Week 2

Hello Again,

Sorry for the lack of updates, busy with class and stuff. Everything is going ok here, just working hard on homework and trying to hang out with some people. Classes are going smoothly and I haven't gotten sick again so that's good! Trying to get up and swim in the AM and hit the gym in the PM, i've done that once but that's still a goal! I have joined a few clubs; Sailing club, Pacific Islander club, Bible Study, Coast Guard Club, and Fitness Club. Just trying to stay involved!

Thought i'd post some new pics of the room, not much else going on, you can still send me stuff at Jonathan Anderson, 1 Morrow Cove #15 Vallejo, CA 94590

Much Love!

Rolex Big Boat Series/Food Poisioning

Hello Again,

What a weekend!!! Thursday started the big boat race. The Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco, CA. The biggest race in California, little did I know that we were racing against billionaires! Hundreds of big boats all racing with super professional guys, we started the first race and I felt great and on my game, came around the second mark to come down wind and the main halyard snaps sending the mainsail flying to the deck. The guys on board came up with a quick fix and had an external halyard rigged before afternoon. The afternoon race was much better finishing fourth among 10 in our division. We raced awesome and a beautiful day with marks around Alcatraz, golden gate, and the city front.

But...on the way home, DISASTER!! I started feeling really sick and had to have the other guy pull over as I spewed all over I-80!!! No good, I was up all night throwing up with diarrhea and a high fever. After a night of devastation I wake up and head to the student clinic, but wait they're closed because California state has no money for them to stay open every day of the week so...myself along with a couple dozen other students who also got food poisoning were SOL!!!!

However about 8 hours of midday sleep and 6 pepto-bismol servings later and the Pink did more than I thought it would!!

So the Mess hall defiantly dropped the ball on the chicken this time!

Well off to bed and then reading my book all day tomorrow to catch up for Monday! P.S. take a look at www.big-boat-series.com to see more about the race!

Cheers!

Classes Begin+Sailing+Common Swear Word!

Hello All,

Well I started classes this week! So far I have had:

1) Intro. to computers, which is basically the biggest waste of time ever, information that the entire 21 and under population is privy to. It's a class that teaches to entire Office suite. An easy A and GPA booster.

2) Marine Survival-A class that teaches basic personal survival and lifesaving techniques at sea. The class teaches us to effectively row and maneuver a vessel under oars, launching and recovery of lifeboats, and the operation of life rafts (including turning them over in the pool.) The class is pass/fail, easy A and an awesome time. Half lecture/half lab. No homework.

3) Industrial Equip. and Safety- Another easy A, this class describes the safety equipment on board the training ship and how to properly use them. BORING... No homework.

4) Marine Transportation- My major class is probably the most exciting class to boot. It is an intro into the maritime industry and describes all the different aspects. He assigns only 5 essays over the semester, all of which MUST be no longer than a page double-spaced...wow. This is an awesome class! Little homework.

5) Ship Structure- Coming in as a harder class, we go through the characteristics of ships, how they are built, how they perform, and how they hold up against stress. Going over all types of ships this class is a lot of reading and note taking. Only 4 exams and no homework.

6) Naval Science for the Merchant Marine Officer- This class is taught by active duty LT. Old ham USN. It is all lecture with 6 quizzes and 3 tests. An introduction to the organization of the U.S. Navy (including the Naval Control of Shipping Organization), with a discussion of the Merchant Marine Naval Reserve commission in order to provide a sound basis for liaisons between the U.S. Navy and the merchant marines. The concept of sea power is analyzed, with emphasis on the merchant marine-Navy interface in common sea power objectives. Underway replenishment and convoy operations are introduced. LONG AND BORING!!! But an easy A!

7) Still haven't taken Marlinspike class but that is next Monday and I will tell you about it then.

Ever wondered where the word SHIT came from? Well my MT instructor told us today. Way back when...they used to dry out and bundle up cow manure/bird/horse/whatever manure and ship it cargo to other places who aren't so lucky to have these necessities. When the cargo is bundled up and put in a ship there is no smell, because it's dry. However, old wooden ships tend to do what?...Leak. And when you get dry manure wet it starts to smell like what??...SHIT.

So they started to write on the crates/bundles. Store High In Transit or S.H.I.T. in order to avoid a smelly ship.

Well that's all for today, tomorrow i'm off to San Francisco for a 3 day regatta on the city front, sailing with 12 other guys should be a fun time.

Cheers!

Orientation!

Guten-tag! (I think)

Well I decided to just culminate the entire weekend into one blog. So much has gone on this weekend, loads of information, team building, uniform standards, watch keeping, eating, and just all around getting to know the campus and my shipmates.

While I have made tons of friends/acquaintances I have also learned that some of the cadets have a hard time letting high school go. The overall standards of this school, in my opinion, will weed out about 1/3 of my class before the end of the first semester.

I did get a chance to do laundry and talk to some great guys about life and their backgrounds. As our commandant said earlier on Sunday, every cadet here has made a career choice, every cadet has decided that they were gonna beat the odds and attend a college unlike any other. The cadets in my division and all around campus are all my shipmates and everyone of them in some way or another are gonna help our class succeed, hopefully the immature attitudes will evaporate once classes start, in the mean time we continue to grow together in anticipation of the upcoming school year.

While O-week has been very long, sometimes boring, this campus is a great place to be and every night when I walk back to ship and look out onto the sunsetting on the bay I can't help but get butterflies because I know that this IS IT, my dream has finally arrived.

Oh! If anyone wants to send me some goodies ;)

Jonathan Anderson

1 Morrow Cove #15

Vallejo, CA 94590

Cheers!

Move-In Day 2

Ahoy!

Well today was a lot better! I got all my stuff in and set up. My room mate Chuck moved in today and

we were able to get the whole room set up! It is definitely looking a lot better!

More sailing today, I feel like I am starting to get the hang of it. The school has a 1 design 48 foot racing sailboat. The team consists of 14 people where everyone has their own job and that job is really fast paced. I am on the "grinder," whic

h is a big winch that cranks in the jib/spinnaker. I am the biggest guy on the team and naturally do the grinding. I am really enjoying it and hopefully I can keep on board even with my weight.

After sailing I went and hung out with some of the guys on the floor, got settled in a little more and waited for mom to come pick me up so I could get the TV for the room.

Got the TV, it gets like 30 channels, all of which are coming in fuzzy (so much for the HDTV) but they say that is suppose to get fixed soon.

The other guy in our suite (2 rooms share one bathroom) is fluent in Swedish and his father lives in Stockholm!! I had a nice talk to him during the BBQ tonight which was undercooked hamburger, overcooked beans, and perfect corn-on-the-cob.

My first night on the ship, we'll see what happens and how well I sleep. I am currently watching NCAAFB and relaxing in the room.

Cheers!

Move-In Day + Sailing + Loads of info= Headache

Hi Everyone!

Well today was suppose to be move-in day. When I got to the school I was told to be at the boathouse at 0830 for sailing tryouts. You're probably wondering what one does at sailing tryouts, I expected to get drilled about stuff and be tossed around, although I was tossed around the tryout was relatively smooth (I found out I really don't know that much about sailing racing)

After tryouts we went to lunch and I stood in a long line to get the student id card/uniforms, after that I had to do the swim test, which was a breeze. I got all squared away and had to be back at the boathouse at 1:00p to meet with the coach to get checked in on the ship. I got all checked in and was very disappointed in the living quarters.

Back to the sailing we did that for a few more hours and then mom and I decided to move my stuff onboard. After everything was on I was starting to feel a little better about the place. Although my room mate wasn't moved in yet so I decided the hotel room bed was better for just one more night. Besides it was 95 degrees today and I had a headache (the ship is air conditioned!!)

Tomorrow! More Sailing and Final moving in!

Cheers!