Holy smokes, he’s back!  Yes, after being cut off from the real world for two months, I am finally finished with boot camp and starting my sophomore year at MMA.  I’ve been back at Mass Maritime for two days now, having arrived at school yesterday morning.  Already I’ve noticed differences in daily life between being a fourth class and being a third class.

First off, the most obvious differences:  We no longer have cleaning stations and study hours.  I no longer have to check the cleaning bill to see if I have to be up at 0545 to sweep the decks or scrub toilets, and do it again that night.  I don’t have to keep my door open for two hours each night pretending to get work done while people file in and out of my room, keeping me from being able to focus.  As third class cadets, we pretty much keep to ourselves, and are left alone most of the time, which I like.

We also have fewer inspections, and the ones we do have are at more convenient times.  We only have three inspections a week (instead of six as freshmen), and they’re all on weekday mornings (instead of having one on Sunday night).  As a result, I get to sleep in a little later on mornings that I don’t have inspection.

Unfortunately, my academic work load has increased somewhat.  Mainly, I’ve noticed that I have a lot more reading to do than I did last year.  While I don’t particularly mind reading itself, I have a nasty habit of falling asleep when I am reading from a book for more than about 15 pages, so I’ll have to find a way to overcome that.

I’ve been enjoying watching this year’s fourth class cadets around campus, watching them do the things that we had to do - running any time they’re outside, squaring corners when they’re in the dorms, etc.  I’ve also been greeted as “sir” by at least a dozen fourth class in the past two days, even though I’m only a third class, so I’ve had to remind them that “blue-taggers” (my class has blue name tags) are not sir or ma’am, we’re not much different from them in fact.  I actually find it pretty funny.

This year we get liberty on Wednesdays, starting after our last class of the day until we have to sign in between 2300 and 0000.  While I’m really looking forward to having time to get off campus in the middle of the week, I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the time, and foresee it providing a good opportunity to waste money.  Still, it’s an opportunity to take a break mid-week, so I’ll take it.

Not much else seems to be going on around here that’s worth reporting on, although tomorrow morning we have a meeting to vote on our ports of call for Sea Term 2009, so once I find out the final decision on those I’ll post it.

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.