Well, I made it. First year, first command, first mission all under my little seaman belt. It was definitely an interesting few months with its fair share of ups and downs but at the end of it all, I learned a lot and I think it's going to make me better in the long run. I know I still have a lot to learn about being in the Navy as well as being an adult living on my own out here, but after everything I dealt with during mission, I think I can handle it.
I couldn't decide for a long time whether I was excited about coming back to Bahrain or dreading it. I've only been back for a day and everything already seems so different now that all my friends are either gone home or out on their own deployments. Everyone that I came here with or met during my first period of time here is pretty much gone and the base honestly seems quieter without them (ironic as the people down the hall from me are yelling so loud I can hear them almost as clearly as if they were next to me). I miss the way it was but I'm hoping I can have close to as good a time as I did before. I'm changing the way I do a few things and I'm going to be throwing myself into studying for my warfare device so I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep myself distracted enough to not think about being lonely.
My first day back consisted of me sleeping for an exceptionally long time, then doing the oh so fun task of unpacking and organizing all of my stuff. You know, for a seaman living in the barracks, I have a LOT of stuff. I didn't even realize it until I was unpacking and separating everything out to put away or clean and I realized that in the past year I have accumulated a great amount of things. Not complaining, just making an observation and wondering how on earth I'm going to get it all to my next command. I've got a year and a half before I transfer but with the rate that the first six months flew by, it's gonna creep up on me before I know it. Hooray for shipping things ahead of me.
It is fantastic to have regular access to the internet, you never know how much you use or want something until you can't have it. Spending three months with only ship email and a few military sites was enough to make me realize how much I appreciate the internet and how easy it makes contacting my family and friends. I gotta do this for another year and a half? Ugh, first world problems haha.
Well I don't have much more to say, I'm going to get some more sleep before my second day off in a row. Yea that was weird, I had all day today and I'll have all day tomorrow where I don't actually have to work and I don't know what to do with myself. I've just been sitting on my bed staring at the computer wondering what on earth I'm supposed to be doing. It's the weirdest, yet a very welcome, feeling. I'll actually be kind of glad to go into work on Sunday so I can do SOMETHING productive at least before we get our 96 special liberty and have another four days off.
Okay, going to stop rambling now. Goodnight my little blog readers!
Land-side hugs from your favorite MA,
Victoria
