Week 1 of Flight Attendant Training

The People

One of the first things we do when we arrive at training is mingle with each other. Honestly, out of all the reasons a person has to be nervous about flying across the country and going to Flight Academy, the one I had the most anxiety about was the people. I never joined a Greek organization in college because I preferred to find my own little crew of similar-minded oddballs. My closest friends are people I've known for years, or had natural personal chemistry with from the day we met. The concept of being thrown together in a fricassee of opposing personalities and making friends with people I otherwise had nothing in common with was downright scary. Especially considering how introverted I am.
But, I put my big girl pants on, and once we checked into our hotel, I started to talk to my fellow classmates. In a roundabout sort of way, we are each other's family for the next 4+ weeks. The first day, waking up at 5:30 AM and getting my non-early bird self down to breakfast, I hardly wanted to talk to people. I got myself a plate of hot breakfast, and sat down groggily. When the shuttle arrived to take us to the training center, we shuffled into it single file and took our seats next to complete strangers.
Then something unexpected happened.
The shuttle driver turned on the radio and started playing the Phoenix top 40 station. The song "Scream and Shout" by Britney Spears and Will.I. Am came blaring through the speakers, and we all looked at each other and then started jamming. It was amazing how the music connected us. We may not have had anything in common other than our status as trainees, but the songs are the same on top 40 stations across the country and it broke the ice almost instantaneously. I made friends with people from literally every corner of this country, and several others.

The Process

First day

Usual 12 hour days

Expect anything to happpen

Our instructors regaled us with tales of how atypical the life of a flight attendant is. On one hand, we have the luxury of travel and layovers in luxury hotels along the beach, but sometimes it's not so picturesque. For example, one instructor described an instance where the lavatory's flushing mechanism broke, and it did the exact opposite of its usual function— flinging waste all over the lavatory walls. The flight attendants had the unique responsibility of cleaning crap off the insides of the plane, and helping the poor passenger who had caused the explosion back to her seat. Anything can happen, and no two days look quite the same. We literally have to be ready for a sh*t storm, or anything else the trip can throw at us. And not only do we have to know how to react

Exams

The first one was the hardest. I had to memorize 204 airport codes for all the US Airways destination

Trip to the mall

The Place