It’s a new year and a new semester! Time to make New Year’s resolutions (let’s be honest, they’ll last about two months), go to brand new classes, and start the year off on a good note! Last year ended on a great note. My semester ended great, and I did really well in all of my classes. It was nice to finally be able to breathe after I had taken all of my tests! After finals were over, my family and I were able to go to Disneyland for a couple of days! It was sooo much fun. AND there were a lot of Chinese people there the same time that we were, so I was able to practice listening to the Chinese language while in line for rides (which were super long, since there were so many people there!). I am stunned both by how much I do know how to translate, AND by how much I don’t know how to translate! The Chinese language is so complex, but at the same time it was a blast being able to practice!

The icicle lights were so beautiful on the castle!

The Haunted Mansion! Actually, while waiting in line to go on this ride, we stood next to a tourist group full of people from China and their interpreter. I paid close attention to the conversations going on and was surprised by how much I understood! COOL!

It’s my second to last spring semester, so my goals this year are to keep going strong in school and in volleyball. It’s been a busy year so far (okay, the year’s only consisted of a couple of weeks, but still). I’m still in the GSIS program, so I’m taking eighteen credit hours this semester, including Intelligence and Technology, Chinese IV, Social Psychology, Microeconomics, a math class, and International Relations. So far they’ve all been really great and I’m excited to see how they turn out! My professors are all awesome and it’s fun to see how much enthusiasm each professor has for their subject.

Volleyball is still going strong. Spring Season starts in a couple of weeks so I’m still trying to live up to my New Year’s resolution to stay in shape. We lost two of our seniors, Laura DeGeorge and Sarah Galeai, but hopefully we’ll still have a good team this next season. It’s so strange… this fall season, I’ll be a senior! These past few years have just FLOWN by. Seriously, I have no idea where they went. Everything is just going by so fast, and I’m just trying to keep up while wondering where the heck all this time has gone. I guess life is kind of like that no matter where you are. But here at ERAU, it seems like everything just goes at the speed of light! And… I’m loving every minute of it!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and may all your New Year’s resolutions come true!

“Begin today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Holy fudge, how this school year has just whizzed by! The dreaded midterm week is upon us already. Which also means that we are halfway done with this semester, which is crazy. It seems like I blogged last week, when in reality I blogged a month ago! It has definitely been an exciting month. Our Riddle volleyball team had a tournament in Denver, CO the week after I blogged last. We were able to play at Johnson & Wales University (a specialized culinary school) and pull out a few wins. It was so fun. I just love going to Denver, especially because it’s so beautiful up there. The fact that we won made it even better, along with the fact that we got to eat at my former teammate’s house and see her family! That just made it that much more fun! Thank you, Lacey family, for having us at your home and taking pictures at the tournament! We always love seeing you all! :]

Great pictures taken by Julie Lacey! Thank you! :]

Since our tournament in Denver, Riddle had a what’s called our Career Expo as a part of Octoberwest, where different companies and agencies come to ERAU talking to students about career and internship opportunities. The whole Activity Center is packed with booths of representatives, and students dress in business-like attire to try to impress future employers. It was very exciting to talk to people who are interested in recruiting students from such a specialized school. Overall, I say it was a success.

Octoberwest in general was also a success. We had a group called the Mural Mice come and do an awesome chalk drawing on the sidewalk in front of the Student Union, clubs and different groups painted our Spirit Rock, we had a parade on Saturday, we had a Block Party (complete with face painting and carnival food!), and my personal favorite, the hypnotist Bruce McDonald. Bruce McDonald was my favorite because he took normally shy students and, in his words, “Let them show us what’s inside their creative imagination!” Students who were hypnotized showed the student body just how awesome their ballet skills are, showed us how straight a row of chairs really can be (in their hypnotized state, Bruce McDonald told them that they would win a billion dollars if they kept chairs all in a perfect row), and showed us how good their singing skills really were! The best part: they don’t remember a thing. It was hilarious for the audience and even the hypnotist couldn’t help but let out a few chuckles. He comes every year, and it is definitely worth it to go and watch!

Here are a few of the people who volunteered to be hypnotized. Bruce McDonald definitely did a great job. It was hilarious! (Picture courtesy of Greg Finn. Thank you!)

These past few weeks have truly been memorable ones, and after midterms (when I can relax again) I hope to keep making great memories here at Embry-Riddle!

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”

-Cesare Pavese

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