koko,
I'm glad I could help you. Your unit staff will understand that as a nurse option you will have clinicals that will occupy your time going into your later years in school and will be more than willing to help you maintain a balance between academic and naval commitments.
To answer your first question, when I say you will be on a ship integrated into their medical department, I mean you will be on a ship going somewhere underway. One of my nurse option friends was aboard an amphib in South America for six weeks where he visited Panama and various other ports in the region. Another nurse option friend was aboard an amphib going from San Diego to Hawaii. She got to spend a week in San Diego and a week in Hawaii at each end of her cruise, which from what she tells me was amazing! Yet another nurse option friend island hopped around Japan and Asia for a few weeks. These are just a few examples of nurse option cruises you could get. So simply put, no you will not be sitting in port counting down the days until you go home. You will be underway working with corpsmen and medical staff getting to see exciting places and ports. You will most definitely get to travel after your freshman year.
The nurse options, at least at my unit do have the same comraderie with the other midshipmen, but it takes more effort on their part for this to exist. They are not around the unit as much as those of us going Marine option or Navy option, so they simply do not generally get as closely integrated into the unit. That being said, some of my best friends so far in college are nurse options, so yes you will make close friends at your unit. It does take some extra effort to stay connected with unit activities though, particularly junior and senior years when you will be doing clinicals. Keep in mind that the amount of camraderie between nurse and Navy/Marine options varies unit to unit. At the end of the day however, we are all future officers in the United States Navy and Marine Corps, even if we plan on serving differently.
After your sophomore year as a nurse option you have no Navy commitment. Summer cruises are only provided after your freshman and junior years for nurse options. Many nurse options use this time to take summer nursing classes or simply enjoy a summer free of commitments. Which ever route you go is up to you, but from the Navy side, there is no summer cruise commitment.
I hope this answers your questions! Please feel free to ask away if there is anything else you would like to know; I would be glad to help.