Valentine’s day is this weekend, and for a little fun and preparation, the “Date Doctor” David Coleman came onto campus a few weeks ago. The movie “Hitch” was based on this guy, and he really knew what he was talking about. Everyone was laughing the whole time, and it was my favorite campus activity so far this year.
This past week we had our first snowday! Everyone think Arizona is all desert and saguaro Cacti, but there is definitely more to it than that. Prescott is located higher up in the mountains than Phoenix, and yes, we do get all four seasons. It usually only snows a lot once or twice a year, so the town shuts down when the snow starts to build up.
The entire campus went crazy when the snow started to stick the night before, and everyone ran out of their dorms to play in the snow. it wasn’t long before the parking lots got too icy to drive, but everyone was perfectly fine havign fun on campus.
When there is a snow day, the school has an extension for students to call to find out about any cancellations. It’s really helpful when I’m trying to decide whether to wake up or not!
Classes are going well, I just had my first psychology test on media, persuasion, mass communication and conformity. I did really well. I am working on the first assignment for Microeconomics, and it’s going slow but I understand everything so far. I have a midterm in my Islam: Origins class next week, and my first test in geography. Wish me luck!
I leave for Vegas tomorrow and I have a lot to do before then! I’ll write about how it was when i get back!

Today my classes are about 15 minutes longer than my Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes, which can sometimes take a toll on my attention span.
At noon I have Intro to Geography with Dr. Vuk. It is a lecture style class where he often shows videos, powerpoints and different applicable websites. So far we have covered a lot, and the first test is coming up sooner than I expected. I have a lot of tests approaching over the next few weeks, and they always seem to come in groups.
Right after Geography, I go straight to Business Communications with Dr. Theis. His class is very discussion oriented, and he is always encouraging us to talk about our answers, our thoughts and insights within the class. The class always seems to go by much quicker than the rest of my classes. We have 3 portfolio projects due, and while they aren’t extremely difficult, they involve new types of writing such as writing a “bad news” letter or a donations request.
This semester is definitely going to get stressful as it progresses. I already have three professors asking for some intense papers. By the end of the semester I will have written at least100 pages worth of work, which is a huge step up for me.
Film club is going well and the Video Yeark book is going to be great. I am considering running for office in SGA, but I am trying to figure out my schedule for next year before I commit. I anticipate that my classes will only get harder as I go, so I need to take that into account.
I have a lot of homework to finish before classes start today!

This semester has already been challenging, and we are only three weeks in! My classes are much more enjoyable, but there is so much more to learn. Many of them are upper-level classes, so this semester is going to a lot harder than last.
on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have: Islam Origins, with Dr. Jones, Social Psychology with Lohn, And Microeconomics with Dr. Carreras.
Dr. Jones’ class is mainly a lecture class. We have had one small paper due so far, and I racked my brain over it. It was only three pages, which I should have been able to do no problem, but for some reason I had way too much trouble (maybe i’m a little rusty?)
The class is very interesting, and it definitely gives me a new point of view on another religion and culture.
I knew I would enjoy Social Psych because I have always found psychology interesting. The class is a mix of discussion and lecture, but either way I find myself interested the entire time. we have already done one observational study on the public, and it really is amazing the ways in which people behave.
I only have Microeconomics on Mondays and Wednesdays. So far, it is one of my favorite classes. I have always been warned about how hard Dr. Carreras’ class is, and while it may be fast paced, I love it. His classes are lecture-style, and he constantly asks questions and includes students throughout. While the subject is not the most entertaining, Dr. Carreras has a way of making the class go by quickly, getting the information across in an understandable way and keeping the whole class laughing.
This semester I am presidet of the Film Maker’s Club. We produce the video yearbook each year, and I’m scared I won’t do a very good job, but I’m trying my hardest. We have a lot of fun and try not to take ourselves to seriously.
The Superbowl is this weekend, and I’ll be going down to Scottsdale with one of the roommates to go shopping on Saturday, have a nice dinner and stay overnight to watch the Superbowl on a friend’s Big screen TV on Sunday. It’s going to be a fun weekend!

So the break is almost over, I move back into the dorms tomorrow, and I have way too much laundry.I have barely been home to just relax this entire break, so I’m letting today be my lazy day: I am still in my pajamas and not ashamed!
I’ve done alot of traveling over the holidays. Immediately after finals I flew to Seattle with my mom, and not even a week later I found myself on a plane to Rochester, NY.
My Dad’s entire family lives in Rochester in upstate New York, and it’s always fun to go visit, but I have never visited in the winter time or during Christmas. It was FREEEEEZZING!!!! The weather in AZ is usually so mild, the coldest it gets on most winter days isn’t usually much below 30. It snowed like crazy, the most snow I have ever seen and I had my first “white Christmas!”
We spent night after night visitng family, having huge Christmas dinners and reunion parties with my dad’s childhood friends. For a vacation, we didn’t get much of a rest.
The sunday after Chistmas we rented a car and drove up to Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Toronto is probably my favorite city. It is relatively safe, clean with tons of stuff to do. I am even thinking I might want to move there one day, though it is extremely cold.
In Toronto we met up with one of my dad’s friends (also an ERAU alumni who now flies for US Airways) and saw a comedy show. It was hilarious, and we didn’t stop laughing the whole time.
Afterwards we walked over to the CN tower, and took an elevator all the way to the top. The building had a glass floor so you could see all the way down to the ground below, it was a little shocking how high up we were.
The next day we drove back south to Niagra Falls. I have been a few tiems before, but everytime I see it I am reminded of how incredibly awe-inspriring the falls really are. The view from our hotel room was gorgeous, thirty florrs up looking right onto the falls.
After going back to Rochester, My dad took a few of us to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra, an awesome rock/orchestra/laser light show. I loved it, but my aunt didn’t appreciate the rock music aspect of it quite as much as the rest of us did.
We spent New Years eve at my Grandma’s house, watching the news and going to bed early. wooooooooo!
But I am finally home, getting a chance to do absolutely nothing. I bought myself a longboard the other day (Merry Christmas to me!) and now I am trying to learn how to ride it, so we’ll see how that goes.
Classes start soon, and I can’t wait for this semester! I miss my roommates and I’m glad they are all coming home within the next two days. I’ll let you know how the semester goes!

I just got home yesterday from a trip to Seattle, Washington. I had a blast!
I flew out on the thirteenth, right after everyone was finished with finals. My mom picked me up from the airport and we went straight to our old hotel in the middle of downtown Seattle. While it wasn’t the fanciest hotel, it was very “interesting

I’m so thankful finals are over! They weren’t as stressful as I was expecting, but I definitely did my fair share of studying.
Everywhere on campus students were stressing out about their Semester finals. The library was packed as people finished up papers, projects, presentation and last minute studying.
My COM 219 Speech final was a persuasion speech and a small analysis of the speech attached. I don’t know why, but I panicked when I had to give my speech and was very nervous. My speech was about the over medication of today’s youth. I had worked so hard on this speech, I literally did hours of research and felt confident about the subject, but when I stood in front of the class, I got so nervous I read my speech right of the paper and spoke so fast my speech was over in only about 3 minutes. I sat down feeling terrible about it, and stressed about it until I got my grade. But, it turns out the speech wasn’t as terrible as I had anticipated. Even though I was nervous, and did read too fast, I still got an A. I am so proud of myself; I am a much better speaker now than I was before, and feel much more confident in my abilities.
The BA201, Principles of Management final wasn’t much different than the normal exams, but it was a comprehensive final with extra short answer questions. I found the study guide extremely helpful, and I found myself constantly reading it. When it came time to take the test, I really was confident this time. It didn’t take me long, and I only faltered on one or two questions. At the end of the day, I aced that test also.
As always, I stressed out a lot over my PSY101 Intro to Psych final. The exams in that class, while difficult, helped me learn the material. It was one of my favorite classes and subjects, making the final less painful. It took a long time, and my hand cramped more than once, but I did well and was able to remember all of the material I had learned. Because I enjoyed that class so much, I am taking Social Pysch this Spring Semester, and I am really looking forward to it.
But, the final that stressed me out most was definitely my IT109 final. I am relatively skilled with computers, so I figured I could take the Intro to Computers class online. While the lessons were easy to learn, the assignments step by step and straightforward, and the professor more than willing to help, I struggled in that class, mostly due to laziness. (DON’T BE LAZY!!! I LEARNED THE HARD WAY!!) So when it came to the final, I knew I had to do well or it would be impossible to do better than a “C.

I just got done with our Thanksgiving break, and I have to say, I had an aboslutely amazing weekend, one I will never forget.
My dad and I had alot of people over to eat, we ended up roasting two turkeys and deep frying another (if you have never had a deep fried turkey, they are absolutely amazing!) We made five POUNDS of mashed potatoes and about another five pounds of stuffing. We had twelve people, mostly ERAU students who weren’t going home, over to eat, and almost everybody brought desert, and sadly, we were much too full to eat most of it.Two of the students brought their guitars with them and played music after dinner. The whole day was just so relaxing.
Friday morning after dinner my dad and I drove up to Chinle, Arizona. It’s a small town on the Navajo Reservation. Our close family friend and ERAU Alumnus Arlando invited is to go to his family reunion there.
It was a very long drive, but as soon as we got there we knew it was worth it. We drove through pieces of Monument Valley and went by Meteor Crater.
The family reunion was so nice, even though we aren’t related we felt completely welcome by the time we left.
Right outside of Chinle is Canyon De Chelly. The canyon is one of the most beautful places I have ever seen. It was breathtaking! You are only allowed into the bottom of the canyon if you have a Navajo guide with you, and Arlando was more than happy to show us around.
He drove us into the canyon and showed us his land and his family’s land. Right next to his mother’s land is a place called newspaper rock. It is a cliff face COVERED in pertoglyphs. It is something most people will never see, and I could have reached out to touch it.
Canyon de Chelly has been home to the Anasazi and Navajo for hundreds, even thousands of years. Ruins lined the canyon, some of them were up to three stories tall even after they had started to fall apart.
The drive out was hard. There was alot of quicksand, water and mud. At times we thought we weren’t going to get back without help, but the truck made it through. It looked pretty cool in the process too!
Later that night, we were honored with a special Blessing Way ceremony done by a medicine man. The entire family sang and prayed for us. Even though it was in another language, the pure emotion could be easily understood. They sang songs of protection, focus, healing and other things.
When the ceremony was over we went to something called a Yebiche dance. I believe it’s an ancient healing dance. The dancers wore traditional costumes with masks, fur, branches and ribbons hanging from their arms. There were singers in the Hogan singing all night. The entire ceremony was hypnotic.
It will always be one of my favorite memories, something I will never forget. I got to experience things most people will only read about.
At night the temperature dropped drastically, and the heater in our camper was broken! We were sleeping in a 35 degree trailer, which isn’t that bad, but definitely not comfortable. I had to used three sleeping bags and I layered alot. The mornings were even worse though.
On the way back to Prescott we stopped at the Little Painted Desert, which was beautiful as well.
So I’m finally home, and I have to get ready for my finals. It seems like everyone came home from break with some sort of sickness, and I am not the exception. It’s going to be hard to get back into focus, but not impossible. Wish me luck!

It’s time for Spring ’09 registration and everyone is stressing out. It honestly is like a race for classes. The College of Arts and Sciences requires that all of its students see their advisor before they can register for classes online. This is because they really want students to see their advisors at least once a semester and keep communication open.
I guess I didn’t pay enough attention to my emails and reminders, because I had no idea about any of this.
My roommate Kim even woke me up this morning yelling at me to register, and I stressed out along with everyone else; not only do I not have a major yet, I had no idea what classes what I wanted to take! I went to see my advisor, and she helped out alot. Everytime I have been to see her she’s shown me all of my options and really worked with me to get what I needed.
I have all afternoon classes again, which really works out great for me considering my sleep schedule. I’m also planning to get an on campus job, which would mean I need a block of time designated for work, so having all afternoon classes really helps.
I am taking 15 credit hours (5 classes): Business Communications, Social Psychology, Intro to Geography, Arabic and Middle Eastern Culture and Micro Economics. Most of these classes seem interesting or helpful to me, so next semester should be really good.
Everyone keeps asking me about my major. I am part of the small percentage of students on campus who are Still Exploring (undecided) and I am having alot of trouble choosing a major. right nwo I am going back and forth between GSIS and ASP. The three minors I would choose in ASP would be Business, Psychology and Arabic Studies. The only problem with that is, I don’t know what path to take after college with those.
Today definitely gave me alot to think about!

This week has been extremely eventful…
My classes are getting to be a little more stressful as the semester goes on, but it is nothing I can’t handle!
I finally had my third Psychology test today. Professor Lohn’s tests are some of the harder tests I’ll have to take this semester. I studied all week and I think I did pretty well today.
It was twenty-five open ended questions, and the answers had to be really detailed.
I have the class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4:10 until 5:10 . Because it’s such a late class on Friday’s we have discussions, contests and videos instead of lectures, which definitely helps keeping the entire class awake! We have only had a few homework assignments, all relatively short essays.
The class is alot of fun, and the discussions we have are always hilarious, which makes the really hard tests alot easier to handle.
Now that the test is over tonight, I think I’ll probably finish some other homework, practice my first persuasion speech and then hang out with friends.
Tonight is Karaoke Night at Buffalo Wild Wings in Prescott Valley about 15 minutes away. It is always alot of fun watching everyone sing, but i’m not really the singing type. (I think the rest of the restaurant would appreciate it if I didn’t sing too!) I am most likely going to go tonight, but I need to go to bed early.
I have only been to bed early once since the semester started, most days I stay up until about 1 or 2 in the morning. (I know! I know! it’s not good for me!)
The other day Sean, Daniel, Katie, Christina and I made a random trip to ASU to help out our friend.. He wanted to stay with a friend before flying home out of Sky Harbor, so we all made it a road trip to drop him off. What was supposed to be a three hour trip ended up lasting five hours!!!!!!! We left at 9:30 p.m. and had a blast the whole way down… at least until we realized how far in the wrong direction we went. We all started to get a little cranky (well, at least I did) at how lost we were but we ended up figuring out where we were, but we still didn’t get back until about 2 in the morning. In the end we had a blast even though we all got a little tired and hungry.
I’m getting excited for Thanksgiving and the holidays, after all it’s already almost Halloween. the semster is half over and it really feels like it just started!

I have decided to go to Emrby Riddle because i have grown up in the area. I have not yet chosen a major, but I think I am going to choose GSIS.
Orientation was last Thursday, and wow things are awesome now.

Moving in only took a few hours, and it was exciting meeting all the roommates. The room is alot bigger than I thought it would be, and it even has a stove top, microwave and refridgerator. In the loung there is a place for a T.V. but after we all got settled, we realized none of us brought one! Oops, I guess we’ll survive.

I love my roommates. Before I met them I was worried we wouldn’t get along and we wouldn’t have anything in common, but as far as I’ve seen, they are awesome. My roommate is from Vermont, but I also have suitmate’s from Salt Lake City, Boston, Northern Az and Orange County.
Starting my classes was extremely nerve racking. I’m taking 5 classes this semester:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday I hace UNIV 101 and PSY 101.
Tuesday’s and Thursday’s I have COM 219, BA 201 and IT109.

I am most excited about my Psychology and Management classes. I think these will be the most helpful for me no matter which path I decide to take.
After going to my first IT109 class (which is a basic computers course) I decided to change into the online section of the class. I am really glad I have this option because I am already really good with computers, so this means i can get through the class faster.