This year has been hectic so far. Not only am I now an MSIII in the Army ROTC program here at ERAU, I am taking some difficult classes and trying to adjust living in a new apartment with two of my friends. I feel though that despite the heavy workload, jam-packed schedule and copious amounts of reading I have to do, this year will get even tougher. So far the other Army cadets and I have been placed in charge of leading Eagle Company under the supervision of our cadre and MSIV’s. So far I have been the platoon sergeant and squad leader but my toughest role is going to surface when the most difficult part of our semester rolls around, the Fall FTX. I’m a bit anxious for that but I hope it will be alright.

Classes so far are great, I am taking History of Terrorism (been looking forward to this since freshman orientation), Studies in Global Intelligence I, Information Protection and Computer Security and some more classes. They are all interesting and I can’t wait to take my Counterintelligence course next year! Because this year has been so jam packed I haven’t had much time to do many social activities. My friend Angelo and I managed to take a break in our schedules and visited our friend Anna and the notorious Liesl Hall in their volleyball game last week. Our team did a good job and it was inspiring to see all the freshman taking in interest in the many extracurricular activities we have offered here at ERAU. Last week we held our Activities Expo or whatever they called it when all the clubs and organizations presented booths to attract new members. I found myself convinced into signing up for several groups but I don’t think I can make them fit into my schedule just yet!

Last week all the MSIII’s and the Ranger Challenge cadets (I’ll post about this soon) went to Fort Navajo up by Flagstaff to conduct the Eagle Raider FTX to prepare us for Warrior Forge 2012 in which we will be attending LDAC. Several important informative classes were taught to us by the MSIV’s and we got to go on the Night LandNav course and to the firing range the next morning. I admit I need some practice with both but I plan on improving myself over the course of the semester in both categories. Well, this has been the start of the Fall Semester, hopefully the level of difficulty peaks soon so we can roll downhill to easy street……(This is ERAU, never gonna happen, but it can’t hurt to hope right?)

About to learn how to apply camouflage

Cadet Salas on the Firing Range

Well, it’s that time of the year again… where I blog about the beginning of school!

And where I put up pictures of my volleyball team, since that is pretty much what my life revolves around right now!

(Well, that and homework. Woo hoo.)

This semester I’m taking a bunch of fun classes. I’m taking Chinese three, which is pretty tough. I love learning Chinese, but after a while of studying all of the characters start to look like each other. It can be pretty frustrating to say the least. But, it’s so worth it (after your hand stops cramping from all the character writing and goes back to its normal shape)!

I’m also taking two classes with Dr. Jones, History of Modern Europe and Studies in Global Intelligence. I like both of these classes so far. There’s a lot of reading, which is okay with me because I love books. Give me a book over a math problem anyday! I’m also taking Dr. Henner’s Government class, which has proved to be very interesting so far. Along with these classes, I’m taking Abnormal Psychology with Professor Reybach. This class is really fun, because I love learning about psychology. It just makes so much sense to me. My professor makes this class really fun as well, because our class is so small and she interacts with all of us so much during class.

And of course, volleyball is as demanding as ever. In the past ten days, we have played ten games! The first weekend of school, we went to one of my teammate’s hometown, Portland, OR, to play a tournament at Lewis & Clark University. It was so pretty there, and our team got to take a tour of the FBI building there where our teammate Sarah Galeai’s mom works. It was AWESOME. Our team also had a blast with Sarah’s family! Her family is traditionally from Somoa, and so we had an awesome barbeque complete with island music and even a flame thrower… guy! (Pardon my lack of knowledge of the terminology!)

Here we are learning to “shake our booties”! Thank you, hula guy!

Last weekend (the second weekend of the year) we went to San Diego, CA to play a tournament at Point Loma University. It was beautiful there as well.

Here we are playing Point Loma. BLOCK! 🙂

For anyone here at Riddle, our next game is on Saturday, at the Eagle Gym, at 4 pm! I want to see you ALL there!

And that is my life from two weeks ago until now! Gotta love the chaos!

“If you have health, you probably will be healthy, and if you have health and happiness, you have all the wealth you need, even if it is not all you want.”

-Elbert Hubbard

June 14 2011-

So, I sincerely thought summer was going to be a lot of fun until I realized all my friends left to go back home for the entire vacation. Fortunately, my boyfriend stayed, but I sometimes crave my girl-time with my friends. I am also getting cabin fever from not having enough things to do over the summer. Sure, I have a few church activities her and there, and I have 4 days per week of 8-hour work days, but there is still so much time I feel like I am wasting.

It is ironic how we cannot wait until summer vacation hits and then once it is here, we are not even sure how to spend it. The more time we waste, the less satisfying the summer becomes. This is why once it gets closer to the school year, we begin to think our summer was so short and it went by too fast. We have nothing to show off about from our summer.

I suggest trying to make a planner. List down all the things you would like to do and get done before the summer ends and before school hits you again. Otherwise, once school is back in session, there will not be anytime to accomplish those goals.

I also suggest trying to take on another job. It may seem a bit difficult to find one at first, but once you start applying to jobs daily, your chances increase that you will be hired for a new job.

July 12, 2011-

It has been a while since I finished this blog. I thought it would make sense to separate the dates since my updated news fits in to the older part of this blog. I finally found another job. Two new jobs, to be exact. I work early in the morning at a warehouse called Fastenal. It distributes fasteners (screws, bolts, nuts, etc.) to other companies in order for them to have operable machinery. It is also like an ace hardware store, where people can come in and shop for what they want. It is a lot of fun and I am learning a lot of new things. In the afternoon, I work at the school still as a scanner. I scan confidential files and index them into their electronic files. At nights and on Saturdays, I work at Papa John’s Pizza. It is a lot of fun. I have learned a lot about the company and about their ingredients. I have learned about everything that is involved in pizza making, from forming the dough all the way up to giving it to the customers.

It is a lot of fun to be so busy and to be able to actually save a little bit of money for the summer. I want to be able to pay off some of my debt and also have some spending money once school comes around. It also helps to keep me busy. As I said before, if you are struggling to find a job, just apply to as many job as you qualify for. It is better to be offered multiple jobs and having to decline a few than only offered one job that you may not even enjoy.

Once school starts, I will see whether or not I can hold 3 jobs or if I may have to let 1 or 2 go. I hope I can, but I guess we will see.

I truly hope everyone is having a safe, fun, and productive summer!!!

Well, as everyone knows, it is summertime. Which means if you’re not taking summer classes, you don’t have to go to class. Which means that I cannot write about my fabulous adventures in my classes, since I’m at home for the summer. Sooo, I decided that I am going to write a series of blogs about my FAVORITE places to go and do in Prescott, for all of you prospective students who want to know what kind of a town Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University resides in. This one is all about my favorite restaurants in Prescott.

Everyone loves Olive Garden, of course, but there are more obscure places to eat that are awesome! I love to go down to Whiskey Row and eat at Murphy’s Restaurant. My grandparents and I always go there to eat when they come up to visit me! It’s a sit-down restaurant with really good steaks. =)

I also love to go to Gurley St. Grill, also on Whiskey Row. This place has fantastic burgers and sweet potato fries! It’s also a sit-down restaurant, but it’s more of a relaxed atmosphere with lots of TVs showing sports games and such.

And of course, there has to be at least one pizza place in the mix somewhere! I love going to Bill’s Pizza (again, haha… Whiskey Row!) It is such a chill place to go, and it has AMAZING pizza! My favorite is the one with alfredo sauce and artichoke hearts on it. It has every kind of pizza that you could possibly imagine, except they have goofy names so you have to read through the whole description. But it’s an awesome place to go and hang out with friends.

And of course, there are the classics: Texas Roadhouse, Wildflower Bread Company, IHOP, Streets of New York, Applebee’s, Cocoa’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings! So pretty much, whatever you are in the mood for, there’s a restaurant for your needs in Prescott within a twenty mile radius of Embry-Riddle! You gotta love that when you need a study break before a big test and you’re craving some pancakes, or pizza, or pie, or whatever! I just love being in Prescott!

Next time, I’ll write about all of the great things you can do for fun in Prescott! Woohoo!

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”

-Luciano Pavarotti & William Wright, Pavarotti

Wow! I can’t believe that finals are over and it’s FINALLY summer! Except it’s snowing in the middle of May in Pinetop, AZ… but that doesn’t surprise me all that much. I am so excited to be a junior at ERAU next semester! The time has SERIOUSLY flown by soo fast, my head is spinning.  I thought that since I’m one year older now, that I’d give you all a list of things that I’ve learned in my sophomore year in college.

1. The library is your best friend.  Forever. BFF. Remember that.

2. Chartwells, as much as I avoided it while living on campus, is actually not that bad. (And when you have no food in your fridge and no meal plan, it looks and smells delicious.)

3. Pay your rent and bills, on time when you can. Yup… that’s a big one.

4. Get to know lots of people in your classes. It comes in handy when you leave for a volleyball trip and you need homework help. 😀

5. The Student Union is a rockin’ place to be. Since I couldn’t go home in between classes because I live too far away, I would spend tons of time playing pool and making a ton of friends!

6. If you live off campus, still remember to check your school mailbox every once in a while. When you wait to open it until a whole semester has passed, it WILL explode on you.

7. Don’t be afraid to go into your professor’s office during office hours and ask for help. They are happy to help you if they see you are working hard and honestly trying to get a good grade.

8. Night classes are not for the weak. If you take a night class, be prepared to be strong and stay awake. I brought snacks to help me focus through the two and a half hour class, from 6:30-9pm.

9. DO NOT park in the residence hall parking lot if you live off campus. Bad idea. Unless of course you want a ticket from security… then be my guest.

10. College is supposed to be hard, and you have to study a lot to do well, but remember… it’s also the best time of your life. College is fun… don’t stress too much. You have to enjoy yourself, and ERAU gives out plenty of opportunities to do so.

So, these are the lessons that I have learned and relearned my sophomore year in college. I hope that everyone out there reading this can take what I’ve learned and apply it to their college experience, hopefully at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University!

“Laugh longer, live louder.”

-Anonymous

This is my last day of work. This will also be my last blog. Hope that you all had a good time reading my blogs and that I gave you a perspective on how Embry-Riddle Prescott really is. Of course, the best way to get a perspective is by you attending ERAU. Go take a tour or spend the night with one of our ambassadors (book in advance of course). Talk to a counselor and meet student and staff while visiting. All of these I recommend to do for any school that you are applying for since you are going to be spending the next 4 years there. College will become your new home where ever it will be. You will meet people and create friends that you will never loose. And with social networking that goes on today, you will never loose touch.

Embry-Riddle has done a lot for me. It advanced my career, helped me get a great internship at Delta, and now, I have a job flying for Grand Canyon Airlines flying the twin otter as a first officer. My career is taking off, yes pun definitely intended, and I have ERAU and the faculty, staff, and friends that I have made for that. Check out Greek life. I never thought I would be in a fraternity but turns out I like it and it’s a lot of fun. Whatever you end up doing, live is to the fullest. Makes these next 4 years some of the most memorable years of your life. With this I say goodbye but I’m sure that you’ll hear from me again, especially as an ERAU Alumni. Here are a few pictures of the past 4 years and the friends and memories I made. I hope you join the Embry-Riddle family.

Whew!  Finals are ALMOST over.  I’ve gotten the harder ones out of the way thank GOODNESS.  Study time has literally taken up most of my time since last Friday.  Not kidding.  I had a Personality and Profiling final Monday morning, I took my Chinese and Observing Asian cultures final yesterday, this morning I took my U.S. Foreign Policy final, and tomorrow is my Forensics final.  So it’s cram time!  My roommate and I (like every other student at Riddle) have had our moments of procrastination, though.  Such as: watching A Very Potter Musical on YouTube, attempting to flip eggs while we are frying them (which was actually quite hilarious!), singing Disney songs randomly in the middle of the night, and taking random grocery shopping trips to get out of the house.  Ohh, finals.  This is what you do to us.  Sooo, we’re pretty much sleep deprived and can spout out just about anything on any of our study guides.  Which is good, because we’ll do great on our finals!  We’ll only be slap-happy for a little while longer!  Whoohooo.

The egg toss up…

And here’s the miss…

And the SPLAT!!

Oh the pressures of finals week.  My brain feels like that egg: splattered.  BUT, it will all be worth it when I get good grades in all of my classes!  That’s the good thing about finals at Riddle: if you work hard and do your very best, you will be rewarded, one way or another!  So even though it’s tough, it’s a challenge that is so worth it.  I love being challenged.  I love when I overcome obstacles and can say, “I did it.”  Impossible isn’t in my dictionary, and I’m sure that everyone who comes to Riddle feels the exact same way.  We work hard no matter how hard classes get, because we know that someday all of our hard work will pay off.  So, BRING IT, FINALS! 🙂

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”

-Peter Marshall