March 28, 2011

Spring break has ended. I know I should be a little bit saddened, but I am not too sad. This break (even though I live in Daytona so I didn’t travel), I had the opportunity to rest and relax as much as I could throughout the day. I’ll admit it was ended a little early seeing as I had a take-home test to do. I decided I’d do it at the end in order to get myself back into the school mood. And because I was procrastinating till the last minute to actually do the test. It took me a long time to finish but in the end I feel more accomplished for better understanding the material. School let out on a Friday, I only had one class that day but stayed there pretty late. I stayed up late (like usual but a little longer than normal and enjoyed the benefits of not having to wake up early the next day. I normally don’t go to bed early at all but getting up early by the latest 7am I could definitely enjoy sleeping in till the time of my choosing. My parents were happy to have me home (or so I think). And I was more than happy to have the benefits of not having to “buy my meal” every day.

Yes this Spring break was definitely something to remember and appreciate. I may not have gone all around where I wanted to go, but, I had the chance to be with the people I love and sleep a little more than I’m use to. Sure I returned back to school kind of early but I don’t regret it. Just know that tomorrow (Monday) when I wake up from having 4-5 hours of sleep around 6:45am-7am, I can breathe a sigh of relief because not only did I ave a beautiful spring break but I am one step closer to the summer break….that’s five weeks to be more specific.

Beautiful ending to a beautiful day! (Photo taken by me: Hannah Langhorn)

March 22, 2010

Oh my goodness, here we are at the end of Spring Break! Now it’s time to get back to the books and finish out the semester! Spring Break was wonderful and I love when my sister comes to visit me. She likes being down here in Florida with me so much that she has decided to move down here in May. I can’t wait to be roommates with my sister! Originally, we had wanted to go to the same college my freshman year and live together then, but other events occurred that prevented our plan. While she was here over the break, we went apartment hunting and found one that we both fell in love with. We found out the day before she left that we got the apartment and we were relieved to have found a place. Now comes the fun part, planning how we are going to decorate!

After apartment hunting, we spent the rest of our time relaxing and discovering Daytona. The weather still hasn’t warmed up to the original temperatures, so we only spent one day at the beach and we didn’t dare get in the water. I just barely placed my toe in the surf and it felt like an ice cube was touching my toe! We wanted to go parasailing but we decided to wait until May when it’s warmer. One day after discovering that it was too cold to sunbathe at the beach, we decided to take a drive along the Ormond Beach Scenic Highway. In some spots, the water was so high that it almost came up to the edge of the road. I thought the whole drive had gorgeous scenery and think it would be even prettier when there are flowers in bloom and everything is green.

Do you believe in ghosts? My sister and I were looking for something interesting to do and found the Haunts of Daytona Tour. I had never gone on a ghost tour before, but always thought that it would be really fun. We’re hoping to see some ghosts on the tour and we weren’t disappointed. In the pictures are white circles called orbs.

The tour guide asked us at one point if we could hear any noise. I didn’t know what she was talking about at first. Then I heard a  ting-ting noise along the fence around the cemetery.Apparently, they have investigated where the noise could be originating from and there is no logical explanation. There are no trees near the fence or chains to make the clinking noise. The ghost making the noise is a little boy who runs along the fence hitting it. This part of the tour was pretty creepy because the noise wasn’t just in one spot but it could be heard from one end of the fence to the other end. The picture here is of the black fence above the cement wall.

The last picture here is zoomed in to get a closer look at the orb. I would recommend the Haunts of Daytona Tour. Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, a lot of history of Daytona Beach and people who have lived there was covered in the tour. The tour lasted about two hours and costs $10. The money goes to preserving and taking care of cemeteries.

Now that Spring Break is over, I’m looking forward to traveling to New York City for three days next week. The Alumni Center at school is taking me along with some other students to have a luncheon with aviation industry leaders. I’m looking forward to the trip because I’ve never been to New York before. I’ll be sure to take my camera and capture lots of pictures to share with you all in my next entry. After that trip, my birthday will be right around the corner and then before I know it—graduation!

Until next time,

Kaleigh

March 2010

Traveling has become a regular part of my life at Embry-Riddle. The school’s students travel from all over the world to learn about every facet of aviation. While my travels to home are not as far as others, it’s still a plane ride to get home to the Philadelphia area. This past week, Embry-Riddle went on spring break, and I was able to catch up with friends, travel, and go to a conference on emerging technologies.

Flying in and out of Daytona, I was fortunate enough to have a few friends travel with me. Even in Philadelphia, I met with a good friend in the terminal who was heading back to Embry-Riddle on another airline. At Embry-Riddle, students meet people from all over the country and all over the world. The school is a melting pot of aviation enthusiasts, which provides unique perspectives. I have been fortunate enough to make friends with a few students from the Northeast, and they frequently fly through Philadelphia to get back to Daytona – it works out great!

Fellow students have been pushing me to finally get my pilot’s license. While I am not an aeronautical science major, I did decide to pursue a private pilot’s license at a young age. With about 50 hours logged in a Diamond Eclipse, I am more than ready to take the written exam, but… I just need to study more – I spent a good chunk of my spring break studying.

On Friday, I attended The Wharton School’s “Emerging Technologies Update Day.” During the past three summers, I have worked as a summer research assistant for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School’s Mack Center for Technological Innovation, one of Wharton’s 25 research centers. Fortunately, one of this years conferences fell on a date I was home, and I was able to go and listen to presentations from senior executives from Intel, IBM, NBC / GE, Nokia, and Teradata – just to name a few. It was great to see familiar faces and people I have worked with the past three years. I plan on working there this summer.

Overall, spring break as productive and relaxing. It was great to catch up on sleep after a long week of midterms and a few tests the week preceding spring break. I have about a month and a half before I go home again, and by then I will have completed my first year of college!

Be sure to check back in two weeks for another post.

Until then,

Jonathan

March 2010

Spring Break! Here’s a recap of what I did during my week off from classes…

I ventured down to Orlando with a few friends and we went to Universal Studios for a few days! What a blast! I always wanted to go to Disney World and Universal Studios since I was a kid. My family and I went to Disney when I was about three but I do not remember the experience all that well. It was only two years ago when both my parents and my sister could all have the time off from work and me from college (RIT) to go to Disney. And now, this past week I was finally able to go to Universal Studios. I have always been a big fan of amusement parks as they take you away from all your worries in the world and they make you to feel like a kid again.

I tend to forget that I am 1200 miles away from home, soaking it up in the sun, going to the beach, and I have only an hour’s drive to Universal Studios. It’s a whole new atmosphere down here in Florida and my mind sometimes forgets where I am really at…

To my family, I wish you all could have been here!

When I was not relaxing outside, I spent the rest of my time working on my NASA competition projects and created a few digital space art images. Here is just one picture I designed over the break.

Now being that Spring Break has come to an end, I must begin reorganizing myself for classes and complete some homework that I purposely disregarded :o)

Until then… See you out there!

March 23, 2009

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break!

Whew! What a long two weeks. My simulator class, FA 420, started two weeks ago. It is amazing, but a lot of work. I am learning everything there is to know about the CRJ-200 aircraft; how it works, why it works, and how to fly it. I love learning the technical side of a jet aircraft; however, it definitely takes up a lot of your time. I had my first test last Monday and I got 91! It was the highest grade in the class; however I studied 12 hours for it. My second test was this morning and I got a 95 after studying for 15 hours. Let’s just say, the last two weeks I have been nose deep in an aircraft manual. But, even though it sounds painful, it actually isn’t. When you enjoy learning something, it goes by extremely fast. I would much rather study an aircraft systems book than a history book. I find it much more fascinating. Over the next few weeks, I will be getting into the good stuff, especially learning just how to fly this incredible aircraft. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

Now on the topic of spring break. That is where the location of Embry-Riddle is extremely awesome! Why leave when spring break comes to you? I just chilled at the beach most of the week and then got caught up on all of my homework. It was a well needed break.

Other than that, I have just been flying across Florida with my students, getting ready to graduate, and enjoying my last 5 weeks as a student. I hope everyone has a great week! I’m off to class.

March 12, 2009

It’s Spring Break time!!! This is the final few days until we go for Spring Break. I am so excited, I am going back home to be with family and old High School friends for an entire week. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re away at college, it makes you appreciate the opportunity to see family, no matter if it’s 3 days or a month. My mom is looking forward to me coming back home, she is so excited; she is taking off from work that day! Even though the excitement for the break is high on campus, we still have classes going on. On Friday before I leave, I have a test in Instrument Pilot Operations, which I think is the hardest one yet! I have been studying long and hard for it and I think I’ll do great.

Outside of classes, we had Greek Week last week. It was a lot of fun. The end of the week, I participated in the Up till Dawn Finale event as a Morale Captain. Up till Dawn is an organization that does fundraising activities, the proceeds of this go to the St. Judes Research Hospital that helps kids with cancer. The event was 12 hours, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. It was a long night but we had dances, food and a ton of activities. We had trikes and a bounce-a-bout and also a black jack table. We even played Gatorade pong! This week we also had the ERRSA Elections. The elections went very well, and everyone that I wanted to be in office got in. First generation will be having their elections in about two weeks.

We got our lottery numbers this week! Lottery numbers are numbers that housing gives out to students at random and is used when picking your hall for next semester. Once you do a contract, you are eligible to get a number and the range is from 1 to 1300. My number was 662, so it’s not too bad.

This week we also had the Xi-Man competition. The competition is a fundraiser done by the Alpha Xi Delta sorority and it is like a male pageant. Delta Upsilon placed 4th, mainly because of our t-shirt sales which was also a part of the fundraiser.

I know that it’s time that you guys are getting your financial aid letter, or should be getting them. Please be sure that you file your FAFSA for the upcoming school year if you want Federal Aid. It’s never too late to apply so do it when you get the chance to. If you have any questions about it, please feel free to shoot me an email.

I hope you guys are doing great. Thanks to those of you that asked me questions the past few weeks. Keep them coming, if there is any way that I can help you, just ask, I’ll be sure to answer as best as I can and also get you to the right resources. Stay safe!

Andre’