When I arrived at the USNA almost 5 weeks ago, I knew how to walk from the parking lot across from Alumni Hall to my building. And for the first 2 weeks I walked to the opposite side of my building because I didn't know there was a simpler way to go. But now, after having gotten lost more times than I can count (and wandering off sometimes too), asking more questions than I ever have in my life (thank God my office has enough people to spread these out on), and just simply listening at all times- I can give a pretty decent tour of the Academy, which I have done for a group of Peruvian cadets (who specifically called ahead and asked for females... bizarre?!). Refer to a previous post for why I did not give tours to the Saudi Arabian cadets.
A lot of my recent "insider" information has come from the 2 Ensigns I'm working on international orientation with. In working with student affairs, I never want to feel like I'm stuck in an office away from students. I feel like the change working with the Ensigns now is allowing me to understand more of what it's like to be a midshipmen at the academy. I enjoy hearing their stories, especially because they are so unique from what a traditional college student experiences. And I feel like a proud older sister as they're about to go off and train in the Navy.
The 3 of us have developed a great working relationship. It has been comically deemed the "circle of trust," since we have all accidently sent emails from each other's accounts, having to share just one laptop. One is from Alaska and one is from Texas (the same small town as my sister matter-of-factly, and he was fascinated to learn that the Chrissy he'd been listening to on the radio was her!). It's a breath of fresh air to have young (sane) people in the office. Since we are so ahead of the tasks assigned to us for international orientation, we spend a lot of time making fun of each other, parking illegally around the yard, decorating our tiny office with post-it notes, arguing over which of the 3 of us should be the employee of the month, and quizzing me on my Naval Knowledge (you would not believe the amount of acronyms that are used). We have another Ensign joining us in a week (he's off getting married right now, yikes!) and I hope he is able to fit in well.
It's hard to describe the dynamic of our whole office and the leadership style of my director. Let me just say- my director is not well liked and I think he sleeps better at night only when he's thrown people publicly under the bus, or insulted them. In an incident that was of no fault of my own, the Ensigns quickly came to my defense. They also were very disappointed in my daily Pop-tart lunches and have insisted on bringing me some of their creations for lunch each day, for example home made salsa, nut clusters, and sandwiches with potato chips smashed on them (Mom, I know you will be glad to hear that people are making sure I eat, haha). They are quite the chefs. They spend quite a bit of time asking me about my experience at a "real" college, which I think is adorable and strange all at the same time. They just don't understand what I did with all my free time between classes, and sadly I don't have a productive answer for them.
Today after being mocked repetitively for my headband matching my shoes, I received the comment, "You're the woman, I don't know why you haven't baked for us or something yet." I suppose I need to run to the store and purchase something that appears to be homemade.
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