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The First Day of Classes

(Extracurricular Activities and Faith-Based Involvement, Class of 2012) Permanent link All Posts

Today is the first day of classes spring semester, third class year. My friend and I took “first day of school” pictures this morning to always remember this day. We have already been back a week from Christmas break, which now seems ages ago. I went home for just over a week and then down to Florida on a swim training trip with the Academy the next week, where the weather was not hot, but still in the sixties and seventies every day. It is a little colder here in Connecticut.

Last week, I switched rooms and roommates, bought my new books (Business Statistics, Invitation to Oceanography, and The Atmosphere) and pulled out the books I already had. I went to trainings almost every day, and tried to switch my schedule around, but that was impossible. There was little to do the first week; Captain Fitzgerald did grant us liberty on Tuesday and Thursday evening and I walked with a small group to Dunkin’ Donuts those nights.

Even with this as the first day of class, I am looking forward to Spring Break! So close and yet so far away. I usually go on a Spring Break trip with my father and younger sister. But this year, I am going to the Dominican Republic organized by the Catholic Chaplain here at the Academy. A group of twelve cadets, plus the Chaplain and another officer stationed at the Academy are going there for a week to build a church, play with the kids, talk to the families, witness our faith, and learn and grow about ourselves and others.

We had a team meeting yesterday at Father Mode’s house with chili and nachos and team bonding. We covered what to expect in the Dominican Republic, what we should pack, and what poverty really is and how this trip might affect us. We will probably be eating beans and rice all week and have limited access to a shower and bathroom, but bathing in the river sounds like more fun! And almost everything I pack is going to stay in the Dominican Republic.

It is all going to be very different, but I have gotten my typhoid, tetanus, and first of three rabies vaccines (two more to come soon!). And by the time Spring Break rolls around, I hope to be not only physically prepared, but mentally and spiritually also.

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Last Edited by Leann Strickland at 2/8/2012 1:58 PM