I have been in Newport, RI since July 11th. This is a gorgeous town (I will post pictures when I get the chance). Out of my window I can see the water and it is filled with sailboats. The town is very touristy and reminds me of Charlestown. I hope to tour some of the mansions when Zach comes up for my graduation (only 18 days!).
As for becoming a naval officer, I am learning what military bearing is (1000 yd stare, hands shaped like you are holding a roll of quarters with your thumbs along your pant seam, and no movement or talking), that everything is answered "YES", "NO", or"AYE,AYE" followed by sir/ma'am/Senior Chief as loud as you can say it, that marching with a bunch of nerds (esp. me) in coordinated movements is very difficult, that I hate meetings with our company because the meetings last hours to discuss one point, and that I can function with 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night. I have also aquired 3 jobs: I am the postal officer (I pick up and drop off everyone in my company's mail), I am a duty section leader (I assign when people in my duty section will work on the quarterdeck and everyone complains about their shift), and I am road guard (I wear a bright orange vest and run ahead of our company when we are marching and stop traffic). I have also learned that the sandpit is not fun (rolling around and exercising in the sand and then having a room inspection to make sure there is no sand in your room or you will go back to the sandpit). I now dread the term "on your face", which means get in push-up position look up at the person yelling at you and go down for a push up on their command.
I am going to enjoy "liberty", the time that we can do "whatever we want". I will post pictures in a few weeks.
Inside the ship, this room was an officer's quarters. Each officer got their own room, while the enlisted slept in one big room filled with hammocks.
Zach and me in the gun powder room. Not open to the general public because some of the containers are not empty.
The room full of hammocks where the enlisted slept.
Zach and me next to the 40lb cannons on the gun deck. They got their name because the "bullets" weighed 40lbs.
Zach and me in front of the USS Constitution, the oldest floating Navy ship.
I got to fly to Montana for a week. I drove with my mom and Keely to Portland for Keely's white coat ceremony. We stopped in Spokane and visited Keegan and I saw Gonzaga for the first time (where I fell in love with this bulldog). Then I went to Minnesota with Zach for the next weekend and celebrated his parents' 30 year anniversary and Piper's first birthday.
