Every year, my boyfriend and I throw a Halloween party for our local friends and each year the festive foods get more extravagant (I blame Pinterest)! Enjoy some photos from this year’s shindig đ Also, that hand is made out of only prosciutto and mozzarella, I promise. And everything is made by us!
Well, now Halloween is over, and so are the Halloween events. Embry-Riddle hosted several events this year despite the pandemic:
The student government association (SGA) also had free treat bags for students in the Student Leadership Suite all week, which was very nice of them. Each treat bag had a drink (some had Starbucks Frappuccinos and Gatorades!), a full-size candy bar, a bag of chips, and a small bag of fruit snacks.
The Honors Student Association hosted a door decorating contest, room decorating contest, and costume contest that all of their members were invited to participate in. I noticed a few doors being decorated, and some other people left free candy outside of their dorm room for the entire week preceding Halloween. Some of the candy buckets are still there.
This year, I didn’t have too much time to come up with an amazing costume, and I didn’t have too much money to spend. However, I was able to come up with two low-effort costumes: Regina George (from Mean Girls!) and Miss ERAU the CFI.
On Friday, I decided to dress up since I saw several others doing it. I had a crown, so I threw on a white shirt and black pants and decided to cross over the beauty queen idea with the flight instructor idea that I’d had earlier in the year. The Embry-Riddle certified flight instructor (CFI) uniform consists of a white polo, black pants, and black closed-toed shoes, which was pretty easy to replicate. This year, Miss America is a pharmacy student, and she often wears her lab coat on her Instagram, so I decided that “Miss Riddle” could be a CFI.
With a little help from the SGA, I was able to borrow a blue graduation stole to make my sash. I used two paperclips, one at the top and one on the bottom, to help make the cross, and I was good to go! I walked around campus as Miss ERAU on Friday, and then had plans to be Regina George on Saturday. I even stuffed some papers in a pink folder to make the Burn Book:
However, the heat and I did not get along. Since I’m in Florida, I overheated very quickly and changed back into my Miss ERAU costume, which I wore for the rest of Friday.
On Saturday, the Halloween events started at 6 PM. I met a few friends outside of the student union, and we explored the festivities. There was plenty of treats at different tables: candy apples, bags of candy, hot apple cider, and even full-size donuts. Inside the student union, the school had set up a haunted house. I tried to go in with my friend, but we chickened out three times. Our friends eventually got her to go through it, but I decided to be a chicken and not give myself nightmares.
At 7:30 there was a costume contest in front of the student union, and I decided to enter it. There were seven categories: Best Group, Blue & Gold, Scariest, People’s Choice, Most Creative, Best Homemade, and Air & Space. My costume fit best under Blue & Gold, so I chose that category. The judging committee consisted of a few students, one of which was the SGA president.
The contest was really well organized. Once the category was announced, the entrants lined up on the side. Once the judges were ready, they then walked in front of the spectators and the judges’ table. Contestants would then state what they were to the judges and student body before walking off to the side. The process repeated until every costume in the category was judged, and then it started all over again. There was also a photographer from the Student Engagement & Student Union department, and he took photos of all of the contestants.
The costume contest was very entertaining for both spectators and entrants. One of the funniest group costumes (in my opinion) was this group of guys:
After all of the judges had judged the costumes, they announced that voting for the People’s Choice costume was open. To vote, students scanned a QR code and voted on a CampusGroups poll of the entrants. While that happened, the judges determined the winners.
I ended up winning the Blue & Gold category and the People’s Choice category. I got a $10 Starbucks gift card for the win in each category, and the People’s Choice win also came with a Cards Against Humanity set. I also got two certificates.
After the costume contest, Touch-n-Go, the entertainment division of the SGA, screened The Nightmare Before Christmas. Riddle-sponsored Halloween events were after that, but one student hosted a bonfire in the fire pit by New Residence Hall Phase II, which several other students attended.
I thought Halloween was great this year despite the pandemic. I’ve never experienced a pandemic-free Halloween at ERAU, but this year there was a surplus of events. I heard that the haunted house was really well done, but I was not willing to test it out. In my opinion, the SGA and Student Engagement teams did really well, especially with the amount of free candy.
And let’s be honest, one is never too old for free candy.
The month of October is officially in session which means itâs also the scariest time of the year⌠midterms. Just kidding, Halloween! Even with school getting more intense and midterms being well on their way here, it is important to take time out to enjoy the spooky season with friends and loved ones.
This past week in between studying for my 4 exams, I have been celebrating Halloween with fun activities such as carving pumpkins and watching scary movies. My friends love Halloween just as much as I do and are, in my opinion, the funniest people I know.
My favorite Halloween activity we have done so far is carving pumpkins. My friends were out at Daytona One, where they were selling pumpkins, so they bought us all some and broke out the carving tools. We all decided what we were going to carve and got right to it. While we were carving pumpkins, my friend, Mike went through his records to see if he owned anything for Halloween. Well, it turns out he did, and when we went t put it on we all expected songs like the monster mash or thriller and instead just got a record full of spooky horror sounds like whispering and booing ghosts and bats flying. We kept it on for all of five minutes after our belly laughter from this odd record turned into us questioning why we had not turned it off yet. Eventually, the entire apartment smelt like pumpkin and we had changed the audio in the room to a Spotify Halloween playlist. We finished our pumpkins and lit them all together.
As stressed as I can get from school, my friends are always around to remind me to do fun holiday things and take a break from the hard work I have put in. Its friends like this that make Embry-Riddle feel like home.
During the day of Halloween, I traveled to Boston to go see my brother, Christophe,  who studies at Boston College. I call it a very short trip since I only spent about eight hours in Massachusetts. I landed at Logan International Airport just past noon and left the same airport at 8:00pm the same day.
Many people are asking me why I did this. Well, it was only $62 roundtrip and I love traveling! I’m going to explain how it happened. On October 1, JetBlue Airways had a huge sale with fares starting as low as $31 one way from select cities for travel on October 31. To benefit from this offer, a passenger had to book his or her flight on October 1 and fly only during Halloween. This is where the idea came to my mind to go visit my brother.
My day started at 3:15am as I woke up and headed to the airport in Orlando (MCO). I was lucky that my roommate was able to drive me to the airport. JetBlue currently does not fly to Daytona, but the airline will begin a daily nonstop service to New York-JFK on January 7, 2016. My flight departed on time at 6:00am for New York Kennedy airport. One of the advantage of waking early is to be able to watch the sunrise from above.
Sunrise seen at 7:00am at 35,000 ft over North Carolina.
After my three hour layover in New York, I took off on another plane bound for Boston. This flight was only a short 40 minute in the air. Arrived in Massachusetts, I quickly deplaned the Embraer 190 and made my way to the arrivals level to hop on a taxi. My brother and I met one of our friend at Harvard Square, where we had a quick bite in a cafe (accent) nearby. We visited her dorm for a while and then got onboard an Uber and headed  downtown of the city. We stopped at Copley Square to take some pictures.
Myself, Berkeley, and Christophe in front of the Trinity Church.
This Episcopal Church was built between 1872 and 1877.
The three of us then took a walk on the beautiful streets of Boston. Some of the architecture of the buildings reminded me of Montreal. I think that these two Northeastern cities of North America are very similar to each other. Around mid-afternoon, we said goodbye to our friend since she had to go. My brother and I continued to tour the city afterwards. He showed me one of the coolest stores I had never been before. When you enter, people think it is simply a convenience store, but there is more. If you approach the vending machine you will find out what is behind. It is actually a door that slides to let you enter in this shoe store. It’s pretty amazing!
Adjacent to the store we caught another Uber and headed to Brookline, MA, which is just a few miles west of Boston. There, we met with two of his other friends. We went to a Trader Joe’s close-by to buy some food for dinner. We decided to buy pasta and salad since it was rapid and easy to make for a big group. Now you have probably guessed on which mode of transportation we went back to his friend’s dorm. Yes, we got on another Uber again!
Arrived at destination, we quickly started to cook because I had to leave for the airport soon. Four other of my brother’s friend joined us. I made pasta for 10 people and my friend Mattie made a delicious lemon dressing for the salad. We all ate dinner together in the living room which was fun. I left in a Uber at around 6:15pm for Boston Logan Intl. Airport to catch an 8:00pm flight that would bring me directly to Florida this time.
I am glad I had the chance to see my brother and many of his friends. I have not seen him since he started school in August. I had a lot of fun and the many Uber rides enabled us to see various parts of the city in a short period of time. Overall, the cost of all the ground transportation in Boston was more expensive than my plane ticket itself, but it was definitely worth it!
Until next time!
Nicolas
Finally, the weather is getting a little bit colder, which can only mean one thing! It is almost time for my favorite holiday – Halloween! Naturally during this time of year, I do whatever I can to celebrate the holiday in style. This includes getting involved in my sororityâs Halloween Fashion Show, decorating my room with skeletons and spider webs, collecting candy, and attending any special Halloween event I can find.
Me and one of my Sigma sisters, Alissa, about to enter Magic Kingdom!
As a kind of tradition, earlier this month I drove to Orlando for Universal Studiosâ Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). HHN is Universalâs annual Halloween event, where there are a total of nine haunted houses for guests to walk through, along with different shows. Since I am from Orlando and currently a Universal employee, HHN is something I try to do every Halloween season, and this was my fourth year attending the event.
Some of the Eta Tau sisters standing in front of Cinderella’s castle
This year I attended another theme park event that I have never gone to before â Mickeyâs Not So Scary Halloween Party! My Tri Sigma chapter, Eta Tau, decided that the event would be a great way to meet our sisters from Epsilon Rho, another chapter we have at St. Leoâs University. For those of you who do not know what Mickeyâs Not So Scary is, it is Disneyâs annual Halloween event. Since it is a family event, it is kid-friendly and not scary at all. It even features trick-or-treating for not just the children, but for the adults too! My sisters and I got to go on all of the best rides, like Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion (my favorite). The best part of the night for us was taking our bags and hitting all of the candy locations so we could stock up on sweets for the rest of the month.
Tonight is Tri Sigma’s 8th Annual Halloween Fashion Show! I am so excited because this will be my first time experiencing the fashion show and I even get to walk in it. This year I am going to be Cher from the 90s film Clueless, the Grumpy Carebear, and Spencer from Pretty Little Liars. Also, I am going to be in the show’s dance, which is a big deal because I am definitely not a dancer.
Happy November! This past weekend was Halloween and because I waited until the last minute I didnât get to perfect my costume like I wanted to. I ended up dressing up as a witch, but Iâm going to start working on next yearâs costume that way Iâll be ready! Silver Wings and Arnold Air Society went trick-or-treating for canned goods to benefit one of the local food banks. We collected a good amount of food and everyone had a fun time.
Last Thursday, I was given the opportunity to miss class and drive to Orlando for the National Business Aviation Association Conference. This conference allows aviation businesses to come together in one location and showcase their products to potential buyers. My Professional Selling professor wanted us all to attend so we could observe some sales people and see how they sold their product. I got to see a lot of different companies and how they tried to entice the customer to come to their booth by different display techniques and free promotional products. For example, one booth put on a magic show and in the end gave away a bunch of prizes for audience participation. A group of my classmates and I were able to talk candidly to one company and we found out that it was one of the smallest conventions in the past three years and they blamed it on the economy. Furthermore, they stated that the aviation industry will most likely be in a recession until 2012. The good news is their company was able to get some prospective new customers out of the show, so hopefully they will survive the economic downturn. Overall, the conference was interesting and I learned some new information, so Iâm glad that I made the trip to check it out.
My scooter and I took a trip to one of my favorite locations: the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. It was a beautiful day and I hadnât rode my scooter for awhile. During my freshman year, I made my first trip to the lighthouse and was impressed by the magnificent size and beauty. Iâve always enjoyed lighthouses and this was the first one I was able to go inside and climb to the top. I think itâs about 200 steps to the top and once you are up there you can see for quite a distance. I had a fun time and enjoyed having the break from homework.
Homecoming and the Career Expo are this week. Iâll have to fill in you in on the details in the next entry. Also, I have been invited to have dinner with the College of Business Industry Advisory Board which Iâm looking forward to. This week is also when many companies provide information sessions and the two that Iâm planning on attending are Continental Airlines and U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Iâm looking forward to learning lots of information.
My sister is going to be here in about three weeks and Iâm excited for all the things we are going to do. Iâm going to go to Walt Disney World (for the first time since I was five) while she is here âI can hardly wait!
Until next time,
Kaleigh
BRR⌠I hate to say this but Florida is actually getting chilly! The past two weeks has been really chilly, not the average temperature you would expect for Florida. But it seems to be warming up again, but boy was that a surprise. I miss the beach so much and I canât wait for it to get back to the 90âs.
Along with dealing with the crazy weather, itâs now Homecoming weekâŚYAY! There are a lot of activities planned and I am so excited to experience them. We have a school spirit competition going, also the Alumni fly-in, and the parade on Friday. For the past couple of weeks, we have had a few events on campus that if you attend, you get Bonus Bucks. Bonus Bucks are used in the âSilent Auctionâ at the end of Homecoming.
I am so happy to say that in two more flights, Iâll have my solo check ride! YAY, I am so excited and I canât wait to solo. My instructor has been helping a lot over the past couple of weeks and now that my check ride is right around the corner, we are putting emphasis on making sure my maneuvers are up to standard and that I wonât have any problems on my check ride. Wish me luck guys! In my other classes, I am doing great. The semester is coming to an end soon and in just a few weeks we are going to be taking final exams. Itâs getting a little hectic now, trying to get our major papers done and making sure we stay on top of assignments and doing all that we can to get the grade that rewards our efforts. On Thursday I have a test in Private Pilot Operations, and I have two papers due on Wednesday for my English Composition and Literature class. I also have a big research paper due next Monday for my Intro to Computers class. At this point in the semester, if you havenât structured yourself with good time management, itâs going to be a real task getting things done. Procrastination is not a good thing, because before you know it, everything is all piled up and you have no time to get it all done.
I am still active on TFO and First Generation, but as for the Avion, I took off for a while because production takes a lot out of me and I had a few big papers to work on. I go back to production this coming Sunday and I canât wait to get back and edit the Campus page! For First Generation, we participated in an event called Making Strides which was a 3 mile walk for Breast Cancer awareness. We had so much fun walking around Daytona, and at the end of the 3 miles, we felt like we did something positive for our community.
HALLOWEEN passed last Friday and it was a lot of fun. Our campus had kids from the community come on campus and had several events to keep them entertained. In my dorm we had trick-or-treating, and me and my roommate gladly signed up and participated. It was so much fun to see the kids in their costumes and the excitement on their faces when we gave them candy. Sadly, the Doolittle Haunted House didnât go on for an unknown reason. Hopefully it will be up and running next year! That night, my cousin from Jacksonville came down to visit me. I havenât seen her in a few years and it was so good seeing her.
My roommate took his solo check ride last Friday and HE PASSED! I am so proud of him and all of his hard work paid off. He is scheduled to have his actual solo hopefully this Wednesday, and I wish him luck!
Well, Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and as some of my friends go back home for Thanksgiving dinner, I will be here on campus doing some flight lessons. I miss my family so much and I canât wait to see them again this Christmas.
*In my last post I said that there was a jetBlue A340 on the ramp on the airport, it was an A320, I made a little error and apologize for this mistake.
For those of you guys that have contacted me, thanks for talking to me and I hope that I was of help to you. The rest of you guys, donât be a stranger. Until next time!
