Color Parade

  It's hard to believe that the month of May is nearly over.  It seems like just yesterday I was dying for May 7th to arrive so I could begin my internship.  And now it's nearly June 1st.  I guess that's what I get for wishing my days away, my grandmother always told me never to do this after all.
   I've been talking a lot about what's been going on at the USNA these weeks, but little about what I've actually been doing besides ducking out of the office to peak at everything (I recently discovered a great patch of window space in the ladies room that you can see the field from where a lot of activities take place, this will be so great when Plebe summer begins!).  I promise I've actually been getting work done.  The highlight of my week was on Wednesday watching the Color Parade.  I snuck out of the office and watched for the Brigade Commander to start the march (from the ladies room of course).  When I saw him finally come down the cobble stone street, I bolted out of the ladies room, down the steps, ran through the hallway (thank God no one was around), quickly composed myself and walked outside my building.  Every midshipmen is divided into Companies which marched together from Bancroft Hall (their dorm) to the field.

Once they all assembled on the field, for an hour or so they did various presentations with their rifles, the bugle corp, and of course their colors.  There was a large to-do with the transferring of the colors from the company who hosted them this spring semester to the company that will host them the upcoming fall semester.  This is based on the company with the highest marks in academics, merit and athletics.  Quite fascinating.  Unfortunately, though the temperature was mild, the humidity was intense and quite a few midshipmen were dropping like flies.  

   As soon as they marched back to Bancroft Hall, literally seconds later they were out of their dress uniforms and back in the white ones.  I've never seen a wardrobe change that fast in my life.  I heard one overbearing mother begging her son to keep in on for 5 more minutes to pose in front of the Herndon Monument.  "Mom, this thing is like 10" thick, you put it on then."  Mothers will be mothers. I'm just grateful my school didn't have as many scenic places and monuments to pose by when I graduated as the USNA. It must take hours for the mothers to pose their sons and daughters here.

   Yesterday there were a ton of different awards ceremonies all over the yard.  I was actually impressed by my ability to give a few sets of parents directions on my lunch break. Tuesday the Mids will graduate and commission. They will become Ensigns in the Navy or 2nd Lieutenants in the Marine Corps (the lowest ranking officers), and then they will go off for more training (i.e. Naval Aviation training in Pensacola for 2 years).  At 10:00AM the ceremony begins down the street at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium and at 10:04AM the Blue Angels are flying over.  I am going to sneak out of my office one last time and try to witness this!!

Herndon Monument Climb

  Please stop raining, please stop raining, please stop raining! I thought the entire drive to work this morning.  I wanted nothing more than to spend my afternoon watching the class of 2015 outgoing Plebes climb the Herndon Monument.
  As of yesterday afternoon the food trucks were set up, and the protective fencing was placed around the monument, but the monument remained grease free.  This morning however, it was thickly lathered with a crisco-like substance.  Many of my co-workers said it seemed thicker than most years (2 years ago in fact, it wasn't greased at all on the basis of safety issues, but that Vice Admiral was only in position for 1 year).
   I walked out at 1:30PM, the scheduled starting time, and listened to the Plebe class's accomplishments thus far.  After a traditional song and the firing of a canon, off they went! The strategy was to take off their shirts (and socks), throw them at the monument, and the Plebes that got there first used the shirts to wipe the grease off.  After 45 minutes I went back inside and pretended to do work.  However every 10 minutes or so I got up and looked out the window as I pretended to do things like throw something away, copy, go to the restroom, etc.  I felt like such a Navy nerd.  After a half hour of this, I admitted to myself that I wasn't going to get anything done, shut my computer down and walked back outside.  I met up with the midshipmen who work in our office who told me about the past few years and particularly when they did it ("It only took us 1 hour, 14 minutes and 38 seconds," one told me.  "But who's counting right?" I laughed.  We were particularly proud when we saw a very tiny, tan skinned boy nearly reach the top.  Though I can't spell his name, he frequents our office, as he is one of the Sri Lankan students earning his 4-year degree here.  There were 2 girls who were very actively involved as well, which I thought was pretty neat.

   Around 3:45PM, when they finally reached the top and replaced their Plebe dixie cup hat with a Midshipman cover, Plebe year ended.  As the shirts said "Keep Calm and Climb On- Free the Plebes, Class of 2015!"   We officially have no Plebes on the yard now, as the newbies don't arrive until the end of June.

Color Parade practice

   Today I anticipated to be like any average morning going to work. Usually by Wednesday or Thursday I have doubled the amount of coffee I drink in the morning, but I expected nothing out of the usual. As I got off the highway and made my way through scenic downtown Annapolis, I began to notice police cars and fire engines around entrances to the USNA gates. I proceeded to Gate 8 where I typically enter, only to be greeted by a line of traffic nearly a mile long. Not knowing what else to do, I called my mentor to try to find out what was going on (voicemail), and waiting impatiently. When I finally got to the gate at 8:20 ('m supposed to be in the office at 8:00) I was told I could not enter because of the color parade. I started asking questions, "I thought it was Wednesday? Where can I enter? Will I be able to get in at all?" He brushed me off and refused to answer me. My first rude USNA-er.

   I tried calling my mentor again, and the general office number. No luck. I certainly couldn't call the midshipman working in our office since he was part of the color parade. I felt like such a rookie... I thought the parade was Wednesday and I didn't know the protocol! I looked for spaces outside of the yard as I drove to a different gate, only to be denied again. "Where should I go?!" He must have noticed my panic. "What's your business on the yard?" he asked. "I'm an intern!" He suggested I try gate 1. I didn't bother asking where it was. I pulled over, whipped out my map, silently thanking Chuck a million times in my head for giving me all the touristy materials on my first day. When I FINALLY got on the yard I met several dead ends, nearly drove into the water several times, when my mentor finally called me back. I parked where she directed me to. Then came navigating to my building. When I thought I'd found my building I realized it was not in fact my building but the library basement.  This is how plebes must feel, I kept thinking, but thank God I won't get screamed at and told to do 100 push-ups.  As I walked outside into the bright sunlight, when my eyes finally adjusted I looked up and I was standing directly across from where nearly 1,000 First Class midshipmen where gathered neat and orderly on the field. 

   "Ma'am, you can't be here, this is blocked off to the public," a stern looking guard said to me dressed in uniform.

   "I'm sorry, I work here. Which way is Mahan Hall?" 

   "It's right there," he pointed to a building not even 100 meters from me.  "You work here and you don't know where your building is?" he said quite rudely.

   "You must not work here or you'd be friendly," I replied.  As I walked away in my defense I added, "I'm new."

   Turns out it was just practice. I can't imagine what things will be like on Wednesday for the real deal.  To the guard's obvious disgust I did snap a picture as I walked away, just out of spite for his rudeness.

Top 10 learnings

Top 10 things I have learned during my first week at the Naval Academy:

1. "Hit the head" is not a violent phrase, but one indicating the need for the bathroom.  Head = bathroom.  Deck = floor.... the list goes on.

2. Do not be on campus at 8:00am or 8:00pm.  You will stick out like a sore thumb, look like a dear caught in head lights and draw much attention to yourself wearing heels on cobblestones as the ENTIRE campus freezes, and salutes the flag being raised and 100 bells chime.  Oh, and it's not a campus, it's "the yard."

3. Academics academics academics.  Every midshipman graduates with a B.S. and every one does it in 4 years.  Only MIT can boast this achievement as well.  I was told a tsunami would have to coincide with a hurricane at the same time as a typhoon for classes to be canceled.

4. Students will be students no matter what institution you're at.  Even at the USNA they wait until the last minute to do their paperwork, they complain about the cafeteria food, they gossip about the opposite sex, and they're constantly sneaking out their cell phones.  At least they're polite and respectful though!

5. I will be called ma'am more times this summer than I will my entire life.  

6. Even the seaman giggle at the word seaman.

7. The USNA is regarded with the utmost respect from civilians.  However, the midshipmen are somewhat cynical of the Academy, believing that the ones that graduate go off and give the school a poor reputation with their cockiness and "holier-than-thou" attitude once they are commissioned in the Navy.

8. The beauty of the Academy should never be underestimated, around every corner and in every building is something remarkable.  I feel ignorant because I don't know what 1/3 of the things mean.  My building is next to the chapel (my mom's favorite building on the yard).  Currently we have 2 enormous Naval ships docked on the other side of my building getting ready to take some midshipman around the Atlantic for several weeks.

9. An office environment is not so bad.  Coming from an educational background where the objective was to be constantly active, I was nervous about this.  But when I have co-workers with bright personalities yelling on the phone next to me, "Who can I show my middle finger to?!" and people from IT services coming to talk about Star Trek- things stay interesting.

10.  My day is no longer decidedly gorgeous or gloomy based upon the weather, but more so by whether the midshipmen are wearing their dress uniforms or not... the yard is so much more cheerful populated with white :)

Living the dream

   Today is my 7th day of interning. By the end of this week I will have already satisfied the required hours my university says I have to spend at my site this summer. To me, if I only come in once or twice a week though, I will not be truly experiencing what it is like to actually work here. Plus... I LOVE IT.

"Fit" has always been crucial to me. I have 100% of the characteristics of an introvert, and I am okay with this the older I become. However, I never want to work in a dead silent, monotonous office environment with a bunch of deadbeats. I like co-workers who pull me out of my shell, challenge me, expose me to their expertise and help propel me forward in my professional career. The International Programs Office (or IPO for short) is exactly that environment for me. The first 2 days I did a ton of smiling and replying with "ok," "sounds great," "awesome," "looking forward to it," "thanks!" But by day 3, when the director had gone off to Norway, and the woman I am working more directly with (let's call her my mentor) was running late I hit the ground running completely on my own.

   The office is very light hearted. Every morning the assistant director, aka The Colonel asks me, "living the dream?!" and I reply "absolutely," I mean this wholeheartedly. He has taught me some incredibly valuable Navy slang as well as the ins and outs of the office in a short amount of time, since his cubicle is directly behind mine. Chuck, a wonderful man who graduated from my university has made it his summer goal for me to meet every single person employed at every single office at the Academy. There are 3 other women who work in the office, they mostly keep to themselves, but they are friendly. There is a midshipman on the verge of graduating and being commissioned into the Navy and his help to me has been tremendous. He is working in the office this summer and it has been nice having another young person around.

I have been silently observing and compiling a list of valuable lessons as a civilian on the yard this first week. Stay tuned for my top ten lessons I've learned thus far.

The internship

  What is Student Affairs?  Think of a college or university.  Take away the students, take away the professors.  Who's left?  Us!  The best way to describe SA is with examples: Career Services, Housing, Office of Orientation, Student Activities, Office of Student Leadership & Civic Engagement, Campus Recreation, First Year Programs (what I will be doing in the fall), International Student Services, Multicultural Student Services, Deans, Provosts, Presidents, etc!!  There are soooooo many SA offices and functions and every single institute of higher education is completely different.  From the previous post, you've guessed my goal is to work in an Office of International Programs and/or International Students.  Oddly, sometimes these offices are considered on the Academic Affairs side, but many professions acquire the degree I am earning for jobs on the academic side (such as admissions and advising).

   For my program, I must complete 2 internships (each a semester in length). My anticipation was to complete one in the fall of 2012 and one in the spring of 2013.  Due to a scheduling conflict and the class I needed for this summer not being offered, I was left merely 3 weeks before the summer term began to find an internship in order to enroll in the internship course (otherwise I would not have been enrolled full-time and would have had to overload in the fall). With very little help from my school (don't get me wrong- I love my school), I began cold calling every international program office at every university in the state of Maryland and the D.C. area.  After nearly 40 phone calls the odds were not in my favor. 

  Jokingly, I brought up the Naval Academy to my parents and a few friends and decided to call on a desperate, frantic, whim.  It rang all day, but I didn't leave a message.  Around 4:00pm I received a phone call.  "Hi, did you call?"  I had no idea who this was and asked where they were calling from.  "The United States Naval Academy."  I quickly gathered my thoughts and spat out "I was just wondering if you were looking for an intern this summer in your office?"  He paused and said "Sure, that'd be great."

  That was 2 weeks ago, and I begin tomorrow.  We had a skype interview, and I was introduced to another worker in charge of semester programs who I'd be working directly with.  I've been told I'll be working on clearing 17 midshipmen to go on foreign naval ships for the fall.  Contacting our embassy, the foreign embassy, writing their orders, gathering their travel materials, etc.  Then I'll help prepare for the international cadets who will be coming from Spain, Peru, Russian, France & Chile.  I thought I'd be more nervous, but I'm so positive that this is what I'm supposed to be doing that I just can't wait to do it.  I've had some extremely negative luck the past few years, I just want to soak up every second of this internship.  

  I'm doing this blog mostly so my mom doesn't call me every single day and ask for every detail of what's going on at the USNA.  Also, because I think it's a particularly fascinating institute, threaded with deep history and traditions that I'm honored to be a part of.