Day 1…..The Mass Meeting
So, after a restless night of a whopping 4 hrs of sleep, I woke up to the sound of the alarm at 0455. Class starts at 0600. For a night owl, these were not usually my typical wake up times……..more like bedtimes. Oh well, I’ll adjust. Ok. I board the hotel shuttle which was packed….and off we go. As training centers go…….it was a decent place, with all the amenities I thought were necessary. They even had energy drinks in the vending machine! A sign of things to come? Perhaps. There’s roughly 30 of us in my class, and another 20 or so in another class for a different airplane. Luckily, the classroom is pretty big, so we aren’t breathing on each other’s necks.
First up was a quick hello from the instructor and a schedule of the days events. An hour or so later, off we go to have the drug test. This is where I consumed roughly 80oz of purified water in a matter of 15-20 minutes. I had to cut to the front of the line to keep from exploding. Heh. Then it was up to get fingerprinted, but the line was running quite long, so we went to go and get some lunch, came back and got right in. After all that fun stuff, back down to the classroom for some HR paperwork, and then some benefits paperwork (which I still have to fill out).
Overall, today was quite long, and tomorrow we dive right into the FAR FC, and the GOM. It will be interesting to see what’s what in this industry from the crew side of the fence. Hopefully some of the stuff I had to learn as a ramper regarding Hazmat and the like will come in handy. Only time will tell.  For now though, I’m enjoying what will probably be the last night for the next 7 weeks with no homework! (Yes, I’ve already gone thru 2 chapters in the GOM for all those that are getting ready to ask me what the hell I’m thinking watching TV and drinking beer on day 1.)
Well, that’s it for today, and I’ll keep going tomorrow if you’re interested…….