Tag Archives: HRl

Dorm Essentials & Tips

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Happy July everyone! I’m currently blogging from Fairbanks, Alaska where August and the Fall 2021 semester are both right around the corner! Since Orientation, move in, and classes are going to be beginning in less than a month I want to share my favorite Dorm Essentials & Tips for those living on campus. 

Starting this fall, I will have had experience living in a total of three different Residence Halls over a period of my (soon to be) five years at ERAU. I’ve lived on campus my entire college experience and I’m here to share my top tips to make your living space feel like home.

My current home away from home includes lots of weekend hikes, here’s my latest adventure!

Since your dorm room will be where you spend a lot of your time, making sure that is a comfortable space where you can do homework, study, and relax at the end of the day is extremely important. Since this list is general, most residence halls allow all of these items, but double check with your housing contract for items more specific to your specific living community. For reference, you may check out ERAU’s Housing and Residence life Community Standards, linked here, where also featured is a FAQ page, a Residence Hall option guide, a Move-In guide, as well as my personal favorites (guides I reference the most) the Approved Cooking Appliances in the Residence Halls list, and ERAU’s streaming service website for television shows and movies available for free here to all on-campus students. 

My dorm essential list includes, first and foremost, stocking up on snacks! Secondly, my favorite part about coming back to my room at the end of a long day is taking a hot shower and setting up my essential oil diffuser! I also love having plants in my room. All rooms have windows that receive some amount of natural light during the day, so I suggest low maintenance plants like succulents or cacti. Another great option is planting a few wildflower seeds in a small pot to brighten your room, or trying some easy to grow herbs such as basil, mint, or chives!

Nonperishable snacks like granola bars, nuts, and apple sauce are great to have on hand during the school year, but right now I am grateful to be able to pick fresh berries to snack on in between my online summer classes!

Another one of my favorite room essentials is a natural light simulating alarm clock. Since I’m in ROTC (or if you have any early morning or late-night flights if you’re studying Aeronautical Science), I highly recommend getting an alarm clock that can sync with your phone, your Alexa Amazon Echo, and simulates sunrise/sunset to help you regulate your sleep schedule. Before PT in the mornings, I am always listening to music on Spotify while I get ready in my room, so being able to auto-play music directly after my alarm goes off makes my morning routine that much simpler.

I also suggest investing in a good pair of headphones! Despite nighttime quiet hours, and quiet hours during finals, living in the Residence Halls can be loud at times and there are definitely moments when I like peace and quiet. The perfect solution I’ve found to this, other than heading to the Quiet Rooms on the second floor of the library to study, are noise canceling headphones! Since music plays such an important role in helping me relax while taking breaks from studying, I use headphones for peace and quiet while I do homework, as well as for high quality music when I’m working out or relaxing.

Keep on keeping on folks, will report back soon!

Daily Life & Extraneous Happenings

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Happy February everyone! I’m currently blogging from Daytona Beach, Florida and now that I’m back in the groove I would like to share with you a day in the life of an Aerospace Engineering student in Air Force ROTC who works as a Resident Advisor (RA), along with multiple other campus involvements! 

To begin, in AFROTC this semester we have one In-Person physical training (PT) a week, and one “virtual” at home workout PT, in addition to one In-Person Leadership Laboratory (LLAB). If I have either PT or LLAB, I typically wake up around 0500 via an alarm on my phone, sometimes multiple alarms especially if I was up late doing homework. I usually start my day extremely thirsty so when I first wake up I make water, coffee, tea, and a vitamin C drink from a powder I have (I know this might sound like a lot, but I love beverages). Then I do 10-15 minutes of yoga, eat some oatmeal and take my vitamins, and head to ROTC around 0620. After ROTC I typically return to my room between 0800 and 0900 and shower and make second breakfast, which is sometimes more oatmeal, coffee, and fruit if a have it (sometimes oatmeal is subbed with a muffin from the Cadet Lounge).

Then I prep for my day! On my busiest days I have in-person Airplane Stability and Control, Preparation for Active Duty Air Force class, online Aerospace Structures II, in-person SGA Student Court office hours, Space Mechanics, and my bi-weekly 1:1 with my RA supervisor (the Residence Life Coordinator of the residence hall I live in). This week my other obligations include my Returning RA Interview session, a 1:1 with my APAS (Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies) to go over my academic course plan up to graduation, Student Court Hearing Sessions, RA staff meetings, RA duty, workouts, office hours with my professors to ask questions about homework assignments, and my first Community Hangout of the semester – I’m teaming up with my RA hall partner to do a virtual Paint night!

In my free time when I’m not working out I’m probably playing virtual chess with my friends, strategizing Blokus games, or sleeping!

My first 2-Person Blokus game!

My usual schedule typically includes homework, quiz prep, and studying for upcoming tests. Also, I recently joined ERAU’s Surf Club which I’m very excited about. I went surfing for the first time since I’ve been back in Florida over the weekend at Ponce Inlet and it was so much fun! Going to the beach recently was the first time I’ve worn a wetsuit because the water was cold and I had a blast.

The beach when I went surfing with Surf Club!

As I get back to doing homework, I look forward to blogging again soon, keep on keeping on folks, stay safe!

Balance & Busy Schedules

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Happy August everyone! I’m currently blogging from Daytona Beach, Florida pulling a power weekend (meaning I’m on call working at my Resident Advisor position) after following a power week of working 12+ hours daily jumping from Orientation Team activities to RA move in shifts and I feel like I haven’t had time to catch my breath, even though classes haven’t actually started yet.

I’ve spent most of August hopping from trainings and working with the same people (masks ON Eagles). My residents are finally moving in and I’m very excited to meet everyone, even if it is primarily over email, GroupMe, or Zoom meetings. Between door decorations, hall decorations, bulletin boards, presentations, meetings, welcome and orientation events, it’s a wonder I’ve even been getting sleep lately. We LOVE good time management skills.

Much to my surprise, I’ve still found time to do yoga every morning and alternate my calisthenic workout days with my cardio days in between my busy schedule. I am a firm believer that people make time for what is important to them. For example, if you’re feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with obligations and options make a list and prioritize your commitments. Be SURE to include your commitments to your self care too! Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health are very important to a well balanced lifestyle.

O Team with my favorite leader!

Most questions I get related to college life from new students are centered around academics, which are extremely important, but not to the extent that you neglect your well being.

Story time! My first semester of college I was getting between 4-6 hours of sleep every night and I was mentally not in a great place, even though I was giving academics the majority of my attention. While there may be many outlying influencing factors in this, my second semester of college I made an agreement with myself to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Amazingly, I found that my final letter grades were identical in ratio to my first semester, with no deviations.

Only did my grades start improving when I started focusing on my ACTUAL wellbeing, my overall health, and balancing my time between myself and everything else.

O-Team is our favorite team!

In high school, middle school, and elementary school I took a fair share of mental health days, didn’t go to class on my birthday, and most certainly didn’t go to school if I was sick. When I got to college I was extremely stressed and constantly felt like I was trying to catch up and compete to not fall behind in the work culture.

What you give your time and energy to is SO important, and a little self care goes a LONG way. If I am crunched on time and need to decide on an extra hour of sleep or an hour of working out, my answer constantly changes depending on how I’m feeling and what I need to accomplish for that day or for the next day. You have to make the best decisions for yourself. Set boundaries. Don’t stretch yourself too thin! Prioritize your time, energy, and commitments, while reflecting back on your needs.

Will report back soon folks! Keep on keeping on!