I’d imagine that one of the big questions that most prospective cadets and parents have, such as this parent, is what life in the dorms is like. In general, it’s similar to that of most other colleges: there are two people to a room, we share the heads, and we’re always in each other’s business.

However, we have unique aspects of dorm life, such as cleaning stations and inspections. Cleaning stations are only for freshmen, and are done in the morning at 0550 and at night at 1900. The assignments for cleaning stations rotate each week, so depending on the size of the company you may only be on the cleaning bill once every 3 weeks or so. There are different specific jobs assigned to each person, so that the entire company gets cleaned twice a day.

Interaction between males and females is also heavily regulated. Men and women are not permitted to be in a room with the door closed. There is also no fraternization permitted, meaning that upper and underclassmen can’t date each other. That’s not to say that it doesn’t happen; it’s simply not supposed to happen due to potential abuse of power issues as a result of the regimental structure.

Tonight’s events in 1st Company are a perfect example of what life in the dorms is like for freshmen. Due to a series of events related to poor cleanliness in the rooms and the company’s public spaces, 1st Co freshmen have morning and evening inspections every day this week (instead of just morning inspections). We also have all-hands cleaning stations from the end of evening inspections until study hours, which will be over an hour’s worth of cleaning.

The dorms are, for the most part, pretty quiet. Since we can’t throw parties, it keeps the noise level pretty low, except for during study hours (go figure) when everyone on deck has their hatches open and is talking and working together on homework. It’s helpful when it comes time to sleep though, since there isn’t a lot of disturbance to keep people awake.

One of the things I like most about living in the dorms is the view out my window. I can’t think of too many places where I could watch ships & barges going past, and have a 540′ ship docked a few hundred feet from my building.
(The new version of the blogging software I use is giving me trouble with posting images, so once I get that resolved I’ll put up some pictures of my view.)

On a side note: I may be at the Welcome Aboard event this Saturday, depending on whether or not I’m sailing this weekend. So, I might have the chance to meet some of the incoming freshmen for next year; I’ll keep you posted.

Hehe, you see what I did there? It’s a play on words

Anyway, a parent posted a comment on a previous blog entry suggesting that I discuss some of the more “mundane” details of life at MMA, such as the mess deck. The mess deck is the hub of cadet life beyond the regiment. Eating, relaxing, and socializing are just a few of the major roles the mess deck plays in cadet life.

On any given day of the week, you’ll find a variety of cuisine choices. We have two regular serving lines, each with a different selection. We have a short order sandwiches and wraps line, with different specials each day (I usually get a wrap when they have roast beef) which can be customized to your liking. We also have a pizza line, which usually has anywhere between 6 and 10 different types of pizza to choose from. Next to that is a roasted meat line, where you can get hot sandwiches of the meat of the day. Finally, we have a wraparound salad bar, with a large selection of toppings and dressings.  Tuesday is a favorite day among cadets, because we have chicken patties for lunch.  On Wednesday nights, Chartwells (the food service company that runs the mess deck) has something special for dinner, or to accompany it.  A few weeks ago they brought in some chefs from Peking Palace, a local Chinese restaurant, to make a Chinese buffet for us.  We’ll also have special buffets the Wednesday before certain holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The mess deck also serves as the social hub for cadets.  Here we catch up with kids that we may not otherwise see, and get all the good gossip around school.  In this environment the rumor mill is potent, and the mess deck is the best forum.  Aside from that, it provides a place for cadets, especially underclassmen, to relax and hang out with friends.  The freshmen and sophomores sit on one side of the mess deck, on the side toward the parade field, and the juniors and seniors sit on the other side.  This way, we can be at ease without worrying about a squad leader or officer getting on our case about something.  We also have two televisions in the mess deck, which gives freshmen a chance to watch TV and get the news.

On a side note: I love getting feedback and suggestions for topics to write about.  If you have a subject you’d like me to cover, please post it in the Skribit box on the right.  Thanks!

I’m sorry it’s been a week since my last post. I haven’t written anything due to a combination of being wicked busy, and not having much to write about (those two don’t really seem to go together, do they?). At any rate, I thought I’d post an update on some of the more interesting things going on with me, as well as around campus.

By now everyone has sorted out their schedule, and has gotten into their routine with classes and extracurriculars. Sailing has started for the spring semester, so we’re practicing in the afternoons, and will soon start competing.  Practice was canceled this past week on Wednesday and Thursday due to the weather, but next week we should be able to pick back up.

I’m working on getting an amateur radio club established at MMA.  As a ham radio operator, I’d like to find other cadets who are either operators already, or are interested in becoming licensed, to expand the hobby within the school.  Not only do I think it can be a lot of fun, but it also has practical application in the maritime industry, especially for deckies.  I’ll post more on that as we make progress in establishing the club.

Since Easter is on Sunday, we don’t have to be back at school until “mofo” (short for morning formation) Monday morning, which means we have no regimental inspections this week!  For somebody outside the school, this may not seem like a big deal, but it’s huge in the eyes of a freshman, since it means you can spend another night at home and not have to worry about being back in time to prepare for inspections.  It essentially adds on Sunday afternoon and night to your weekend.

I’ll check back in on Monday; right now I need to get back to laying low this weekend.

Given that it’s Saturday, I decided to talk about weekends at MMA.

Since the vast majority of cadets at MMA are Massachusetts residents (many of them living within an hour of campus), most people go home on weekends. It’s a nice break from the regiment. For those of us out of state, we have to get a little creative in entertaining ourselves. Some of us go home with friends who live close by, but many of us stay on campus. We quickly get to know the other kids who stay on the weekends, and come up with things to do together. If we have friends at other colleges nearby, we’ll sometimes go there to hang out or go to parties. We’ll go to the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis, to see a movie or just hang out. If we’re feeling lazy or the weather’s bad we’ll just hang out in the dorms and watch a movie in the study lounge, play card games, etc.

If you are out of state, playing a sport or joining clubs that have weekend activities is a great way to keep busy and entertained. I am on the sailing team, so I’m at regattas many weekends during the season. It keeps me involved, and gives me an opportunity to do something I like.

Mass Maritime certainly doesn’t have the most active weekend life, but if you make an effort you can find plenty of things to do.

All cadets are required to stand watch, license and non-license majors alike. We stand watch in three places on campus - one in the dorms, and two on the Enterprise.

In the dorms, we have watch at the Cadet Information Center (CIC), where we keep track of visitors entering and exiting the dorms, answer the phone during off-business hours, and do rounds throughout the dorms to make sure everything is in proper order. Freshmen are responsible for the rounds, and act as messengers to take information anywhere it needs to be delivered in the dorms or on campus.

On board the ship, there are deck and engine watch posts. Deck watch for freshmen consists of watching the gangway for people boarding and disembarking the ship, signing people in and out, and doing Detex rounds to check for proper order throughout the ship by punching a clock with keys at certain stations. Engine watch is resonsible for ensuring that all equipment in the engine room is performing (or secured) as it should be. Since the engine room is almost entirely secured while at the pier, there aren’t many systems to keep track of, which is nice.

Watch is stood 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the ship, and all hours before and after the academic day at CIC. These watch positions only apply in this manner while at school. During Sea Term, shoreside watch (CIC) is obviously eliminated, and the number of personnel on watch on the ship is increased significantly. However, we use watchstanding while at school to learn proper watchstanding procedures for when we ship out.

All watches are 4 hours long, except holiday watch which is 8 hours long. Watch periods are 0000-0400, 0400-0800, 0800-1200, 1200-1600, 1600-2000, and 2000-0000. One of the benefits of having an overnight watch is that as a freshman you can sleep during study hours, so you can go to bed before 2200. During Sea Term, overnight watch is even better because you’re not required to be at morning formation the next day, so you can sleep all morning!

Inspections are a major part of the life of a fourth class cadet. Every morning at 0650, all fourth class cadets in the regiment stand room inspections, done by the squad leaders in each company. There are very specific requirements for your room to be inspection-ready, the state in which it is supposed to be kept not only for inspections but at all times. When a squad leader walks up to your room, he or she inspects both you and your room mate’s uniform. They then inspect your room, checking to make sure all horizontal surfaces have been dusted, your rack (bed) is tight, and that your inspection locker is proper. The inspection locker is the biggest part of the room inspection. Every item in the hanging part of the locker must be in the right order, and all hangers must be two finger widths apart. Everything must be properly ironed, and all buttons and zippers must be closed and fastened. There are certain items that must be placed in the right spot on the floor of the hanging area. The top drawer of the locker must contain specific items, each in a certain place and folded a certain way in the drawer. These inspections are done Monday-Thursday every week.

On Fridays we stand regimental sign-outs. At 0700 we stand in formation on the parade field by company, and each fourth class cadet’s uniform is inspected by a member of the regimental staff. In order to earn liberty for the weekend, you must pass these inspections. In the winter we are inspected in our regular long sleeve black uniform, but when we are wearing the short sleeve (summer) uniform, we are inspected in our “salt & peppers” which consist of the regular black pants and a more formal white shirt.

On Sunday nights, fourth class cadets stand regimental inspections. These are room inspections similar to the ones performed each morning, except that your room is inspected by a member of the regimental staff. These inspections serve two purposes: to ensure that all fourth class cadets are back at school after the weekend, and to ensure that our room is clean and orderly to be ready for the coming week.

The only inspection that all cadets in the regiment must stand is Admiral’s inspection. Each company stands Admiral’s twice each semester, coinciding with each company’s weekend watch (I’ll discuss this in a later post). The unique thing about Admiral’s is that even 1/C officers (including the regimental staff) must stand. All the same requirements for regular inspections apply to Admiral’s, but they are much more strict, and additional requirements are added as well. The deck (floor) must be waxed so that it is smooth and shiny, both in your room and in the company’s public areas such as the passageways (hallways). The heads (bathrooms) must be spotless, as well as the study lounges. Everything in your room has to be perfect, and your uniform must be pristine. Admiral’s are a huge deal, and people usually spend the entire week prior to them cleaning and preparing.

Inspections are the single largest aspect of a fourth class cadet’s regimental responsibilities. They are certainly the most time consuming, and while they are no fun, I can appreciate that they make sure my room is always clean!

Orientation is probably the single biggest source of nervousness and apprehension for incoming freshman at Mass Maritime. Last summer when I was talking to some of my soon-to-be shipmates, the vast majority of conversations revolved around Orientation and what people expected it to be like. Many of the rumors my classmates discussed turned out to be just that, but at the time all the information we were talking about amounted to a pretty daunting concept of Orientation. I won’t go into details about the actual Orientation process because, let’s face it, that would take all the fun & suspense away from any incoming freshmen that might be reading this! I can, however, give you some tips for things to do before arriving that helped me get through Orientation.

Learn the Youngie Knowledge. Orientation is much more of a mental test than a physical one. One of the biggest components is the Youngie Knowledge. Luckily, MMA provides a large portion of it online over the summer, to allow freshmen to learn some of it before they arrive. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS. If you come into Orientation knowing this stuff, you’ll be head & shoulders above your classmates who don’t, and Orientation will be significantly easier. I resisted doing this, but my mom insisted that I do it. She would make me learn and recite something from the Youngie Knowledge each time I wanted to go out with my friends, so that I would be sure to memorize it. While it made me furious at the time, I was grateful she had done it once I got to Orientation. It’s not fun, but it’s definitely worth the effort up front.

Get to know your classmates. As a cadet from outside of New England, I didn’t know anybody from back home at Mass Maritime. However, through the Internet I was able to learn names and faces of many of my classmates, and get to know some of them pretty well before ever meeting them in person. I’m not a big Facebook guy, but it turned out to be invaluable in this case. Seeing “familiar” faces when I arrived made me feel much more comfortable about being here, and made it easier to quickly develop new friendships by having already talked to people before arriving. In fact, that was probably the best thing I did to prepare, because even if I had trouble with everything else I had friends that could help me out.

Get (or stay) in shape. Orientation does have a significant physical component, so make sure that you’re in good shape to handle it. Push-ups, sit-ups and running are the most important things since that’s what the PT test consists of, so make sure you can do them well. As long as you’re strong in these areas, you should be well prepared for the rest of Orientation.

Relax. Orientation is designed to put you under a lot of stress, and see how you perform. If you do the things I’ve mentioned above, you’ll be in a great position coming into it. Once you get here, you’ll be immersed into a whole new experience unlike anything you’re likely to have done before. While it will be stressful, it’s important to stay focused and calm, and not worry too much. Orientation is as good or bad as you make it, so by being prepared and staying as relaxed as possible, you should be able to get through it just fine.

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. Once classes and extracurriculars really get going, I’ll have a lot more I can post about. In the mean time, I thought I’d include some pictures I’ve taken since being back at school.

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. Tuesday should start classes, which means resuming the typical routine of inspections and cleaning stations as well.  For now though, everyone’s focused on unpacking and getting moved in, and catching up with people they haven’t talked to in a while.

The mess deck opens tomorrow morning for breakfast, but it wasn’t open for dinner tonight.  A lot of people went out to eat (including me), so when we walked in to Chili’s we found that half the people there were Maritime cadets.  It felt a little like being back on Sea Term and going into a restaurant in port!

I’m going to finish unpacking and then go to bed, since I had to be up early this morning to get here in time.  I’ll update again tomorrow.