometimes even mid-December that it can be beach weather! Although, I feel bad for some of my classmates who will be trading in their flipflops for boots and gloves as temperatures up north will be below freezing up north.

I took a little trip up A1A, which runs along the coast, to Flagler Beach for a quick visit; there is still some remnants of damage from Hurricane Matthew that visited the Florida coast. Hopefully, everything will turn back to normal soon!

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I am glad that it is officially Winter Break, and it could not have come at a better time. Well, time to head to the airport to catch a flight to start my break!

Happy Holidays,

Jack

Day trip to Austin

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Hello readers!

It was also my first flight on Southwest Airlines!

It was also my first flight on Southwest Airlines!

Last Saturday, I traveled to Austin, Texas for the day. I went to visit my friend  from high school who is currently studying at the University of Texas. I was supposed to make this trip in October but it did not work out. Thanks to Southwest’s no change-fees policy as I pushed the trip a few weeks later free of charge paying only the fare difference.

My flight was in the morning from Orlando (MCO) to Austin (AUS). When I landed in the capital of Texas, it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit with rain showers. Coming from warm Florida, I didn’t even think of bringing a jacket.

During my short visit, my friend showed me his apartment which was about a 10-minute walk from campus. We then walked to the campus where we toured for a while. As we were walking past an open field, there were students running around throwing some balls and carrying a broomstick. I’m sure you already know what they were doing. Yes, they were playing quidditch like in Harry Potter. Well they weren’t flying but the game looked quite similar from the movie. It was fun to watch to say the least.

Quidditch game!

Quidditch game!

After watching the game for a few minutes, we went to get lunch at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Austin. Since I lived in San Antonio for three years, it was unquestionable that we had to go eat tacos! One of my favorite taco is called al pastor and comes with marinated pork, small pineapple chunks, chopped onions and cilantro and a slice of lime.

Later after lunch, we hanged out for a few hours before I had to leave for the airport for my flight back home. I really enjoyed my day in Austin!

Until next time!

Nicolas

The End is Near

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Hello there!

Friday, December 9 is the last official day of classes, and there are four days of finals starting on Saturday; typically, there are no classes as it is a study day, but it is being used as a make-up day since we missed three days of classes due to Hurricane Matthew back in October.

As of now, there is just one final that stands between me and one month of vacation. I am very much looking to having some time off to relax, hang out with friends, and travel.

The end of this semester has been fairly easy; I just had two regular tests this past Thursday and only one final exam. Plus, I had a paper due for my final grade earlier in the week. So overall, it is a pretty low key end of the semester.

It is interesting how the end of the semester can vary a lot from semester to semester and vary a lot for every person, but thankfully, things are winding down and the end is near.

More soon!

Jack

Exploring the World’s Southernmost City

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Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego

Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego

In the first part of my trip to Argentina, I visited Buenos Aires for one day and a half. I spent the rest of the week with my brother and my friend in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world nicknamed “The End of the World.” We woke up at 3AM on Tuesday to take a 4:30AM flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. After a 3h30 nonstop flight, we landed at the small airport of Ushuaia. After we claimed our luggage at the carousel, we hoped on a taxi and headed to our Airbnb. Our place was located right in the center of the town where you can easily find various shops and restaurants.

The first thing we did when we arrived was to go eat breakfast in a small café just a few streets away from our Airbnb. After we finished eating, we walked a bit and explored the town. To me, the town felt like a mix of Vail and European ski resorts. We stopped by a grocery store to get a few items for the week.

Beagle Channel Catamaran Tour

In the afternoon, we went to do a catamaran tour on the Beagle Channel. The strait is located at the southern tip of South America and is shared by both Argentina and Chile. On the left side of the boat is Argentina while Chile is on the right side (the opposite on the way back). During the five hour tour, we visited islands of birds, sea lions, penguins and a lighthouse.

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Sea lions

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Penguins

We came back to the dock at around 8:30PM (Argentina Time) and it was still daytime. The sun in Ushuaia sets at 10PM but you can still see light in the skies at around 11PM! It is interesting to see that in the northeast of the United States it starts to become dark at around 4PM (EST) but the sun in Ushuaia sets 6 hours later!

Hike to Laguna Esmeralda

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Laguna Esmeralda

On the second day of our trip to Ushuaia we went to visit a popular place named Laguna Esmeralda. To get there, visitors have to do a 5.5 km hike to reach the lake. Once you arrive at the lake, the view is just beautiful! It reminded me of Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. We were lucky enough to be up there when the weather was cooperating. It can often get windy and cloudy once you arrive at the lake.

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After admiring the view and taking some photos for about one hour, we made our way back using the same path we went through on the way up. The hike was not really difficult, but I would definitely recommend to wear boots because it can get muddy at some places as you can see in the photo above.

Hike to the Martial Glacier

The next morning, we did another hike, this time to a glacier. I would say this hike was more difficult than the one we did the previous day. The hike to the glacier was more steep while the one to Laguna Esmeralda was generally flat. The more you climbed in altitude, the more it got steep. At the base there were trees and vegetation, but as you were going up, the ground was getting more rocky.

Top of the glacier

Top of the glacier (2,707 ft. ASL)

A few feet away from the top of the glacier, there was a warning sign indicating that hikers needed a specialized guide to climb higher. There was no more visual path in the mountain but we decided to explore and hike a bit higher (I don’t think my mom would have approved this)!

View of Ushuaia from the highest point we climbed (~3,500 ft. ASL)

View of Ushuaia from the highest point we climbed (~3,500 ft. ASL)

We couldn’t climb much higher because the ground was all covered with snow and we did not have any kind of hiking equipment with us. One of the perks of climbing higher is that you can go down on your back where there is a slope with snow and slide down on your back. I tried it a few times and it was awesome!

Well, that’s it for the outdoors activities we did in Ushuaia. If you are an outdoor person, I would definitely recommend you to visit if you go to Argentina! The next day, we flew back to Buenos Aires where we spent one night before making our final journey back to the United States. During that week, I flew more than 18,000 miles in the skies. I will write a story about all that air travel in the next few weeks.

Until next time!

Nicolas

We’re 93% There!

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With less than two weeks left in this semester, you have to stop and wonder where the past four months went. I still remember my train ride back to Florida very vividly, despite it happening late August.

But, since it’s near the end of the semester, there’s no time to reminisce: Not yet. Group projects and tests make their final appearances while final exams and course evaluations follow shortly after. But in the midst of organized chaos come some periods of down time.

Chancellor Brady recently held an art exhibit which showcased artwork for students and faculty. Ferrari’s formula one racing team brought an F-1 car to campus. Also, the Student Government Association held a town hall to answer some hot-button topics on the minds of students.

It fascinates me how diverse Riddle is because there’s always something for someone. I guess we have our diverse student body to thank for that. Anyway, I’ll probably make one last post before finals so stay tuned!