Prescott Student Blog: Brett

Blog 02.19.09

Hey guys,

So it’s mid-term time and things are tensing up. In Dr. Jones’ intelligence writing class we are writing all sorts of briefs and papers on our “account� countries. In Islam we are preparing for our midterm test and getting in to modern history and the jihadist movements. In Social Psychology we are conducting more experiments to study human behavior. Our most recent test was on a person’s willingness to help another. We place a person (confederate) next to vending machines with a small amount of money, but not enough to buy anything. The confederate then asks people passing by if they would give them money and we observe and record the data. We have found that a very large amount of people are not willing to give their money to someone who is asking for it.

Other than class stuff this last week has been pretty uneventful. We had a three-day weekend last week, so a lot of students left Prescott for a short vacation. Unfortunately, I am beyond broke so my weekend consisted of homework and hanging out with one of my friends that came to visit from the Daytona campus. On Monday I did head down to Phoenix to take my friend to the airport. I was shocked at the difference in weather in just a 1 ½ drive. I was about 35-40 degrees up here in Prescott and 65-70 in Phoenix. Most of the snow has melted away but occasionally at night we get a light layer of snow that soon melts once the sun rises.

Well everyone here is looking forward to spring break. We have the week of March 16th-20th off and we are all counting down the days. I’m pretty sure I’m just going to head back to CA to surf but there are a few other possibilities. There is a chance that I’ll either head back out to see some friends in Daytona or even fly all the way to Scotland to investigate an academic program I am looking into. I guess it doesn’t really matter what I do, as long as I get a break from the tension of college life. Well I’m going to head off to the post office. Until next time…

Brett Watts

Posted by Brett at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A frozen Arizona-

Hey, so it’s been a week now and things around Prescott have definitely changed. There is snow everywhere, the sidewalks are frozen, the wind is bitter and the nights are just short of unbearable. This last week we got somewhere around 1 foot of snow, which led to many other activities. People who enjoy skiing and snowboarding hit either the slopes in flagstaff or the soccer field on campus. Other people made snowmen and had snowball fights. I come from Southern California, I can’t handle this weather, but I’m trying to make the best of it. Here was the coolest thing; we actually had a full blown, don’t come to school, snow day! I moved to Arizona, I did not expect to have a snow day. But hey, it turned out to be pretty cool.

Other than the snow, classes are resuming as normal. Dr. Jones’ class on Intelligence writing and briefing is becoming a little intense as we start to get in depth with our “account country�. Everybody here is looking forward to spring break. This weekend is a three-day weekend for us so a lot of people are taking off for a short holiday. My roommate and I are considering escaping the snow and heading back to my home turf to hit the surf (that was not an intentional rhyme). Well I’m going to head off to find some food around this frozen tundra we call a “desert�. Like I said in my last blog, don’t hesitate to ask questions. Until next time…

Brett Watts

Posted by Brett at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Life here is normal and classes are beginning to test what we’ve learned to far. In Intelligence Writing and Briefing we have been assigned an account country to write and brief on a normal occasion. I was assigned the region of Tibet and Xinjiang Province. So every week in class we come with a briefing of what has been happening in the area throughout the past week. Dr. Jones reads our briefs out loud, corrects them and then sends them off to the “Eagle Eye� which is ERAU’s intelligence brief that gets sent to places like the CIA. My other classes are also beginning to be more interesting. In social psychology we are conducting experiments that test how the human mind makes decisions.

I’ll write in response to a question asked last week. Jesse asked me why I chose Chinese over Arabic. Well, this is the way I look at it; I plan on going all the way through my education to earn a Ph.D. So I figure I’ll be about 26 or 27 by the time I hit the work field. By that time China will be playing a huge part in the global community. Mandarin Chinese is also the most widely spoken language in the world, but there are not too many people in intelligence who have this particular skill. I hope that this answered your question.

This coming weekend we’re going to head off to Phoenix for their Chinatown New Year’s celebration for the Chinese New Year. A group of the lower level Chinese students will be going with Dr. Chen and those of us who are upper level will just be going on our own for fun. There is a lot of food, dancing and fun to be had on the Chinese New Year. Well, food and homework is calling so I’ll take my leave. If anybody else has question like Jesse’s, don’t hesitate to ask. It might take me a few days but I will reply.

Talk to you later,
Brett Watts

Posted by Brett at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)