Friday, February 16, 2007

Here to SAN to... NRT?

This week in f/a school has most definately been much better. Started off the week by spending a day (meaning 8 am to 5 pm) on exactly what a flight attendant does from the moment she gets on the plane to when the customers deplane. The following day was spent on emergency evacuations. For example, what do you do when you're sitting in an exit row and you need to open that window up because its the only way off the burning aircraft? At this point, my airline felt that we were ready to observe a real flight.

So I was sent to San Diego.

The coolest part about my flight to SAN was the f/a who'd been flying with the company for 41 years. That means my mom was 8 when this lady, Linda, started flying. (Happy Birthday Mom!). Her usual route was to LGA and back, on Tuesdays and Thursdays; she picked this trip up for fun. Linda had awesome stories about fighting for the right for pregnant women to keep their jobs, when men joined the field, the depression in the 70's and 80's, and how much 9/11 has changed things. It made me realize that if this crazy grandma could do her job for 4 decades, I could quite possibly make it to 2008 as a flight attendant.

Valentine's Day was rather uneventfull. A few of the girls had roses delivered to the hotel. My roommate and I went out to eat and I now eat sushi. Now I can count the days for that 24 hour layover in NRT!!!

I'm beginning to miss you all - it can get quite lonely and disconnected from the rest of the world. I suppose that's the point of training for 5 weeks. At least this time around, I'm doing something for me that I really enjoy. Us flight attendants, we're just special people. Very special, as Colleen would say.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Day 3

Ah. Flight School.

Imagine that all of your college course work has been condensed into a series of lectures that last from 8 am to 5 pm, allowing one hour for lunch, six days a week, for 5 weeks. That's about as close as I can accurately describe to you what flight school has been like thus far. We've been told repeatedly that the only people who will understand what we're going through are fellow flight attendants. Therefore, it is pointless to describe to you what it's like to be in class from 8 to 5, 6 days a week, for 5 weeks. Plus homework.

Living at a hotel is pretty cool. I've been hitting the gym every night, trying not to fall off the treadmill for 45 minutes. We've got a pool, hot tub and sauna, resturants galore. But what I'd really like is a kitchen. We literally eat airplane food for breakfast AND lunch, and then go out to eat for dinner. Operation Eat Healthy is impossible. Even for the apparently now separated Tom (don't ask me details - I could be making the break up up).

Anyway, things are good. I don't miss home yet. Yet. After a week in this place I just might be singing a different tune. As for now, I'm sticking with Boston's Peace of Mind and thus far, this decision has been a dream.