First Day of SEP ( Safety and Emergency Procedures )

The day at the academy was pretty nice and relaxed. We started our first week of SEP training. This training is a 3 week training ( week 2, week 3 and week 7 ). It's definitely the most important and the hardest one of all.
Today we just had a quick introduction to SEP and we talked a little about how to take care of our selfs mentally and physically so we can be always ready for a flight.
After we finished at around 15:00, I went home, cleaned my room, went to got some groceries and came back home to study for tomorrow class. We got a reading assignment for tomorrow, and it seems to me that we're going to have them everyday. I have to admit that the material is very interesting .. so I'm sucking it up like a sponge LOL !!!

Medicals for visa

Today again I had to get up early , because we all had to go to Al Noor hospital to have our blood taken and chest x-rays for the UAE visa. The day started by our bus being delayed by 30 minutes, and then when we got off at the hospital, we went to the 10th floor where the Etihad Medical Center is located, since we thought that we need to go and get the tests done there. They told us to go back down stair and go to the next door Health Certificates department. And so we did. At that place they told us that we need to have our paper work with us, and we did not have it since HR supposed to deliver it to them. So we again went to the 10th floor, they said to go and try 1st floor, and the first floor told us to go back to the health certificates department ....... blah, blah, blah..... we were already running like crazy people for over an hour, when finally our HR representative showed up with our paper work . ghrrrr !!!! Can you believe that ...we were totally disappointed. We all agreed that the medical part of the training is the most unorganized and messy of all of it !!!!
After we finished, me and my friend went to the mall across the street , because I needed to buy a watch. There is one store in that mall where Etihad Cabin Crew gets 35% on watches, perfumes and sunglasses. I got my watch with a nice discount and the owner even gave me a free perfume as a gift LOL. Isn't that nice.
After we finished, I went home, changed and went to meet up with 3 of the polish girls that went with me to the same assessment, since they arrived on Thursday and are starting training tomorrow.
We met up at Abu Dhabi mall, went to eat something quick and then went to Marina Mall. We walked around the mall, got some stuff from Ikea and I got back home at around 20:00 already exhausted.

DUBAI again

We woke up at about 10 in the morning and by the time we got ready for the beach it was already noon. We went to the beach that was a little hidden behind all the construction sites, so only locals knew about it. We could actually park our car right on the beach. The weather was very nice and sunny, but not hot. And the water, oh.. the water was like a light blue color and the sand is just amazing... it has no rocks, it's very bright and soft. I'm not a big beach person, but I enjoyed this day a lot. The only thing that was missing was the hammock ... and I'd honestly NEVER leave from there LOL.
I was soooo relaxed that I just looked sleepy the whole day hihihi.

City Tour and our first payday :o)

Today we went for the city tour. Our "tour guide" was Amir. He showed us the most important landmarks of Abu Dhabi. We saw the airport and the new terminals from outside, Emirates Palace, Marina Mall, Al Jazeera Building ( which is the newest Etihad building ) and much more. Our favorite part was of course the Al Jazeera Building, since that where is the "Fit to Fly" club. This club is exclusive for Cabin Crew. It has the gym, outdoor pool, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, internet, lounge, restaurant, massage showers, beauty salon, and massage rooms. And all of that for free !!! ( except for beauty services, restaurant and massage which we get with a huge discount.. YAY....). The building itself is only 1 year old and is really high class.... I'd love to live there, but the waiting list for that building is like 1 year long LOL
After we finished our city tour, we went back to the Academy to have a meeting with the operations manager and HR. The first one talked about time management and operational services of all Etihad departments. And HR collected our passports for the visa issuance and talked about our pay schedule, layover allowance, pay days etc. At the end we received our "food allowance" for the whole training in a form of prepaid debit card..... it's time to go shopping :o)
We finished at 15:30 and went home. I was in rush because my friends came to pick me up from Dubai and they were already waiting for me and I wasn't event packed yet LOL.
They went shopping to the mall while I was getting my stuff ready and we left Abu Dhabi at 17:30. it took us 1,5 hour to get to Dubai.
I was in shock when we got to their house, and I actually find out that it was Thanksgiving Day LOL I totally forgot about that. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family, and of course big Turkey. After that we got ready to go out.
We went to the club called CHI ( old "Lodge" ). It was very nice there: big R&B and Hip Hop room, and outdoor- techno/house music. We danced the night away and left that place at about 3. After that we went to my friends house and straight away went to sleep since I was up since 5:30 morning the day before LOL... so almost 24 hours.
It was a really fun night... It just feels so different to go out in this country, where you actually can dance outdoor without worrying about the weather and enjoy it to the fullest. But I still want to go to a beach party...ASAP !!!!

Medicals and Fitting Uniforms

Today our pick up was at 7:30. We got dropped to the Al Noor hospital, where our Etihad Medical Center is located. We had to do blood test, chest x-rays, urine test, doctor check-up, eye test and hearing test, they check our weight and hight and BMI ( body mass index - mine was 19.5, so a little underweight ) and our heart rates etc. We did almost everything except for the dentals which we have to do separately , and that is the only thing we have to pay for (only people like myself that did not do their medicals in their home country)
The day at the medical center was really chaotic, because we got there an hour before the center even opens, then we had a lot of forms to fill out. Than they started taking us one by one for the tests ( on top of that there was batch of cadet pilots that went before us ). We finished well past 14 and we were running so late that the pick up bus was not waiting for us so we had to call them and wait another 40 min for them to come and get us and drop us to the uniform store ( which is in my building) by 16:30.
At the Uniform store we as well spend good 2 hours and at the end they even forgot about me and one other girl and started closing the store before we were done. But at the end, we all got to try all the clothes and got measured for our uniforms and shoes. YAY... in about 4 weeks the uniforms will be ready, I can't wait !!!
After we were all done with that, me and 3 other girls went to the Mall. I needed to buy another white shirt and earings. It took me some time, but I found what I needed and went home.

Grooming Training !!!!!

As I mentioned before, our Trainer for the Grooming is Goddess ( LOL... Aommar ).
We had a really nice day with him. First we learned about the Uniform and the cooperate image of Etihad. The girls had their chance to try the hat with the veil and the coat. Later he talked to the guys about shaving and mens cosmetics and let them finish earlier, since now, us girls we had make up and hair show-and-tell :o)
He told us about all kind of cosmetics that we should be using once we start flying, since our skin can become more dry and sensitive. He gave us a good list of cosmetics that we can buy and that he highly recommends. After that we had make up demonstration on couple of the girls from our batch. Aommar was actually working before as a make up artist on the London Fashion Week and for big cosmetics companies like Shiseido. At the end he also showed us how to do a french twist and how to do the bun. I helped with that part of this training, since I have 6 years experience as a hairstylist :o)
This whole training was based on the beauty industry, so as expected, it was my favorite subject.
After the Academy, around 18:30 I met up with few of my batch mates to celebrate one of our friends birthday. We were group of 9 people, so we went to the restaurant in Abu Dhabi Mall. We had so much fun just hanging out that we actually spent there like 3 hours LOL. We got a piece of cake for Sean and sang him Happy Birthday ( and after that I sang a little bit of the same song, but in Arabic- they were all in shock that I knew it LOL). It was such a nice evening. My batch mates are really great... love them all !!!

Day # 2... Guest speaker day !!!

As you already can figure out from the title, we had a guest speaker day which means that some important people from different departments came to give us presentation about their job, talked to us about any problems, cleared out all our doubts. First, we had performance managers, then Welfare and Accommodation, Quality Assurance, Safety, OCC, Insurance, Security, and finally HR. The day was suuuuper long, we finished at about 15:40. My head felt like a big balloon from all the informations they gave us in one day :o)
At the end we received our SEP manual ( it's a book that weights probably 5 kilos and we ALWAYS have to carry it with us while on duty !!! ) and the books that we are going to be learning from.
Thru out the day we filled out a lot of paper work and received our contract and ID cards ( but me and another girl from my batch did not receive them today since they forgot to make them for us.. hihihhi... we'll get them tomorrow ).
As you can immagine... my bottom hurts from all that sitting LOL
After we came back to our building, me and my new gay friend went out to the mall. We shopped, ate and just waisted good 2 hours there. On our way back we decided to go to the hotel that's next to the Abu Dhabi mall... just to check out their private beach. Let me tell you... I've NEVER in my life seen more beautiful place !!!! PERIOD !!! Hands down it tops every hotel I've been to !!! Not only it's beautiful inside, but the private beach and the whole garden in the back were breathtaking... just dreamy !!! It's a "Must see" if in Abu Dhabi !!!!!
Tomorrow we have Grooming Training ... so I better go and get some beauty sleep.

First day at school ;o)

....just kidding, it's actually an academy LOL
I did not sleep good last night at all.... I guess still not used to the time change.
I went to sleep at half past midnight last night and got up at 5 am. Got ready, and went downstairs. There were about 10 people waiting for the bus already. Some of them were my batch mates and some already cabin crew that were going to the academy for refreshing ( I guess all the CC'c need to do that after some time ).
Our bus picked us up at 6:35 and after that also picked up some other new joiners and CC's from another building. The whole trip to the academy took about 1 hour and 15 minutes so we arrived well before our scheduled classes.
The academy is located next to the airport.... pretty much in the middle of nowhere LOL.
We all went to the security to sign in and got our "trainees" plaques. Afterwards we went to our classroom.
The first day is pretty much an all around introduction day. We had a great couple of guys to present all the info to us. One of them - Manuel is a part time CC and part time he works at the academy as the instructor... and other one Omar ( likes to be referred to as Goddess LOL) he is going to be our grooming ( make-up and hair) instructor... can't wait for his classes :o)
We did some group activities thru out the day and got to know each other a little better. Our batch 300 is mixed with batch 301 ( Food & Beverage managers) for the introduction week, so there are about 21 of us as of right now.
We get off this class at 13:30 but then we had to wait for over an hour for the first bus to pick us up. By that time I was totally out of energy, so I got home, talked a little bit to my mom over Skype and went to take a nap.... now I'm awake, need to get my room organized and cleaned and go back to sleep.... :o)

Day Off... and trip to Dubai !!!

I went to sleep at little past midnight the day before and did not get up until noon today LOL... I was so knocked out, it's not even funny... all my body hurts from caring all the luggage. First I called my friend Linda that lives in Dubai, to let her know that I arrived. She told me that she wants to see me today, so we decided that I'll take a cab from Abu Dhabi to Dubai ( 1.5 hour ride ) and come to meet her after she finishes her work at 6 pm.
Before the scheduled trip, I went to Abu Dhabi Mall to get some food and other necessary things for my room and bathroom. After I finished shopping I went home and started cleaning my bathroom up until my taxi arrived... and as it did at 16:30, I grabbed my stuff and went to Dubai.
On our way to Dubai we hit some traffic , but it wasn't that bad.
We got to the city center and got lost on the highway because we missed one intersection and had to go around for about 15 min to get back to the same place ( yeah, bad thing about Dubai.. their road system is so chaotic that it's ALMOST impossible to get around LOL) ... for future reference- taxi from Abu Dhabi to Dubai costs 300 dirhams ( around $80 .. yes, that's expensive!!!).. but from my place to any of the malls it's only 5 dirhams ( $1.50).. so that's cool !!!
I got to Linda's work place at about 6:15 pm. We were soooo happy to see each other :o))) I have not seen her for almost a year!!! After that we went to see her new apartment and later we went to her house where she lives with her family until her apartment is finished.
Afterwards me, Linda, her sister and her brother went out to the mall for SUSHI !!!! YAY.. I've been craving sushi for a year now !!! We had a big feast of every kind of sushi , she even made me try the raw salmon.. and I have to admit that it was very good :o) ( because up until now I only ate California rolls LOL). After we stuffed our selfs with all this yummi food, they dropped me back to Abu Dhabi, where we arrived at about midnight.
I went straight to sleep since I need to get up at 5 am for the first day of my training ( our pick up bus arrives at 6:30 )
That was so far the most exciting day !!! I hope ,there's more to come !!!

I'm in Abu Dhabi !!!!

WOW... I have soooo much to say I have no idea where to start !!!
Ok.. first... All my flights went as planned ... the crew at Etihad was great. The view from the airplane on Abu Dhabi at night was AMAZING !!!!
I landed in Abu Dhabi at about 19:20 and as soon as I came out of the gate, the VIP meet and greet service was waiting for me. She helped me to go thru passport/visa , eye scanning and luggage claim. Then she put me into a Etihad drive service and send me to my new residence.
I'm living currently in the middle of Abu Dhabi, in tourist area of the town. The building that I got to live in, is one of the "old" Etihad buildings......but from what I heard, it's still the nicer one of them all.. and most important- it's next to the Abu Dhabi Mall and the Clubbing/ Bars area of the city.
I've got a very nice roommate - Russian girl that works for Etihad for 2 years.
My room is already furnished and all the things that I might need are already there !!! They provide us with fully furnished apartment together with all the things like: towels, plates, pans, bed set, some food and much, much more !!!
Tomorrow I'm planning to go grocery shopping !!! We'll see how it goes !!!

My Visa and E-ticket arrived !!!!

At noon I received an E-mail with all the final confirmations of my travel arrangements.
I'll be flying out of Poland with LOT (Polish airline) on Friday at 6:30 am and fly into Munich (MUC) at 8 am. After that I'll fly out to Abu Dhabi (AUH) at 10:30 am but this time with Etihad :) The flight from MUC to AUH is 6 hours long so I'll land in AUH at 19:30 their time.
I received also my weekly planner for the introduction week and the list of people that are going to be in my group. There are going to be 14 people in my group and I'm the only Polish one :), other than that I'll have an American, British, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Italian, South African and Serbian colleagues. 4 males and 10 females. Out team number is 300 ( hihihi... This is Sparta !!! )
During the first week we'll have an introduction to the industry, grooming day, medicals day, fitting uniforms and guest speaker day and finally one day off- Friday.
It's time to pack up and fly !!!

Goodbyes

I think I already got used to saying goodbye to people that are close to me. After all I got a lot of experience. Just in the last year I moved 4 times LOL. Last December I moved from USA back to Poland, then from Poland to Italy, then Italy to Poland and now Poland to UAE !!! Wow... what a crazy year !!!
On Thursday I had family dinner at the restaurant, then Saturday I went out with my girlfirends to the club, and next week I'm planing to go out for a drink with girls from my work.
Someone smart once said " Goodbyes make you think.They make you realize what you have, what you've lost and what you've taken for granted".
I totaly agree with it... since goodbyes made me appreciate my friends (bf) and family much more than if I had them next to me at all times.

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Changes in my schedule

In the morning I received a phone call from Etihad to let me know that the training on the 16th was canceled and I was moved to start a week after that on November 23rd. Later I also received an Email to confirm that info.
Yesterday they moved one other person from the 16th to the 30th. So I guess they did not have enough people to join them on the 16th so they decided not to start that training.
That only means that I'll be living on my bags one extra week LOL.

Packing

I contacted  Recruitment Coordinator and he told me that I can bring with me at joining, 2 bags of  30 kg each plus a carry-on. 

I started packing in the evening... making a huge mess in my room :o)

I hope I can fit in the limit!!!  LOL

Confirmation of my Joining Date

Today I received an e-mail stating that : 

My training starts on the 16th ,  I'll receive my visa and ticket via E-mail on the 12th and that I'll fly out either on the 13th or 14th .

WOW.... it means that I'll be living on bags from now on ..... cool  :o)

I gave a 2 weeks notice at my present job in the morning. All my friends at work were shocked       (since I've worked there less than 2 months ), but  they were super supportive of my decision. ( Thank You Girls ... You are the best !!! ) 

I guess  it's the first time that I can say  without a doubt .... I GOT MY DREAM JOB !!!!!

The Golden Call

I received a call in the morning from Etihad Recruitment team ( or more closely-Nafissa), asking me if I could join them for the training that starts on the 16th !!! My answer could not be any different : " YEAHHHHHHH"... off course I do !!! LOL.

I found out that I'll need to leave Poland two or three days prior to  joining the Academy ... that gives me only  less than 2 weeks to get myself ready for  a big move.

As all of you can imagine, that was a super exciting day for me.  My life is about to take a big turn for better.... and that is exactly what I need right now.