Personal Log: First Day at Starfleet Academy

To say that my first day at Starfleet Academy started off with a bang would be an accurate literal statement and a metaphorical understatement. It started off with the transport shuttle from Betazed being delayed several days due to a (justified) work strike organized by the lower deck crew. Cratix Xann, a kind Bolian man who represented the striking crew, did an excellent job at intelligently and succinctly explaining their motivations and desires. I and the rest of the passengers onboard were quickly won over by the crew and attempted to support them in any way we could. Typically, this involved sneaking food to the striking members as they have been barred from entering the mess hall. Fortunately, negotiations only lasted for three tense days and the lower decks were finally given the rights and liberties they are entitled to. However, this delay meant that the transport would be arriving at Earth on my first day of classes.
 
I sent a sub-space communication ahead to Starfleet informing them of my predicament, but assured them that I would be on time for classes the first day. Though they offered accommodations, I refused. Accommodations won't be made when I am in the field as an officer, and I should start getting used to that.
 
In the early hours of the morning today, as the transport was passing the Jupiter outpost, we received word that an intense ion storm was battering the inner planets and would make beaming down to the academy impossible. Instead, I boarded a beat-up looking skip down to the planet's surface.
 
The ride down was... rough... The trip was 22.4 minutes of intense turbulence, accented by the constant ringing of alarms and the terrified screams of a few of my fellow passengers. In a way, it was thrilling. But, despite part of the skip's hull breaking off during landing and the autopilot failing halfway through re-entry, we made it to the Earth's surface in one piece.
 
Many Terran poets talk about the beauty of Earth's natural landscape, and I finally understand why. We landed at a small outpost in a place called Huntsville in the federation state of Alabama. This outpost is several thousand kilometers away from Starfleet Academy, but a kind human woman helped me buy a ticket on the next high-speed transit to San Fransisco. The trip allowed me to take in Earth's natural landscape from only a few thousand feet in the air. You can see much more detail from only 40 thousand feet than you can from several hundred kilometers up.
 
Though I was exhausted, bruised, and still a little nauseous from my eventful ride down, I had no time to rest when the shuttle landed in San Fransico. Fortunately, the transport hub is located only a few standard minutes away from the academy and I made it to campus with an hour to spare.
 
I rushed through registration, eternally grateful for how thorough Selar was when he covertly registered me at the academy and made it to my first class (Fundamental Principles of Lagrangian Mechanics) with enough time to secure the BEST seat. Front row, dead middle. I'm so glad I was diligent about doing the reading before classes started. I hope my professor likes me.