The Positives

How much do you pay for your rock n' roll lifestyle? Because I get paid for mine.

I've been doing this job for just about three months now and have learned a lot and had some good times. There is also a lot of negatives, but that's for the next post. Let's face it, the positives are pretty obvious. I am getting paid to travel internationally, I can fly stand by for free, I get to meet awesome people and my life is entirely spontaneous. I had my most awesome layover yet this last week, let me tell you about it.

I had my first trip to Hamburg on Monday. I'd been there before but this would be my first time working the trip. It didn't look to be too exciting though, the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy and all the flight attendants seemed to have different plans so it was looking like I was on my own, which when you read the negatives post you will understand how sucky that would be. Another flight attendant told me that there was an awesome spa and pool in the hotel so I made plans in my head to sleep all day, venture out for dinner, and then relax by the pool and sauna until bed time. I have never been happier that a night of quiet relaxation was ruined.

I headed out for dinner and happened to hear the very loud voice of the other German speaker, Kirsten,from her hotel room. I knocked on the door to see what was going on and to joke about how noisy she is and was invited in to join two flight attendants( Kirsten and Kelli) one friend( Sang, Kelli's hair stylist) and two pilots (Mark and Kyle) for drinks. They were getting ready to go see Evanescence with back stage passes provided by Sang who is a very cool hair dresser and also friend of the guitarist in the band. Turns out they had one extra ticket and after lending me an awesome outfit, I was going with. Awesome.We drank, we talked, we made it to the subway and then to Döner, the delicious Turkish fast food place, and then to the concert. It was a small venue called Grosse Freiheit.

I found out later that night that the basement stage area is one of the first places the Beatles ever performed.

 

The concert was amazing. The venue wasn't very big but I kind of like small places better. The performance feels more intimate and involved. We were right up close to the stage. The music was great and everyone was having an awesome time. Here's Kelli and I covered in sweat but still looking pretty good.

Kirsten, me, Kelli and Sang...and Mark's hand in the back.

And then it got even better. In addition to free tickets we also had back stage passes. After the concert was over we headed to the basement area and waited for the band. We mingled with the opener band for awhile and then Will the guitarist/friend of Sang showed up

 

and shortly after the rest of Evanescence was there. We got to talk and hang out and even got a group shot with Amy Lee, who was super nice.

This was such an incredibly awesome night and the fact that I had know Idea it was gonna happen until it was made it even better. This is why everyone thinks this job is glamorous and fantastic. Because you never know what's gonna happen, you could end up drinking beer with Evanescence in Hamburg next to the stage where the Beatles first started. Maybe next time I'll actually do some site seeing in Hamburg or get that relaxing spa night....or maybe something else crazy and unexpected will come up. Who knows? I do know that I will have concert clothes packed in my suit case from now on, just in case.

 

Silver Rain was Falling Down

Upon the dirty ground of London Town

Sitting Airport Alert is a very stressful experience. You and quite a few other people are sitting in the crew room around tables or in lounge chairs just waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. RING. Everyone's heart stops. Someone gets up and answers and then yells out a name. The chosen person goes to the phone and finds out where in the world they are being sent. The shift lasts four hours and you can either get a flight or go home with just four hours of pay. Generally, at the beginning, you are prepared to fly. Then time ticks on and you begin to think of all the things you could do later if you don't a flight and slowly you find yourself dreading the phone and not wanting them to call your name. The possibility to get a flight exists until the last second of your shift.

Last week, I was sitting airport alert and one of my classmates and possible roommate, Randi, happened to be there as well. We were talking, looking at apartments, reading, anything to pass the time. Randi did not want to get a trip, it was her boyfriend's birthday and he was planning to come visit her to celebrate. I however wanted to get a flight. If I wanted my weekend days off to be left alone, I needed a flight to depart that day and get back on Friday. The phone is ringing steadily and slowly everyone around us is getting assigned trips. Only about an hour left to go and Randi gets the call. She's going on a three day trip to London. She disappears to go check in and call her boyfriend and I continue to wait. Ten minutes later, I get the call and I'm going to London too! I know Randi was upset about missing her plans with her boyfriend, but I also know that we are gonna have an awesome time in London. Traveling the world is great and all, but doing it with a friend is a million times better.

We meet up on the plane and are both really excited about this trip. During the flight we figure out our plans for the day and get suggestions and advice from the other flight attendants. We decided to take a "hop on hop off" bus tour. You buy a 30 pound bus ticket and tour the whole city, getting off at the sites you want a closer look at and getting back on 10 minutes later when the next bus comes by. I am generally not a fan of bus tours because I feel like you see everything but you don't really see anything. However, when you only have 24 hours, and a good 12 of those are dedicated to sleep, standards are lowered a bit. Plus we decided that this will at least give us an idea of what we really want to see next time we come back. So here are my pictures from the bus tour. No hugely detailed information, because we didn't get to go inside any of the attractions and learn anything. Instead, we took pictures and made personal "to see" lists.

Big Ben(which is not its correct name) and the London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

The Tower Bridge

It's all happening

After five weeks of intense flight attendant training, one week at home, and my first week of work, I have reached my first day off and am sitting in the tiny sitting area in my crash pad in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Wait what? I have a job? I have a freaking awesome job? During my first week, I went to Frankfurt, Germany and Bogotá Colombia? After job-searching for so long and just about giving up hope, this is just about unbelievable. But enough about me, lets get to the good stuff.

Unfortunately, it was Sunday when I made it to Frankfurt. This means absolutely nothing was open. We managed to find a restaurant open and I had an amazing piece of turkey schnitzel and potatoes, but that was about it. 

  

Even though it wasn't Sunday in Bogotá, some things were still closed. The other female flight attendant on my Bogotá flight and I were interested in touring the city a little bit and doing some site seeing. Another flight attendant told us about this awesome place called Mount Monserrate. It is an old cathedral on top of a mountain. This screams Jillian come see me and I was super excited about it. Unfortunately, the cable car type thing that takes you up and down the mountain closed at 12:30pm. Now, I was up and ready by 9:30, so it would not have been an issue for me, but the girl I was with was not ready to go until 1:30. Oh well, its on the list for next time and I will not wait around for anybody haha. 

We did make it to one of the city's big attractions, The Museo del Oro (Gold Museum). The museum takes you on a journey beginning with the first South American native tribes to use metallurgy up to the conquering of the region by Spain. The processes of making the gold pieces were all illustrated and explained and actual gold pieces were displayed for each tribe and method. It was really interesting to read and see the examples of different methods of forming the gold and the meanings behind the shapes and figures. It was also pointed out that although some tribes used more technologically advanced methods, it was not necessarily because they were smarter than the others. Each tribe had a specific way of forming the gold that they used to define themselves, not because they didn't know how to use the other methods but because they preferred their own way. This was proven when archaeologists found pieces from different tribes that mixed the gold making methods.

Hammered Method

The stuff of nightmares

I want one of these

Ancient Aliens, Galaga was real

98% excited, 2% scared....it could be 98% scared, 2% excited but that's what makes it so intense

No matter how many times I do this, I still get nervous. I’m leaving again, off on an entirely new adventure and hopefully the beginning of a very exciting career. On Sunday, I am flying to Houston, Texas to begin my 5 week training to become a flight attendant. This is a dream career for me. I will get to travel all the time. I will constantly be meeting new people and seeing new places.  Other bonuses are traveling to visit all the friends I made in Morocco at their various locations in the US and my family which is also pretty spread out. Free air fare is a pretty sweet thing for an avid traveler to get her hands on.

As excited as I am, that sick-to-your-stomach am-I-making-the right-choice feeling has finally presented itself. Luckily for me, the feeling only shows up a few days before checking in at the airport, after it is too late to back down and change my mind. But I know that for the next three days I will have trouble with general human functions such as eating, sleeping, thinking and talking. Even though I know this is not forever, that I will be back in Cleveland right after training for about a week, that as far as length of time goes this is pretty short compared to my other ventures, I still feel the need to see everybody one last time and to say my goodbyes, to go out and do fun things and to stay in and spend time with my family.

This last week has become a rush of activity. But it didn’t full hit me until last night while watching a movie with my boyfriend. I’m not leaving until Sunday but that was the last night of quality boyfriend time until I get back because of work and social schedules.  So then the list starts going down, tonight will be the last night of hanging out with one of my best friends just drinking and relaxing. Friday night will be the last dinner with my parents (I get to pick the restaurant; I’m thinking Outback, I’d do anything for a Bloomin’ Onion). Saturday is my last AFS meeting and my last party. And there are still so many people and things that have slipped through and will just have to wait until I get back because my days are now as full as they can get if I still want to be able to pack.

 I had a murder mystery party planned for Saturday night thinking I had until Feb. 19 before leaving, only to find out about a week ago that they wanted me to arrive early. Of course I said yes to the earlier training spot, but there was also no way I was canceling this party. I’ve wanted to do this for ages and I get to dress up as a 1920’s socialite/flapper. I would not miss this for anything. Needless to say, it is going to be a late night with very little sleep before my 8:30am flight the next day. But that’s fine, as I said earlier; I won’t be sleeping much anyways.

This trip is also different from others in one big way. I may not be coming back. At least not long term anyways. After training, I get about one week to go home and get ready to relocate to my base. Cleveland is one of three options and the least likely place that I will be based. So this 5 week trip for training is most likely going to be my moving out trip too. I have boxed up most of my things, thrown out and donated everything I possibly can (watching a couple episodes of hoarders makes that process a whole lot easier by the way) and I’m about as ready as I can be. I still have a few things left to pack up, but at this point they can wait until after training because I have other “lasts” to get done.

PS if you know what movie the title is from then kudos to you, its one of my favorites