It's been 73 days since I packed my bags and moved to Dubai. I've finally finished flight attendant training, and now I'll start flying all over the world! I've never had a blog before, so I'm not sure what to write, if anyone will care to read, or if I'll even keep it at all. But for anyone who wonders what's happening in my life, here you go :)
Dubai is pretty much Las Vegas without the casinos and the billboards with naked girls. I had a few ideas about what life would be like here, and I've been wrong about most of them.
Expectations
1. I would have dress like a nun and would be arrested if I showed too much skin.
2. Training was going to be the scariest thing ever and I wouldn't make any friends.
3. My roommate was going to be a nightmare.
4. I'd be too homesick to function.
5. People here would be very nice and welcoming.
6. There would be gold Lamborghinis and people out walking their pet cheetahs.
Reality
1. You can wear whatever you want here. You might get some dirty looks if you dress in something too scandalous, but I've seen booty shorts and crop tops all over the place.
2. Training was scary and stressful. It was also a ton of fun and I've made some amazing friends so far!
3. My roommate, Jasmine, is one of these amazing friends. She's hilarious and I'm so lucky to have her around!
4. I miss home, but I'm so busy here with training and working that I don't have time to focus on being homesick. Plus I live in the same building as all of my friends, and they've become my second family.
5. People here are not like people at home... It's true that Americans are some of the nicest people and it's one of the things I miss most about home. It's just different here, and I'll leave it at that.
6. I haven't seen any gold Lamborghinis or wild animals, but the hotel by my apartment has a life-size plastic tiger in the lobby. So I guess that's something.
Training
Here's a little video that sums up the last 8 weeks of my life. If you don't want to watch, I'll sum it up for you. SEP (Safety & Emergency Procedures): Airplane safety stuff. Evacuation, fire fighting, decompression (oxygen masks dropping), turbulence (my favorite), survival skills, using emergency equipment. The best part? Jumping out of the plane on the giant slides.
GMT (Group Medical Training): Guys, I'm basically a doctor now. Delivering babies, EpiPen injections, seizure management, medical shock, head injuries, bleeding injuries, broken bones, asthma attacks, and so much more. This was my favorite part of training since being a doctor is my dream job. But blood freaks me out, so here I am.
Security Training: Self-defense, how to restrain a dangerous passenger, what to do if there is a bomb onboard, hijacking, and everything else to do with airplane security. Our tiny woman self-defense trainer used me as an example of how to take someone down using pressure points, and I was flat on my face in two seconds. Good times.
Service Training: How to serve beef or chicken at 35,000 feet and be the ultimate trolley dolly.
Image & Uniform Training: Yes, this is for real. Basically how to look pretty even when you're on a 16 hour flight and want to die.
And now I'm flying and have been on four flights already! Tomorrow I fly to Lyon, France for two days where I'm going to stuff myself with wine and crepes for my birthday :)
My batch mates a.k.a. second family that I've spent every day of training with, and my wonderful Taiwanese roommate, Jasmine.
Fly!
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