2007-2008: Holly Black

Parents Weekend

Hi all,

We prepared for over two weeks for Parents Weekend and it has already come and gone!  However, it was a fantastic weekend.  The weather was beautiful--cool but sunny, I spent time with my parents, and got to relax.

All of Friday I was absolutely exhausted because our company was up until 4:00AM finishing the banner for the banner competition.  It came out pretty well, but at that point we just wanted to get it all finished.  To all of my rook buddies, awesome job & a great effort!

Friday afternoon the weekend began with a parade on the UP.  Following the parade, we were released for the night.  Saturday morning we came back for a drill knockout, the joadie competition, and the football march down.  The half-time show was pretty awesome and the Shock Platoon performed.  They are amazing!  I could never do what they do.

We were allowed to leave after the half-time show, so my parents and I got up and we left.  We headed back to the cabin we were staying at and relaxed for a bit.  Following that, we had dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night.

This morning was a little weird.  I slept until 10:00AM which is totally unheard of in the life of a rook.  I woke up confused, actually.  It felt awesome though.  Of course, I topped it off with a really really long shower.

The rest of today was spent with a late breakfast, some shopping, and dinner.  It was a great weekend that I much appreciated.

Soon enough, it'll be mid-semester break.  The Army department kids don't get to go home because they have land navigation, but I'm going home!  I really miss my dog, that's what I'm looking forward to.  We were told at the beginning of the year by our First Sergeant to always have something to look forward to.  This makes the days go by a lot faster here at Norwich and it always keeps our heads up.

To my parents when you read this, I want you guys to know that I enjoyed myself this weekend and I hope that I was able to show you that this place is making me a better person.  I love you, guys!

The next countdown begins:  Mid-semester break in 18 days.

Until next time,
Holly

Less Than 1 Week Away

Hello everyone,

The weather has been beautiful here.  The humidity finally broke and the leaves are starting to turn colors, which is my favorite part of the fall--particularly in New England.  Soon enough, we'll all be freezing and I'm sure I'll be writing otherwise about the weather.  Until then, I'm enjoying it!

My classes are finally up to speed and I have at least 1 assignment due or 1 test or 1 suprise quiz nearly everyday.  However, I try to use my study time wisely and get as much done as possible.  The first biology lecture exam wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be, but I won't be sure until I get it back.

This week consisted of a lot of company preparation for Parents Weekend.  I wrote the joadie for the joadie competition, my roommate wrote up a drill routine for it, and my rook brother designed the banner.  As I'm writing this, a few of my rook buddies are down at the fieldhouse sketching out the design.  I'm not going to lie--the design is pretty sweet.

Last night there was a Volunteer & Activities Fair.  There was a lot of neat stuff there including a guy that paints pictures in 3 minutes with spray paint.  He used pieces of cardboard, paint can covers, and even a Pizza Hut gift card to design different pictures.  I think I stood there for nearly an hour watching him.  There was also a caricaturist that did a picture of my roomates and I.  It was pretty hilarious, but somehow--it resembled the 3 of us very well.

I learned about a lot of different activities on campus and nearby that I'm interested in, so we'll see how that goes.  I need to make some decisions on time management which has had my thinking cap on for the past two days.

It's another night in the library for me.  I have a lot of work to do this week.  Luckily, my professors don't really have anything assigned for next weekend except for one class, so I'll be able to enjoy Parents Weekend.  I can't wait to see my mom and dad, sleep a little more than I'm used to, and eat food that isn't from our mess hall.  Don't get me wrong, we have some pretty good food at Norwich for a college campus, but it gets repetitious and I want to eat something different (i.e. Chinese food!!)

That's about it for now.  Parents Weekend is less than one week away.  Soon enough, it'll also be time for me to head home for mid-semester break.  It'll only be for 3 days, but I'll get to drive my car and take my dog for a long walk.

Until next time,
Holly

9/11, Tunbridge, & Abare Farm

This recruit has been busy, busy, busy!!!  The Navy PT test wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I learned that I'm a much better runner if I'm on a road course rather than a track.

This past Tuesday marked the 6th year anniversary of 9/11.  On Tuesday night, there was an echo taps formation that was really beautiful.  It was silent outside, everyone dressed in tunic, and everything just seemed so serene.  Hearing taps always makes my eyes get teary.  It's a weird feeling because it's sad, but at the same time--really amazing because of the tradition and meaningfulness.

Friday afternoon/evening I spent at the Tunbridge Fair with the Naval battalion.  They volunteer every year as a fundraiser.  It wasn't too bad, kind of fun actually.  I sold admission tickets for most of the day.  We got to walk around the fair for a while.  They had a lot of neat stuff there--cows, pig races, and some rides.  As a rook, you don't get off campus very often, so it was a treat.

Yesterday the rooks went to Abare Farm.  Mr. Abare is a graduate of Norwich and his family invites the rooks to his home every year for a big cookout.  They also had a firing range, a tug-of-war competition, a few football games going on, and a DJ.  I ate so much that I ended up laying down and falling asleep later in the afternoon.  Half of my rook buddies fell asleep too, so I wasn't alone.  Overall, it was a lot of fun, especially the tug-of-war.

Last night my company decided to stay on deck and watch a movie.  We were lucky because we got to sleep pretty late this morning.  I didn't have to wake up until 7:40.  Scary, but that's the latest I've slept since I've been here.  Rooks don't sleep very much.  I feel pretty good now though.

The next two weeks leading up to Parents Weekend are going to be very busy.  I'm working on a joadie for our company for the joadie competition and we also have to design and make a company banner.  That's just Corps stuff.  I also have 3 or so papers to write, my first lecture exam in biology, and swim practices.

Parents Weekend in 11 days.

Until next time,
Holly

Alumni Weekend

Hey everyone,

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who has posted encouraging comments on my blog.  It puts a smile on my face to see what people think and I hope that I'm keeping these things interesting and easy to understand!

Well, another week is down and over with at Norwich.  It was a busy one, particularly Thursday!  I only have 2 classes on Thursdays, but after classes I had to go to the uniform store, have a screening for swimming, go to my appointment at Learning Support, and the Maroon & Gold Key meeting.  For those of you who don't know, the Learning Support Center is located in the library and is here to help students with pretty much anything concerning academics.  They have a tutoring program, resources available to help with organization/study habits, as well as a regular staff that even edits papers/essays before a student passes them in.  I had an English teacher review my psychology paper there and it really helped me out.  The assignment was pretty dry, so she helped me look at it differently so I could write more effectively.

Maroon & Gold Key is a club that works closely with admissions.  They conduct campus tours and overnight events for prospective students.  I came as a prospect my junior year of high school and I thought it was great.  This really influenced me getting involved with it.  It should be fun!

The last 2 days were pretty rough.  We had a parade on Friday afternoon, a parade yesterday morning, and a parade yesterday afternoon.  I understand the whole tradition thing behind parades and such, but standing at attention/parade rest for long periods of time isn't an easy task.  The worst part about it was yesterday morning when my hands kept going to sleep.  They expect the freshmen to be the most-disciplined, so sneaking a hand squeeze every once in a while was difficult.

However, it was Alumni Weekend.  It was pretty cool to see all the Norwich graduates.  The oldest one here was from the class of 1934!!  Over the last couple of days, some of them have been talking with us.  After the 2nd parade, which was a march down, the rooks stood in the endzones on the football field and tried to help motivate the team during the football game.  It was really hot, so after the first quarter they let us walk around and relax.

A few guys from our company acquired a company rock.  There is a huge slab in the hallway that says "FOXTROT CO." across the top of it. 

Our cadre said a few of our rook buddies screwed around too much yesterday, so last night they weren't happy with us.  When you're a rook--if one person screws up, you all screw up.  Thus, instead of going to the movie they were showing last night, we had a room inspection and uniform preparation period.  I didn't mind though because I didn't want to really watch the movie.  It also gave me the chance to go to bed semi-early.

Overall, it's going pretty well I think.  I have a PT test with the Navy Department on Tuesday.  Other than that, I'm still kicking hard at this game known as rookdom.  We're just getting started!

Parents Weekend is in 19 days.  I can't wait.

Until next time,
Holly 

Labor Day Weekend

Hey everyone,

Last week I posted that rook week in its entirety went by very quickly.  Well, I didn't know the meaning of quick until the first week of academics flew past me!  My classes are pretty decent so far.  As a nursing major, I'm taking English 101, Psychology 211, Elementary Statistics 232, Biology 101, Introduction to Professional Nursing, and Introduction to Naval Science.  Unlike high school, most of the assignments are readings that you aren't necessarily tested on the next day in class, but rather expected to know.  It's up to the college student to get the work done.

As rooks, the only thing we can really do is study and SOP our rooms.  We have free blocks during the day to study, as well as a mandatory study hall at night.  I usually go to study in the library at night because I feel as though I concentrate better there.  When I'm in my room, I always get the urge to get up and clean something.  A rook's room is NEVER finished cleaning.  There is ALWAYS more that can be done.  In fact, we've had inspections nearly every morning.  Our room looks pretty good, I must say.

Saturday night we finally got to see that our cadre are real people, not just scary leaders that we follow around.  We held squad meetings and got to know a little more about each other and for my squad, more about our squad leader.  It was really awesome and she gave us a lot of really good advice to make the rest of this year better.  I think our cadre really do care.  They asked us for suggestions on training and are always open to questions.  They're also very conscious about our academics.  I appreciate that in them and respect them for it.

After the squad meetings, our cadre let us go to the movie they were showing in the Dole Auditorium.  Granted I fell asleep for half of the movie, it was still nice to get out and relax a bit.  It also gave us more of a chance to spend some time with our rook buddies.

Yesterday was pretty sweet.  We didn't have to be on the wall until 7:00AM, so I slept in until 6:15AM.  Can you believe that?  I'm saying that "sleeping in" is 6:15.  Well, it is--compared to 4:50AM during the academic week.

We're getting ready for the Labor Day parade right now.  It will commence at 10:30AM.  After the parade, the Cadet Colonel said that we should be getting 2 hours of leave to walk around Northfield.  My parents are supposed to be coming up for the parade--so if everything turns out the way it's supposed to, I'll get to see them for a little bit!  It's only 25 days until Parents Weekend, where the rooks will be able to leave and sleep out for the night with their families.  My family rented a bunk house with another family from the Cavalry Troop.  I'm pretty excited about it.  With how fast time is flying, I'm sure it'll be here very soon.

That's about all for now.  I have a lot of work still left to do, even though I worked on homework for about 6 hours yesterday.  I still have psychology reading/essay, naval science reading, as well as studying for a statistics quiz that is on Wednesday.  Ahh!  I'm not going to stress out though.  I think I've realized that stressing out doesn't do any good.  It's good to keep level-headed and your eyes straight (literally).

Until next time,
Holly