September in Great Lakes

Well fall is coming in fast here, a nip is in the air and the wind is a-blowin.  Here in Great Lakes the trees are starting to change color and it rains more days than not.  But they always say here "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it'll change" so it's not much different from home haha.  It's almost my birthday and it's weird to think that this time last year I was a college student, with a German roommate (whom I miss terribly, I love you Anna), worrying about my research papers and midterms. Now I'm worrying about being late to muster and my room not being quite clean enough for inspection. 

On the Navy front, I am doing pretty well.  I try to just keep my head down and  not get in trouble here haha.  I feel like I'm pretty successful at that, since a lot of people in my "ship" (barracks) keep asking me if I even live there.  I've lived there since June, thank you for not noticing.

 I finished my first part of schooling, my Apprentice Technical Training (ATT), which is essentially basic electrical training.  At ATT I was the student leader for my class, which meant I assisted our petty officer in anything he needed and made sure the class behaved, I helped perform uniform inspections, and as long as I kept the class quiet and reasonably well behaved the petty officer would pretty much leave us alone.  It also meant if the class got in trouble, I got in trouble haha.  I often felt like I ran a kindergarden class.

Now I'm on hold waiting to start my next school, which is Electronics Technician A-school (ETA).  It's where I learn the basics for my actual job in the navy.  It's about 5 months long, so assuming I start on Friday (which is likely) I'll be in school until the end of February.  After that I have to wait for orders and to find out what C-school I get, so I'll probably be in Great Lakes until about the end of March, maybe a little later.  Just long enough to enjoy the full season of winter :/  haha

On the non-Navy front, I'm really enjoying my time down here.  As much as I am NOT looking forward to winter, I'm glad I get to stay here for a while.  I've met some really amazing people and a lot of them will be here for a while with me.  I'm having a blast down here and although I joined the Navy to see the world and get out of the midwest the closer it comes to me actually leaving the more I want to stay lol.  I met an amazing guy, have made a ton of friends, and now I don't want to leave haha.  Welcome to the Navy I guess. Just as you get comfortable somewhere it's time to leave.

Mitch Marema, me and Mitch's best friend Greg Horsting, at Mitch's parents' house, in WI.

The whole group of us in WI.  Ian Salas and Johnny Rausis (Mitch's roommate's), Kerkman, a friend of Mitch's from home, Mitch, me, his sister Megan, his best friend Greg, and two of his friends, Keri and Bethany from home.