Almost There!

It’s almost here! I’m *almost* a flight attendant.

I attended 4 weeks of class for 9 hours a day. The experience can best be described as grueling. I’ve always done well in a classroom environment, so I didn’t think I would struggle. But…I’ve never been in a classroom like this before! I’m a critical thinker, a challenger, and I learn a LOT through discussion. Most teachers/professors love students like me who will engage and talk and debate. Such behavior was not encouraged in flight attendant training. We were (for the most part) expected to sit still and be quiet.

Y’all. I don’t even like MOVIES because I hate sitting still and being quiet. You can imagine how painful this odd classroom environment was for me.

Quite simply: I was uncomfortable for most of the training. Sometimes we got to do cool stuff like practice skills on airplane mock-ups. Those times were my favorite. But most of the time, I just felt uncomfortable sitting there, taking notes, paying attention, keeping quiet.

I would NEVER do it again. I diligently masked for all but the last 2 days of class because there was NO WAY I would have returned to training if I had to go home because I was sick.

Training was hyper-focused on what the FAA requires us to learn. That means that I still know very little about the logistics of the job that I’ll do every day. I don’t know where I’ll park. I don’t know when health insurance starts. I don’t know how to set up a beverage cart. (I do, however, know how to handle an emergency, which is the whole point of training). Buuuuut…with all the discomfort of sitting still and being quiet for hours on end, and minimal information about what to expect on a day-to-day basis, I think I started to wonder if it would all be worth it.

Finally, on the last day of class we got to meet with the union and they got to teach us a little about how to create the schedule we want. And…the dreaming began again. I’m not required to work at all in May with the exception of 2 more days of training things this coming week. So…I CAN pick up some work trips if I want to. I started looking at what might be available. There are 24 hour layovers in Hawaii available for dates that will work for me.

And now…I AM SO EXCITED. Yes. This is why I did this. It is so exciting to realize that I’m CHOOSING to pick up work when I don’t have to work because work looks fun!

Let the fun begin!