Busy Semester

Picture of Grand Forks from above

So I have pretty much failed at trying to write a new post every few weeks.  However, in my defense I have been super busy this last month, probably the busiest I can ever remember.  Like I mentioned in my last post, I decided to take 19 credits this Fall.  The workload finally hit me a few weeks ago and my life now only consists of flying, working, and school.  The reason I have taken so long to write a new entry is because when I can actually relax from everything else I'm doing, I want to use that time to just chill and not worry about anything else.  This last week was easier so I now have time to write a much needed post.

Grand Forks International Airport

Flying this semester has been one of my favorite parts of being back at school!  I am in the instrument course which means I'm currently learning all of my training to be able to fly into clouds and only rely on my instruments in front of me.  It proposes a new kind of challenge because all of my training thus far has been visual reference to the ground.  Now that I am getting my instrument training, I will have the ability of being able to fly in both the clouds and visual weather.  I am about 80% done with my training this semester as well, so I should hopefully be done with flying by the end of October/early November!

Not much to really see....

One thing I also forgot to mention in my first post is my new living arrangements and who I'm staying with this year.  I have been living in my fraternity with my roommate, Nick.  We have been getting along really well and we are both equally clean so our room has stayed in great condition.  Living in the house has already brought me so many more memories and I am happy with my decision to live here this year.  There are ups and downs for sure but overall a great place to live, much better than the dorms.

Having my car up here this year is such an awesome addition.  I no longer have to walk to the shuttle to get out to the airport and I can go and get groceries whenever I want.  Last year was very tough when it came to going to stores because I always had to bum a ride off someone.  This year is much easier and I'm glad I brought my car to Grand Forks. Now I just hope she makes it through the winter....

Hopefully I don't make the same mistake of waiting over a month to post something new.  There is always something to talk about so I will try to be better about writing.  For those of you that read my blog last year, I am going to Kansas City again in a few weeks so I hope to post something then!

Snow :/

Oh and last thing....it snowed today.  This could be another long winter....

Cam

Sophomore Year!

Took me a few weeks to decide whether or not I wanted to write a blog again this year, but after several long days of thinking, and a few people trying to convince me, I made my decision.  It won't be a weekly post like last year but I will still write plenty throughout the semester.

This past summer was definitely one of the most memory-filled and I loved every second of it. Being back home was awesome and I took advantage of as many beach days as possible.  I never appreciated the beach as much as I did last year.  When it's there for you to go to everyday you don't really think about how lucky you are. However when you're stuck in a state that has Winter 7 months out of the year, the beach becomes the best thing ever.  But, like usual, Summer went by very quickly.

The 2 day car ride up here to Grand Forks was surprisingly not as bad as we were expecting it to be. My mom and I spent two 14 hour days going through many different states and rotating off every four hours.  So it helped make the drive tolerable.  Not much to see throughout a lot of that drive other than desert and hills though.  But we finally made it up here and I got situated into my new place for the year!

The excitement wasn't nearly the same coming back up this year as it was last year though.  Don't get my wrong I'm happy to be back, but it's just not the same feeling. Last year everything was new which helped make the start of last year so awesome, but this year I already know what's going on, making it a pretty slow start thus far.

Classes are going well, I am taking 19 credits this semester so it has been very busy. All my professors are awesome which helps make the classes so much more enjoyable.  I am also flying three or more days a week so with a full class schedule and flying, it doesn't leave much time for anything else other than studying.  But I'm alright with that because if I take more classes now and get it done with, later on down the road should hopefully be easier.

I think that is all I have for this week, again I'm happy to be back in Grand Forks but also miss so many things back home.  Winter break can't come soon enough! :)

Leave a comment with what else you would like to hear from me! Miss everyone back home tons!

Cameron

One year down, three to go.

Goodbye 6A Noren Hall, it was fun.

Well, I have officially made it through my first year of college.  I can't believe how fast of a year it was and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it anywhere else.  I completed two flight courses, met tons of people that I will have friendships with for the rest of my life, and made memories that I will remember forever.  It was such an amazing year.  I am actually kind of sad that it's time for me to go home for the summer. Not saying that I'm still not super excited to come home, but I was having such a great time here.  I guess it is a good thing though because then I will actually be excited to come back up here in the fall rather than dreading it.

Gonna miss living with these guys. 

These last two days were very rough though.  I was stressing about finishing my flight course (I only had one lesson left) and also figuring out how to pack up all of the crap I had in my room.  Luckily, I accomplished both and I am now sitting in the Minneapolis airport writing this post :P  I didn't realize how much stuff I actually had in my room until I had to pack it all up. A lot of it I left up there, like winter clothes and school supplies, but I still managed to fill two suitcases and a box to bring home with me on the plane.

Pretty much the coolest guys in Grand Forks

It's crazy to look back on all my previous posts from this last year. I went back and re-read my very first entry and it made me tear up a little bit; from writing about all that I planned to accomplish this year, to my beginning thoughts about this school.  I am so glad I chose to write about my adventures throughout my freshman year.  I stuck with it for the most part, and on the weeks that I got lazy and didn't post anything, I still feel like I did a good job to add in information in about those weeks on a future entries.

Even through the freezing cold and the never ending Winter, this was the perfect place for me.  I couldn't ask for a better aviation program, and my two instructors this year were amazing. They both taught me so much and I don't think I could have gotten the help and support anywhere else.  I have now experienced flying in two completely different environments as well.   I look forward to many more years of flying and I have no regrets in choosing this career path.  Greek life was also one of the best decisions I made while up here this first year.  It gave me many opportunities to go out and have fun and create memories I couldn't have experienced anywhere else.

I hope all of you that followed my posts throughout the year enjoyed them.  Not sure if there will be more of these in the future but this page will always be here to come back and look at years from now.  I can't wait until I'm older and show my own family what I accomplished in college.

Goodbye North Dakota, I will see you in 4 months....I will come back with an awesome tan (only to lose it again :P) and super pumped for a second year of college.

Stay in touch, shoot me emails, I always like talking to people in catching up. :)

Thanks Aunt Debby and Uncle Paul for giving me so many different things to talk about, you made finding stuff to talk about much easier.

And to Jenn Ower for convincing me to write this blog in the first place.  You allowed me to share my experiences with everyone else as well as create an amazing memory for myself.

California here I come! It will be an amazing summer.

Cameron

Spring time at last!

I know I haven't written anything for several weeks....that was my bad entirely. I have been focusing a lot on school and last weekend I was home for my sisters confirmation!  But now that I have time to write an entry...there is a lot to say!

Last week my brother Josh came and visited me up here in Grand Forks.  He stayed for about 4 days and then the both of us flew home to California last weekend. While he was here, the weather wasn't the greatest. It was snowing one of the days and then in the 30's the remainder of the week, so unfortunately we weren't able to do much outdoors.  However, we still had a blast playing games in my dorm and Josh went to a few classes with me. He thought it was so cool how he could text in class and not get in trouble (not that I do :P) and even leave early if we wanted.  It was completely new to him and I could tell he was having a great time.  On Thursday, the day before we went home, I took Josh to a Styx concert. I mostly got the tickets so that I could go see them but I figured Josh would have a great time too! (Which he did)  This was the first concert I have ever been to and I definitely think it was a great first concert to attend.

Josh and I left Friday morning, arriving in California about 3 in the afternoon that day.  I had a great time while I was home but unfortunately didn't get to see all the people I wanted to. I knew that I was coming home two and a half weeks later for summer so it wasn't that big of a deal.  Also while I was home, I had my first meeting for Us In The Son this summer. We found out what color we would be this summer and I was fortunate enough to hear that I would be a Green counselor again! That just made me even more excited to come home in two weeks so I can get started with another amazing summer.

I have finally just about finished my flying for the semester! I only have my stage check left and then a few simulator lessons and I'm done!  I was able to get some decent weather to go out and fly and get my 3 solo flights done! I took a couple cool pictures of what it looks like in the air (it's pretty hard to do when there is an instructor next to you).

And now comes this last week, each day progressively getting warmer and warmer, leading into today where the high temperature will be 70 degrees! All of us up here in ND have been waiting for a beautiful day like this since October and I think we can finally call it Spring.  Last night my roommates and I went out to dinner and sat out on the patio! I'm happy that the weather is finally getting better but I'm also upset that it took so long to get like this. We are finally getting good weather and I have 2 weeks till I come home. So, while it is amazing, I won't be in it for very long.

I will make sure to have a couple more entries before summer rolls around. Almost done with my freshman year of college!

Cameron

Easter trip to Harvey and back into Winter conditions!

Well my Easter was a blast!  I went to Harvey, ND again last weekend but to spend Easter with the Marchand family this time! The last time I was there was for Thanksgiving, but I'm glad I was able to go there again and spend time with an awesome family.  It is so much fun getting away to a small town like that and not worrying about anyone or anything. I unfortunately didn't take many pictures while I was there this time, mostly because I took pictures of the whole town my first visit there back in November. If you haven't seen what the town looks like, check out my post back in November to see it all!  I did a lot of the same things while I was there this time; just hanging out, going to see a movie in the one movie theater, and eating delicious meals! Overall it was a fantastic weekend there. 

Don't hit the deer!

This week went by just as fast as all of the others.  I am making sure to not get behind in my classes and just power through the remaining 5 weeks of school.  English has definitely been my most difficult class this semester.  I have never been good at writing and the techniques the professor is trying to teach us are just absolutely ridiculous.  She pretty much told us that anything we learned in high school doesn't apply to this class. I find that very upsetting considering all throughout high school my teachers would tell me that this is preparing us for college. No more MLA format, no structure (meaning intro, body, and conclusion) and she pretty much makes us write about stories we have read in class.  One of the topics I had to write about were "What are the literate arts said to be good for?" I mean seriously? I don't even think she knew what that meant either. So I have been writing bogus papers for the whole semester just trying to get through this class. :(

And then Friday afternoon... 

Taken Thursday Afternoon...

So throughout this semester, weather has been continuously terrible (as you all know). Usually, weather is beautiful during the week and gets terrible on the weekends. That was the case for this week once again.  It was clear skies all week (around mid 30's) and a lot of the snow had melted away. Then starting last night, right as the weekend started, it snowed. Today has been terrible weather too and it's supposed to continue on till tomorrow. Then Monday's weather is calling for party cloudy skies and like 38 degrees. Are you kidding me?! Why can't the weekends have good weather when we can actually go out and do stuff? It is just upsetting and I am so tired of the Winter. 

I have just under 2 weeks until I will be going home for my sisters Confirmation! My little brother will also be out here visiting me the whole week before that! So I have something to look forward to soon. I just hope it warms up a little by then so that I can go out and do stuff with him.

What every day should look like here....

I register for Fall classes next week and I plan on adding another class to give me closer to 20 credits next year. After having two semesters of 16 credits, I realize I can definitely handle another class and it is also a benefit so that I don't have to worry about finding extra classes to take my senior year. Already thinking ahead :)

Still want ideas of what I can talk about in future posts!

Cameron

Snow just keeps coming! Now a possible flood?

This was definitely a great week to come back to school. After arriving last Sunday, a snow storm rolled in and added another 8 inches of snow to the ground. (That's not the good part) Unfortunately, because of all that snow the temperatures continue to stay really low. Fun fact: A year ago today...Grand Forks had a high temperature of 74 degrees, and no snow on the ground. Today, the high was about 16....it just shows how much the snow affects the temperature here.

We had our first snow day of the year this past Monday too! Because of heavy winds and lots of snow, they cancelled school. Usually when someone thinks of a snow day, it's a day to go out, play in the snow, and just have a blast! But because of how cold it is here, that day was spent sitting in our dorm room. However, every other day this week was beautiful weather. Still very cold, but clear skies and great to fly. Every day gets warmer and warmer and you can see the snow melting. I did hear that there will most likely be a flood this year though because of all the snow still on the ground. Being so late in the year, it will soon rapidly warm up and all the snow will melt very quickly, flooding the Red River. (the river that splits ND from MN) Grand Forks will not be affected as much but all the surrounding little towns might be in more trouble.

For the next two weeks, I will only have class Tuesday-Thursday, giving me 4 day weekends. Next week my one class is cancelled for Monday, and I never have classes Friday. The following week, we have the Monday off of school because of Easter. So hopefully these next couple weeks go by really fast!

I will be going home with a friend again for Easter just like I did for Thanksgiving, so I will have another great story to tell about the little towns of North Dakota in a few weeks. :)

I had a first experience of getting my foot ran over by a car as well this week. I have never had that happen to me before but it surprisingly didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. 

Other than that, just another fast week. I still have several more weeks until I hear a response about being a counselor at my church camp again, so I'm trying not to think about that too much. 

Let me know what else you want to hear about! Only a handful of weeks left and then I am done with my first year of college!

Cam

Got pushed into snow....

Not quite as good as the beach...but still awesome.

Behind Yet Again! I blame Spring Break!!

This was probably one of the best spring breaks I can remember. That is partially why I failed to write last week but I have a lot to talk about from this week!  Going from 20-30 degrees up here in Grand Forks to a beautiful, warm 80 degree sunshine in So Cal really made me realize how much I miss home. The cold only continues up here with no sign of hope in the coming days/weeks. I mentioned a few weeks back that weather was (seeming) to warm up and that we were starting to get 30 degree days, well I must have jinxed it because this next weeks forecast is reporting temperatures in the teens....STILL!!! We are coming up on April (already?) and we still can't get a day of decent temperature/weather. I leave Grand Forks a week ago, and come back to more snow and colder temps.  At least I was still able to be home for a week to not only warm my body up after a 5 month hibernation, but see my family and friends again.  Now it's time to go right back into the flow of things. Away go the shirts, and back come the snow coats.

One of the better days I have seen.

I went to the beach three times while I was home, all of them being beautiful days.  I managed to get somewhat of a tan as well which will hopefully hang on until summer in 8 weeks!! There were also a lot of nights being out until 3am (mom wasn't too happy about that :P) and hanging out with friends. So, my sleep schedule is way off and I have been lacking adequate sleep for several days. 

Gotta represent all the way from Grand Forks!

This past week, I was also fortunate enough to have my interview for the Us In The Son Day Camp counselor position once again this summer. For anyone that doesn't know, I have been apart of this day camp at my church every year since I was 5. I started off as a camper, then I became a volunteer when I was 12, then this last year I became a counselor.  This camp means so much to me and having the opportunity last summer to be a counselor was a dream come true. When I got home last Sunday, being in that warm weather and going to church that night really made me think of camp and how much I am looking forward to this year.

To answer the question my Aunt Debby asked a few weeks back regarding the weather and how it affects my flying, here it is.  When it is colder, the plane actually runs better, the performance is better, and I burn less fuel. It takes longer to warm up the engine to give us that good performance, but overall cold weather provides better flying conditions.  However, I am rarely able to find a good day to fly in this cold because there are always clouds in the way. What that means is that the ceiling (cloud layer) is too low to allow me to fly without being too close to the ground. So yes having cold "temperatures" are better to fly the plane, warm "weather" gives me better chances to fly. That's why Spring needs to hurry up! I am running out of time!

Ridin' in the jeep!

I was actually supposed to get back into GF yesterday, however I managed to miss my flight out of John Wayne at 7 in the morning therefore giving me an extra day to spend with family! They rescheduled me, free of charge, to this morning at 7:45. It was pretty much the best thing that could have happened. Usually people are upset about missing a flight, but in my case there was none of that! It is almost easier doing it that way. 

Here is a well thought out reason to why you would want to do that....let's say you need to be home by Sunday, however flights are cheaper if you go home Saturday. You buy the ticket for Saturday, show up with not enough time to make that Saturday flight, and they reschedule you for the next day. GENIUS!  Now it might not always be as easy to do that, but if you realize that it can be done, you should definitely try it. It worked for me and I didn't even mean to do it.

That is all I have for this week, I miss home already and I have only been here for 3 hours. Summer can't come soon enough!

Cameron 

P.S. I also went to my first concert this week too! Matt Maher performed at my church and I had front row seats! Not quite as big as a lot of other concerts but it was still awesome!

Matt Maher and The Brilliance

Couldn't get any better sunset pictures :/