The first day on a brand new ship is – as I’ve previous mentioned – always a bit strange. This one in particular is even stranger than usual as I’ve not done this class of ship before, which puts me back in the world of being the bearer of a NEOP card (New Employee Orientation Program card, where in this case the “new” simply means is-actually-not-a-new-hire-but-is-new-to-this-class-of-vessel-so-we’ll-call-her-new) which translates into two days of training meetings and obtaining signatures. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had to do this so I’m a little rusty on the process, but thankfully it mostly dicates itself.
I was, however, somewhat robbed of my normal quiet interaction with the library on my first day. For the last four days before my arrival there *was* no librarian, and they had the poor youth staff up here trying to take care of things (keep in mind that on cruises like this the YPCs have upwards of 300 children on board to look after), which basically meant that nothing had been put away for nearly a week. I’ve walked into libraries that are pretty terrible, but this took the cake. It was no one’s fault of course, but it did lead to my nearly having a nervous breakdown trying to get it all in order!
It’s nice to be on a big ship again, the system is much more laid back than my dear flagship, and the guests are over all a lot less demanding. They’re here to have fun, not to impress anyone else. While you do occasionally run into problems on these runs, the drama level takes a major plummet.
Once I had gotten everything basically back to the way it should be (though it’s still taking some time and patience) I was able to actually start looking at my own shelves. Much to my delight, whoever has been staffing and ordering for this library has a taste for epic fantasy, so I’ll never run short of reading material during my time here! Although I doubt I’ll have time to read for the next few days. If nothing else I’ll probably be sleeping! I normally pride myself on not getting jetlagged, but for some reason the flight across to Europe this time nearly slaughtered me. I lie down for ten minutes and wake up two hours later!
In other news, I have a roommate, but she’s rarely even there because she’s seeing someone elsewhere on the ship. But from what I’ve seen of her she’s very sweet. First time I’ve roomed with someone from outside the department (she’s front office), so that’s going to be interesting. Perhaps I’ll actually be forced to socialize outside the entertainment crew for once! *gasp* the horror!
No hiding in my little hermitage for me this contract I suspect!
It feels decidedly odd not to be on the flagship OR in Alaska, as I’ve been one of those two places or at home for most of the last three years of my life, but truly I’m really enjoying the change. This is a really welcoming group of people, and the EM is awesome, and for the first time I’m walking on to a new ship and feeling like I can belong here..
So, at the moment, I have a good feeling about things.
IF I can manage to make myself get some sleep!