What’s the first thing you think about right after you graduate high school: “What should I do now”? Hopefully you think about this question before you graduate because it makes it a lot easier, and even then the road can be challenging because you may change your mind. That is where I am at now. I knew I wanted to come to Embry-Riddle and I knew I wanted to fly, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life after college. When I sat down and weighed my options, I realized I didn’t want a piloting career; I just want to be a pilot for private use. So, my next decision was what degree would benefit me and would I enjoy it. I decided to go into the Aviation Business Administration degree program, but as I am taking a few more business classes this term I know that entrepreneurship is also not the career path I want to get in to. So, I recently switched to Global Security and Intelligence and it feels right! I am going to minor in Business (since I already have credits for it), psychology, and Asian Studies. I have always enjoyed psychology and forensics, so this degree program seems to fit my personality perfectly. I also love to learn new languages and it’s required to take a language in the Global Security and Intelligence degree program. I decided that I am taking Mandarin Chinese, but I am learning Arabic on my own, along with brushing up on my French (from high school), and learning some Spanish. I finally feel very excited about my upcoming classes and I know I will enjoy my future.

If you are not sure what degree program you want to get in to, don’t worry because you are not alone! Many people have no idea, even after they graduate college, they decide to go back and get a different degree. I would recommend just thinking about what makes you happy. What are your favorite subjects? Is there anything you are really good at? Would that be something you want to do for the rest of your life? I know we all think about salary, but how could you stand working 40+ hours every week at a job you dislike? I, personally, think working even more hours for a job you love to do with less pay is still better. I would rather wake up every morning happy for work, wouldn’t you?

One of the other big differences between Houston and Prescott is the humidity.  Houston is very humid, causing the heat index to soar in the summer.  Prescott, on the other had is much dryer.

The first experience that I had with a dry environment was when my family took a road trip vacation in the west. We drove from Houston to Los Angeles and stopped to see many sights in-between.  It was the summer and uncomfortably hot, but a most peculiar thing was happening.  As we looked out at the Petrified Forest of northern Arizona, our sweat actually started to evaporate.

“It may be hot, but at least it’s a dry heat,” my Dad told my family. We bought him a t-shirt with skeletons laying in the desert and the saying “But, it’s a dry heat.”

Prescott is considered to be high desert which results in an interesting mix of desert areas and forested areas, where the climate transitions from a Phoenix-like desert and the forests of Flagstaff.  Prescott is just about right in the center of the state of Arizona and just about halfway between Phoenix and Flagstaff, giving it an interesting mix of landscapes.

Living somewhere without humidity meant changing a few of my daily habits.  I fully anticipate that I will lose any male readers in the next couple paragraphs.

When I lived in Houston I never really needed Chap Stick or lotion.  If I used them, it was to make lips look glossy or because it smelled good.  When I moved to Prescott, my lips were almost instantly chapped and my skin got dry for the first time in my life.  During the winter of my freshman year, my skin got so dry that it began to crack and bleed.  “What on earth is going on?” I thought to myself.  Since then, I’ve learned to carry Chap Stick and lotion with me all the time.

The dry weather isn’t all bad though.  I could never get my curly hair to settle down in the humidity of Houston.  Most days I would just tie my hair back in a pony tail. In the dry weather of Prescott, every day is a good hair day. Even on windy days, my hair still looks great – it just has better volume.  When I tried to straighten my hair in Houston, it would be wavy again by the time I got to school.

I went through a phase sophomore year where I straightened my hair every day and it actually stayed straight all day.   The only downside is that I have to switch shampoos every time I go between Texas and Prescott.  Moisturizing shampoos for dry hair in Arizona and volumizing shampoos for normal hair in Texas.

I look at the climate difference as something to learn from.  I could have gone to Daytona Beach where the climate is very similar to home, but I came here because the climate is so different, and somewhat because snow is quite a novelty to me.  The season confusion is definitely something I can cope with as I learn to appreciate the experience that the different climate has to offer.

This season, our volleyball team truly exceeded everyone’s expectations!!  We went 7-12 in our regular season, which put us in fourth place for the conference tournament which was held in Houston, Texas!  This was the first time that Embry-Riddle Volleyball has gone into post-tournament play, and so it was kind of a big deal.  And it was soo amazing.  I love Houston anyway, and the weather was so beautiful (granted, a little humid…but still.)  The campus we played on was so pretty.  We were also within walking distance of a sweet little sandwich place that was pretty much amazing.  While we waited for our food (which was fantastic) we played Apples to Apples!!!!!  I loved it.  My favorite, however, was when we ate at Yao Ming’s restaurant.  It really is his restaurant, actually.  The doors are seriously nine feet tall and it is fancy schmancy.  Last time we were there we swore his parents were there!  They were so tall!!  Anyway, Mahina and I decided that we were going to eat a normal dish AND eat a whole plate of fried rice…. AND IT WAS HUUUUGE.  We felt soo sick, but we ate it all!  Kelsey backed out of our deal and jipped us five bucks, but that’s okay. 😛

Volleyball-wise, we played a team from Illinois, a team from Alabama, a team from Texas (who was hosting it), there was a team from Tennessee (yes they are all in our region… it’s a pretty big region!) and one from Phoenix, Arizona.  We won three games and put us in the semi-finals on day three of the tournament.  We lost to University of St. Thomas, the defending champion, who ended up beating the Phoenix team (Southwestern College) out in the championship.  It was one of our best games that we’d ever played though, so it was easier to handle the loss.  We still think we should’ve taken first, but there’s always next year!!

After the semi-finals, we packed up our stuff and drove from Houston to Austin, where we would fly home the next morning.  That night, however, a few of us decided to go have some fun!  We went down to 6th Street, and it was soo much fun.  There were so many shops and pizza places and horse-drawn carriages and different things to look at.  And SO many people!  It was crazy.  There was also a huge, huge, HUGE hotel right in the middle of 6th Street that looked like it belonged in the eighteen hundreds.  It would have looked right at home on Whiskey Row!  (with all of the intricate details on the building, that is… it probably would’ve stuck out since it’s so big!)  We had a great time just wandering around.

So Regionals (er, Conference… er, whatever) was great and we all had a grand ole time.  OH!  And……THE HARRY POTTER MIDNIGHT PREMIERE IS TONIGHT.  So I’m pretty much the happiest girl alive, what with having a great season and great times and a great movie.  So long!

“There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.”

-Salvador Dali

Living somewhere where it snows was an entirely new concept to me.  It just doesn’t snow in Houston, and if it does, it melts before it hits the ground.  My parents have some footage of a thin millimeter-thick layer of snow on the ground in my backyard when I was a baby, but I don’t ever remember seeing snow.

As a child, I was a little like the children in the original King and I who didn’t believe in snow.  As far as I knew it was something out of books and movies and it was so alien to me that I would have had no trouble believing that someone had simply made it up.

The first time I saw snow was when my high school took a winter break trip to Colorado.  We stayed in Keystone and visited Breckenridge.  It was like stepping into a movie.  I remember stomping around in my hiking boots fascinated by how the snow moved and sounded under my feet.  The southerner in me expected snow to feel like walking on piles of freshly picked cotton (I did actually play in piles of freshly picked cotton once as a child).  The crunch I felt when my boot first touched the snow was completely unexpected. The trip seemed magical.  Maybe that whole snow thing was real after all.

My first snow day was at Embry-Riddle freshman year.  I told my family that although, technically I was an adult now, it was definitely not too late to experience the magic of a snow day for the first time in my life.  One of my freshman roommates was from Florida, and also fascinated by the snow day. She took one of the signs that said “Class Canceled Until 12:40” and put it on the wall in her room.

First time I saw in snow in Prescott - Finals December 07

AXFAB covered in snow

My Texan Ford covered in snow

Me super excited about a light dusting of snow freshman year

Since freshman year, as I’ve spent less and less time back home, I’ve gotten used to and grown to love the weather in Prescott.  If you’d asked me where I wanted to move after graduation at the end of my sophomore year, I’d have told you Houston – so I can get the heck out of the cold.  Now, I am very open minded about where I go and I’m excited to experience different climates and cultures.

So, this blog is overdue, but I know you all want to hear about it!

I’ve paid bills.  I’ve done homework.  I’ve gone grocery shopping.  And I’ve had volleyball every single weekend.  So, I decided to take a little break on Halloween and have some fun!  On Halloween night, Steven and I went down to Flagstaff for a Halloween dance!  It was soo much fun.  We met many crazy characters, including Lucy Pevinsie from The Chronicles of Narnia, Buddy the Elf (AMAZING!!), and Raggedy Anne!  (I’m actually not sure how you spell that.  But that’s okay.)

We travelled to Flagstaff on Friday night, got to the dance a little late (due to an extra credit comedian act that I attended!) but we still got there right when the partay began!  We loved meeting new people.  Here are some pics (courtesy of Steven, of course):

Here we are with Lucy!  Er, Erin dressed up as Lucy!  With Aslan on her arm.  Ha.  (I was Sleeping Beauty….get it?  Pajamas and a crown?…. and Steven was a… ghost?  With an eyepatch.  Bahahaha!)

We were both pretty excited to see Buddy the Elf.  I was ecstatic, actually.  Obviously.

And Steven and I.  BOO!

We had so much fun, and it was a weekend well spent!!

“Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days.”  -Author Unknown

One of the fascinating things about Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott is how few students are from Arizona.  The vast majority of Embry-Riddle students are from out of state or from another country.

Each student has a very different perspective of the weather in Prescott.  To me, a native Texan, the weather was really cold.  This blog entry is my story of adjusting to the different climate in Northern Arizona.

For the first nearly 19 years of my life, I lived just north of Houston, Texas in a town named Spring.  The story I was told about the naming of my hometown was that as settlers moved in from the coast they migrated out of the coastal plains and into the piney woods region.  As they reached the piney woods, all of the Texas wildflowers were blooming and they founded a railroad town called Spring. Spring, Texas is humid and warm for most of the year.  Until I left for school I didn’t really know anything else.

In Houston we joke that we have a couple weeks of fall, a couple weeks of winter, a couple months of spring, and nine months of summer.

Prescott actually has seasons.  Back home, during our two weeks of fall, the leaves usually just turn brown and fall to the ground.  There are few trees that actually change color.  Freshman year when the leaves on the trees were actually changing colors in Prescott, I collected several of them and pressed them between the pages of my text books. I then mailed them to my parents, instructing them to tape the leaves to the trees in our front yard to make all of the neighbors jealous.

Depending on which student you talk to, Prescott isn’t that cold at all.  During October, it is usual for the high temperatures to be in the 60’s and the low temperatures to be in the 30’s or 40’s. These are temperatures that I associate with the dead of winter in Houston.  We’ll occasionally get temperatures that cool or colder in Houston, but it’s much later.

I didn’t have any winter clothes when I started at Embry-Riddle at it was super cold.  Since then, I’ve stocked up.

I always find it funny when my friends talk about how warm it is.  My roommate freshman and sophomore year grew up just outside of Chicago, and she told me that November in Prescott feels like spring in Chicago. Sophomore year a group of my friends from all over the country was shocked to hear that I had never experienced a white Christmas. When the weather got down to highs in the 60s I was bundled up.  I got teased a little for it by Coloradans in t-shirts and shorts.

My friends were always teasing me about how cold I thought it was freshman and sophomore year.  I bought a puffer jacket and heavy wool coat at the beginning of freshman year with every intention of wearing them right away.  My roommate from Chicago asked me if I was crazy because it really wasn’t very cold out.  I told her I was from Texas, to which she threw her head back, laughed at me while shaking her head, and muttered “Texans.”

Telling people that I am from Texas usually makes them say “ah,” in understanding and acceptance of my foolish ways.  Sophomore year I went into the grocery store with my puffer jacket on.  The lady at the checkout asked me if it was really that cold out and looked out the window as if searching for the blizzard.  I told her that I was from Texas, so yes it was very cold out.  She laughed and said that she guessed it would be.

Chilling in my puffer jacket

The weather in Prescott tends to mess with my head.  Every year when the temperature changes in October, it tricks my subconscious into thinking that it’s time to put up the tree and start singing Christmas Carols.

The climactic differences between Prescott and Houston have caused me to contract a serious case of season confusion.  My weather and holiday associations are all muddled up.  I can never tell when one season is starting and when another is ending.  It feels like winter from October until April, with my previous winter experiences, and I it is very confusing.   My freshman roommate from Chicago had season confusion for the opposite reasons.  To her it just wasn’t cold enough to be the holidays yet.

Times have been just crazy. A few weeks ago, ERAU gifted its students with a much needed 3 day weekend. Logically, one might assume that students would take this time to rest, relax and prepare for the next stretch. That is always my plan going in to three day weekends, however, it never works out.

Thursday night ended and Friday morning had come. It had been a blissful morning of waking up at 9:00 AM rather than the usual 7:00 AM. (Although, I wake up at 7:00 every morning automatically, and I have to convince my body to go back to sleep if I want to sleep in.) I walked downstairs and began to figure out how I was going to spend my day, to start to decide which bits of homework I would do first.

Then the call came. My friend Wild Bill, who is beginning to become a recurring character in this blog, told me I needed to pack my bags because we were going to Las Vegas for a night. After a few minutes of futile arguing, I finally agreed. My logic was, “life is short”. So, Trevor Wilcher (T-Bone) came and picked me up. We grabbed some T-Bell and hit the road.

The drive was fairly entertaining. We spent most of it rocking out to XM Radio, until about an hour outside of Vegas when the energy ran out. Once we had checked into our hotel, however, the energy picked back up. We went out, walked the strip and took in all the sights. I’m sure we burned a lot of calories that night, because we ended up walking almost the entire strip. We got to visit what are my favorite hotel/casinos in Vegas by far, the Wynn and the Encore. They are incredibly classy and have no outside show/gimmick to give it fame. It just oozes class. We also watched the fire show at the Mirage. You could just feel the heat radiating off of the pyrotechnics. The next morning, we ate a delicious pizza buffet at CiCi’s Pizza. I put down at least 6 plates, amazing my friends. I have a very special stomach. It basically doesn’t feel anything. I have the ability to either go hours without eating, be satisfied by just a snack, or pile in a massive amount of food. My stomach is basically elastic.

My Future Whip

The Adventures of Brandon in Paris.

I'm like a chill Jane Goodall

Shenanigans a la MGM Grand

This last weekend, I got to go on a Recruiting trip for Embry-Riddle. I left for the airport in Phoenix at 5:00 AM. That’s wayyyy too early. However, by that afternoon, I had arrived in Chicago (my first time there), met Rob, the admissions rep and checked in at the hotel. We went out and ate at an Irish Pub, and I ordered the strangest sounding thing I could pick out, the bubble and squeak. Apparently it’s fried potatoes and cabbage which was, strangely enough, quite good. After dinner, we went and watched a performance of the Blue Man group. It’s really an incredible show, and you should see it if you get the chance. One instance, they used strobe lights in conjunction with uv lights and a gyrating mass of toilet paper and I almost became nauseous.

The next day we gave a presentation to a group of fine, young potential ERAU students. It went very well, and we flew to Minneapolis right afterwards. In Minneapolis, we got upgraded to the executive suite free of charge. The room was amazing, as it had 2 stories to it and was on the 31^st floor. I decided to go out and walk the streets and Halloween is alive and well in Minneapolis. The streets were packed full of adults running around in their costumes. There were no Jersey Shore costumes, which gives me hope for the city of Minneapolis. I did, however, see a lot of Lady Gagas, a team of Shake Weight enthusiasts, the cast from Mario cart, an unusually large amount of Waldo from “Where’s Waldo?” and a large group of men dressed as Canadian Mounties that walked around yelling, “EH!” The next day, we gave our final presentation and headed on home.

The Presentation Room a la Hilton

At the bottom of these stairs is a sign that says "Champions Only".

Typical ERAU Dorm Room. LOL. Just jk.

The most recent development in my apartment is the addition of a litter of kittens. This is strange because we don’t own a cat. While watching TV, I heard the sound of Mewing. Running outside, I expected to find two cats fighting. I heard nothing. Returning inside, however, I began to hear the sounds again. Following the sounds, I was led to the garage where I found a litter of kittens in the bottom of a cardboard box. We have no idea what to do with them.

I'm more of a dog person, but... CUTE!!!

Me and a group of my friends dressed up as characters from Phineas and Ferb. From Left to Right: Phineas Flynn, Ferb Fletcher, Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb's Sister), Jeremy Johnson(Candice's boyfriend), and Buford Van Stomm (the bully). Perry the Platypus can be seen peaking out from the cabinet above the group

College students celebrate Halloween in many different ways.  Some still go trick or treating, some party, some stay at home watching scary movies.

This year for my Halloween, I spend most of the weekend working on homework (about 15 hours total).

I did take a break on Saturday night to make an appearance at my friend’s party as Candace Flynn, the sister from Disney’s Phineas and Ferb.  The group who was hosting the party and myself are all big fans of Phineas and Ferb, and did this as a sort of tribute to the general silliness of the show.

The party was pretty chill.  There was a fire pit out back and beer pong going on in the garage, which is pretty typical of most college parties.  I only had one drink because I knew I had a lot to do the next morning, and needed to get home at a decent time.  For most of the party I played Apples to Apples with a small group in the kitchen.

I also celebrated Halloween by carving Jack-o-lanterns with one of my friends.  Check them out:

On Halloween I spent most of the day working on my preliminary design project.  I then went home and watched “Jaws” while I did Control Systems Analysis and Design homework.  Thus is the life of an engineer… at least during senior year.  Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior year were much less hectic… 🙂

I only have one class on Thursdays, so this Thursday I decided to take a leisurely morning.  So I slept in later than I have all semester – until 8:00 a.m.

Since I didn’t have to be anywhere or do anything until 1:00, I watched a movie while I was getting ready, had French Toast for breakfast and made it out the door around 10:00.You get very few leisurely mornings as an engineering student due to the demands of your classes, so I relished in the time I had to “chillax.”

I stepped into the Senior Design Lab around 10:15, began to get settled at one of the stations with the dual monitors, and turned on the computer.  The computers on campus always take a long time to boot up first thing in the morning, so if you can find one that has already booted up, you usually go for that one.

As the computer slowly loaded, I got out my binder for preliminary design, refreshed myself on deadlines, and began to create a to do list for my work session.

Finally, the login screen appeared and I typed in my username and password.  “Loading your personal settings…” the computer told me.  Only about a minute left until I could use the computer.

Then suddenly the buzzing of the computers and engineers hard at work died with the lights.  The power was out.  It was dead silent before one of the engineers dramatically screeched “I don’t remember the last time I saved! I’ve lost all my data.”  Other engineers commented on how far along they were in their work.

Then it was quiet again, the quietest I’d ever heard it in the design lab. One of the students commented on how lame it was that “no one in the lab had enough of a life to leave, and that they were just going to sit at the computers waiting for the power to turn back on.”

Shortly after that, the conversation in the design lab turned to politics and whether or not California should legalize marijuana. There were very strong and passionate arguments on either side of the topic.

I pulled my net book out of my backpack and started checking my email.  About 1/3 of the students in the lab pulled out their own laptops.  “I only have 30 minutes of battery left!” I announced in panic to the inhabitants of the design lab, which responded by laughing.

After I’d sorted through junk mail and responded to other emails, I decided to head home. There were still about 15 people sitting in the dark design lab when I left.

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for Code Red, the campus’s emergency notification service which calls and texts students about campus closures and emergencies.  I received a call from them letting me know the power was out on my way back from campus, which made me laugh.

It’s amazing how much of our lives depend on electricity and without it, the campus pretty much shuts down and the engineers don’t know what to do.

The power was back on in time for class, and life pretty much went back to normal; but for a short time I, as an engineer, with my life on a computer, simply didn’t know what to do.

FRIDAY

Once again, my blog entry begins with me walking out of my Chinese class. 很好！This weekend, I’ve got very special activities planned. I will be leaving the PRC with my friend Kevin Johnson, A.K.A. Wild Bill Johnson, and heading up to Durango, CO. I’ve randomly stuffed some clothes in a book bag, and shortly after Chinese we are sitting in his Toyota Tacoma preparing to cross Northern AZ, or “shoot the Rez” as we like to say. As we drive through Flagstaff, we see a massive train derailment on the side of the road. Wild. Not only that, we see an RV dealership that has been torn to pieces. RVs are flipped to and fro. They lay upside down and gutted like empty sardine cans that some giant has tossed aside. In Tuba City, AZ, we stop to get a Taco Bell fix. It is at this point in time that I learn that Taco Bell has unveiled new sauce flavors. If you’re a Taco Bell fan like me (and like most every other busy student at ERAU who travels to the T-Bell down the street far more than is appropriate or healthy) you must be excited by this development. They have introduced “Fire-Roasted” and re-introduced “Verde”. I still remember the day I learned Taco Bell wouldn’t be making Verde anymore. This is a very important topic for me. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful.

Upon arrival in Durango, Kevin and I went straight to his Alma Mater to watch the Durango Demons play the Blue and White team (Whatever they were) on the gridiron. We actually went to watch his sister dance, but it was nice to see some high school football since I haven’t had a chance to watch my hometown team play since coming to ERAU in 2007. Kevin’s sister did a wonderful job at dancing.

Afterwards, we all went to one of the most delicious Pizza Place’s in the world to eat some supper. “Homeslice Pizza” is soo good. Run by a bunch of hippies, they boast a wide variety of delicious pizzas from Thai Chicken pizza with chicken and peanut sauce to Autumn pizza with apples and cashews. For the rest of the night, we played around with toys in his dad’s shop. We set up a smoke machine and shined lasers through it, we shocked ourselves with electricity and moved a giant TV (this will be important later in the story).

SATURDAY

Slept in. Best thing ever. You take these opportunities when you get them. Kevin’s parents made us some awesome biscuits and gravy and we got ready for the day. We pulled out a couple of dirtbikes and got them started up. Once we’d gotten them started, we climbed on and drove to the top of the big hill that Kevin’s house lays on. On the way down, we stopped by an old water pump for cattle and pumped out some ice cold, clear mountain water. I drank some and haven’t gotten stomach parasites yet, so I guess it was good water. We then set about cleaning out the shop. The giant CRT TV we had moved the day before was to be put into a dumpster, but, it’s pretty much impossible for us to leave well enough alone. We decided it would be necessary to test the thickness of the glass. I began to smash it with a cinder block. The TV annihilated the cinder block. Kevin then took a steel rod to it. That finally did the trick.

Later that night, Kevin’s family had some neighbors over for ribs and we set some old branches on fire. I love fire. We also set up some targets and shot at them with .22 tracers. Kevin made a ridiculous 30ish meter shot with a pistol on his first try.

SUNDAY

Sunday was pretty incredible. We decided to load up some cooking gear and ride dirtbikes to the top of a mountain. This made me pretty nervous as, prior to this point, I had only built up about 30 minutes of motorcycle driving time. None of this time adequately prepared me for what was about to occur. Sitting up on a Honda 600, I began the ride easily enough. It was a nice flat, dirt road and a lovely day. Soon, however, I began to realize I might be in for a rough time. The bike path suddenly dove into the woods and turned to nothing but grapefruit sized rocks. I would carefully navigate down the path until I reached the bottom, which was almost always a stream, with or without obscene amounts of mud. It was like riding a bucking bronco. I had never experienced anything like it. The rocks would toss me from side to side and every time I hit a switchback, I felt like I was knocking on deaths doorstep. And the big 5 foot wide 1 foot deep mud puddles? Forget about it. I was sliding all over the place. I rode pretty well, but eventually, the path got so rough that I was outclassed and had to switch to a four wheeler. I only fell three times though, and I broke no limbs. I would consider that a success. It was definitely worth it though, the views were absolutely spectacular.

At the crest of the mountain, we stopped and cooked up some burritos on portable stoves. The drive down the mountain was much simpler. I plugged into my iPod and tuned the world out. It was pretty magical riding along in the colors of the CO wilderness listening to the sounds of the Silversun Pickups.

It was a wonderful weekend, but school beckoned to us, so Monday we packed up the truck and drove back to the PRC. We both had a midterm that night in Business Law, so we spent the 6 hour drive studying. So much studying.