Chicaaaaago

Guess it's about time for me to update! The last few weeks have been crazy with the moving and the flying and trying to figure everything out... Kind of a blur thinking about it now.

I flew out to Chicago from Long Beach on June 18th. Go JetBlue. Even with almost a 2 hour delay (due to ORD stuff) it was awesome, because I have a comfy seat and DirectTV in front of me. All about 24 and Law & Order. I made it to Chicago though, and Toni was at the gate waiting for me. She showed me where our crew lounge is and we got a few things taken care of. Then we went to the Ramada Plaza - our home for what turned out to be 10 nights. =) The company gives us each 3 hotel nights in our new domicile, so a bunch of us put our hotel nights together, and had the guys at the front desk wondering if we would ever leave. =)

The staff at the Ramada were awesome. There was Dave, who was really cool about making sure we could have our same, 2 bed, room - 818. A guy from Israel, who was always friendly and helpful... I still need to go back there and chat with him. Then there was the guy who they had just hired, and always wore funky colored shirts that we made fun of him for... The first night we saw him, he was wearing a pink shirt. I think the next day was purple. Our last night at the Ramada I met Elijah. I was working out in their little gym and he saw me, so walked past once then came in and asked me what I was working on. He works security at the hotel - I had seen him there before but hadn't really talked with him. He's a trainer at Bally's as well, so he showed me some stuff I could do without a gym. He kinda reminds us of Taye Diggs... the way he looks anyway. He has an awesome accent, and is from Martinique, in the Caribbean. We've talked a couple times - he seems like a really good guy and has the laid back island flavor. Love it. =) The next morning, Elijah saw Erica, Toni and I as we were heading out to Toni's place to help her move some stuff. When we came back, he hooked us up with a free buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant.

Erica and I moved to the Wyndham on Wednesday night, since Marck let us use his hotel days there. Erica got called on a trip starting Thursday, so I was all alone that night. It was so weird after being with people in one little room for so long. I had a feeling I would get called on Friday, but didn't expect it to be as early as it was. I got a 6am wake up call from Crew Support, saying I was just put on a 3 day trip...

... Come fly with me ...

I love that song... Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away... So fun. =) We listened to it yesterday before we had our graduation from Flight Attendant ground training. I'M DONE!!! It is a strange thing, after 24 super intense days of studying and memorizing and learning... being with people that you just met, and feeling like they're your family... then all of a sudden, it's all over. Before I get ahead of myself, let me back up.

On Sunday we finally got into the service part of our job. After 3 weeks of safety, emergency procedures, etc etc etc, we finally learned what every day will be like. The week went by fast. We were supposed to have our final announcement testing, along with our cumulative final, on the last day, before our graduation. No retests on those! Cami and Fusako both came to the hotel at different times and did awesome reviews with us. Then the best thing ever was that Cami did announcement testing with us at the hotel the night before our graduation day. We didn't have to do it then, but many of us did, and it was AWESOME to have that stress taken care of then. We were all so excited to be done. I even went in the hot tub that night, first time since we'd been there! It was so weird to think that we'd be leaving each other so soon after seeing each other day in and day out... some people I was more than ready to say goodbye to. =) Thursday morning came, and we piled on the bus with all of our luggage, went to the training center, and took our tests. Rocked it and got 100%. Sweetness. =) There was much celebrating and picture taking.


When everyone was done testing, we all went back into the classroom... anxious to hear about our domiciles. They had told us that we'd probably be really spread out... I was hoping for Denver. Cami started reading out where everyone was going, and it was crazy to see the life changes that would take place for everyone... I will be based in Chicago, along with 20 other people! So much for being spread out! 7 are going to Fresno, 5 to Milwaukee, and 2 to Tuscon.


At about noon, we went down and had our graduation ceremony - got our certificates and wings. So fun. =) Then they took us to the airport. Marck was wonderful and helped me out with my bags so I didn't have to pay a million dollars (or 3) =) to get a cart. We checked in and then went to go through boarding. Well, we were all in uniform with our IDs and everything... So we got up there to go to check in, and there was a line for normal people, and one for crewmembers on duty. We decided to follow Denise, because she knew what to do. She went through the crewmember line. We were like, um, we're not on duty! She rolled her eyes and waved us to come with her. It was funny. So nice though!

A bunch of us got to hang out in the airport, and we all kept running into each other too. We were sitting at a table after getting something to eat, and all of a sudden Amelia and Rachel start talking about Vanilla Ice. They're like, there he is! In the hat, gray shirt, all tattooed up... I was like, nuh uh... I thought they were just messing with me because I'm so gullible. Well, eventually they convinced me that it was really him, Rachel and I ran through the airport to try to find him! We were stopped by a man who asked us where the restroom is. Why would we know that??? Oh yeah... uniform. ;-) I told him where I had just seen one, but wasn't sure if there was a closer one - then Rachel said that we didn't know this airport very well. Then we continued our hunt for Vanilla Ice, and found him at Sbarro. Unfortunately, I only have a picture of his back, and it's on my cell phone, and I don't know how to upload those... Nonetheless, it was our first celebrity siting!! The rest of the afternoon, all we could think of was "Ice ice baby ding ding ding ding ding da da ding ding....." Good times. =)

Eventually we parted ways... we all left after 4pm (or were supposed to)... it was sad, but we'll see each other again.

I was super glad to get home. I didn't know if I would, because they didn't call our flight for boarding until we went and asked what was going on... Then they sent us out to the gate, where we were told to go back, because they didn't know where the pilot was. We waited and waited, and finally were called for boarding again. The FA on my flight was super nice. =) She told me that the pilot got sick, and they didn't have one on reserve in SLC so had to fly one in from Fresno. Good thing! It was nice to be able to talk with her about the job and what's ahead... should be interesting. For now, I'm enjoying a few days off before I leave for my first trip on Tuesday!

4 more days

We only have four days and four nights left of training... It is insane. It felt like it would never end. It has become bearable (although still super stressful and draining!) but the end is in sight. We had a beautiful day off yesterday, and didn't have to go in until 2pm today. That meant we didn't get out until almost 9pm, and we have to go in again tomorrow morning by 8am. Another long day... But trying to keep a good attitude through it all! =) Just gonna post some piccies, then get to studying for tomorrow's test and announcements - all about the service part of our job.

Ahhhh... rest. =)

Days off are beautiful. We get another one tomorrow, our second in our 24 days of training.

This week I was thrown off because we had Saturday off, then had class on Sunday. So Sunday felt like Monday, Monday like Tuesday, Tuesday like Wednesday, and on it goes... After our EMB test, the week felt like it went by fast. More safety and security stuff... We learned how to put out fires, how to get out of a smoke filled cabin (and evacuate one), self defense, how to search a plane for weapons, and more. Fun stuff huh?

Today we had our big announcement testing. The thing about this airline is that we have to have all of our announcements memorized... it's insane. What else is insane is the capability God gave our brains to be able to remember the stuff... We got to our classroom today and Cami told us that she would be testing all of us alone... ha. All 35 of us. That would take FOREVER. Luckily for us, she recruited two others to help (especially lucky for me, since I was second to last!). I went in there, rocked it out, and passed. Whew!

Next week (well, Sunday I guess) we start the service part of our new jobs, and get to learn the days in and out of what it's like. We should get our uniforms soon, find out where we will do our IOE's (Initial Operating Experience), and then our domiciles... still praying for Colorado! We'll see... God knows better than I do, for sure.