You will have hard, boring days as a SWO but then you will also have days where you get to re-enlist one of your hot running Sailors. You'll have times where you're in charge of fighting the ship and directing air and surface assets to hunt a foreign submarine at night, while preparing for an Underway Replenishment. You'll have a fresh cup of coffee and a hot cinnamon bun (It's good to be friends with the cooks and FSAs) while watching the sunrise over Malta and knowing that in a few hours you'll be sitting in a cafe drinking cappuccinos and exploring ancient ruins. You'll be entrusted to take a boarding team onto another vessel over the horizon and bring them home safely. You'll have stories to tell your grandchildren and then be able to pull out the mementos to prove that you were there. You'll be able to be stationed in foreign ports and take your family around the world. You'll have something to look back upon proudly and know that you did something significant.
As a brand new ensign, go to the ship that will get you qualified the fastest and has the best deployment schedule. Getting stuck in the yards will be a bad deal and having a shitty wardroom or no other ensigns can make getting qualified a bitch because your needs to get qualified will be forgotten about. So choose an typical ship like an DDG or LSD/LPD and learn as much as you can about the community and then make your choices from there about what interests you. Timing will play a big role and you may or may not have anything decent on your slate when you roll to your second DIVO tour and shore tour.
When it comes to ship selection, I would take a DDG that's an independent deployer (all the ships in Rota, a few in each fleet concentration area) over anything. You'll get more sea time (crucial for getting qualified) and won't have to play silly strike group games (which can kill your chances of getting qualified on time). If you can't get an independent deployer DDG, snag a "small" gator (LSD or LPD). They have a simpler qual process (not as many combat systems). O6 commands (CGs, LPDs, and LHDs/LHAs) are larger, which means more ensigns jockeying for time doing UNREPS, flight quarters, etc. Ideally, you want to be 1 of 2-3 ensigns showing up to the ship about the same time which is enough to motivate the CO/XO/Dept Heads to get you qualified but small enough to actually manage getting you qualified.
As an ensign, getting qualified is the name of the game and should be your top focus. Once you have a SWO pin, you can focus on cool things and talk more openly about career options. For a second tour (provided you want to keep doing SWO stuff as a career), I highly recommend doing a tour on a PC or Minesweep. It will give you an immense amount of leadership experience as well as knowledge of how an entire ship functions and how the DH and XO/CO life really is. If you decide you don't want to do SWO stuff for the rest of your career, chose a second tour and shore tour which will set you up for success in whatever it is you DO want to do after you leave the SWO community (either through redesignation or punching out of the service). If you decide to punch out, there aren't many careers that your time as a SWO will directly translate to. If you don't mind being at sea but want less nonsense, I would look at working on your tonnage license while a DivO (AFTER you get your SWO pin!!!!). It requires extra work but can pay dividends, especially if you join Military Sealift Command. Otherwise, find some good head hunters who can help you make the military to civilian transition and think about doing the Reserves so you at least get something from the Navy for your troubles (Tricare coverage can be crucial with the current state of post-Obamacare civilian medical insurance). Either way, cross that future career path bridge when you get there. You've got a long way to go yet.