TRAINING: PART ONE

March 13, 1993

Wow! They have us so busy, this is the first chance I have had to write. I don't know where to begin! The hotel is nice, my room mate is nice but young. She's only twenty! She says she is only going to do this for a few years and then she's going to med school...whatever! Why does she have to act like she's better than this? I am here to do the same thing she is. Anyway, she also says she's engaged, why would you want to be engaged at twenty? It won't last.

Our bus picks us up at the hotel every day at 7:45am, class starts at 8am. I hate getting up so early but it's worth it. The first day we had a test on city codes and filled out more paper work. We also introduced ourselves by standing up in front of everyone and saying three things about ourselves, two truths and one lie and then everyone had to guess the lie. My lie was that Elvis was my biological father. So, stupid but I couldn't think of anything else. One girl said her boobs were real and that was obviously a lie. I couldn't believe she said that, it was really funny!

Everyday we have a test! We are learning all the aircraft types and every morning we come in we have a test. We can only fail one test and if we have to take a make up test it won't be multiple choice it will be fill in the blanks. Luckily its not hard, it's just memorization, but it is stressful. We started out with sixty people and five have already been sent home! Four people were sent home the second day after we were weighed! They didn't look fat to me, in fact one girl was all muscle. She had said she was a soccer player and was worried about her weight. The other person failed their second test. The worst part is, that you don't know they are leaving. We went back into the room to watch a film and the lights were out. When the lights came back on they were gone!! Too freaky!

I am happy it is the weekend, a bunch of us went out last night to an area where there are a bunch of clubs. It was fun, but weird, the guys all wear cowboy hats here. Boots too! You'd never see that in Boston. We finally left that area and went to a gay club and had a blast dancing, this guy Derek in my class knew about it. He is from Houston, and he is so funny and so gay. I think he's my new best friend. He makes us laugh all day, which is much needed. I think a bunch of us are having a party in his room tonight.

March 18, 1993

Tim and I talk almost every night for a few minutes, I can't imagine what the phone bill will be! I'm too busy to really think about or miss him which is good. Seems like the tables have turned because he says he misses me pretty bad.

March 22, 1993

Today was fun. We did our ditching. We had to jump in the pool with our clothes on and board a life raft and go through all the procedures. It got to be claustrophobic by the end because you put up a canopy and you're under there with a ton of people. It was cool to learn about all the equipment but if I ever land in the ocean they better find us fast! I can't deal with that cold water!

March 29, 1993

We have service drills this week. We have to practice doing a service on a mock up airplane. I am going to be first class on a four hour flight at dinner time. It seems pretty easy, you only get two tries but it's not like next week when we do evacuation drills. I heard that is very stressful and hard. That's where the most people get sent home.

March 31, 1993

I am on my way home. I still can't believe I failed my service drills. Only me and one other person. I know it was because the instructor didn't like me. I corrected her on something I was right about and we kind of argued it out in front of the class. She is such a bitch, I hate her!

When they told me, I couldn't get out of there fast enough! I had to make this flight, the 1:30pm. Otherwise I would have had to wait until 6:00pm and I would have to see my room mate.

I called my mom collect from the airport. She thought I was kidding until I started balling over the phone. At this point I just can't wait to get home and see my mom, Tim and Louie. (Louie was my cat)

*Note to younger self: Where do you get off judging your room mate and that's too funny that she was "young" to you when you were twenty three and the thirty year old in your class was "old!" Your phone bills will be astronomical for the next several years, you would have been smart to save that money instead! And yes, the woman who sent you home is a bitch, I know her now and she cost us about 300 numbers in seniority! Oh yeah, they also dropped the weight requirement so, imagine how those people feel, and they no longer "test" you on service!