April 4, 2006
Hey Readers!!!!!!
Preview weekend. This weekend. Be here!!! I can't wait. Spring Splash and the Block Party are going to be amazing. Let me give you a bit of a schedule. The big splash begins at 12pm on Saturday. You can get food and information on what you can involve yourself in during your time at Embry-Riddle. We will have a belly-flop contest at 1pm, hosted by yours truly. At 2pm, we will have a dive contest, and at 3pm we have the bathing suit contest. You are absolutely eligible to win any of these contests and the prizes that come along with them! Bring your swim attire! I bet you will have the time of your life on Saturday and it truly gives you an idea of what Riddle is like. Also, this is our last chance to get into our pool until Spring '07 because in a couple weeks it will be closed so that the building next to it can be torn down and rebuilt as a new fitness center.
Construction will be the theme of the next few years on the Daytona Beach Campus. As our university expands, so will our buildings. The College of Business is getting a building built for them starting this fall. This makes me extremely happy, because as our program gets to be nationally recognized, we will have a huge state of the art building to go along with it and that can only make the program stronger! The flight line is also getting some reconstruction along with some of our buildings in the academic complex (you will come to know it as alphabet soup).
Tomorrow is a huge day for the future of Task Force One. The proposed amendment of the SGA constitution including TFO as a member will be voted upon. I'm really excited about that, because the work we put in this year will hopefully pay off for you guys and gals, the future members of TFO. Just to paraphrase something in our constitution, every first year student is a member of Task Force One, whether they attend meetings or not. Task Force One serves the first year student body, so take advantage of it!!!
Classes are going great, I think. My grades are still on the rise, but I still have some projects to do, and once those are completed, I can let you know my standing a whole lot better! I'm only really worried about one class, Managerial Accounting, because it is just really, really hard to focus in a class which I have no interest in using beyond the class. But I suppose I will use it, otherwise I wouldn't have to take it. We'll see.
In closing this journal, I must acknowledge the fact that I have either one or two entries left. I hope this year has been as amazing for you as it has been for me. I will begin to wrap the year up in my next entry, and if I have another after that, it will be a sad, sad entry as I cry my way out of the most interesting thing I have ever had to do.
Well, Hopefully I'll see you Saturday,
Let me know if you read my journals,
Carlos
March 29, 2006
Hey Readers!
It's been a while (oops) and I have sooo much to catch you guys and gals up on. First, we shall talk about something I hope you are all interested in. Spring Splash '06 has gotten blown way, way up! April 8th, all of you incoming students should be here for your open house, and part of that is the 2nd Annual Spring Splash presented by Task Force One, AND The Spring Block Party, presented by the Embry-Riddle Resident Students Association (ERRSA), which all of you will be mandated to be a part of your first year at ERAU, by virtue of living in the residence halls. So after you get through reading the long names on the signs, you can check out all of the fun activities and contests going on, grab some food (we have BBQ and catered subs.) We also will have some tables with people who can explain some of the activities for you to do here at ERAU. Of course Task Force One will have a table, and if I am not there, I'll be by the pool, so please come over and say hey to me if you get a chance. I would love to meet the people who read the journal.
Spring Break has just ended, and I did not go home for this break, so I am really excited about going home for the summer. I leave here the first day of May, and yes I am counting down the days until I get back up to the city. I miss the things to do at home. There were plenty of things to do here during spring break though, and I will miss the beach, but I'll be back. The only sad part of me leaving is that my tenure as your journal writer will be up. This does sadden me, but I have confidence that next year's writers (possibly you!) will be excellent. And hopefully I can become a tour guide or work in some fashion as that in the future, because I really enjoy telling people about the university I call home. This is a great place to be and you should be here!
Classes are going great, and I am fully motivated to go to every one, so my grades are on the up and up and it's amazing that school for me will be over in APRIL!!!! For those of you from the NYC area, you know we don't finish until the end of June, so just imagine having the month of June IN APRIL!!! I am so excited, and hope it passes by really quickly, while still learning as much as possible and still getting ready for finals.
My extra 'class' of sorts is my Resident Advisor training. It is going so well, and I am getting to meet all of the Residence Life Staff, and they are some excellent people. Rest assured you are in good hands when you live in an ERAU residence hall. I cannot wait to have my very own residents. So I'll see some of you in August!!! There are only 3 weeks left in this training, and then it's looking forward to summer RA training. I'll be here about 2 weeks before you all are for orientation, so I'll be more than adequately prepare for anything you can throw at me. (please don't throw anything at your RA's, they're nice people!) Ok, I will talk to you all next week!!! Then I will give you the final updates on Spring Splash and anything else going on!
Until Then,
Carlos
March 6, 2006
Hey Readers!
I am currently sitting in my friend's car, back in Tampa. We're in parking lot traffic, for we just saw the most amazing concert put on by Coldplay. The downside to this is that I have an 8AM class and then a test at 9:15AM. It is currently 11:35PM and Tampa is 2 hours away from campus on a good day. This is probably not the best example I could set for others, but the concert was so good. I am grateful for the opportunity to see them live. It is back to school now, and in a series of never ending events in Daytona, Bike Week is next!
Some really cool bikes are in town right now, and more are yet to come. There was a motocross race tonight in Daytona, so there should be a lot of cool things going on in Daytona, and it will be up to you to weigh the benefits of dealing with the traffic in order to have fun.
On the Resident Advisor front, everything in RA Training is going great!!! I am learning so much while having fun. I have laughed a lot in the 3 weeks I have been in the class. I have a presentation due this week, and homework (yes, we get homework) but it is going really, really well.
Task Force One is also going well. We wrote our constitution over the past week and hopefully it will be ratified tomorrow. This is another step towards being included in the Student Government Association Constitution. Also, the weekend I spent at the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) Student Alliance Spring Conference (I know, long name) was amazing. I learned so much about the other schools in the organization and the way their student governments are structured. Embry-Riddle's is quite unique, when in comes to our budget, which is astounding compared to others, our structure, which is totally different in that we have a Student Representative Board, where students are represented by college, i.e. College of Business, Aviation, Engineering. We then have a Student Finance Board which makes decisions about how much money clubs receive, and a Student Court, which deals with traffic violations, some university rule infractions, and interpretation of the Student Government Constitution. It gets better; the SGA also has three divisions; The Avion newspaper, EaglesFM, our radio station and Touch-N-Go productions, our entertainment division. We are unparalleled in these assets to our student government. The one thing we do lack is first year student representation, and we hope Task Force One helps solve that problem. This issue is being taken on by the current government because elections are only weeks away. So hopefully, I will be able to give you some great news in the next entry.
Classes are starting to hit the midpoint, which means lots of tests. I have a couple this week and a couple next week. So this time is going to be full of studying and getting prepared for the rest of the semester. Wish me luck and I will talk to you guys and gals in a couple weeks. Post questions on the discussion board and email me @ willicdb@erau.edu!
Talk to you soon
Carlos
February 24, 2006
Hey Readers!
Right now, I am on location to report about the Daytona 500 in Tampa, Florida. Haha, I left town for the three day weekend. Although I was really into the hoopla that is Speedweeks in Daytona, I couldn't turn down an opportunity to see some of my high school friends that go to school here in Tampa. So this weekend is going great so far, but we should catch up on the last two weeks, which have been really, really long.
First and foremost, I had my third RA interview and was accepted into the RA class, which for the most part guarantees me a spot as an RA next year. So if I get placed in a dorm for first year students, I will be an RA for some of you! I am excited, and the road to becoming an RA is well on track, learning about issues that may arise as an RA of ERAU. The class lasts eight weeks, which is plenty of time to squeeze in about four or five journal entries about it. Thus far, I have truly enjoyed the things I have learned about how to make a wing a successful community. I look forward to giving you guys a sense of community here at ERAU.
On the Task Force One home front, we have begun the process of getting included in the SGA constitution, and it is coming along really well. The SGA has had some great feedback on our ideas. I am going to a conference in Orlando this weekend of Student Governments in the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF). It should be amazing and hopefully I will learn a lot about other schools and how they work with first year students in their respective student governments. I will be sure to give you the rundown of my experience in the next journal.
Classes here are going great (I hope). Getting motivated for my 8am class is an issue, but it's working out kinda well. As the semester starts its final two months, I will be sure to get up for it every time.
Well, it is back to hanging out with my new friends and old friend and the University of Tampa. Talk to you all soon.
Carlos
February 9, 2006
Hey Journal Readers!
It is Superbowl Sunday and life here is great. The semester is definitely in full swing which means lots of work, and also lots of things to do around campus. My classes are going great, so far. I am learning a lot of applications of economics and math for what my future will hold. One of my coolest classes is Advanced Computer Based Systems. It is the second installment to Embry-Riddle's computer technology education, this course is catered to business students. In it, we are currently learning the more extensive applications for Microsoft Excel. I am looking forward to learning how to use Macromedia's Dreamweaver, which will help me learn web design. It should actually be a fun class to have.
On the Task Force One front, we have started to put together our mission and vision statements, and we are getting help from the Student Government Association as a whole, so we should have our bylaws reviewed and hammered out in a couple months. We also started planning our spring event, and one of our coolest ideas was to hold the event during the day accepted students are designated to visit here. If that plan goes through, I hope to see all of you who are going to be here out at the pool, for Spring Splash '06.
My path to becoming a Resident Advisor is heating up. I received a pass from the first round to the second, the first round being an interview in which I had to present to the board as an RA presenting to his or her residents. The second round was a group activity, which I think went great. I will find out in the next few days if I have earned a second interview, after which comes RA class. I am reasonably confident, though I am anxious to find out as all people are after they are interviewed and observed. I really hope for the position.
Things here in Daytona Beach are warming up in more ways than one. The temperature is steadily rising, and hopefully it should be in the low 80s soon. (In February! Yay!) Also, Speedweeks 2006 begins in 5 days with the Budweiser Shootout, so the city should be filling up more rapidly. The other cool thing about Speedweeks is that all the teams fly in on corporate jets, and the runway outside my dorm is shut down and all of those planes parked on it. So I should be able to see a whole bunch of different planes in the next few weeks, just like the ones I saw at NBAA in November.
So, I imagine that in the next two weeks I will have so much more to tell you, and I look forward to getting you informed about the happenings of the Embry-Riddle campus. As always, the discussion board is there for you, as is emailing me at willicdb@erau.edu. Also, make sure you get yourself on the mailing list that the school provides to give you information such as important dates, application materials, and just interesting facts of why Embry-Riddle would be the right place for you. You also might get a poster or two (or eight.)
Until Next Time,
Carlos
January 26, 2006
Happy Winter! (but not so much cold winter! I love Florida!)
The semester is now in full swing, so I thought I should get you up to date with what has been going on here since I last wrote you. The tone of Embry-Riddle has really been an upbeat one, everyone has just been real happy and excited to be back. The campus has also been really noisy since we've been back, because for a couple weeks the winds had changed and the bigger plans were using a different runway to fly out of the Daytona Beach International Airport (on which our school is located). This runway just happens to be right next to the dorms so early in the morning, 7:06 am to be exact, a plane would take off, and the engines would definitely be an unwanted alarm clock. The jet noise would continue all day, and as much as I love planes, this got old in a couple days. Watching the planes take off and land right outside my window was the coolest thing ever, but it did have its disadvantages. No need to fret, the planes have now returned to their 'home' on the other side of campus.
Another reason the campus was noisy was because of the cars testing on the Daytona International Speedway. This signals the coming of Speedweeks 2006, where Daytona is going to be twice the size it usually is. This is extremely exciting for me, because I have only been back for 2 weeks, but already I miss the population density of New York City. So I cannot wait for next months visitors.
My classes are going perfectly also. This semester I am taking MA 222, which is Business Statistics; AS 120, Principles of Aeronautical Science; EC 211, Macroeconomics; BA 221, Advanced Computer Based Systems and finally BA 312, Managerial Accounting. My classes worked out really math based this semester, so it is going to get quite boring, but all my professors pretty much talk about the same things, just with different applications, so thus far I haven't had too much trouble understanding the material. I'll be sure to keep you updated.
My application to be a Resident Advisor was turned in this past week, so those of you coming in next year might end up being my residents, which I think would be so much fun. I think the Residence Life Program here is really nothing short of exceptional, so I cannot wait to be a part of it, if I receive the position of course. My interview is this weekend and to say the least, the premise of it is really interesting. I will let you know how it went in my next entry.
For those of you looking forward to taking part in Task Force One next year, (I know all of you are, some of you just don't realize it yet.) I along with a group of people will start working this week on how to make it a more successful experience for you and to get the goals and purpose of TFO straight and into writing via the SGA constitution. This is an ongoing undertaking, and as soon as I know anything, you will too. (unless the journal is a couple weeks away.) But I will keep you up to date.
Until next time, keep posting, keep emailing (some of you realized this week that when you email me a one sentence question, I respond with an answer that rivals the latest Harry Potter novel, but that's ok) Just keep those grades up, and I look forward to seeing some of you here in the fall!
As Always,
Best Regards
Carlos
January 5, 2006
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone's holidays were the best ever. I sure had tons of fun with my three and a half week vacation. I really needed a break from the life here at ERAU, the end of the semester was much anticipated and I could not wait to get home. I really, really missed my friends from high school because they are so different than the people here, so my trip home was excellent in just that I really got to hang out with everyone for a long period of time for the first time since the summer. I also got to relax which was fun for a while, but then it really got boring because I'm not really the relaxed type of person.
New York City is truly the greatest city in the world, and I take it for granted until I leave it for a while. The amount of things at my disposal while I was at home was truly the best part of the visit. Just being able to walk around for once instead of being in a car was the thing I really missed the most. And walking was a theme for the first week of my break because of our city's transit workers union went on strike, basically crippling the city. I stayed at home the first two days, which was horrible, but on the third day, I braved the cold to walk to Manhattan. I live a few minutes away by train, (subway) but walking towards the Brooklyn Bridge took me about an hour. When I arrived at the bridge, I took advantage of the city's traffic restrictions and received a ride from a newcomer in the city who did not realize he need four people in his car to get across the bridge in the mornings, for the duration of the strike. Over the bridge in the car took literally 45 seconds and then I took the PATH train (run by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey) up to midtown. It was truly a long and awe inspiring adventure which turned what would have been a 35 minute trip into 2 hours.
Other things I did in the city after the strike was over was ice-skating at Chelsea Pier, seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center, and just eating all the different types of food I had come to miss. I know what you are thinking and no, I did not go to Times Square to see the ball drop. I'm saving that one for my mid- to late twenties. On New Years Eve I just went to a party with my friends and had tons of fun.
Overall I think I had a great time over break and it was just what I needed to get me ready for the long haul of four months away from home. I won't be going home for spring break so I am totally going to need some support come March, when I am going to be dying for some good pizza. I'll be sure to write about it and request a shipment of food from those of you from New York when the time comes. As always, write me at willicdb@erau.edu or post questions on the discussion board: http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/erau_ug/default.asp
Until Next Time,
Carlos
December 15, 2005
Hey Everyone,
This is the first time I am revising a journal entry after
I have finished it because, I wanted to keep you up to date.
I officially have finished my first full semester of college!!!!!
I am really excited and I think I did really, really well. I
already have gotten 5 of 6 grades back and although I have a
few more “B's” than I wanted, I am ultimately satisfied at the
effort that I put in this semester and am looking forward to
future semesters where I can build on this one.
Wow, where to start. It sure has been a hectic couples weeks
on the Embry-Riddle campus. Ok, Rockin' The Holidays was an exciting,
fun completion of the semester for Task Force One. About 120
people came out to support us in our endeavor and the band was
great, the food was great, and people really enjoyed the prizes
which ranged from gift cards, to toys, to lava lamps and black
lights. After all the hitches we encountered this semester, we
really pulled together and I felt we were successful in what
we were trying to do. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home
during the Thanksgiving Break so I was unable to supply you with
pictures.
On a sad note, my computer died in these past couple weeks.
One of the many wires I had sticking out of it wrapped around
my newly bought office chair and that proceeded to pull it really
hard onto the floor of my dorm. If anything comes from this experience
it is to support accidental damage warranties, of which I did
not have. For those of us who live in the great state of New
York and are planning to attend the Daytona Beach Campus, we
are out of luck because Dell doesn't offer said warranties in
those two states due to insurance and legal reasons. So I look
forward to Christmas and next semester where I can raise enough
money for a new laptop. Until then, my current computer is enshrined
in my room. I have to admit, I did cry quite a bit when I realized
the extent of the damage. I don't think my computer would want
to live with a feeding tube, so I just let it go. (Ok, bad metaphor
at this point in American history, but still funny.)
Anyways, I am about to make the long road trip journey home
beginning Friday with one of my high school friends who attends
the University of Tampa, so I am getting really excited and pumped
for that fun. It will be about a 20 hr trip, but since I lack
a drivers license, her father is flying down and helping us drive.
I am preparing to get my drivers license, however, but I-95 is
not my ideal first driving experience. I am one of the few people
left on campus, and it is quite refreshing to have the room to
myself and I am totally relaxed. Pretty soon I will be packed
into Victoria 's Toyota for almost a day. (If traffic goes smoothly!)
I can only wish everyone reading this the happiest of holidays,
and a great new year. For those seniors in high school who are
17, remember this is your last holiday season as a kid, so treasure
it, because next year will be soooooo different. I will talk
and get you updated on the new semester next year, I hope you
will all come back and read this. Don't forget about me.
Happy Holidays!
P.S. After January 1, 2006 download the FAFSA (your financial
aid form) and send it to all the schools you are applying to!
Embry-Riddle has an early filer's grant which if you file early
enough, you will earn. I received it, and you should too! Good
Luck!
December 1, 2005
Hey Everyone!
This is my first entry from home, New York City and the last 9 days I’ve spent here have been fun, exciting and full of adventure. The five days I spent in Daytona after my last entry were normal and I spent some time trying to get everything settled work-wise before I left. I did miss two days of classes (which is not bright) but for the most part, my professors were ok with it, because I let them know in advance. That was one long week, however. Finally, I left Daytona for home.
I didn’t stay at home long, because the day after I went home, I went up to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York to visit my friend Stefanie. Skidmore is a really beautiful campus, because as many of you may know, autumn in the northeast is a great sight to behold. Skidmore is more of a liberal arts school, so I was around the type of people I went to high school with, and that was comforting. Even though I love it here at Embry-Riddle, it still is a big difference because I am the only person from my high school to come here in my year.
Speaking of my high school, the day before Thanksgiving is traditionally alumni day. So I made the journey into Lower Manhattan to go see the friends and teachers that made high school so great for me. That was so much fun. I didn’t realized how much I missed everyone and I was so happy to see everyone. These people from Stuyvesant High School are going to be my friends for life so it is a big deal that we went about three months apart. The biggest thing though was, my high school friends read my journals, which surprised me, so the compliments I received for this really boosted my self-esteem. (Not that it needs any more boosts.)
I finally tied my last loose end of high school. I spent last year producing a DVD for my class’ yearbook, but unfortunately, all of them weren’t printed by June so we finally gave out a bulk of them to the class. I put a lot of work into it so finally getting to give them out was a huge relief.. Watching it with about 30 of my friends in a small living room on a 12 inch computer screen wasn’t too bad either.
For Thanksgiving Day, I went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This was interesting because I haven’t been to the parade since I used to watch it from my Mother’s office when I was really young. The parade was amazing and worth standing in freezing temperatures for hours. There was one really cool band from Ohio, and although I do not remember their name, I loved the few minutes of seeing them pass.
Ok, now I know everyone wants to know about the balloons because they are the most famous part of the parade. I had so much fun watching them float past because I absolutely love kiddy things. Things like Disney movies keep me young so I always am doing something fun and childish.
I had tons of fun on my vacation, but now, it is back to work. We only have a week and half of the semester left so it is time to finish everything up. I think I have had a great first semester and to ruin it by slacking off would be foolish. So the theme for the next 3 weeks will be, studying. Finals are fast approaching and I have to be ready for them.
Back to work,
Until next time,
Carlos
November 17, 2005
Hey Everyone!
Wow, the past two weeks have seen this campus abuzz with so much excitement. If there would be a theme for this entry, it would be activism. Activism can be so many things, but what it comes down to is that in order to accomplish your goals in life for yourself and for any group you may be part of is that you have to do something about it. Sitting around, gets absolutely nothing done. Get out, be active and let yourself be heard.
The reason I bring this up is because the past month has seen an issue develop on the campuses of Embry-Riddle. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s long term decisions are made by its Board of Trustees, which since the 1960s, has a student representative from each residential campus and a faculty representative from all three campuses. The BOT was recently given recommendations from an independent consultant to remove these votes and a committee proposed new bylaws without these representatives included. This caused much distress on campus, because no one wants to lose their representation on a board that makes decisions about them. Students banded together positively, organizing a massive campaign to let the BOT know that we do care about the long term future of the school and want to keep it a great school for the people who are here now, to the people reading this journal and also the people who will dream of attending Embry-Riddle twenty years from now.
This campaign included a mass petition which received almost 2,000 signatures and an all day rally which saw 1,600 students over the course of the day, of which some pictures are posted below.
The rally and the whole campaign were successful to a degree. This past Friday, the BOT voted to push back the vote on the new bylaws to the spring, citing more time needed to make such a decision.
On another SGA front, Task Force One is coming really well. Rockin’ the Holidays has hit a bunch of stumbling blocks, but these obstacles are teaching us how things work in the Student Government Association. Hopefully we can overcome these obstacles and put a good show. We are really working hard at this and we hope to become closer to the SGA in our relationships with the Student  Representative Board, the Student Finance Board, and the Student Court. If you are at all interested in student government, next year Task Force one will be the place for you. You will be finding out much more about TFO in the months to come. This is what a TFO meeting might look like, just with less people than you should have next year (hopefully!)
On the school side of things, I have a LOT of work to do. Professors went project happy the last two weeks and I’ll be working until I leave Daytona on this Friday for home (yay!) and while I am home. Although I did know of these projects because I received a syllabus, you can’t really do the projects until you learn some skills in the class so you can’t really do them until the end of the semester. It’s a real catch-22 situation.
 This past Friday I did absolutely the coolest thing of college so far. I attended the National Business Aviation Association 2005 convention in Orlando and had a blast. It was reported that  approximately 30,000 people attended this convention centered around corporate aviation. Quite a few ERAU students attended and there was even an Embry-Riddle alumni booth. I saw a lot of new planes, met a lot of people that work for industries you take for granted and don’t realize their services are necessary for a plane to work, or look really nice. These kinds of things are important because networking is an important part of college, especially at a school like this. Once again, I’ve added some pictures from NBAA.
The picture of me on the fake horse was just one of the many fun things that were at each booth.
So it’s time to bring this to a close. We have learned some things today, like get involved and do things that make you happy, but I think the prevalent piece of information is that I really like pictures. On that note, here’s one more of the people on my floor at our trip to Wing House, a restaurant here in Daytona Beach.
November 3, 2005
Hey Everyone,
Studying. That describes the last two weeks to every degree. I have been learning and studying like crazy for all my classes. I still have two tests this week. Tests in college are a lot different than high school, because even though the textbooks have units and chapters, professors assign the weirdest combination of chapters for a test. So you can be learning about the industrial revolution on one hand and India and the Middle East, its traditions, culture and history on the other. It’s weird but I have adapted as much as I can. School for me, has been much better than high school. I like learning specific things that will be helpful to me in a career. Sitting in classroom is fun for me.
Continuing on the academic side of things, I registered for my spring semester of classes! It was really great because since I am the treasurer of Task Force One, which is sponsored by the Student Government Association, I was allowed to pre-register for classes.. This allowed me to get all the classes I wanted before they filled up for the semester. I was really happy because my schedule is a lot like this semester, whereas my classes are in the morning and I have all afternoon to relax. I am taking 5 classes next semester, down from 6 this semester, but one of my classes this semester is 1 credit hour, which means the workload isn’t as extensive as my other classes, which are 3 credit hours. Next semester will be tough, I won’t lie, because I will have macroeconomics, managerial accounting, advanced computing, business statistics, and principles of aeronautical science. So there will be lots of work in my room next semester.
Well, I mentioned Task Force One, and I will give you the first public announcement of our fall event! On Friday, December 2, 2005, Task Force One presents… Rockin’ The Holidays! Now, I don’t expect you guys at home to come, but for the people already on campus who read my journal, there will be food and a concert, with a great local band, that I will name in my next journal entry (they have not yet been confirmed, but soon… definitely.) So come on out, though it made be geared toward first year students, everyone is more than welcome! We will have this, rain or shine! (In case of rain, it will be moved indoors.)
Speaking of rain… last week we had quite a lot. Hurricane Wilma blew over Florida, and we Riddle students waited and waited all weekend for the administration to give us the news that we all wanted to hear. Sunday came and passed, and then at 7 am Monday morning I was rudely awoken by some news I normally never hear until winter. Classes canceled. Yay! What a relaxing day Monday was. Of course now that I am in Florida, I’ll never get a snow day so one hurricane day felt good.
The week was also shortened on the other end because Friday was university day, which kicked off homecoming weekend ’05. The highlight of the weekend for myself was seeing the host of “Mind Of Mencia” on Comedy Central, Carlos Mencia perform live in the ICI center. He was hilarious. I loved his ability to teach and entertain at the same time. He also signed autographs for any person who wanted one after the show, so when I met him, he was really nice. He really earned the respect of many people, young and older and I really appreciated him coming to Embry-Riddle.
Well, I’m sure you’re pretty excited about high school years and your college years to come and I hope that my journals have given you something to look forward to, should you arrive in Daytona Beach one August or January afternoon.
With Hope for You,
Carlos
P.S. The young man from Spruce Creek High School, who emailed me, please email me back because I mistakenly deleted your email. Thanks.
October 20, 2005
Hello everybody,
The past two weeks have been full of excitement, anguish and new experiences. The best and worst parts of college have shown their faces to me. All I can do is take it in stride because there is no way to avoid these things.
There is one big disadvantage to having 60 people live on one floor. If one person gets sick, it just spreads around. I currently have a really bad cold, and it’s the third time I’ve been sick since arriving in August. This is nothing compared to the weekend I had last week. One of my friends caught scarlet fever, which surprised us all, but a couple of us took him to the hospital and within a few days he recovered. It definitely is hard being sick for the first time with no real parental figure in your life because you now have to seek health care for yourself. We have a health clinic right in the center of campus, so it is not too far but they aren’t open 24 hours so the occasional trip to the hospital a block and a half away may be necessary. Overall, people are typically healthy and going about their daily activities.
My biggest news from this past week is that I spent the week at our Student Government Association fall retreat. Although we retreated to the ICI center, (our athletic center) which is only a block from where I live, it was full of fun and learning how to be a successful leader. I was one of four first-year students there being that the only way first year students can get involved in the SGA is through Task Force One, which you should all get information about if you are accepted. The retreat was an amazing experience, though it did involve a short night on the hard gymnasium floor. It culminated with a trip to Orlando for dinner and a show Saturday night. I was really grateful the SGA invited the executive board of TFO to the retreat, because they didn’t have to and I think we really benefited as a group from the things we learned.
On the fraternity front, unfortunately I had to withdraw from pledging Pi Kappa Alpha for financial reasons. In college you need to prioritize how you spend your money, and I chose to be able to fly home for Thanksgiving. I feel appreciative to the brothers of Pike for giving me the opportunity to try and join them and in a heartbeat I would attempt to pledge again if the situation ever became right.
School is getting tough. It’s that blunt. I am fighting the urge to lose focus and not go to class, because it is setting in now that no one is forcing me to. I make it to almost all of my classes every day and I am working on making that 100% attendance. These days, I have several papers and presentations I am working on so that does take a little more time than homework was taking in the beginning of the semester.
The moral for these two weeks is that Embry-Riddle is a BUSY place to be. But without chaos and lots of things to do, I’d be very, very bored. So a hectic life makes me happy.
I am going to lie back down now, because I am still not feeling that well, so I hope you all stay healthy and keep your grades up.
Until next time,
Carlos
October 5, 2005
Hey Guys and Gals,
First of all, let me say that this experience has been very excellent for me so far. I’ve gotten really positive feedback from my first entry and I just wanted to say thank you to all those who have complimented me and I will try to keep my journals as informative as my first one.
These past two weeks have been really busy, because school is really heating up! So much has happened and I cannot wait to tell you all about it. I will begin with my classes. All of my classes have been really starting to get harder. The workload has picked up, which just means I have less time to play around and I spend a lot more time typing on my computer or writing pages and pages of math problems. In the past two weeks, I have gotten tests in all my classes. I did reasonably well on all of them, and I know this because here, my professors have all given back the tests in the very next class. This amazed me and I think it is great that we have professors and graduate assistants who work so hard to assess our performance in such a short time. Being at a small school definitely does have its advantages. Not only do your professors have fewer papers to grade, but you can really get to know them. I have had conversations with all my professors and actually have a friendly relationship with a couple. It is a really cool thing when you walk across the lobby of the Student Village and see your Information Technology teacher and he offers help for you in your management class. Embry-Riddle is definitely an upbeat, friendly environment and I am beginning to love it here. People are just so nice.
Another thing that has been going on in class has been term project assignments.. Some are group projects, and that has been tough for me because not everyone has the same free schedule slots because here, not everyone finishes class at the same time. It is unfortunate, but we have made it work. You just have to constantly remind people of the meeting times and places, and believe me, people are way busy and get things confused. You can tell a person a half hour before about a meeting, and they’ll be nowhere close to the meeting place when the meeting starts. Scheduling work, fun, and other activities around classes is a new skill I have attained here in my first month.
My other activities have also been getting more time consuming. For those of you wondering, I did choose to rush Pi Kappa Alpha and am now a pledge of the fraternity. It is exciting and trying at the same time, but then again, learning the history and traditions of an organization that has been around since 1868 is never going to be easy. I am working really hard at it and I will most definitely keep you updated on the pledge process.
My most exciting news from the past two weeks (Yes, I kept you waiting) is that I have been elected treasurer of Task Force One, the First Year Student council organization under the Student Government Association. The elections process was pretty exciting for me and I will do my best to work hard to make TFO a successful organization this year. I was really excited when I was told by last year’s TFO president, Megan Grow and current SGA president Sara McCook of my win in the election. Tomorrow is our first meeting where I go in as an executive council member so it should be pretty exciting.
I have received a couple emails at willicdb@erau.edu asking about me as a person so I have decided to tell you a little bio of myself in every entry. I am from New York City, as you can see up top. I live in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs and by far the best one. I attended Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan for the past four years, and for those of you who know it, you know it’s not the easiest four years of one’s life. But I survived the workload, the late nights, the early morning subway rides to school and now I am only a 3 minute bike ride from class. I played football for Stuyvesant, and like the 1,000 other high school football players here at Riddle, have retired from full contact football and will now play flag football. I miss New York a lot, it’s a lot busier than Daytona and I am still adjusting to the quietness and humidity that is Florida. So that is the first look into the life that is Carlos and I hope that will keep you on the edge of your seat for more in a couple weeks.
For those of you applying early to schools, good luck with that, because as you know, application deadlines are getting ever nearer. One thing you don’t have to worry about is an essay for ERAU, because last year, I wasn’t required to write one, although I do not know if it is the same for this year. But good luck with the whole college applications process, I know it can be strenuous.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m off to bed now so I will catch you in a couple weeks. Keep posting questions to the discussion board and tell your friends about the journals. If you could even let your school’s college advisor know that Embry-Riddle does this, that would be excellent!
Until Next Time,
Carlos
September 22, 2005
Hey all you journal readers, I cannot begin to explain how exciting this is for me. Less than a year ago I was in your position. Sitting at home on my computer reading about people who were living the life I wanted, down in Daytona Beach, learning to fly, making new friends in a new environment. Now I am here, meeting some of the people who I read so much about and felt like I knew, although they didn't know me. One journal writer from last year is my resident advisor; another is my peer mentor in my College Skills class, BA 101. I know how much these journal entries meant to me last year so I will do my best to make it meaningful for all of you.
Well, now that the formalities are out of the way, HI!!! My name is Carlos; I'm 18 and a freshman here at ERAU. Yes, I know it says that on top, but I like you to hear it from me. The first thing I can tell you about ERAU is that it was a HUGE culture shock for me when I arrived. I live in the biggest city in this country, where everything is packed together, large building everywhere. Landing in Orlando, all I saw was grass, trees, water and houses. Here in Daytona, that gets multiplied. There are wide open spaces, fountains everywhere, wide roads. It took me a while to get used to that. Another thing that I had to get used to was that in New York City, there are so many things to do. Here, you have the movies, a club, and the beach. Everything fun takes place in an area called Beachside, about 10 minutes from school over a bridge.
The first week here was the most exciting time in my life. I got to move into my new 'apartment' also known as a dorm room. I met new people from all over the world. I really got into the college spirit. It felt like summer camp for the first week, because we didn't have classes. We played games that you would find in a camp setting. We learned the rules and our new structure. Then the weekend before classes started, a new feeling set in. I was on my own. There was no one to force me to go to bed, to come home at a certain time. I think this is the most dangerous feeling one can experience. Don't fall into the trap to go crazy. I went out to parties but I didn't go crazy with it. Responsibility is a big part of being 'grown' and it should not be taken lightly.
Classes started August 29th, which is another adjustment, because school in NYC doesn't start until after Labor Day, so looking at the calendar while I was doing schoolwork was very different. My classes are very cool, because for once I am not doing the general education things I did in high school, now classes are more concentrated. My classes are BA 101, Intro to Management (BA 201) Accounting (BA 210) Business Calculus (MA 220) Intro to Computers (IT 109) and World History (SS 110). Some of my classes are really challenging, but others are things I already know, but I cannot prove to the school that I know it without taking the class. The moral of the story is TAKE AS MANY AP's AS YOU CAN! If you are a senior now in AP classes and decide not to focus after you get accepted to college and to skip on taking an AP, think again. It will save you so much money in the long run if you earn the credits now. And you can get a boatload of credits by doing just that.
Time to move on to, in my opinion, one of the coolest things in college. Dorm life is interesting, fun and exciting. Living with a complete stranger is a completely different thing than anything in life. I live in Adams Hall, one of the newer dormitories in the student village. I have one roommate and the living is tight. In Adams, I live in the Penthouse (5th floor). It is absolutely the coolest floor in the whole school. We go crazy here, with respect to the rules of course. Our resident advisors are cool, it is different for us because we have two, Marquitta and Kristina, who is an Associate R.A. Their main job is to keep us safe, and respecting that is important. They are not your parents, they give you all the freedom you want and all the help you want. It is a very, very cool experience.
When I'm not in my room, I am getting involved in school. This is very important to me because I was very involved in the activities of my high school. So far, I have joined EaglesFM, our campus radio station. (You can listen on the web @ EaglesFM.com.) This is very cool because eventually I will have my own show and be able to talk about what I want to talk about and play the music I like and share that with the other students here at Embry-Riddle. I also plan on getting involved in our freshman government, Task Force One, whose first meeting is actually tomorrow. The biggest thing I have decided to do is pledge a fraternity. This was a big decision for me because I was not sure if I would pledge this or next semester being that I wanted to be settled into the college environment. After talking to the brothers at Pi Kappa Alpha I felt that my studies would not suffer because of the fraternity involvement. So if I am offered a bid to pledge in this coming week, I plan on accepting it. I will keep you updated on my student involvements throughout the year.
Before I end my first journal entry, I would like to tell you about your high school years. Don't take them for granted, don't wish to grow up quickly. No matter what your situation is and believe me, I do know about tough situations, make the best of it. Enjoy your childhood; your adult years will come soon enough. Be responsible, you do know right from wrong. You are an amazing person in your own way. You don't need to change yourself to please others. Be yourself and make sure you focus on your education. If your studies suffer, you can't get to be what you want to be, here at Riddle. So work hard, and then play hard.
You'll be hearing a lot more from me soon.
Good Luck in your school year,
Carlos
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Name: Carlos 
