Two months in — It’s OK to be slightly homesick

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Jeffery

You’ve been here now for about 2 months; I know it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, time flies here, no pun intended. You’re slowly beginning to get into the swing of things. See it wasn’t so hard. Midterms are finally over. This is also a time where you are left with a little bit more free time than before and your mind has time to wonder and think of home.

You start to realize that those phone calls and Face time sessions are no longer enough. This is when that thing, that one thing no student wants to admit they have caught, homesickness, shows up. As a freshman it’s hard to admit. No one wants to admit that they are missing home, especially to their parents because you know there just going to tell you “I told you so.”

As a freshman it’s normal for you to begin to miss home around this time in the semester. Looking back now at my freshman year I remember this moment very vividly. It was hard. Being from New Orleans, LA there are a great deal of things we do that are a part of our unique culture that many other places don’t do and even think we’re crazy for doing. Small things like getting excited for Christmas in the Oaks in City Park, trying to get your last fix of snowballs before it starts getting too cold to want to eat one, attending the Saints games now that football season is beginning to get a little bit more interesting, trying to get that last batch of crawfish from the Seafood Pot before the season officially ends and just hanging with my family and friends when I need someone who understands all of my weirdness.

Making snow angels in downtown Prescott.

Crawfish, Corn, and Cajun Potatoes!

It’s hard because you just arrived here a few months ago and Arizona isn’t quite home yet. I know, you can’t even imagine calling Arizona home, but trust me you will. It happens to all of us after Christmas break when we realize just how amazing this state is along with not knowing how we were ever able to live life without the friends we’ve met here at Riddle this semester. Just hang on, don’t let the stress of being homesick take over your mind by swallowing your thoughts and making it difficult to stay focused. Continue to stay busy. Hang out with your “crew” continuing to create incredible memories. Oh and if midterms got the best of you don’t let it discourage you. This is your first introduction to the format of college exams. Take it as a learning experience and build from it. We all do bad on at least one exam, it happens. Keep pushing through, the semester will be wrapping up in a blink of an eye and before you know it you’ll be back home with your family and friends enjoying all that the holidays have to offer and before you have the chance to notice, you’ll be wishing you were back at Riddle with the second family you’ve had the opportunity to build so far. This is just the beginning of your journey the rest is still unwritten.

Pi Kappa Phi and Alpha Xi Delta Formal.

Getting in the holiday spirit is easy in Prescott

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Chelsea

After hiking Humphrey’s peak in Flagstaff, my friends and I hurried back to Prescott to catch the last half of Acker night. Every single business, or close to it, has a least one musical performance. You could hear Joy to The World on a banjo, Silent Night by chorus, or rock out to Jingle Bell Rock. Just look at that schedule of events!

The streets of square are lined with good food, group dances, and even pyrotechnic performers. Once the festivities came to an end, we grabbed a delicious dinner at the well-known local favorite, Bill’s Pizza. Prescott has an incredible sense of community similar to Embry-Riddle as seen through this great production.

Acker Night is just one of the many events that take place in the square. This one just happens to be extremely popular because who wouldn’t want to look at that beautifully lit up courthouse! They don’t call us Arizona’s Christmas City for nothin’.

What is Acker Night? Acker Night is produced solely by volunteers and was originally created to achieve the goals of benefactor and Prescott resident, James S. Acker. Mr. Acker first moved to Prescott in the early 1900’s. He was a proprietor of a general store which provided a variety of school and music supplies for the children. In the 1930’s he ran a real estate company where he began to gather parcels of property throughout the community. He left a number of those parcels of land to the City of Prescott to be used for parks and music programs when he passed away in 1955. Along with being a fun tradition, Acker Night combines participating downtown businesses with the support of hardworking musicians who donate their time and their talents. The mutual goal is to keep music alive and thriving for the youth of Prescott. All of the funds raised on Acker Night provide scholarships for music lessons, instruments and local youth performing arts programs.

Prescott- Arizona’s Christmas City

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Colton

Often regarded by many as “Arizona’s Christmas City”, Prescott sure does put on the holiday cheer around Christmas time every year.

December 6th started out as a pretty normal day for me. Got to sleep in until 10:30 a.m., with nothing on the agenda until my first final (physics) at 2:45 p.m. After a late breakfast/early lunch, I headed down to the post office. To my great joy, my new camera had finally been shipped to the school (my old camera’s fate involved a sketchy tripod, a cliff, and fortunate warranty service). After eagerly opening my Sony a6000, I asked my suitemate/best friend if he wanted to go downtown and play with my new camera. All seemed normal as we pulled out of the Embry-Riddle campus and headed down Willow Creek Rd. However, as we neared downtown the traffic began to be unusually thick for Prescott.

We knew something was up when we saw buses unloading at Chipotle. After driving through the shopping complex unsuccessfully searching for a parking spot, we opted to leave my truck at a nearby park. We began to realize that something big was going on as we spotted a high-school band warming up. It quickly hit us that we had arrived just in time to see the beginning of the annual Prescott Christmas Parade. And it seemed as if half of Arizona had come to enjoy the show as well.

The entirety of the Courthouse Square was covered with thousands of kids and adults alike lining the streets, eager to catch a glimpse of the grand parade.

And grand the parade was. Ranging from toddlers in too-large of cowboy outfits, to a dozen greyhounds tugging at their leashes, the parade offered a huge variety of entertainment and Christmas spirit.

One of my favorite parts of the parade was the section of Classic VW’s

And then there’s the ‘cute’ section of the parade

After watching about an hour of the parade, I hurried back to the school to take my physics final (I think it went well!).

That night, I travelled back downtown to see the city courthouse lit up with Christmas lights for the first time in 2014. This event was just as busy with people as the parade, only this time everyone tried to fit into the courthouse square. Saying we were packed like sardines was an understatement, but luckily I had my extra tall tripod and was able to get some good shots of the beautiful building.

Waiting for lighting…

And the Courthouse/surrounding 163 trees lit up in all their glory

Halloween

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Cherie

Halloween is coming up, have you found a costume yet? I haven’t but, Prescott, AZ has some great places to get a costume for the holiday. There are also some really awesome public haunted houses and pumpkin patches to see if you (like all college kids) are too old to go trick or treating.

The campus is also hosting a costume competition to celebrate and the student with the best costume has a chance at a prize!! So if you are in town come check it out. We have a lot of really fun and festive events going on and we love to welcome new faces to our Embry-Riddle campus community!

Graveyard of darkness

The Graveyard of Darkness is your chance to find out what is behind the RASC Safety Building, but beware and watch where you’re going because dangers lurk around every corner!

Or if Scooby Doo is more your style, we have the ultimate Clue game going on this Friday. The event will include nine crime scene investigations located throughout campus. Each location will allow the students to investigate, gather information, and obtain clues.

If you want some more information please visit our main page. Happy Halloween!

Thanksgiving

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Cherie

What will you do if you aren’t going to make it home for Thanksgiving in college? Well, I can answer that! It can be tough not to go home over Thanksgiving but, don’t be a loner!!! You can still have a lot of fun over the short break by connecting with other faculty or students in the area, trust me I did that my freshman year. 🙂

Even though I was totally bummed about being stuck at college over my favorite holiday, I found others who were in the same position me and we held our own thanksgiving potluck! 🙂 The best part was that I actually got two Thanksgivings that year as I was also invited, with some of my other classmates, to a professor’s house where we spent a fun evening playing board games and enjoying another potluck.

Even though I was away from my family it was a wonderful Thanksgiving over which I made some new friends and learned about how friends are not only your social network but, your extended family away from home. So don’t be sad and go have fun!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Cherie

Happy Mother’s Day to all those Embry Riddle Moms out there!! Without your support a lot of students wouldn’t be here studying at Embry Riddle Prescott. Check out our bookstore for cool Embry Riddle gear that your mom will love, they would make a great late Mother’s day gift that any mom would love. Or stop on by Fry’s grocery store for specialty chocolates and flowers that she would love too. All in all, Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!!!

PS….for those of you not home for Mother’s Day don’t forget to call home!!

Share your resolutions and goals with us!

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Cherie

Another Christmas has come and gone, and boy it went fast!!! It seems that the older you get the faster life goes, quite amazing isn’t it? I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, but now its on to the next order of buisness……2014!!

It’s time to start thinking about your resolutions and goals for the new year, so I thought it would be nice for everyone to share 🙂 My goals are…

a) max the physical fitness test

b) graduate from field training

c) go on a road trip

d) get more scholarships!

As you can see, all resolutions must start with a goal in mind. Once you know your goal you can formulate the resolutions that will allow you to achieve your objective. So my resolutions are:

a) workout daily

b) work everyday to prepare for field training

c) save money for a road trip each week

d) research and apply for scholarships every weekend

With this simple guide to help you form your resolutions it will be easy!! Just don’t forget to put in the work, if you really want something you can achieve it!!!! We would love to hear your resolutions and goals so if you want to share please let us know below 🙂

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Christmas…

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Cherie

Christmas hasn’t happened yet but, it will soon be here and unfortunately, gone again. So I have some ideas/advice to give about shopping post Christmas. Its just like Black Friday, but sometimes even crazier so be careful when you are out there shopping on December 26!! The best sales are usually found online because all the overstock that wasn’t sold at thanksgiving is now discounted intensively, so definitely check that out.

Also, don’t buy too many Christmas ornaments and such after Christmas when they have all been discounted. The reason is simply this, now it will sit around for an entire year before you can use it again, so there is really no point. Save your money up and get something you need. Additionally, when you go shopping be sure you make a list of things that you would like if you can afford them and a list of things you absolutely need.

First, buy only the things you need. If you have leftover cash you want to spend then get a few items that you wanted from the other list. Organizing your shopping like this will prevent you from buying a bunch of useless junk that you will never use. It also helps you think about your purchases and whether it is really worth the money even though its on a discount.

So just remember that smart shopping is the key, good luck, and happy holidays!!!!! Oh, and stuff at the Embry Riddle online store will most likely be discounted too so get some cool Embry Riddle gear while your shopping!!!!

Christmas In the Dorms

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Cherie

The holidays can be a difficult time of year for students but, here at Embry Riddle Prescott we try to keep the spirits up 🙂 Our campus really likes to celebrate so every on campus office decorates and puts up a tree, each dorm decorates with lights and has light show competitions, RA’s host Christmas parties, and so much more!!

This year my room mates and I didn’t get a tree so we drew a massive tree on our white board and placed our presents on the table underneath it. Next to our tree we improvised a fire place and opened our presents by the “fire”. Although it was definitely a college style Christmas it was so much fun!!! Other students went around the hall passing out chocolate covered pretzels and hot cocoa, so we had a wonderful pre Christmas celebration 🙂

No matter where you are going for Christmas or whether you celebrate the holiday or not we welcome you to come join our fun at Embry Riddle. We are a community waiting to share the holidays with you. So come on by for a visit, apply, or give us a call today to hear more about what Embry Riddle can offer you.

Flying home for break?

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Cherie

If you plan on flying home for Christmas break it might be better to book those tickets now if you haven’t already!! Ticket prices can increase exponentially over the holidays as families try to get their loved ones together for the occasion, so don’t get stuck with out transportation or worse yet, a very expensive travel bill!!!

Most college students who have to fly home for the holidays buy their tickets months ahead of time. We like to do this because the tickets are cheaper, we can plan around our finals, and as Christmas gets closer we won’t spend most of your gift money on a plane ticket.

This is basically a plane ticket home from college

Buying a ticket and flying home by yourself may seem a little scary for those first timers but, don’t worry it’ll be fine. Its really not as difficult as it seems. What I would advise a first timer to do is research the luggage requirements, terminal location, and the baggage check process. Once you know what to do its really no big deal. It is also extremely important to arrive early at the airport and if possible have someone drive you. This way you don’t have to worry about parking a car or paying to park a car. It s a lot easier that way!!!

I hope these tips have been helpful 🙂 Happy Holidays Everyone!!!