I received an e-mail from the parent of a student who will be a freshman at MMA in the fall. She suggested that I write about important aspects of starting out as a freshman at MMA. Over the next week or two, I plan to cover a variety of topics pertaining to Orientation and first semester freshman year. If you have anything specific about the beginning of freshman year that you’d like me to cover, please feel free to post a comment and I’ll try to cover it.

Today and tomorrow have been a little hectic as people are easing back in to their routines, and getting various issues sorted out. Schedules, financial aid, business office obligations, books, and a variety of other tasks we have to accomplish. As freshmen, this is the first time we’ve had to deal with a lot of these things as they were taken care of for us last semester. Since I had no classes today, and the semester’s still getting started, there’s not much to report.

Today everyone returns to school for the start of the spring semester. It’s moving-in day, and the roads on campus are lined on both sides with cars, and people unloading piles of bags and boxes. Even though we’ve been off for less than a week, moving back into the dorms makes it feel like forever. Tomorrow is the academic orientation day for spring semester. We have meetings throughout the day regarding both academic and regimental/campus life issues.

We’re currently about 150 miles from Buzzards Bay, cruising north towards Cape Cod Bay. With about 18 hours until we anchor, everyone’s pretty pumped. The last day of the rotations is over, so tomorrow we just have to take our exams and we’re done! Once we reach Cape Cod Bay we’ll have cell phone service, so I’m sure that most people will be on deck when they have free time making phone calls.

We’re currently about 200 miles off Cape Hatteras, racing along to Cape Cod. This morning was the first time in nearly 6 weeks that we were a little chilly at morning formation, a refreshing reminder of just how close to home we’re getting. The conditions have been a little rough the past couple of days, but everyone’s already adjusted so nobody’s seeming to notice. When I talked to my dad in port he mentioned a scene in U-571 when the Marine officers are in the officer’s mess on the submarine watching the submariners grab plates and cups as they go sliding without even thinking about it, and going about their business.

We’re currently steaming along at about 17 knots due north on our way home. The weather’s still pretty warm, and the ship’s been doing quite a bit of rolling since we left Aruba yesterday. Today is my last day of maintenance for Sea Term 2008, and tomorrow starts the last rotation on cruise. I’ll be starting Deck training, which I’m looking forward to. I have a feeling that everyone will be having a little trouble focusing these last few days.

It’s our last night in Aruba, and it’s been an awesome port! Yesterday we went on a sailing and snorkeling tour with 4/C Buckley’s and Hindemith’s parents, which was fantastic! We saw tons of fish and and other sea life, and even a WWII-era German freighter, though part of me thought it might be superstitiously wrong to check out a sunken ship as somebody living on one. We’ve spent a lot of time at the pristine white sand beaches here, and today my group got jet skis, which was wicked fun!

I’m sitting on top of One Hold on board the Enterprise looking out to sea as the sun sets over the water, enjoying the warm weather and the awesome breeze. The town is busy with tourists looking to have a good time on a Friday night, and the music from the clubs and restaurants downtown can be heard all the way back at the ship. Division 1 has watch today, so I’ve been on board doing maintenance.

This morning we woke up to find the ship rolling and pitching again. We’ve been in seas similar to the ones we encountered off the coast of the Carolinas back in January, so a lot of people have been feeling a little sick. Today was the last day of non-license training for Division 1, so we were in the classrooms in the aft part of the ship all day. Naturally, it magnified the movement of the ship by quite a bit.

It’’s about 1915 and we’’re currently in the Panama Canal, moored in the area between the Miraflores and San Miguel locks. We went through the Miraflores locks around 1100 this morning, and fixed mooring lines around 1230, where we’’ve been since. We should be getting under way again very soon (within the next 30-60 minutes) on our way back to the Atlantic. We’’ve been watching Panamax ships going through the canal all day, from container ships to oil tankers.