April
Jump down to journal entries by month:
April 27
Well, this is it. I'm 2 mornings away from finishing the last part of my first year of college. I've been missing my family so much lately and I can't wait to see friends, too. It's been a great day of reflection as I packed and enjoyed the sunny weather outside. My room suddenly looks so white and bare… but it helps me grasp the fact that I'm not going to be here much longer. Four months is a long time and I'm excited to get back to my beloved Cessna 140 and finally finish getting my pilot's license. I'm also going to be working at Boeing (I haven't heard back about 2 internships I applied for yet) or at good 'ol Red Robin. I need to make money for flying and school, of course. And, there's hanging out with friends, getting new clothes, and going to Oshkosh to be saving for as well.
The week before the last week of classes was UGLY! I was working so hard on my final project for programming. I ended up going to tutoring every night for several hours just to debug small pieces of code. But, when I finished, it was a great feeling and I ended up getting 100% on it!! I could hardly believe it! It was a server-training program for Red Robin in C-language. Fun stuff! With this amazing grade, I ended up with a beautiful A in the class! The professor even made our final optional and since an A is an A, I said, "No thanks!" It felt so good to have one less thing to study for and know I got an A in a 3-credit class!
I did have a few breaks in there, of course! One afternoon, I went to Sonic with Alex and on another afternoon, Ritter's with some friends. I love ice cream and they are no exception! Also, to celebrate finishing a tough week, a friend from Doolittle and I went to a girl's apartment from church to eat pizza and watch movies. It feels bizarre to be around just females having been at Riddle for months… I had fun getting in touch with my girly side.
Saturday was the last CFC. We had several songs to sing for worship and although I had a bit of a cold, I loved every minute. How sad I won't get to sing with my fellow college Christians for 4 months!! Pastor Jeremy from Calvary was the speaker and he gave a great message inspiring us to use our summer time well. (I go to Embrace, Calvary's college ministry on Thursdays.) After, a bunch of guys and myself went to Cracker Barrel for a late dinner. The beginning and end of semesters always involve going out for meals a lot! Ha. I was also laughing about the fact that at Riddle being the only girl when you go places is not unusual and it doesn't at all mean you are flirty… How strange.
Another example of that happened the very next day when a bunch of us from church went to Chili's. I had a lot of studying to do after that fun lunch, though. After practicing physics problems with a friend, three of us spent an hour taking hilarious pictures on Photo Booth with my Mac. I love that program!
The last week of school was filled with 2 physics tests, a lab final, and a calculus final. It was tough, but it felt good to get everything done! I didn't honestly feel that I did spectacularly well on any of those four things, but I did my best and think my grades will be just what I was hoping for.
On Wednesday, my classes were completely finished and it was a wonderful feeling! To tell the truth, sitting in class was torturous! But, that's normal at any level of schooling! That night, we had our last Bible study and it was in my room. We talked about ministry opportunities for next semester and how we could grow our faith over the break. I felt sad looking around at my friends and realizing how long it would be before seeing them again. However, I realized how wonderful it was to have people to miss. I didn't do too much with people during the first semester and thus didn't make too many close friends, so I've cherished these past months. Plus, we do live in the 21st century and have so many ways to communicate, so I should stop being a baby about it! :)
We closed the night out with watching Thou Shalt Laugh 2 (DVD of Christian comedians… hilarious!) and 45 minutes of Photo Booth. I have been so determined to take as many pictures as I can with my friends because I haven't done it the rest of the semester! So check out all my pics on facebook.
Thursday, I studied calculus and then went to the last Embrace service before going to a Campus Outreach pig roast luau. The Acafellas (a talented group of performers on campus) put on a show for the luau guests and we all enjoyed that as well as the tasty food. Both events were very fun, but my friends and I took it a step further by stopping at Wal-Mart for dessert and then watching the Bourne Supremacy. Phew! What a busy night!
My favorite day of the week had to be Friday when my two friends from my floor and I took off for St. Augustine. We had been planning it for about a month so I was dying in anticipation! As I mentioned at some point in these journals, my sister graduated from Flagler college up there, so I was kinda the tour guide of the group. We started off by going shopping at the outlet malls. We found lots of good deals and I enjoyed watching the guys shop. It was quite funny. After, we made our way to The Reef. It's one of my family's favorite restaurants (we always get the coconut shrimp) in the area and my mom had sent me a great coupon for the place.
When we completed the experience, we walked the two feet it took us to get to the beach. It was a gorgeous day and we all enjoyed dipping our feet in the surf. Next, we explored the old town. I took them down the beautiful and fun St. George street where we found goodies and flip flops. I also showed my friends Flagler college and it's beautiful interior. It used to be the Ponce de Leon hotel.
We took the scenic route back (A1A instead of I-95) and finished the day off by meeting a bunch of friends at Ritter's (one of whom was our friend with the Virginia NASA internship- he had just finished and came down to visit before going home to Washington).
The next day I anxiously awaited my calculus final. Once it started, I felt confident knowing I had plenty of time and had spent enough time studying. The next thing on the agenda was going to the honors final where we sat for two hours listening to presentations about papers. It was hard to stay focused with the dim lighting. Finally finished for the day, some girl friends and I watched Enchanted before a bunch of friends from Christian Fellowship Club and I went to Applebees. I just got a smoothie since I had eaten dinner already. By the end of the night, I was so tired!
And now we're all caught up to today. We started the morning off with Starbucks. The barista was very friendly and lively. :) Then, I enjoyed my last time at church and we went to Subway afterward and I spent the rest of the day packing and reminiscing as I said.
I made an album of this last month, so check it out!
Well, I just have my physics final on Tuesday morning left and then I'll no longer be a freshman! I'm also planning to go to the beach at least once and Bubba Gump's as well as Martini's Chophouse. I will certainly miss some of the fun restaurants and places around here… especially the beach and the weather! God has been so good to me and I've overcome so many obstacles! I can't wait to start sophomore year having a year of experience "under my belt".
Thanks for listening to me for a whole year! I hope I was able to share some valuable information and insight and encourage you to come to Riddle! I've already made some amazing and most likely life-long friends!
I've learned so much and have so much more to learn still before I can officially call myself an engineer and a physicist, but I've made a big step in the right direction! I at least achieved a respectable GPA and can certainly count on my scholarships and the Honors Program, too, so not bad! Please contact me if you have any questions!!
Summer, here I come!
Only a freshman for a few more days,
Natalie Spencer
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
April 14
Happy April to you (our last month)!
I've had some spectacular weekends lately going along with the spectacular weather! Also, the countdown to summer is getting deliciously low but I have been a bit ridiculous by writing down how many class days I have for each subject as well as tallying finals, studying, and anything else you can think of. Let's just say I'm excited to fly back home proudly having completed my first year of college! Crazy.
Everything seems to be winding down: I just completed my last math assignment, last physics homework, last honors paper, and tomorrow is my last lab. But, before I get too excited too early (I do have 2 tests and 4 finals left after all!), let me tell you about the proverbial last two weeks:
The Christian Fellowship Club camping retreat was quite different than I expected. I don't know why, but I just assumed there would be a big open area with sand and hot springs everywhere. I didn't know FL could have so many trees and BUGS. The first car to arrive (including me) got eaten alive by gnats. Back home, they do no such thing… mosquitoes are the only major annoyance and even then, there's usually not too many. We burned many 'a fire to try to smoke the area out. Finally, relief arrived and we sprayed ourselves completely with deet-filled goodness. It worked! The rest of the days were spent getting burnt, snorkeling, finding beautiful shells, chasing vultures, eating s'mores, worshipping, talking, and discovering our inner pyromaniac. It wasn't all that restful, but it was still a great time of fellowship and I'm so glad I went! (As I'm writing this over 2 weeks later, I'm finally completely recovered from the bites as well as the burn. Ha)
When we returned on Sunday, Campus Outreach had a barbeque social in the pits by McKay, so my friends from the floor and I went to investigate. We had a great time laughing and playing volleyball as the sunset disappeared.
The first half of the following week was quite busy doing homework and writing papers. But, because I was faithful, I was able to enjoy little fun things sprinkled in. For example, on Wednesday I went to a little island on the opposite side of the state with floor buddies in one of the guy's Cessna. We took some great pictures and enjoyed the ride. It was wonderful because I had been missing flying so much! Later that night, we went to Patty Wagstaff's talk. I'd honestly never heard of her before, but when I found out about her legacy, accomplishments, and spirit, I was so impressed and relished the amazing chance to take a picture with her, get an autograph, and hear her speak. She was the first woman to win the yearly national aerobatic competition and she did it 3 times. (Ironically, we saw her again at Sun 'N Fun, but more on that later…)
Thursday was also great because I was able to sleep in and after doing some long studying and my daily exercise routine, I went to the nearby Volusia mall with Alex and a friend from Doolittle. We tried on dresses at Macy's and had Dippin' Dots. I also watched a chick flick that night and played a fun game called Viva Pinata… it was nice to be girly again after typically spending all my time with my two guy friends from the floor.
On Saturday, I was out in the sun yet again because of the CFC beach trip. We went to the beautiful Ponce Inlet and saw the lighthouse as we enjoyed riding the waves. I had a great talk with a friend I'd never really been able to chat with before. We all also enjoyed burying a fellow CFC member in sand. A huge storm warning was announced right as we were leaving, so it was perfect timing.
I did more homework before going to bed at a good time for church. After the service, several of us from Riddle and some others from Sovereign Grace met at Panera for lunch. I'd never been there before, so I was delighted to find how delicious and wonderfully French the whole experience was. I can't wait to go back again sometime!
The rest of the day was study, study, study. I only had 5 days until the very last calc test and I wanted to do well. This mindset carried through the entire week. I pretty much just did homework, exercised, and studied. It paid off because I felt very confident about my test (Which ended up being 20% better than class average!!).
To celebrate, I went to Sun 'N Fun which was just like its name suggested. It was a great bonding time with other CFC and floor friends. We had breakfast at Chick-Fil-A which provided a hilarious quote from our driving student: "… and can we get 5 orange juice pleases?" We all roared with laughter and continued along the drive-thru line. At the event, I learned a lot. Lunch was provided at the Embry-Riddle Alumni tent. The buffet even had coconut shrimp!! I couldn't believe it! My favorite part of the day was, of course, the airshow. There are some amazing pilots out there! We stopped at good 'ol Steak 'N Shake on the way back and I realized that there was an 'N in two of the places we'd gone.
So, now as the busy new week continues, I remember the fun times I had and slowly progress toward the end of my freshman year. It's so close yet riddled (no pun intended) with tests and finals… With God's help, I will make it through successfully. I can hardly wait to be relaxing at home with no agenda and no rigid schedule (at least for a week or so).
Until next time… when I'll only have 2 finals left before going home…
Natalie Ann
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
March
March 28
I can't believe it's already been two weeks since spring break started. That certainly doesn't seem to be the case for many college-age kids who have invaded Daytona. I hear "spring break season" is over a month since schools have differently timed breaks. Going to the beach for an hour or so yesterday with Alex confirmed my suspicions- the beach was packed. Yesterday was gorgeous and this weekend is looking to be even more so. 80s and blue skies all the way! Perfect for… camping?! Let's just say going on the Christian Fellowship Club retreat to a hot springs area will be the strangest camping experience of my life. Whatever the differences, I know we'll all have a wonderful time.
How can I do all of this great stuff during the semester? Well, I work ahead big time. For example, we were just supposed to turn in topic ideas for our last 10-page honors paper, but I turned in the whole thing. I'm not trying to brag with that, but just sharing the value of planning ahead so you can enjoy fun things that come up. Plus, I had an 8 hr layover in Charlotte, NC on the way to spring break in DC due to crazy thunderstorms and morning fog. Yep, quite the day, I have to say. I never thought I'd be typing up a report my first day of break.
Well, I could go on forever about the trip, but I think I'll just let my pictures do the talking for me. I made sure to make my Facebook albums of the trip public, so even if you don't have an account, you can check it out .
Easter was very special! I went to Calvary's Alive 08 service. It was spectacular and many people professed Christ, so what a memorable time! It was all about the power even just one person has to change the world whether for good or for bad. If I am faithful, I can be that "one" that God will use for good. Also that day, my friend and I decided to randomly clean our buddy's room and put some funny decorations in there too. He had given my friend staying at school for break the keys to his room and car, so we went after it the Sunday I returned. I love cleaning every once in awhile and had a great time. When we were finally happy with the result, we made some hilarious videos with two other guys on the floor and also took goofy pictures. It felt nice to do something for someone else. Being at college, it's hard to be unselfish and serve others. That's always a huge priority in my life, though, so I'm very happy we went through with it. He ended up being very surprised and encouraged, so hooray! You can check out our silly pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=668&l=1182b&id=1231770009
Well, other than only having a month left to finish up projects, study for the last tests and finals, we've had lots of excitement on campus recently. For example, we had a crazy awesome army helicopter land in Spruance field yesterday. I was sitting outside doing physics in the sun when it practically flew a circle around my head. The two rotors were pretty impressive and I've never seen anything like that in person before. Forgive me for forgetting the name, but I accidentally deleted the e-mail about it. Maybe one of the other writers will mention it .
Also adding to a busy campus was early registration and housing lottery choices. I had completely forgotten that honors/sports people could begin picking classes on Monday until I saw the course booklet in my mailbox. Suddenly, I had to begin the registration adventure yet again. First step was looking up classes I'm supposed to take sophomore year. It looked bleak at first, with only three classes that didn't require another prerequisite or co-requisite class, but I found two more I could take. Next, I got Dr. Kain to sign for my honors course, Dr. Wanliss to sign as my EP advisor, and Jenny H. to sign as my freshman advisor. Busy, busy, I know, but a small price to pay for always getting the classes I want. Anyway, here's my course list for next semester:
Statics –Barsoum–
Honors Seminar3 (Climate change) –Snow–
Calculus 3 –Chakrabarti–
Solids –Wang–
Physics 2 –Reynolds–
… for a total of 16 credits
As for spring, I'm looking at a lovely mix of dynamics, differential equations, physics 3, and physics 3 lab. Not sure what else I'll put in there. I've heard that there's an electrical course that I could take to get it over with, but I don't know.
I do love the fall schedule, though because I never have a class earlier than 9:45 and three times a week that moves to 11:45. Also, I have an hour or two between classes in the middle of the day where I can work out or work in SPRL. And the best part? I'm never done later than 3:30. Not bad, huh?
And, as crazy as the lottery result event in the Fountain Room (in the village) was, we came out just fine. Two friends from CFC who are on the floor above me in Doolittle found another girl in their hall to join with our group. We also knew of four other girls in Doolittle who wanted an Apollo room just like we did. They had a lower number (It's a random assignment when you turn in a housing registration form), though, and they didn't get one, so we all jumped in together and got an O'Connor room. If you have to be in O'Conner, in my opinion, our room is the best. Fifth floor and close to the elevator and big lounge but not too close. Hopefully, we'll have many good times in that suite next year. From what I can tell, there will be many hilarious days because we all love to laugh. :) If you'll be on campus next year and want to know more about anything I mentioned in my journals, feel free to come visit us sometime!
Well, I'm going to go enjoy the weather and make it through my four classes today so I can get going on the retreat!
March 16
It's finally here!! Yes, indeed, glorious Spring Break begins this weekend! I'm sure I will have much to tell you about my adventures in Washington DC with my mom next time, but for now, I'm gonna go back in time a couple of weeks and let you know what I've been up to!
Let me begin with a somewhat funny story. I had the pleasure of finding an old video online that I wrote and co-starred in. Before my sophomore (I think…) year of high school I had the privilege of attending a summer camp for young women put on by Microsoft. With a wonderfully nerdy name like DigiGirlz, it was an unforgettable and very informative experience. One of the projects was making a promotion video. To this day, I absolutely love being goofy, dressing up, and making home videos, so I signed right up. They added closed caption later since the sound quality isn't the best and also for deaf people to enjoy as well. Hopefully, you can get a good laugh out of it, too! Here's the link:
http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/Digi_Day.wvx
Well, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'll move on to classes. As I read through my blog last time, I realized how little I talk about school versus all of the fun things I get to do. I hope I haven't misrepresented what I do down here!! :) Honestly, a HUGE majority of my time is spent in classrooms and studying. I didn't even work in SPRL the last few weeks so I could be focused. But, seeing as you all probably don't want to hear too much about every math problem I'm working on or my study method for a random Honors seminar quiz, I usually just share an overview. Nice disclaimer, huh? But, seriously, I have been extremely busy trying to do well in my three tough classes (Calculus 2, Physics, and Programming). It's a big step up from last semester when I only had Chemistry to "worry" about.
Last week I did hardly anything but study (and attend an ab workout class with a CFC friend :)). In math, I did practice problems over and over and made sure I had memorized all of the difficult formulas. For physics, I typed up every problem we had done in class and on the homework to work through and also memorized formulas. And finally, for programming, I made a paper for each type of syntax (loops, arrays, files, random, etc…) and the proper way to use them in a program. As soon as all three tests in "Round 2" were over, I was ready to relax!
A buddy of mine on the floor had a birthday on Thursday, so several of us went out to Carrabba's for dinner. I had a delicious ravioli! :) The next day, we were able to experience a huge storm! We even had a couple of tornado warnings. Despite the heavy rain, a few of us ventured out to the hockey game to enjoy and see our other drummer friend in the pep band (who is also on the CFC worship team with me and takes others and me to church).
Saturday, I slept in and worked on a few scholarships my mom had prepared for me to do. I also finished up the very last Physics Lab formal report (we only do three of these a semester). I left my room fairly early so I could go practice for CFC worship team. The guys had gotten a tambourine, but I just wasn't comfortable enough with it to play. I'll work on it and learn new rhythms from the others so I hopefully can do it for the next meeting. I'm fine with keeping beat, but just don't know how to do anything fancy or not too insanely repetitive. Instead, I focused on truly singing with all my heart. It was a true night of worship and I loved it!
After singing, we had the privilege of having the original founder of the club, Dr. Wheeler, come and speak. We learned that CFC was the very first club on campus and the first meeting was only six people, two of which were the dean and his secretary. He was very encouraging and inspiring and led us in Communion after sharing. His words reminded me that I couldn't give up on what the Lord has called me to do. So even when I'm feeling discouraged about grades and wondering if Engineering Physics is too hard for me or not, I need to pray and trust.
Sunday was also a great time of praise and fellowship! After the wonderful sermon, the whole church had a picnic outside. We, of course, didn't remember to bring food, so we just had a blast playing volleyball with some little kids. They were so much fun! By the end of the hour, the group had grown and we were all laughing and playing away. Somehow, I managed to get burnt which is a very rare thing for me unless I'm at the beach.
Hmm… I suppose you might be wondering what life in Doolittle is like for me now that I'm very settled in. Well, I don't know what to say other than it's nice and quiet in my room. Almost every night, I go to Einstein's with my two friends and then we play guitar hero (I'm SLOWLY improving…ha.), watch a TV show from someone's vast DVD collection, or just sit around and make jokes. We all go to CFC and usually campus outreach stuff too. One of the stupider things we do is IM each other whether we're just down the hall or sitting in the same room. One guy (one who just had the birthday) and I also do our best to think of creative ways to annoy the third member of our trio (drummer-worship-team guy). Really, it's a vicious circle of teasing between all of us… :)
Anyway, that's enough about our bizarre adventures for now. Other than packing, doing little homework assignments, and enjoying a daily 1 hr bike in the gym, this week has been pretty uneventful. The shuttle launch occurred, but I unfortunately had to go to bed early so I would be coherent at my physics lab. We also received the housing lottery results. I got an OK number for being a freshman. It's kind of in the middle I guess. I'm hoping my other buddies get an even better one so we have a good chance at getting into Apollo for next year. We will find out what dorm we get in on March 25 or 26th.
Well, I'm going to finish packing for my Washington DC adventure! Only four more classes and I get a much-needed break (although I'll probably have to study at least a little during the trip).
My name is Natalie Spencer and I approve this entry.
(Sorry, as you probably know, the presidential race is all over the news…)
spencern@erau.edu
http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
February
February 29
It's been a bizarre couple of weeks for me with all of the changes. I feel as though I began a whole new semester or something! The weather has been warm and beautiful (except for a couple days when we had a huge storm and cold front come through. Lightning, hail, torrential downpour… you get the picture).
Working at the Daytona 500 was quite an experience! There was a truck race with a fiery crash during the first couple hours. It was nice getting to see a live race without seriously damaging my hearing! :) My friend and I did pretty well until about 5am… then we started getting cranky, delusional, and bored beyond all belief. A huge fog settled in as well, so it got chilly. We ended up canceling our second all-night shift. It was just too much! Most of the 13 hours were spent chatting with random drunk people about all kinds of things. I don't exactly approve of their lifestyle, but some of the people were very nice and even fed us or gave us free stuff. What a memory! If that wasn't enough, we were excited by a surprise visit from our friend interning at NASA in Virginia this semester. He came down for the weekend. It was nice to sleep most of Saturday until worship practice before CFC. After the session, our visiting buddy suggested several of us go see Jumper at Ocean Walk. So, we did. I enjoyed just getting out and hanging with everyone. It was a little weird being the only girl, but at Riddle, you get used to it.
We all knew we were in for a letdown when the opening scene showed Hayden Christensen. Personally, I enjoyed the movie and thought his acting was infinitely better than Star Wars, but of course the guys did nothing but complain about it afterwards. I hate it when people do that. After all, it's their own fault they didn't research who was in the movie BEFORE they paid the seven bucks! Whatever, it was still a great time!
The next day was ridiculously busy yet again. It all started with navigating through the race traffic to stop at Starbucks before church (2 of us in the group were from Washington and 1 from Oregon, so… duh we need our Starbucks! The poor Ohio and Arizona guys just had to tag along.). Every business on International Speedway has a special parking pass for those who are actually going to the store and not wanting to pay for parking for the race. That day was the 50th anniversary after all, so it was crowded!! Still, we made it to church on time with our tasty breakfasts. If that wasn't great enough, a bunch of the HS seniors and college kids went to Applebees. I really enjoyed getting to know other people my age from Sovereign Grace. Right after that was a Daytona party at a church member's house. On the way after stopping at Wal-Mart for snacks, we saw the Thunderbirds at a stoplight. It was amazing!! We also caught a glimpse that morning from school. After a great day of novelty and fun, we closed with a visit to my favorite ice cream place, Ritter's. Phew!! What a busy weekend!
After that, things got a little more normal as I settled into my new routine. I played tennis a couple of times with my talented friends. It was only my 2nd and 3rd time, but I improved a ton. Now I only sock one over the net every once in awhile. :) I always treated the racket like I was playing badminton which I learned is a big mistake!
Bonding with people in Doolittle has also been a wonderful experience. My two friends (girls) from CFC who are just a floor up have come to visit a couple times. We even had a movie night watching Ever After. Fun times! I also enjoy hanging out with two guys on my floor. One is CFC's worship team leader and the guy who takes us all to Sovereign Grace on Sundays and the other I met through him (Sorry for the terrible grammar, but I'm trying to not give people's names unless I ask them permission! :)). It's taking me awhile to figure out all of their inside jokes, but I'll catch up eventually.
Ok, so I lied about normality I guess… the week continued to be nuts! Alex and I went to see Spamalot in Jacksonville. We had great seats and the whole thing was AMAZING! We even were able to find some good deals while shopping beforehand. I got a $10 dress and then after the play, got Spamalot shirt and shorts. As we walked out of the theater, we saw the beautiful lunar eclipse. I took a picture, but my zoom isn't exactly the best for space objects… :)
From that day on, it was mostly all about studying and reviewing notes. I didn't work at SPRL the last two weeks either because I got a bad cold. Napping in my room was all I wanted to do. Thankfully, by the end of the first week, I was feeling great and able to go to CFC. We stopped by a coffee shop. The live singing was fun and we laughed the night away with drinks and snacks. It was "Volcano" something or other. I dunno.
After a wonderful Sovereign Grace sermon, we all rocked Chili's! I couldn't decide what I wanted to save my life- it was so weird!! My favorite moment came when our waitress asked if we wanted separate checks. One of the guys said, "Well, we're together," pointing to another guy. Of course we all laughed at the completely untrue, joking implication you could pull out of that. Then she said, "OH… ok, and the rest of you are SINGLE, right?" The three of us left laughed and said "Yes, but did you have to remind us??" Funny times…
Let's see… this is getting pretty long, but I've been doing a lot of exciting things, so sorry! My last comments would have to be that I started up exercising again which has been perfect now that I'm close to the sparkling new Fitness Center. Also, after my BIG CALC 2 TEST that I've been studying for 3 weeks for is done, I'm off to a Third Day concert in Orlando at the House of Blues. I'll save the details of this weekend for the next journal entry…
Man, spring break and Washington DC with my mommy is SO close!! I can't wait!
March is-a-comin'!
Love, Nat
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
February 15
Well, things have picked up again! School, clubs, fun times, holidays… the list goes on!
CFC has been very encouraging and a great time of fellowship and fun! The first Saturday, we went bowling after a great lesson on using our gifts wisely and trusting in Christ completely. Worship team has also picked up. It's nice to have vocals instead of trying to sing along with iTunes. I've been practicing my harmony and such- good times! The second Saturday, we went to Ritter's for iced cream after an enlightening message on relationships and purity in honor of Valentine's Day. I don't know what was in that custard, but everyone was very goofy. I couldn't stop laughing over the stupidest things!!
Speaking of eating out, during one of the past weeks, I ate at a restaurant 4 days in a row. The first was the Chinese Buffet after picking up my Daytona 500 schedule. Next, some friends and I went to My Cousin Vinny's (I had a delicious manicotti!!) after playing tennis (which was my second time ever and I improved a lot). Day three was the CFC Ritter's trip and day four was going to the Chinese Buffet again after church at Sovereign Grace. It was fun, but I'm glad to get a break from spending money left and right. Don't worry, I'm still doing great with my budget! ;)
One of the more exciting events of the last two weeks was visiting Gulfstream in Savannah Georgia. If I remember right, it's like 40-something million dollars for one of their jets. They were gorgeous!! I wouldn't mind working in the research and design department. If I end up living by one of their plants, I just might give it a try! The funny thing was that I was the only EP honors student to go- everyone else was AE. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but we do have a group one I'll try to put up.
I also reached a milestone by finishing the first rounds of tests. I generally wasn't pleased with the scores, but I've made some changes with how I study and how much that will hopefully fix the problem. The only class I legitimately feel will be a constant struggle is Calculus 2. I've heard it's the toughest of Calcs, so I'm gonna stick with it! Also, if you turn in all your homework in that class, you can drop the lowest test score! Hooray!
Recently, I found out about Campus Outreach and have gotten more involved. In addition to the Bible studies every two weeks, I also was able to help with their (and Task Force One's) Super Bowl party. Following that, we had a session about Tom Brady and the reason why he feels like life must be something more even though he has everything material you can get in this life.
I've had fun filling out birthday cards and finding gifts since three friends had their birthdays.
SPRL is in transition mode yet again. We're trying to hire some more people to continue data analysis while us "more experienced" people are learning the ropes of running the lab. I finally met Dr. Azeem and he encouraged me to continue getting good grades. Who knows? If I do well, I might actually go (in his words) to "a cold place". :) One can hope, right? One of the sites that I'm manager of, Sondestromfjord, has bad data thanks to a radar that keeps interfering. I'm supposed to graph it so Dr. Azeem can tell them to stop, basically.
Valentine's Day was practically life-changing. I helped Society of Women Engineers sell roses in the morning. I actually did quite well arranging and wrapping them despite just learning that morning. I was having fun matching colors and adding "fernage" (as I like to say) and Baby's breath. Valentine's Day also marked the point when I was able to get my own room. I moved into Doolittle first west after talking to the wonderful housing head. She gave me the key and from when I began packing in Wood at 4pm, I was able to finish set-up, rearranging furniture, and decorating by 11pm. Not bad for a complete move! My sweet suitemates and Alex's boyfriend helped me. We were a hilarious group of suitcase and duffel bag! It only took two trips. I'm so pleased with the open space and being closer to everything. I do have to pay 1.5 housing rate, but it's worth it! I will definitely miss being able to walk a maximum of 20 feet to see all my Wood friends, but we still have many classes together and there is a such thing as a cell phone!
As you probably know, the Daytona 500 is upon us. It's going to be a long two nights of helping CFC raise money, but at least I have my own room to get a good ?? day's ?? sleep! :) I'm not sure how I'm going to transfer back to sleeping at night… I'll see. Should be very exciting and hopefully not too cold. I'm hoping to get a friend of my dad's a bandana of his favorite racers. When I was at K-mart they had a ton of stuff, so maybe it all goes on sale when the crazy crowds leave! I'm walking over for my first shift at six tonight!! At least we have Monday off and I'm going to the beach with some CFC friends. Church on Sunday will be interesting, too… hope I can stay focused and alert!
Until next time,
From the home of the Daytona 500,
And now Doolittle,
Natalie Ann
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
February 3
Well, the weeks of no homework and continual Starbucks runs have come to an abrupt end. No more sleeping in all the time, going to bed whenever, and watching movies at any point. Probably a good thing to be back on a schedule, though. I need to be disciplined enough, especially for the first round of tests. Every day, I try to read my Bible and pray, eat right, and exercise. Also included is SPRL work as well as homework and studying, not to mention club meetings and such. School is back in full swing and I'm slowly relaxing into the demanding timeline.
A big topic of conversation on campus, especially for the freshman, has been housing for next year. The whole process starts really early, so it's just bizarre to be trying to figure out what you want to promise to do for the next year already. All kinds of things can change before then! For now, I'm looking at rooming with three girls from Christian Fellowship Club. They're in Meteorology and ATC majors, so I never get to see them except for a few hours on Saturdays. Hopefully, all my suitemates from this year and I will get great rooms in Apollo so we can still be close buddies too. When we find out our lottery numbers on March 11th, I'll be sure to let you all know the results. All we need is one of us four to get a lower number, even just low enough to secure the last Apollo room. If that doesn't work… well, we don't have a back-up plan yet, but there's plenty of time! :)
As for my suitemates and I this semester, we have great plans for decorating our part of the floor. The theme is going to be Hollywood. Now if we only have enough time to put up the supplies and decorations we bought!! I'll put up pictures if we ever get around to it!
Two weekends ago, Alex's dad came down for a few days. The first night he took Spree, Alex, my roommate, and I out to a really good Thai restaurant. Saturday night we went to Cancun Lagoon (it's a very tasty Mexican restaurant right by school). Spree and I thought it was a seafood restaurant, but we were a little off! As we finished the meal, fireworks went off at the racetrack. The Rolex 24 race was loud and exciting in the distance.
Last Tuesday, I really enjoyed the Honors Distinguished Speaker Series guy, Edward Tenner. He had some great points and examples about how our determination to make everything safe can have unintended consequences. I'm tempted to go out and buy his book. As an engineer, I have to learn to do my best to foresee the outcome of my choices and designs.
Last Friday we had our first Computing for Engineers test. From now on I'll call it programming or MATLAB class. Anyway, it was pretty nice. I'm not gonna be overconfident or anything, so I'm desperately hoping it's a high A. I've always enjoyed going to that class. Computers just make sense to me. Maybe I should've been a computer engineer instead… :)
That same night, I had my first outing with the Society of Women Engineers, SWE. We went ice-skating of all things. I have to admit that it's just awesome to be able to claim such a thing in Florida!! Weird. At the rink there was a disgusting amount of junior high kids all screaming and flirting like mad. It felt nice to glide along the cool surface. After, I decided to stay for the ice hockey game against FIT. It was amazing! We won 12-0. I got some great video of a goal or two, the crowd, and the band. One is the entire last six minutes of the game. I have to say I wasn't so fond of the cheers (rather JEERS) going out, so I was pretty quiet until we made goals. It was an exciting night!
This weekend I have two tests to study for, one in calculus, the other in physics, as well as two papers to write for Honors. One is a big ten-pager about a scientist in our Atomic Bomb book and the other one-pager is on our feelings about the making of religious states (The book talks often of the Jewish people.) I managed to finish my formal lab report from last Tuesday and the smaller math and physics assignments. It was a busy week with a busy weekend finishing it off!
But, the good news is I have lots of fun stuff too. CFC is meeting then going out for dinner and bowling. On Sunday, I'm helping Campus Outreach and TFO with the Super Bowl party on campus.
On the spring break front, my mom had some great news for me! We were able to get a Wyndham hotel for all six or seven nights and it's right in Alexandria. It's so perfect because its location is a half block from the metro station. Mom and I aren't too terribly confident about driving around D.C. and finding parking, so it's a beautiful situation. I bet the hotel is ridiculously nice, too. What a fun break that will be! Now, we get to daydream about all the places we can visit!
Lately I've been trying to figure out what to do about Sundays because Riverbend changed its "second service" classes to other times during the week. The college ministry meets Sunday nights but my ride can't make it to that. Last Sunday, I had a great time visiting Sovereign Grace (I had promised a friend of mine last semester I'd go at some point. Ironically, he's the one with a NASA internship in Virginia now…) before going to visit Campus Outreach at Christ Community for a college luncheon. If you're confused, don't worry, I am too! :) I will certainly be in prayer about finding the right fellowship and also having solid Biblical teaching at least once a week. I have to admit it was very fun going to church with CFC friends. I've been able to hang with them a lot more this semester already.
SPRL has been going along just fine. My latest project involves recording the dates and times when a radar signal interferes with our MI data. I had a great time fixing up the program to allow me to start and stop the cycling through the graphs. Another SPRL guy has no idea why it works, but we're not complaining! One day, Dr. Azeem brought in his attire for visiting the South Pole and left it for us to play with. Naturally, we college students couldn't resist. I have some pretty funny pictures I put up of myself and Mike and Chris from that day. Enjoy!
Well, like I said, I've got a busy weekend ahead of me! I bet by the next journal entry things will be pretty normal again (Wishful thinking?). At least I'll have a better hang of things and will have completed several tests and papers. I'm also going with the Honors Student Association to Gulfstream in Savannah, GA on Tuesday. Alex is coming, too, and we both have a physics test to study for, so it'll be a nice getaway and informative trip too. I really enjoyed going to Piper last semester and I'm sure this will be no different.
Until next time,
Happy Valentine's Day!
Natalie Ann
http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
spencern@erau.edu
January
January 21
Well, it's been an amazingly long two weeks of the sparkling new spring semester. I'm finally getting settled in, but have been doing so many things, I'm glad my classes haven't been too demanding. Not one of my classes leaves my jaw hanging wide open when I don't understand a word the teacher is saying. (That was Chemistry last semester by the way.) Physics and Calc 2 are going at a great rate, enough to keep me busy, but not enough to overwhelm. I have a programming class that I love! I'm so thankful that I took a year of that in high school; not only did that knowledge help me get a job in SPRL, but it also allows me to just learn the new language in my class instead of hearing things like float and loop for the first time. Honors will be more difficult that last semester because our teacher is covering the subject of physics history and things like the atomic bomb. I don't have much experience calculating decay or half-life, so I'm always hastily taking notes. We're having a "mega-quiz" this Friday. Finally, I can't wait to get started on the physics labs. Our first one was just a painful (especially because I hadn't eaten) 3-hour introduction.
SPRL is going well. I've had a hard time getting enough hours in because I'm doing so many other things and even want to join the Society of Women Engineers this semester. My fellow freshman worker and I were suddenly promoted thanks to seniors and other lead people leaving this summer. I will be in charge of the two VERY northern Canada sites. We're having training meetings every Monday of the semester to make sure we all will be able to run SPRL on our own next year.
I also have several fun things planned this semester and several built-in. For example, Alex (my suitemate who I always mention) is in three of my classes (honors, calc 2, programming) whereas we had none together last semester. Spree (my other suitemate who writes a journal as well) is in two (calc 2, programming) with us. And another good friend from Christian Fellowship Club is in Calc 2 and is my lab partner. She's meteorology, so I never thought we would be in class together- what a pleasant surprise! It seems that I know at least 60% of the people in each class. What fun! I don't have to feel alone walking between classes all the time. Plus, many of my friends and I stop for lunch in-between or go check the mail. Good times!
Christian Fellowship Club is in full swing again, too. We had a great lesson and discussion on evangelism for our first meeting and went out to pizza and buffalo wings. They had a $32 pizza with 64 slices. It was AMAZING! They had to put it on another table so it would fit. One of my pilot friends is also very talented on guitar and will be leading worship for CFC. Another girl and myself will also be helping out. We had our first practice on Thursday. Hopefully we'll eventually get some more guitars and a piano player. We lost our two musicians from last semester to great NASA internships. I spent 2 hours earlier on Thursday with two CFC guys looking for Kelly Services so we could be hired to work at the Daytona 500. We drove by it several times, and were so lost, we called everyone we could think of. But, after finally finding the place, all three of us were hired. I get to work two 7 pm – 8 am shifts in a row watching the gate in February. Phew! Should be exciting, but very long! At least we also have Monday off that same weekend thanks to President's Day. The final event I'll mention for CFC is that I'm going to the Winter Jam concert at UCF with several people tonight (I'm writing this on the 19th). BarlowGirl, Skillet, MercyMe, NewSong, and Mandisa. I've seen the first three in a big concert festival back home, so this should be fun!
Last night was my roommate's birthday celebration. I had fun gifts on her bed in the morning when she came back from Navy PT. Then, eight of us from the floor "kidnapped" her and took her to Downtown Disney to wander around. We also went to Fuddrucker's for a late-night dinner. If you look at the pictures on my virb.com site, you'll be able to see some of the fun stuff we did. Many people on Wood 5 chipped in to get her our group present- Super Mario Galaxy and another remote for her Wii. We've all been enjoying bowling and making our own Wii characters, so hopefully we don't try to take over all the games now! ;)
Another thing that's been keeping me busy/entertained has been playing cards with people on the floor as well as my Christmas gift from my parents- Blockbuster Online subscription for the whole semester. Alex and I have been fervently watching BBC's new Robin Hood TV show. They've only done two seasons, so we watched the first with the DVDs and found a great youtube site for watching season two. Hooray Robin!
In closing, I'll just briefly mention that I've had a ton of fun these past two weeks. We've gone to all kinds of stores like World Market, Publix, Barnes & Noble, Target, Michael's… and even eaten at Outback Steakhouse. I've also gotten to do my best to help some floormates going through hard times as well as learning to say "No" when I need some "me" time. God has been so good to sustain me and I know I'll have a great spring semester!
Until next time…
I can't believe it's almost February! (and that means Spamalot in Jacksonville with Alex & Daytona 500)
*Natalie Ann*
Pretty please e-mail me with any questions you have about anything (involving my experience or the school or engineering or whatever!). I've never gotten a single one!
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
January 1, 2008
I refuse to believe it. I refuse to believe I've been home for 3 weeks and
I only have 1 left. Being a freshman, I seriously do not want to go
back to college yet. I've made some friends, but there's obviously a
huge difference between knowing someone for a couple months verses several
years.
I do have much to look forward to during this next semester,
though, so I can't be completely devastated. :)
I have only 14 credits, go back to warm weather, finish every day at the
latest at 2 pm, get to continue work in the Space Physics Research Lab,
and am going to become a physics expert.
Not so sure about the last one,
but I will at least have a great spring break with my mom and will
perhaps experience a semester flying by. I assume the first and last
semesters of college are the longest… we'll see won't we?
And, best
of all, it means I'm 4 months closer to a glorious 3 month summer
to be with friends, go on adventures, work as an intern (hopefully),
and finishing getting my pilot's license.
Regardless, I need to learn to enjoy the here and now of life. God is
gracious to give me breath each and every second and if I'm always wistfully
daydreaming about what's coming, I'll miss what's here. That truth
has become all too evident during this Christmas break. It's not
very fun to be hangin' with friends only to think about how soon it will
be over and that I won't see them for FOUR MORE months. Although, that
did help me to realize I definitely need to just pick up my cell phone
and give people a call!! My shyness overcomes my loneliness too often…
In summary, I've had a wonderful birthday and Christmas, 4 days of working
at Red Robin, time with the family, time with friends, Starbucks
trips, restaurant exploration, movie-going, shopping, and New Year's
Eve games.
I am so thankful that we get breaks like these. I don't
think I'll ever forget the way the tree glistened with extra sparkle
this December. Or the smiles on my loved ones faces each time we
laughed. My whole life college has always looked so magical and wondrous.
I never realized how much would change, how I would change. I'm so terrified
and yet thrilled. I will certainly be praying for a deeper love
for those around me at school. Right now, my heart is about to get
broken again as I'm torn away from my beloved home and those who make
it home. It's just one of those transition parts of life, what can I
say? :)
Happy 2008 from a reflecting freshman,
Natalie Ann
P.S. I'm kinda bummed because I never took any pictures with my friends this
break. Crazy, huh? I still have time… I'll keep my camera in my purse
from now on… :)
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
spencern@erau.edu
December
December 18
Hello everyone!
It's my birthday today (18th) and I can hardly believe
I'm almost done with the teenage years. It is so wonderful being home!
The last two weeks were torture just because we could all feel the semester
coming to an end.
After getting through my last Calculus, Graphical
Communications, and Chemistry tests on Monday, I was able to relax
a bit until finals got closer. I even gave myself a haircut. It turned
out pretty nice. It was fun to surprise my family with a new look.
A
nother thing I was able to do before flying home was go to my first
real sporting event. I went to the basketball game when we played our
rivals, Flagler. It's also the school my sister graduated from last December,
so that's another good reason to go. It was very exciting to see
our guys take the win!
I also enjoyed having a free, tasty lunch for
Honor's kids and even a dodgeball tournament at church. Christian Fellowship
Club had a great Christmas party with carols, games, and free stuff
and food. It was a nice way to celebrate finishing my Calculus final
earlier that day.
I also went to Starbucks and Target with Alex. I found a Secret Santa
gift for a guy on my floor just in time. We went back and exchanged
gifts. It was really fun. There were many creative gifts. The rest
of the weekend involved packing, laundry, and studying for the dreaded
Chemistry final.
I nearly cried when I finished and walked out of the
engineering building. It had been a long semester of learning and
struggles. I've never had to work so hard for a class in my life. I had
little to no background in chemistry and there I was taking our hardest
chem course. God got me through and taught me it's ok to get a low grade
on a test or two when you really study well and try your best. Dr.
Cameron was generous with the extra credit and although I got two tests
in the 60 range, I got an 87 overall. The final was an 82, so I'm proud
of that.
The rest of my classes were all A's, so I'm happy to say
I've finished my first semester of college in the "hardest" major (so it's
rumored) with a 3.83. It's bizarre to not have a 4.0 anymore, but at
least I don't have the pressure of keeping it. And there's no reason
to be ashamed of what I've accomplished with my Lord and Savior's help!
Now that the drama of Chemistry was over, I could really enjoy my
Christmas break. I've gone to a hs basketball game, Christmas
concert, trip up to the snow with my dad, church college kids open house,
and a class party at my best friend's house that turned out to be a surprise
party for me. How blessed I am to have such wonderful friends
and family! I can't believe how much we always take for granted and how
hard people are working to take the real meaning of this celebratory
month away. And so, although it is indeed a wonderful holiday season,
I close by saying: Merry Christmas!
Let us all rejoice together in what we have been given
and the heavenly gift born on that special night in Bethlehem!
With love,
Natalie Ann
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
December 4
10 days 9 hours 29 minutes 18 seconds… until I'm halfway home!
…and that will be even less by the time I'm done writing this and by the time you read it! Yes, the thing on everyone's mind here is HOME.
After all, I've never been away from it for more than two weeks before and I didn't get to go home for Thanksgiving.
Things have been pretty easy going here the past few weeks. I've just been working in SPRL and doing little quizzes and homework assignments. We had a nice 5-day break for Thanksgiving. A friend and I went to the beach, had some Starbucks, and saw August Rush at Ocean Walk on Wednesday. I got to use Safe Ride for the first time since Kerry was able to drop us off and do Thanksgiving shopping with her grandpa's car, but we needed a way back. It's only $8 a ride within the zone and $1 for each extra person. So we split $11 (tip, too), which is not bad!
The next day, Thanksgiving, it was painfully slow waiting for 2:00 to arrive. Campus was so quiet and mellow it was bizarre. The buffet had great Thanksgiving food up already on nice tables and silver dishes. I introduced another friend from our floor to stuffing. He was hooked. That's my favorite thing, too. He came with us, as well as the girl I went to the beach with the day before, who I know from Christian Fellowship Club. The last member of our party minus my roommate's whole family was a mutual friend of Kerry's and mine. I know him from Chem lab and she knows him from the Catholic Student Union. Phew! Now that introductions are all over (cleverly minus names! ;)) I can tell you about the rest of the day.
We stopped to get some last minute supplies and met some of Kerry's siblings. At the house, we played Cranium and Apples to Apples and enjoyed goofing off with the kids. They were full of energy and hilarious! Our Thanksgiving feast was wonderful and I enjoyed some dishes I'd never had before.
On Black Friday instead of going shopping (I severely miss that because it's a huge family tradition back home) we braved the crowds at Epcot. I hadn't been to that park in several years, so it was fun to go back. We started the day by doing Fast Track and getting fastpasses for Soarin' over California. Next, we wandered through the countries. Now that I've been to several more represented, it was even better. We made our way around and I became nostalgic seeing British tea, French pastries, and German bratwurst. Good stuff. For lunch I had a ham and chesse croissant and a cream puff. For dinner, my friend (Yes, the one from the beach and yesterday- sorry I have to be so
confusing!) and I had Chinese food. Finally, it was time for Mission Space- my favorite! We both had such a great time on that one. Then we saw a huge Christmas concert and managed to get front-row seats. It was beautiful. To close the night, we ate crepes in France while watching the huge fireworks show. Lovely.
For Christian Fellowship Club, we went out to Denny's and then Super Target. I was so excited to find that their Black Friday sale went 2 days so I got some cheap DVDs!! I also bought a cute 3-foot $10 tree for the room as well as some small glass ball ornaments. It looks so nice! I had some purple lights already and it looks so nice when I plug it in.
As for this past week, there isn't too much to say. It's just the same old stuff. We did have our last Calc test; I think I did well. Wednesday was crazy because at midnight, we surprised my suitemate with a cake and gifts. Some silly guys started a cake fight and two guys and two girls ended up screaming, yelling, and getting covered in cake. It was exciting to say the least.
And I'm officially finished with Chem Lab because we had our final on Thursday. I got the last one I wanted, but I managed to do ok, I think. It's so nice that only one final is actually during finals week. That means coming home earlier! I took the birthday girl out to Chili's later that night and we had a great time. We also wandered through Wal-Mart with some others getting a cake and gift yet again for another person on our floor whose birthday was Friday.
So now, here I am close to finishing my first semester of college!
I've got plenty of time to study for my few things left and to pack.
The second I get home I'm gonna enjoy the Christmas tree (It's snowing in WA right now, too!!), bake something, and go to my favorite restaurant, where I work, Red Robin with my parents! I think I can make it…
Happy December!
Natalie Ann
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
spencern@erau.edu
November
November 18
Greetings from chilly Daytona!
Seriously, it has actually been quite cold lately, especially in the morning and evening when the sun goes down and a frigid breeze passes by! It makes me feel excited realizing that being home where it's expectedly cold really isn't too far away.
Plus, I'm already encouraged by being able to see the end of my classes. If that wasn't perfect enough, I also had a wonderful time with my Daddy! I had been awaiting his arrival for so long, I could hardly believe it had actually come!
But, to go back a little, I had an insanely busy few days getting ready for his coming. I didn't want to have any homework or loose ends to fix so I could fully enjoy the 4-day visit. I've also put a few more things into my daily schedule. I try to exercise 1-hr a day and it's been going well so far! Doing the bike or elliptical in the comfort of Tallman Commons or the sparkling new Fitness Center is a joy. My friend Alex got me into reading while I bike. It certainly helps to pass the time and she practically brought a library down with her, so I am well-supplied. Plus, for my Honors class, we finally get to read one of my favorite stories, Pride and Prejudice. I honestly have never read the book before, but I've seen both the 6-hr BBC version and the new with Ms. Knightly. Sad, I know, but now I have read it, so no worries.
Drinking tea is a daily thrill. I can get some lovely English Breakfast at Einstein's and I got Green and Bubble at a store on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom. I've had a cold I'm just about over and it's cold outside, so it's just what I need! :)
Working in SPRL is already getting more interesting. The last 4 hours I spent in the lab were doing more secretarial things, which I love. I typed up an inventory sheet and quickly whipped up a sign-out sheet for people who wanna borrow a book, tool, or folder. My fellow EP major worker and I were also able to get a closer look at some of the instruments. A lot of the words went over my head, but I still got a general feel for it. Maybe someday I'll be designing instruments like them! My next task will be coming up with a catalog system for all the data with one of the older workers in addition to continuing to analyze the data set I've been given. The graphs I look at were taken in 2003-2004 in Norway. Cool stuff!
Just as a follow-up on the STS-120 Discovery, when I was walking to Graphical Design, I heard a loud "Bo-boom!" and a guy in front of me said it was the shuttle re-entering the atmosphere. Pretty cool since I saw it go up too!
Speaking of Graphics, I've been enjoying it so much more now since we moved on from views. I so love the dimension/extension work we are doing now. We have an extra credit quiz on Monday, so I should be able to recover from an earlier bad quiz.
One of the exciting things on campus has been the 12 Angry Men play. I finally was able to go last night. I'd never heard of the story, but it's apparently a very classic film. My mom says we're watching it when I'm home! I only knew of two of my friends, but actually five of them were in the play. I was surprised that I know so many people already! Everyone did an excellent job! I hope I can get involved in Riddle Players one of my semesters here!
Another big event was the College Career Expo. I went mostly to get a feel for internships and Co-ops as well as watch the older students interact with prospective employers. I saw some of my favorite companies like Boeing, Cessna, and Piper, and was introduced to others like Honeywell, United Space Alliance, and Lockheed Martin. The summary? Internships are around six weeks; Co-ops a semester. But, Co-ops have benefits, internships don't. Finally, almost everyone does business and hiring online. I did pick up a few tips about applying for Boeing internships, so I'll remember that next time I apply. I've already sent in my resume' for 4 summer ones. I love that I live so close to their Everett plant! I walked out of that fair with a crazy amount of free stuff, looking forward to the future I could have in the industry! It truly is amazing that our school can draw so many huge aerospace companies. We don't have to go anywhere except across the street and we can get great jobs!
One of the funnest things I've done in the past two weeks apart from my adventures with my dad (which I will discuss soon) was going to the Latin Dance class! I have always wanted to learn some kind of dance and it was so much fun! Once we got over being a little embarrassed, my friend and I had a great time. We were already picking up the tricky spins and getting used to the beats. I just don't have those amazing Latina hips like some of the girls we met, but they so kindly helped me learn some steps so I didn't look too ridiculous. It was good exercise, let me tell you! Regardless, I can't wait until the next time! It's so nice to have the Fitness Center and all of the free classes!
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for- the homecoming weekend stories! On Thursday, my lab partner and I had everything go wrong. Thankfully, one lab is going to be thrown out. To brush off the bad hours, my partner drove me to her new apartment and we ate dinner with her roomie before going to Marble Slab and then the Homecoming Talent Show in the Student Center. It was so hilarious!! I loved the dancers, juggler, and many more. We even got free Homecoming t-shirts and cups. That was the only Homecoming thing I was able to experience 'cause my dad was coming the next morning. I made sure everything was packed, but I was still so excited, I ended up staying up pretty late with Alex. We drank tea, read books, drew pictures, and listened to music. Fun times!
The next morning, he was here! When I walked down to the circle drive outside Tallmans I couldn't keep the smile in. We had a little white Pontiac rental car. I brought my daddy up to my room to help me get the bags down. Then, we walked over to Propeller's to eat. I had a Caesar chicken wrap and my dad got a cheeseburger. I've actually never eaten there before... It was so nice to just sit outside and talk while planes flew overhead. Our next stop was the UC (Student Center; don't ask me why we call it that!) to use up my 7 meal plans. We got plenty of good stuff for the weekend and then jumped in the car to go. It was off to Orlando! We stopped by our nice hotel only to find it wouldn't be ready for several more hours. But I did get to pick up my no expiration, hopper 10-day Disney World ticket. That means I only pay $35 every time I go (I'm already going twice this year at least) instead of $70. So, it's a perfect deal. We found the Mall at Millenia to visit. I loved all of the beautiful Christmas decorations! I flew in and out of the stores, only finding things at Urban Outfitters. It was fun just to be with my dad. For dinner, I decided it would be really fun to eat at Hard Rock Café. I saw a brochure at the hotel for a free gift with $25 purchase, so off we went. But, unlike Downtown Disney, you have to pay to park to even get near Universal City Walk. We paid the ridiculous $11 charge and parked in Jurassic Park 505. I really want to go to Islands of Adventure sometime. I've got 4 ½ more years to do it, so... We ate at Hard Rock and got a tasty appetizer mix and salad. When we finished, I got a free pin with a wee guitar on it. I like it! The rest of the night we wandered stores, got ice cream at TCBY, and made the long trek back to the hotel.
We were so tired on Saturday that we decided to get up when we got up and then go to Disney World and the Magic Kingdom. Even agreeing to that, we ended up making it to Disney 15 minutes after it opened at 9.
This is significant because we stayed until 15 minutes before the park closed, 11:45. Phew. Long fun day! We made off like bandits in the morning going to rides like Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain (we did a funny pose for the camera and Dad bought it for me to have in the room), and Haunted Mansion. For lunch, we ate in Liberty Square at the Plaza restaurant. We both had delicious sandwiches. I loved the sweet potato chips too. We would throughout the day stop in little shops. I eventually got a cute rainbow Mickey bracelet and tea. Our fastpass for Space Mountain was valid, so we went there. I took video, but it's mostly just black. I might use some parts in a video collage though. Next, since we were in Tomorrowland, I went on my favorite Tomorrowland Transit Authority, the new Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We also found a cool Kodak picture area to take funny shots. We used fastpasses to the max and also went to Mickey's Philharmagic and TIki Room Under New Management before going on the Train around the park. We decided to take the monorail to the Contemporary Resort and catch a bus to Downtown Disney. We were going to eat at Rainforest Café but the wait was 2 hrs, so we ate at Planet Hollywood instead. We stopped in a couple stores and got some nice gifts and such. When we finally found the restaurant, we relaxed.
That place is so funky, but fun! We had a delicious plate called LA Lasagna and I had a Home Alone smoothie in honor of my dad (he loves that movie). After returning from our Downtown Disney adventure, we went on Teacups (I haven't done it since my very first time at Disney World and this was my 5th). We accidentally went on Snow White because we were enjoying the big fireworks show and then found ourselves in the line for it. The witch was so scary!! ;) Small World was next. I taped the whole thing to torture others online. We went on Thunder Mountain and Pirates again, then I tried another old ride, the Astro Orbiter! We also went on the Indy Speedway. I drove and it was easy since both of us weighed down the car it couldn't go very fast! Finally, as per my tradition, we finished the night with one last Space Mountain. My favorite!
On Sunday, we got all the stuff together to check out of the hotel. It was a Wyndham like the crazy nice one at Ocean Walk, but a little more laid back and less fancy. It was still very nice, though. We stopped back at the school to pick up my Crop Walk donation envelope. We waited for Casey, Josh, and Chris from CFC in the chapel and then followed them to Westiminster-By-The-Sea Presbyterian Church. They had free hotdogs, chips, and rice krispies with plenty of drinks. We also got a Crop Walk t-shirt. Josh designed it and it's burnt orange. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the really nice day. It was fun to joke around with the guys too. My dad is so funny! We never ran into the 1-mile marker table the head guy talked about so we ended up walking 6 miles total. Whoops. On the way back to the car parked at the church, I saw a giant inflatable gold fish at a garage sale and we got it for my room. It's hilarious! Back in the car, we decided to go stop by our new hotel. Then, we went to Ocean Walk. It was tough to find a parking spot as usual. We went to Bubba Gump's and enjoyed a shrimp platter and hush pups. It was so beautiful sitting outside and looking out at the ocean. We walked along the beach to kill time for our movie that didn't start until 7. It all of a sudden got very dark and windy. The clouds looked very ominous! Next, I got pumpkin pie in the sky from Coldstone and Dad got a Starbucks drink. We sat in comfy Starbucks chairs and listened to a guy sing Hotel California while teaching a teen how to play. Finally, we could go on up to the theater to watch Fred Claus. It was very cute and fun. We always tend to watch Christmas movies together... I feel like it's here already because of all the trees, decorations, and music! So early!
On our last day together, we thought it would be fun to go to the nearby Museum of Arts and Sciences on Nova Rd. I found out that students from a DBCC and Riddle get in for free. I had no idea. Cool!
They had a crazy Coke collection, Teddy Bears galore, pretty art, amazingly old pots and jewelry, cool trains, and giant fossils. I want to go back for their Christmas festival of lights thing this weekend.
After that, we left and went to a few stores like Wal-Mart, the record store, and Office Depot to get last-minute stuff done. I even got a cool Christmas star light for the window. We ate at Sonic before coming back to my dorm room for the last 30 minutes before he had to leave for the airport. I wanted to cry again, but I held it in as best as I could. It's not really that bad- I go home in less than 30 days.
And I only have 17 school days left. Only 1 final during "finals week". Not bad at all! I spent the rest of the evening unpacking, fixing the Christmas lights, and doing the Chemistry group quiz.
Well, I had originally thought that this would be a short entry, but then I had too much to say about the long weekend. Sorry! :) Oh well... You know the drill: please e-mail me if you have any questions and enjoy the pics and video I put up!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I know I for one will be counting my blessings and be praising God for his awesome work. I have such wonderful family and friends not to mention an amazing opportunity to go to a school like Riddle!
Tell at least one someone how much you love them this week, ok?
Until Next Time,
Natalie
http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
spencern@erau.edu
November 5
Hello again everyone and a Happy November to you!
I have to admit that I have pleasantly surprised with many things this past two weeks. The first thing being that fall feels like fall. What in the world can I mean by that? Well, let me explain:
Thanks to hurricane Noel being close enough to send gusty weather our way, I get to see leaves swirling and feel the cool wind on my face. I finally believe it's actually fall. Sunny skies and palm trees don't exactly match what I'm used to back home, so this new weather pattern is a nice change. Also, the stores around town are very festive. And my room has followed suit thanks to another care package, this one from my grandma. It had delicious shortbread and lemon cookies, chocolate, a cute ghost, and a nice shoebox-size Halloween teddy bear box.
I even got to go to Starbucks for the first time in weeks. For a Seattle-area girl, that's just torture to get nice frappuchinos so rarely. And I don't even like coffee. (Blended cream frapps, tazo tea, and caramel apple cider are my favs.) It's great to see stores with leaves and such in the windows, but I can't believe how many retail clothing places in the mall have heavy jackets and sweaters. I certainly don't need them here! Although, someone did recently tell me that we had an abnormally warm October. Go figure.
Having the Omega Pi/Wood 5 Halloween party also greatly helped. It was pretty hilarious. Most of it was eating, talking, laughing, and taking pictures. Also included was walking on different floors and around Tallman Commons to see how many strange looks we could get (Because it was the Friday BEFORE Halloween and a whole lot of people were downstairs for the DDR and Guitar Hero competitions.) I even gave in to watching Van Helsing, the closest thing to a scary movie I've seen. It was more action than anything else with a touch of the Mummy's grossness. When you combine werewolves, Dracula, Dracula's wives, Dr. Jeckell/Hyde, Igor, and Frankenstein, what do you expect?
Another pleasant surprise I've had recently is my scores in Chemistry.
We had a take-home group quiz that we solved in minutes. The entire assignment was extra credit, so 10 pts for me! Then when I got the dreaded test scores back, I saw a beautiful 88 on the top! But, even better, he said to add 6 points to that number. I got a 94!!!!! I went from a 69 last time to a 94! How cool is that? I was so tired, I couldn't even get that excited, but I was very happy inside. This third and final section will be tough, but my grade may actually turn out to be pretty good. And speaking of tests, I'll just throw in that I got 104/105 on my math test- hooray! Studying works wonders!
Yet another positive was going to see the STS-120 Discovery launch!
Three friends and I had a fun ride down and finally managed to find a nice spot by the water in Titusville. Three of us climbed past some grass and found a nice rock and wood to sit on. No one was in front of us and we were low so people standing behind wouldn't get mad. Right when we heard heated arguments a few rows back, it all of a sudden took off. It was tiny, but definitely easy to catch on video. Very exciting to see my first shuttle launch, especially when they'll be retired in the coming years. Plus, we all got free souvenir coins from the Walgreen's across the street. They're cheesy, but I'll keep it for memory's sake. One side has the mission info and patch; the other's about their 1-hour photo. :) Before heading back to campus, we had a nice picnic lunch under some trees. Great experience!
I also had another great opportunity when the women's program on campus sponsored an "Evening with Jo" event. It was free and very enlightening. The dinner was very nice- Olive Garden catered. I really enjoyed hearing from Jo Ames. She is a mechanical engineer - basically, but she does all kinds of interesting jobs on the defense side of things. She was even in charge of painting the inside of the air lock that astronauts use on the ISS for space walks. She works for Boeing right now so she's not that far from me back home. I got some good tips about internships from her too. I've been sending my resume' to different Boeing internships online for this summer. It would be so nice to work for them and they're only 15-30 minutes from home!
One weird fettish I have to tell everyone about is getting mail. Yes, I have gone to great lengths to purchase (Good deals, mind you! I always get things on sale and "shop around"!) DVDs and Christmas gifts online mostly so I can have the joy of getting packages from the campus post office. Plus, my parents sent me a care package, two grandparent sets sent me a letter or card, and a good friend in Germany sent a letter, too. But, don't worry, I was faithful to pass on the fun excitement by sending several "thank yous", a couple of "happy birthdays" and even one "congratulations" to friends and family. I love writing and sending cards!
On a final, very positive note, I will give you the results of my SPRL (If you didn't read my last blog, it's the Space Physics Research Lab student assistant job) aspirations. As I worked hard to finish the homework assignment, I kept having problems because I'm used to C++ and not IDL. But, I finally found a very helpful worker and I finished it up. I called the hirer to come see my work and he asked a few questions then shook my hand, "Welcome to SPRL!" So, yes, my good friend and I both got the job and started our graph analysis. For the first semester or so, it's just "grunt work". But I've found it can be very relaxing and the entire experience will open several doors even if it just looks nice on a resume'. Plus, if I do well enough and stick with the program, I might even get to go to the South Pole some summer. Wouldn't that be an experience?
As evidenced by all of my happy paragraphs, God has been very gracious to me! I've really enjoyed fellowship with His people every Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. After church one day, my small group went out to Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was so much fun and I even found great Christmas gifts in their Country Store. My leader then took me to Target and JCPenny's so we had a great time just talking and shopping.
Apart from chatting, I have also been learning from church, Christian Fellowship Club, and my Bible study. From watching Facing the Giants at CFC, I discovered that I have to be faithful to "prepare the field". Then, God will send the rain. In other words, I can't just do what I want or sit around and expect Him to bless me all the time. I need to prepare my heart and mind to be a great servant of His and if I am open, humble, and willing, He can use me. I want to greatly impact those around me.
Well, believe it or not, I do have homework I need to tackle, so I'll say goodbye for now. I'll tell you all about my fun weekend with Dad next time!
Natalie Ann
spencern@erau.edu
www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
October
October 23
Hello, all!
Next week is shaping up to be a tough one, but certainly manageable. I have my second Chemistry hourly exam, my second Calculus test, and I find out whether or not I am accepted into the Space Physics Research Lab program (SPRL). To explain what SPRL is I'll catch you up on the last few weeks:
I might as well start with that tough class you always hear so much about from me: Chemistry! Many things have improved. Right after my last journal entry, a miracle happened- I finished a quiz. And it had the RIGHT ANSWER. Gasp! I was ecstatic! I drew a nice sunny scene on the paper to celebrate. Professor Cameron gave me a teasing smile as he collected the quiz. The next week, we had another quiz. I did my best to relax and when we got the paper, I easily completed the problem. But he had also added a short answer question. The problem was I hadn't studied bond types yet, so I was just "shooting in the dark". Then, when we turned it in, I realized I had made the stupidest mistake of my life! I answered the bond question pertaining to the problem on my quiz instead of the one written on the board. As I found out later, he was compassionate with me and gave me two points for the answer I put. Amazing. So, that quiz became an 8/10. Then, last Friday, we had our last individual quiz before the test. Somehow, I had missed hearing about it, so I didn't have time to be concerned. I got a beautiful 10/10 again! I love heat transfer! If improvement on quizzes wasn't "happy" enough, we also have an extra credit group quiz to do this weekend. +10 points! I will also give 100% as I study for the test. I think I can do really well!
Christian Fellowship Club has been fun and uplifting as usual! We learned about Moses one night before going bowling. Last weekend, we had the annual picture scavenger hunt. It was great fun sprinting all over the campus. My team managed to win and get some great photos out of it all, too!
Another thing that makes weekends so wonderful is the time! I have time to rest, exercise, and do laundry. I also do that on Tuesday and Thursday since the class load is much lighter. I started an exercise routine that I'll try to do Sun, Tues, Thurs, and maybe Sat. I bike for 15 minutes at whatever speed I can take. Then, I stretch a ton (I don't want to get tight, bulky leg muscles!) and do some crunches to get that proverbial flat stomach (might take awhile…). Finally, I do a 1-mile jog at 5.7 miles per hour. The little exercise room by the Student Village bridge is awesome. It's usually deserted and I can leave the lights off to have a cool, peaceful environment with the iPod groovin'.
Many changes on Wood 5th have occurred since I last wrote. My room is decked out in fall/Halloween decorations from a package my parents sent. It had a cute light-up pumpkin, Snoopy with a pumpkin costume on, candy corn, and a pumpkin/cinnamon room spray. Pretty cool stuff! I also got a Halloween card from them and one from my grandma. The final, best touch was putting fabric leaves on the door and TV. I suppose the decorating got me in a cleaning mood because I decided to clean and organize my roommate's stuff. She always talked about picking-up but is perpetually too busy. Navy ROTC is tough! So, as a gift to her during difficult times, I attacked the mounds of stuff.
She went home for the weekend, so I had plenty of time.
Before I got too far, Spree (another journal writer) knocked on the door. Her dad was visiting and he wanted to take some of our floor out for dinner. Seven from Wood 5 came along. We stopped at Chili's, but they couldn't adapt to the water problem so they were closed. (Just in case you didn't hear, in Daytona, we had a water main break, so we couldn't drink water except bottled for several days.) So, we walked over to a favorite of mine, Buca di Beppo's. The chatter, laughter, and eating was a very special time. Spree's dad was so nice to pick up the bill for all of us! Crazy!
When we got back, I talked to my best friend for an hour on the phone. Then, I heard the 4 people going to Alabama (One guy was taking three others to visit his home) out in the hallway, so I went out to say "Bye!" I ended up staying out there and talking until 3:30. I've never stayed up that late here! At least I can sleep-in to my heart's content on Saturdays.
On Saturday, I had even more fun with floormates. We shared vacuums, coffee, and even flying Styrofoam airplanes. Another project began when I decided to clean the bathroom. It took a bit of time, but it looks great now.
Finally, the moment of truth arrived. I was so nervous about my roommate's reaction that I went into the study room. Suddenly, she came in and gave me a big hug. She was very excited. I'm so glad I could be an encouragement to her. If only we can keep it looking this clean! The rest of the night we heard the stories of the four that went to Alabama, ate some southern banana pudding, looked through magazines, and chatted away. Wood 5 Rocks!
We also made our own fraternity several weeks ago. No one told me about it because I was somewhat of a hermit in my room. But, now I officially "joined" and am in Omega Pi. It's hilarious. The slogan?
"Honor. Brotherhood. Baked Goods." We have random meetings and give people bizarre titles. They include Supreme Baker, Founding Father, Iron Chef, and Schnitzel. I want to be the Crust Coordinator or perhaps Director of Flavors and Fillings. Hmm…
Our very own Schnitzel took things a bit further and set up his own psychiatry office. Dr. Schnitzel is very professional. He has the glasses, crackling fireplace (A life-like animation on his computer!), secretary, comfy "chair", appointment sheet, door sign, and credential list! Many Wood Fifthians (as we like to call ourselves) have benefited from this wise Doctor. Yes, we're weird like that, but it's fun!
Speaking of having fun, my lab partner invited me to "hang" with her friends and her. We went to Moe's for dinner (tasty Mexican) and Ritter's (best ice cream ever) for dessert. Finally, it was time to shop! They all needed nice dresses for a sorority event. Ironically, I was the only one who found stuff! Always fun to get new clothes and good deals!
Back to school updates, I can tell you all about the Spring 08 Registration. The perfect phrase to describe my pursuit has been "running around like a chicken with its head cut off". Why? First, I talked with my 1st Year Advisor, Jenny, and she helped me know which classes to take. Then, she called my EP advisor, Prof Wanliss, to make sure he was available. So, I set off to get signature #2 (Jenny signed my schedule first). Wanliss was very nice and listened well. He approved of the classes I chose and signed. Next, I sat down at a very wobbly table and planned out my schedule. I had to go down to the first floor of the Engineering building (where I currently was on the third floor) to log onto ratemyprofessor.com to pick my physics and honors professor.
It's foolish to take every word seriously, but I like getting a general feel for the teacher as well as seeing what type of student I need to be (i.e. study a ton, take notes, ask questions, go to his office…). I decided on everything, filled in the paper, and showed it to Dr. Olivero. Finally, I ran it by Jenny one last time and went to have lunch before Chemistry. The last two steps are getting Dr. Kain to sign on Monday and then running it over to records and registration! It's only this complicated for first-year honors students. Normally, you only need one person in your major to look at it.
And now, to my last description, I will share what SPRL is! The Space Physics Research Lab is all about compiling and organizing data that students and faculty collected while at the SPRL research station in the South Pole. I'm not the best at explaining it, but from what I can gather, they analyze spacial and solar particles that enter the earth's atmosphere at the magnetic south pole. If I botched that explanation, I'm sorry! I will be glad to amend it if I do get the job. It requires going through a 1-week training session and then if hired, working eight hours a week in the lab. It mostly deals with programming, but you may get to be part of the trip to the Pole the next summer. I will do my best at the training, and if God wants me to be in the program, I will be in the program. There's no reason why I shouldn't at least try to be in such an exciting and valuable experience. Plus, I manage my time well, so I do have several hours available to devote to such an endeavor. And for next semester, it looks like I will be taking 14 credits since the only other class would make it 17 and I can't go over 16. Now would be the best time to get involved in this before my classes get harder!
As usual- write me with any questions! Hope to hear from someone soon!
My e-mail: spencern@erau.edu
Check out pictures and video at my site: http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
(Does ANYONE have a virb.com account? I need more friends! :D)
That's all for now! Time to study chemistry!
Natalie Ann
October 8
Well, we've made it to the six-week mark. It's hard to believe, but nice to have the experience. I finally walk around campus as if I know where I'm going and what I'm doing. Whether or not that's always the case is another story…
Some days I have been so tired, but Thursdays and the weekends have saved my tired self. In Calculus 1, we've been moving along with more quizzes and derivatives and integrals. Honors Seminar has taken me through another film, Happenstance, and we're now reading A Fine Balance. Despite hearing all of the different sides, I have not changed my belief about the world and determinism vs. chaos. You'll have to ask me if you want to know! ;-)
By the way, I apologize for the extra "?" in the last entries. It was my good 'ol Auto Correct making :) into the smiley symbol which the webpage didn't recognize. So, :-) was me smiling. Ha.
Back to the class summaries: Graphical Communications has been more challenging but also more fun because we are working through CATIA. I can't believe all of the buttons and things you can do with the 3D parts. We have created some very nice-looking things. I only hope I can remember procedure should the test involve making something from scratch. I'll try to put up some pictures of my homework.
And of course I can't forget… Chemistry! I am finally beginning to feel a little bit better. I feel like it will be one of those classes you always hear about that you keep working hard and despite feeling like you failed, the grade is surprisingly good. At least, that's what I'm hoping! :-) So, I promised to tell you about the test. On the way to Chemistry two days after, I saw someone dressed in a costume in front of me. I thought, "Who is this weirdo?" It was a red and black grim reaper costume including the sickle. I looked down at his hands and they were wrinkly and clutching what appeared to be tests. "No way! It's Prof Cameron!" I started laughing and the whole class joined in when he opened the door. He proceeded to write that many of the test scores were lower than they should be. I was. It was the lowest grade I've ever seen on a test that belonged to me, but compared to not being able to finish quizzes, a C isn't terrible. It's just difficult for a perfectionist-type gal to see something lower than a 90-something. But don't worry, I'm no genius, and it's important that I learn to not be devastated by not getting A's. I have some very, very hard classes ahead! But, don't look at this and think there's no way you want to do Engineering Physics! Chemistry is my only hard class right now, so if you want to be an engineer and love space, go for it! Don't let anyone tell you that you can't! We have so many great resources like tutoring, fellow classmates, and patient
teachers- you would be just fine!
So I don't leave you with all negatives from Chemistry, here's the good news: In class on Friday, a miracle happened- I finally finished a quiz with the right answer and everything! I drew a sun on my paper and when asked why by Prof Cameron, I said, "I'm happy! I finally finished a quiz!" He smiled and walked away. I love my teachers.
On to EP 101: We had several interesting presentations and guests including quantum mechanics, NASA, and caution against drinking, drugs, and too-little sleep. This class is very helpful and interesting!
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go on the short retreat put on by Campus Outreach in St. Augustine on a Friday and Saturday.
We carpooled from the ICI center and stopped at Chipotle for dinner. I enjoyed the worship sessions and teaching time as well as playing board games into the evening while the best beat-boxer I've ever heard strutted his stuff. He did a great job of acting out things with it and included the gospel very well. To close everything off on the second day, we had a yummy picnic lunch in the windy, sandy beach area. The Embry guys had the idea to go to Deb's ice cream ( I forgot the name) where we had delicious gelati. It's like frosting ice cream with a layer of shaved ice and then another swirl of the ice cream. I got mango and it was delicious. It was also a blast getting to know more Embry Christians.
For the Honor's Society, I was able to go on a field trip to visit Piper Aviation Company in Vero Beach. I had to work extra-hard on Tuesday to make it possible by doing a Chemistry lab from 8-11 am, making up a Calculus quiz, and telling Dr. Olivero that I couldn't make EP 101 on Thursday.
A quick side-note on the lab: It was fun and interesting! It was nice to have a change of partner and such. I think the stirring tablet (magnetic) on the Bunsen burner with the magnetic stirrer is brilliant! We had a blast making the solution turn pink. I've never had Chemistry lab before, so it's been a struggle, but very exciting.
Good times.
Back to Piper: When we first gathered, I happily recognized one girl from Honor's Seminar and a guy from my floor. There wasn't much conversation on the way down, but I used the time to read and then daydream out the window. It was pretty overcast, but still warm as ever. We stopped in Vero Beach to throw away our box lunches and get a peek at the actual beach before driving back to the plant. The buildings took up a ton of space, but I'm used to Boeing, so they were small. The workers were all so close and the company was much smaller than I expected because of knowing their prestige. It was a delight talking to the different people who were kind enough to be our guides.
We even met several Riddle graduates. I was really impressed with their efficiency and planes. I had such a huge desire just to touch one and climb on in for a flight. I can't believe how much I miss flying! But, back to the trip, it did help me visualize the kind of job I could have. I love Boeing, but I also love a more intimate work experience. Boeing is huge! We paused to visit the gift shop and then take a picture by the Piper sign. I bought a cute Piper pilot teddy bear as well as a bright yellow classic Piper Cub T. I hope someone puts up the group picture we took. I promise to put it on my Virb.com site once I get it.
As for friends and down-time, I've enjoyed a little bit of both! I still call my parents several times each day. I know that surprises some people, but it's nice to hear what's happening back home and share my experiences.
After that infamous Chemistry test, my friend took me to Wal-Mart to get a new calculator that I needed and then we stopped at my favorite place: Sonic Drive-In! I got the fabulous French toast sticks and a sonic Blast with Reese's. It's nice to have a gift card (my parents gave it to me for graduation). I also have spent some time relaxing while watching all of the new TV shows of the season. It's so cool that we get free cable! And, every once in awhile, I drink tea and watch a movie. My room is a nice sanctuary after hard days and weeks.
Also keeping me interacting with others is Christian Fellowship Club.
One week, after a message on Job, we all went to CiCi's. Everything looked delicious, but I had already eaten dinner. The guys pigged out on pasta, pizza, and cinnamon rolls since it's all-you-can-eat Italian place. Back on campus, several of us played video games in O'Conner and laughed at YouTube videos. Fun, fun!
The flag football team I mentioned last time was cancelled, unfortunately. I guess I have to find another way to exercise. There's a little room with treadmills and bikes right by the bridge in the Student Village, so I should check that out. My friend and I ran on the beach one night, but I don't have a car, so that can't always happen.
In closing, one of the awesome things about college is the random events happening on campus. On the way back to the dorms, a friend and I saw a sign for free Smoothie King smoothies and an inflatable obstacle course and wall climbing. We entered a drawing for prizes, laughed our way through the course, and took a smoothie for the road.
The obstacle course was hilarious! You slide down one thing and the bounce launches you through the next. I slammed against the wall several times! That strawberry banana smoothie was lovely! :-)
Less than 5 weeks until my Dad visits; less than 7 weeks until Thanksgiving; and less than 10 weeks until I'm going home for Christmas break!
~~~~~
Well, hope my stories were organized enough for you! Please feel free to e-mail me any questions you have. Senior year, college applications, and decisions are difficult and I was just in those shoes!
My e-mail: spencern@erau.edu
As always, check out pictures and video at my site:
http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle
(If you have a Virb.com account, be my friend! :D)
Thanks for reading!
Natalie
September
Back to Top
September 24
Whew! I can't believe I've made it through four weeks of college! I'm already much better off thanks to more friends, more experience, and more opportunities.
Some of the longer days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) really wiped me out these past few weeks. But, I have a new strategy. I come back to the dorm for a relaxing lunch and to finish up little homework assignments. Then, after staying in Graphical Communications long enough to finish the assignment (Prof Sun instructs for the first hour, and then we can leave for the second if we wish. I stay because I get great 1-on-1 help from her. Plus, Chemistry is only an hour after that and in the same building, LB -Engineering-.), I sit on the cushy sitting area on the third floor listening to relaxing music so my mind's ready for Chemistry. May sound cheesy, but it's certainly working well so far!
I tried going to Jazz Band one Wednesday, but unfortunately, every Monday and Wednesday after that, I've had to do homework or go to some group meeting. I just don't know if I can really accomplish being in the band this semester. I miss playing my soprano sax very much, but school has to come first.
In recent weeks, I have finally been assigned my first papers. I finished both already to be prepared. Plus, writing comes easy for me, so I really enjoyed "cranking them out". The first was for Engineering Physics 101. I chose the topic of the Night Witches, the women Russian fighter pilots during WWII. Their story is amazing and it had to be told! I've actually seen one of the planes they flew at Paul Allen's National Heritage Collection in my home state of Washington. I really admire their piloting skills as well as extreme courage. The second paper was for my Honors Seminar class. Because of Scrooge and his negative Malthusian outlook on things, we watched "A Christmas Carol" in class and then were assigned to imagine the conversation between Ebenezer and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come should the ghost actually be Oedipus (from Oedipus Rex by Socrates), Edward Lorenz (from Chaos by James Gleick), or Thomas Hardy (writer of Convergence of the Twain). I really enjoyed writing a "what-if" kind of story about it!
I've also survived some quizzes and a test. Most had very good results, but one did not. For all, though, I studied to the best of my ability, and can have no regrets. It's not wise to judge your final grade or rest of your semester by the first quiz. I've had to keep telling myself that! :-) From talking to other students who also didn't start off the class well I have heard that they still got A's or B's. So, no worrying for me! One important thing to share with you: never be afraid to talk to the professor! I managed to earn 4 more points on my Calculus test by asking about the grading and explaining my answer.
Chemistry has had some ups-and-downs. As you can probably guess, I didn't do so well on the first quiz. But, two days later, I easily could've taken it and gotten 100%. Sometimes I feel like I'm always a step behind. But, other days were very victorious. I loved doing the take-home group quiz. It's what Prof Cameron fondly calls, a "booger" problem. I spent 2 ½ hours typing it up, color-coded and everything, after we solved it in record time. For putting the solution together as well as reporting on everyone's participation, I get 4 extra credit points! I've learned so much already and I have been getting help from so many different people that I look forward to doing well on the first test. I will be studying hard this weekend and praying hard before, during, and after the test on Wednesday! I'll let you know how it goes!
Some of my favorite days have been not only doing well in classes, but having fun, of course! Sundays are always wonderful. Each new week we meet more people who want to try Riverbend Community Church. I've also loved being in Christian Fellowship Club. I joined the worship team, so I do the female vocals now. I also go to Bible study every Thursday night. The past few Thursdays I've enjoyed going to the student center right after the study for Touch-N-Go's weekly movie presentation. I saw Pirates 3 and Fantastic Four 2. I've been shopping with my friends, forced to play Halo, watched a hilarious comedian DVD at a friend's house, and made a pyramid of people on the beach in the late evening. I've also had tasty Italian food for the Honors picnic, went to Baskin Robbin's for ice cream with CFC, and joined a flag football team for no other reason than fun and exercise! There's always so much to do, but I still have plenty of time not promised to people so I can relax and do homework when I need to.
The most amazing thing to me recently has been the weather. I've never dealt with rain quite like this before. It's so juicy and it comes down so hard! Very different from NW rain, that's for sure! My mom sent me a coat from REI, so I'm doing better. I always pack the coat, shorts, and an umbrella since it comes and goes so quickly.
Just in case some of you out there are curious about meal plans, I'll tell you what I like to do. I have 19 a week and almost always have 1-3 left-over to get cereal and drinks on Saturday. For breakfast, I eat in the buffet here in the student village. If I'm running out of time, I grab a breakfast bagel at Einstein Brother's and eat it on the way. For lunch, if I am staying "out" (i.e. away from the student village and just waiting for my next class), I get a panini and salad in the student center. If I come back, I grab a salad or sandwich from Einstein's. I love the Italian chicken and BLT sandwiches! :-) Finally, for dinner, it's a great social time to meet friends and hang out in the buffet. Free ice cream, duh!
I have much to look forward to in the coming weeks! I will be sure to tell you all about my latest adventures in my next journal entry. For now, I'll just give you an idea of what I'm trying to go to: Piper Aviation Company (Honors Society field trip), Halloween Horror Nights (Just for it being cheaper and going on rides, I don't care for haunted houses and stuff; Honors Society). And, I'm counting down the days until my dad visits! He's coming early November when we have a long weekend and Homecoming. I haven't decided what we should do yet, but I can't wait!
Until next time… goodbye four weeks!
September 14
Welcome to my online journal of life at Embry-Riddle. I hope you will find my stories helpful, informative, and interesting whether you are a current or prospective student, parent, or faculty member. Whew— quite a mouthful, but very true!
I certainly will never claim to be an expert on campus events, classes, etc… but I will do my absolute best to describe the activities of at least one freshman on campus— me!
So, let's get started! I have an exciting two weeks to recap:
Being a Washingtonian through-and-through, the trip to the opposite side of the country was quite a journey with "lay-overs" and such.
However, I count myself blessed considering that one of my suitemates in Wood Hall DROVE from Canada (north of WA). I did have a difficult time taking 18 years of accumulated stuff with me. Many things, of course, stayed at home.
When we finally picked up all of the baggage and the rental car at Jacksonville Intl., we stayed the night in St. Augustine. My sister graduated there from Flagler College last December, so we were very familiar with the area. It's always a blast to walk the streets of the beautiful old town and get delicious food and gifts from chocolate to purses to flip-flops (Can you tell this was written by a girl ;-) ).
We drove on to Daytona and stayed in a gorgeous hotel resort right on the beach. My mom got a great deal on the room and I enjoyed every minute of staying there! So, I highly recommend the Ocean Walk Resort to y'all (Look at me using southern words already!).
At the dinner for the Honors Program, we met some great staff from Riddle. I sat with a girl from Illinois named Kaleigh and her family since I hadn't met my roommate yet. Not much later, Kaleigh and I discovered we would both be on Wood floor 5 and be online journal writers. We are already good buddies. What are the odds? After the event, I finally met my Navy ROTC roommate- Kerry. We are very similar in that we both like quiet study and/or alone time and aren't interested in being big partygoers. We do, however, enjoy watching chick flicks and going to the beach with friends from the dorm, Facebook, classes, and/or ROTC. The best way to put it :-) We are outgoing in a non-irresponsible way!
By the way, the Honors Program is awesome- don't be afraid to apply!
You get priority registration (i.e. you pick the classes and teachers YOU want before anyone else. That way, they don't fill up before you can even breathe.), a free personal PC that comes equipped with GPS, great Honors Seminar classes where it's all about reading great literature and discussing deep topics, and you make close friends!
But, let's get back to my first week: Orientation was perfect for getting used to campus, getting all the information you could possibly want, and meeting other freshmen. I won some free things and had great food, too. Using up meal plans was unbelievably fun. We had 14 like normal, but because Orientation began on Wednesday, there were plenty of extras that we could use on drinks, snacks, cereal, fruit, and more!
Orientation came to a great end with the luau. Free t-shirts, Polynesian dancers, games, and BBQ… perfect! The next day, I enjoyed my last full day with my parents. We decided to drive back up to Saint Augustine to visit the Gator Farm. Fun, fun! How can you visit FL without seein' some gators?
Next, we stopped at a fancy seafood restaurant for dinner. Yum! And of course, the day ended at… Wal-Mart! It's just what every college student needs… and Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Linens & Things, and Target…
On Sunday, I couldn't believe it was almost time to say goodbye! We went to church at Riverbend Community and I was so pleased to find it felt like home. Many of their pastors went to the same seminary that ours did, so the teaching was right on. I know my faith in God will get me through these difficult but exciting years. My prayer is that I will be a testimony of Christ to everyone on campus.
I couldn't help but cry as I hugged my dad and mom goodbye. True, I will see them in four months (My dad in about two; he's coming the first week of November to visit.), but it was just the thought that I had a new home; that Arlington house will never really be part of my everyday life anymore. But, my family always will! Time, new friends, and cell phones made the separation easier, but it still wasn't a pleasant first week without them.
In celebration of completing the first five days of classes, Kaleigh and I walked to the nearby Volusia Mall. We don't have cars or bikes and it's not that far anyway. We found some great deals because of the Labor Day weekend. I had to eat at Chick-fil-A since we don't have those back home. Then, after more ROTC shopping for Kaleigh, we went across the street to Olive Garden. That's always been one of my favorite restaurants. It was starting to rain, so we quickly rushed back to the dorms.
On Sunday, I got a ride to Riverbend again. It was just what I needed after a week of new things and sometimes overwhelming experiences. I felt kind of alone, but at church, I met some more people from ER and we're going to start up a Bible study. Should be great! Plus, I've even been able to let people know about the Sunday services and a few from my floor are glad I can help them with carpooling. I'm very excited for next week!
Labor Day came and it was time to go to the beach! A guy I met on Facebook and at breakfast that day, Ben, was willing to take Caroline (girl on my floor) and I. The sun was out the waves were high… lovely! We even stopped at a bookstore and then a DVD/CD/Record store and found some great reads and flicks. I even got a nice gift for my dad.
(I won't say what it is since he might read this someday! :-) )
Enough about my weekend, I bet you want to hear about the classes.
Well, Calculus seemed daunting at first, but once I got used to Prof.
Spradlin's teaching style, I realized that I have experience with everything we'll be learning, so it should be a fairly comfortable review but also challenge me to become more apt. Most teachers put all of the assignments and grading rubrics on Blackboard (ER's online site), so it's not too hard to stay on top of things.
Engineering Physics 101 is a great class! It's like University 101, but obviously, for EP and Space Physics students. We get to know each other by doing introductions in the front of the class and are free to ask Dr. Olivero any questions we'd like. We will also hear from interesting guest speakers. The class actually ends before Thanksgiving and the only assignments are keeping a journal and writing a short paper on an aerospace subject.
I already spoke on the Honors Seminar classes, but I must mention my excellent teacher, Dr. Kain. He is very fun to listen to and does a great job of presenting points of view from all kinds of beliefs.
Graphical Drawing/CATIA for Engineers has also been fun. It only happens twice a week, but we learn about lettering correctly and how to make diagrams. This information will be very valuable for our future jobs in the industry! Professor Sun is very patient and very artistic. I'm excited to learn from her!
Chemistry is by far the most challenging class I have this semester.
Dr. Cameron knows what he is doing and expects us to be proficient at working chemistry problems. It is a huge learning curve for me, but I'm planning to go to tutoring as often as I need.
And I haven't been to a chemistry lab yet, but I'm very intrigued to see what I will learn in that once-a-week experience!
I apologize for the length of this excerpt, but I imagine I won't have quite as much to say once I get used to college life. Thanks for listening! Feel free to ask any questions or make comments. I'll do my best to get back to you!
I'm going to go check out the new fitness center. Looks amazing!
Until next time…
Natalie Ann
P.S. For plenty of photos and some video of my first few weeks at Embry, please check out: http://www.virb.com/erauladyeagle.
You can also use the site to ask questions and share your thoughts!
Hope to see you there!
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Name: Natalie 