She Gone: A Brief Explanation As To Why Emirates and I Broke UP

Greetings friends! Welcome to what may be the last semi exciting post to ever be published on Schutz and Scores, unless reading tales of my my dad and I watching nightly King of Queens reruns is your thing, in which case, enjoy! Yes, I write to you today, no longer as a jet setting Emirates Airline flight attendant, but rather as an unemployed, empty nest crashing, 25 year old bum!

Let me rewind before I kick my pity party into full gear.

July 15th I packed two large suitcases and flew from Dubai to New York for my 10 days of leave, just like I had done many other times. Those first ten glorious days were filled with food, family, friends, and fun!

One of the highlights of my trip was attending a reunion for a special needs camp that I used to volunteer with in high school.

I also spent a weekend in Chicago with my friend/personal cheerleader, Evan, for the Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon. The course was hillier and the temperatures were hotter than I anticipated, but I did finish upright. Success.

2:09...Your supposed to Get Slower Each Race, Right?

On July 25th, what was to be my last night in Illinois, I went out for a night of dining and wine tasting with my friend Kristen. We topped off our evening with a late night two mile run, which was pretty impressive, considering the amount of wine we had consumed. We parted ways that night with a "see ya later" instead of the usual sappy goodbye, as she planned to be landing in Dubai in just 10 short days for her first overseas visit.

Kristen and I At A Winery In Grafton, Illinois

The next morning my dad drove me to Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, and two hours later I landed safely into JFK. With a twelve hour layover ahead of me, I boarded a train and headed towards Manhattan with the intent of visiting the 9/11 Memorial...and consuming a larger than my head New York Style hot dog. Don't judge me.

Just as I was about to step foot on the train, my dad called me and shared some sobering news. Kristen's dad, David, had been in a farming accident, and his injuries were quite severe. Not quite sure what to do with this information, I found a quiet corner in the train station and alternated between making phone calls and praying.

Unfortunately, minutes later my dad called me back with a simple message, "He didn't make it."

There really was no decision to be made. When my mom suddenly passed away, my friends carried me through that first week. Now it was my turn to be there for my friend. I booked a return to ticket to Illinois and came home.

Understandably, Emirates has a firm policy that unless an immediate family member dies, they will not approve a leave of absence due to death. Regardless, I politely communicated with my manager that I would not be returning to Dubai until after the funeral services.

Throughout my week at home, I actively searched different flight options, but nearly all of Emirates flights departing the US were completely overbooked. On Friday, I finally figured out a semi promising path back to Dubai. Unfortunately, due to there being a large number of other standby passengers also listed for flights, seven hours and two frapachinos later, I departed Lambert Airport...as a passenger in my dad's car.

By this point I was receiving daily emails from my manager, demanding that I return to Dubai immediately. During this time the website that allows me to purchase domestic tickets wasn't functioning properly, causing me even more problem with booking a return flight.

As if Murphy's Law wasn't in full enough bloom, another little wrench was thrown into my plans. Apparently, the U.S. government intercepted a terrorist plot by those pesky little al Qaeda members. Unless you've been living in cave, in which case you might be a member of al Qaeda, I'm sure you've heard about this issue, but just in case, feel free to read all about it here and here.

After living overseas for a year and a half, I'm aware that the American media has a tendency to over exaggerate issues, especially those concerning the middle east. However, the US government shutting down 21 U.S. Embassies and consulates across the middle east, two of those being in my very own United Arab Emirates, was quite alarming.

According to the U.S. Department of State, "The US government has established a worldwide travel alert due to the potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula."

Courtesy of Google Image

Middle East? Live there. Arabian Peninsula? Live RIGHT there. North Africa? Two flights scheduled there for next week.

On Sunday morning at 2:00 AM, I finally made contact via the phone with my manager. I completely respect my manager's need to do her job and enforce company policy. However, as she informed me I either needed to be on a plane back to Dubai that day or turn in my resignation within the next two hours, I knew I had a tough decision to make.

As I sat in my family's living room and tried to figure out what the right decision was, I began to wonder if perhaps all of my failed attempts at returning to Dubai was a sign that I wasn't meant to go back. I was reminded of another time that I was dealing with a similar situation.

When I was in the fourth and fifth grade, I was struggling with a very difficult issue in my life. This issue caused me lots of angst and sleepless nights. Was or was not Santa Claus real?

I wanted to get to the bottom of this badly, and even went as far as running handwriting samples; comparing my mom's to that of Santa's notes from years past. I asked my mom repeatedly if he was real. Without fail she would reply, "What do you believe in your heart?"

Depending upon the week I'd reply, "Oh, he's definitely real," or "He can't be! There's just no way he could really eat all those cookies and visit all those houses."

To both responses she'd always smile, nod her head, and say, "OK."

She died without ever really giving me a solid answer. So the jury is still out, folks!

As an adult, she and I talked about her approach to my nagging Santa Claus question. I was intrigued as to why she never actually just gave me a blatant answer. Being the wise ass owl that she was, she told me that would have been too easy, I wouldn't have learned anything. She told me that in life, there are not always right or wrong, black or white, firm answer. Sometimes you just have to pray, look at the facts, and make a decision based on what you believe in your heart.

Within the hour I respectfully submitted my resignation to Emirates Airline, thanking them for the opportunity to represent an iconic brand and to achieve my dream of traveling the world.

Although I was planning to resign this fall, this wasn't quite the way I pictured it happening. I wanted to have a great last flight to an amazingly exotic location, return to Dubai for one last hooraa with my friends. And naturally, they'd get me a going away cake. I wanted the cake, damn it!

Although  I believe this was the best decision for me at this time, I will continue to acknowledge my experience with Emirates Airline as a positive one...that is until my Emirates/Dubai tell all book comes out. Kidding. Kind of.

Sure, it wasn't always perfect. There were hard times, times I wanted to quit. Times I missed my friends and family. Times I had diarrhea from eating too much street food. Oh, was that too much information? But thinking of my time with Emirates makes me smile, and I'd do it all over again in a heart beat.

The places I've visited  in the past year and a half were amazing, but the people I've met were even more beautiful. I don't even want to go into detail about how much I will miss my friends because it will make me cry and totally blow that whole rumor that I'm dead inside. Just rest assured that love, kindness, and generosity exist far beyond the borders of the good ol USA. I'm so thankful to know people who radiant these virtues all around the globe, and am so honored to call them my friends.

First Desert Safari With Charlene (Northern Ireland) and Charlotte (U.K.)

Drinking Buckets in Thailand With Dom (Australia), Sarah (Ireland) , and Paula (Scotland) 

Watching The Euro Cup With Natacha (France) and Tammy (Brazil)

Maggie, Sara, and I at Jebal Hafeet ('Merica)

Brunch With Victoria-My Spirit Turned Emirates Co-Worker

Rajeev (Australia) and I on The Beaches of Dubai

You may be wondering what's next, and that's a great question, as it's one that I'm asking as well. I've got a few tools in my toolbox, and like a cat, I'm hoping I'll eventually land on my feet. I usually do.

If anything more exciting than me mowing the yard happens in the next month, I'll be sure to fill ya in. Thanks for joining me on my Emirates adventure, and yes, I do get to keep the hat. :)

“Beginnings are usually scary, endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts. So when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.”
- Steven Rogers, Hope Floats




















 

English Roadtrip

Before I tell you all the juicy details of this week's trip, I'd just like to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that life in the aviation industry is absolutely ridiculous. I regularly go to bed at 4:00 AM, noon, and 9:00 PM. It is completely normal for my friends and I to meet for dinner at 10:30 PM, and go to the theatre to watch movies that start at 2 AM. I frequently work turn around flights, only to return home and have no clue what country I was just in. So in an attempt to make the events of the past several days seem semi normal, I'll try to apply it to a regular human being situation.

Have you ever had a day off from work, and thought, "My friend Fill N. Theblank is working today. It'd be really nice to go meet him for a catch up during his lunch break."

So you jump in your car, head down to Fill's place of work, and enjoy spending one glorious hour together; talking, laughing, eating, and overall, just being the buddy ol pals that you are?

Well that's basically what I did this week. Except Fill was my friend Rajeev, his place of work is on an Airbus 380, and his lunch break just so happened to be in London!

So, like any normal person with three days off would do, I booked a discounted ticket on the flight he was working and enjoyed 24 hours with one of my best good friends!

Now that we've gotten the whole why it's normal for me to fly to London for 24 hours just to hang out with my friend out of the way, here's a few of the highlights from our trip!

We arrived in London at around 8 PM, and since Rajeev had just worked a seven hour flight, and I had the extreme pleasure of  sitting next to the most annoying three year old known to man kind during said flight, we were both fairly tired and decided to have a low key night. We walked to a nearby pub, and drank their house red wine in their outdoor garden. From here on out, that shall forever be my happy place!

Both of us have been to London several times, and although we like selfies next to the Big Ben just as much as the next guy, we wanted to do something a little off the beaten path. The next morning we woke up bright and early, ate a delicious breakfast, and embarked on operation road trip!

Rajeev, being the born and raised Aussie that he is, is a pro at the whole driving on the left hand side of the road game. I, on the other hand, am a little thing called an amateur. Since this is pretty much my life mantra....

Props to my friend Evan for seeing this and thinking of me =)

I accepted the challenge and agreed to do some of the driving for the day. A chip chip cherio and we were on our way!

Much like life, our trip really was more about the journey than the destination. Regardless, we plugged Stonehenge into the ol navigation system, blared some T. Swift through the speakers, and just like that, we were officially on a road trip!

Perhaps I've just become a little too accustomed to sand, sand, and more sand, but the scenery in the English countryside was absolutely gorgeous. We drove by massive lavender fields, rolling hills covered in wild grass, and tons of fields with cattle grazing. I was in farm girl heaven!

GREEN



Because every good road trip needs snacks, we luckily spotted a fresh fruit stand along the road, and filled up. Fresh fruit, another item for the Shtuff They Don't Have In The Desert list!

After nearly two hours on the road, we finally reached our destination, Stonehenge. If you're seriously interested in the history of Stonehenge, then I highly recommend listening to the entire audio guide that is given to all visitors at the entrance to this historic sight. However, if you're ok with just knowing that the stone formation is crazy old, then I also highly recommend wearing the audio guide around your neck, for decorative purposes only, and taking fun pictures next to the rocks!

Be The Rock

 

Needless to say, it was a monumental experience!

Obviously, holding boulders left me pretty hungry, so we decided to search for the nearest English pub. In order to do that, we needed to drive. It was my turn to drive. Pure panic!

Not only is driving on the left hand side of the road tricky, but getting used to the steering column being on the right side of the car is no easy task, either. I also noticed that the rearview mirror situation threw me off big time, as it's obviously tilted at a different angle. After 10 terrifying minutes of me driving, we came to a small town that looked promising in the Fish n Chips department, alas my driving turn was complete! Despite the line of traffic backed up on the two lane highway due to my extra cautious driving, and a few curb checks, I'm going to chalk the experience up to a success. One that I am happy to have checked off the ol bucket list, and am completely ok with never doing again!

Just as I had hoped, the cute little town, had a cute little fish n chip shop. We enjoyed lunch with a side of Pims and Strongbow in the restaurant's outdoor dining area. Because I'm a dainty lady, the frilly cocktail was totally mine. I wouldn't dare order a manly man's cider and proceed to belch like a sailor throughout the remained of the road trip. No siree, Bob. I'm also a size 0, can sing like an angel, and don't have knock knees....

After lunch we walked around the town and window shopped, bought some more fresh fruit, and worked on perfecting out British accents. Trust me when I say, mine is getting REALLY good!

Our road trip continued on as Raj drove an hour more to a small seaside town called Southampton. Because we were short on time, we didn't get to explore the entire town, but we did get to eat ice cream cones on a pier, which totally makes up for any missed educational opportunities.

And as quickly as our trip came about, it came to a close. Rajeev worked the flight back to Dubai from London Heathow Airport, and due to that flight being completely booked, I caught a flight from London Gatwick Airport and arrived safely into Dubai yesterday morning. I retired to my own bed for a grand total of six hours before waking up, slapping on some clown make up, and reporting for duty, where I worked a roundtrip flight to Bangalore, India and back!

And as of right this moment I am off work for 12, Twelve, TWELVE glorious days! And what shall I do with those 12 days off you may be wondering? Well, I've been receiving harassing messages from this little lady, demanding that I do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, and report straight home! As a result of it being humanly impossible to not adhere to her requests, to Illinois I go!

"Country road, take me home, to the place I belooooooonnng...."

Staycation Continued

So my Staycation 2013 continues on! This week I traveled to Beirut, Lebanon and Bombay, India, only to turn around and return to Dubai the exact same day. From what I could see out of my 10 inch by 10 inch airplane window, both places looked like lovely destinations!

Thankfully, I've had plenty of company for my days off in Dubai. My friend Paula's parents and niece are visiting this week from Scotland, so it's been fun to join them as they explore Dubai. So far we've enjoyed dinner at the Cheesecake Factory inside the Dubai Mall, hung out at the beach, and celebrated with drinks as we watched the first Scot win Wimbledon in 77 years! Twas a great day to be a Scot..or at least pretending to be one.

Dubai Mall With The Wilson's

This past week also contained one of my very favorite holidays, the 4th of July! Back in my tiny hometown, Independence Day has always been a huge celebration, so being anywhere other then White Hall, Illinois on the 4th of July is slightly depressing. Since I couldn't be in the USA for the celebration, I brought the celebration to me! More accurately, the American Business Bureau of Dubai brought the celebration to me.

Celebrating the 4th of July in Dubai With Fellow Americans

This super cool event, 4th of July Over Dubai, was held at the Meydan Horse Racing Track, and featured the Whiffenpoofs (Yale University's male choir) singing patriotic songs, an American style barbeque (hot dogs, corn bread, and ice cream cones...check, check, and check), and the local Boy Scouts conducting a flag ceremony.

Confetti and The Whiffenpoofs

The grand finally of the evening was an awesome laser and fireworks show! It was so nice to experience a little slice of home during this holiday. There was something super emotional about being thousands of miles away from my home country, and joining together with fellow Americans to celebrate the good ol U.S. of A. My apologies in advance for the super loud, off key, overly patriotic girl who was basically singing right into the microphone. Whoever she may be...

 

 

The unfortunate combination of the extreme heat in Dubai and being held as a prisoner against my will in this city for an entire week, I've been forced to officially move my running to the treadmill. This week's long run called for 10 miles AKA 16.1 kilometers. Big thanks to Biggest Loser Season 14,  the building maintenance man who every so graciously propped the gym door open in order to produce some air flow, and Gu Energy Gel for getting me through 1 hour, 46 minutes, and 21 seconds of running!

 

Treadmill With A View

   

"A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle."  -George William Curtis

 

Have a great week, everyone!

 

Dubai Is Hot Melbourne Is Not

Greetings Friends!

If you are like millions of people around the world who have been wondering just what in the h-e double hockey sticks Kelsey has been up to this week, then boy do I have some good news for you! The long anticipated wait is over starting right....now!

Ok nothing all that exciting has happened, however, here are a few of the highlights.

Several months ago I signed up for the Chicago Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon. When I signed up for the race, I forgot that I would need to train for said race. In the summer. In Dubai. I am an idiot.

At the risk of sounding like a small child I would just like to formally state the following.

IT'S SOOOOOOOOOO HOT!

Just to give you a little bit of an idea what kind of hot we're working with here, this past week the average high was about 105 Fahrenheit. AKA the warm setting on your crock pot. So that's fun.

In order to semi combat these insane temperatures, I've been heading out for 4:30 A.M. runs around the Dubai Marina. The jogging path leads right around the water, and has some pretty awesome architectural views, like the Infinity Building, the world's tallest twisted tower. Bet you didn't even know that record existed!

Another difficulty of running in the desert is that there's not a whole lot of shade. But who needs giant weeping willows when you have concrete overpasses like these, eh? Ahhh reminds me of my own childhood, except not at all.

So besides running, hanging out with friends...

and attempting to catch up on sleep, my reserve month days are filled with obsessively checking my online work schedule and waiting by the phone to see if today will be the day I get scheduled for a flight. Last Tuesday night, just as I was heading to bed, I received a call from our crew scheduling department that basically went like this.

"Hey Kelsey, you know how you thought visions of sugar plums were going to be dancing in your head for the next eight hours? Well, how bout packing your bag for a five day trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Melbourne, Australia instead!? See ya in an hour, habibi!"

With that, I pulled on the knee highs, Aqua Netted myself silly, and headed to the airport.

I'm fairly certain that over the past two and a half years I've developed a slight disorder. I've become a travel snob. I've already been to KL and Melbourne several times, so when I found out my trip involved two repeat offenders, I was a bit disappointed. Ugh, Malaysia and Australia again?!

For the record, I'm well aware that words like these even crossing my mind is indicative that I may very well be a little thing called out of touch with reality!

And now, I will get out the world's smallest violin for the world's saddest story... One of the hardest parts of my job is the lack of a normal sleeping pattern. It's always a constant battle of knowing when to drink coffee, when to stop drinking coffee, when to take a short nap in order to wake up for a few hours and get a full night's rest, when to push myself past the 24 hour mark of being awake, and when to just crash!

Because I started this trip out sleepless in Seattle, and proceeded to bounce between six different time zones over the next five days, I was really exhausted during the majority of the trip. However, due to another disorder I struggle with, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) I forced myself to leave my hotel room at least once everyday and embark in some form of activity. Taking the elevator to the first floor hotel spa and receiving an oil massage totally counts as an activity! Day one, done!

View Of Kuala Lumpur From My Hotel Room

The next day I worked a seven hour flight to Melbourne, where it is currently fall. I LOVE Australia for a plethora of reasons, one of the main ones being it's where some of my very favorite people in this world live or are from. My friend Jess, whom I met while working at Disney, made my week by meeting up with me for brunch. It's always so much fun to catch up with dear friends I've collected from life!

 

 

I seriously HATE when I'm walking down the street, my knees buckle, and I'm unable to move anywhere except inside the nearest bakery. And then a superhuman force takes over my body, shoves my arm into my purse, hands money over to the cashier, and before I even know what's happening, I've got a poppy seed and lemon cupcake in my hand with butter cream frosting that could have only been made my Jesus himself. So weird!

 

So after Food Fest 2013 commenced, Jess and I parted ways and I grabbed a quick snooze back in my hotel room before taking advantage of the cooler temps and completing my long run for the week. Some would say I wasn't exactly using my head when I decided to go for a nine mile run beginning at 10 P.M., but I was wearing my head warmer, so I think that kind of evens things out, no? I will say this, never underestimate the power of a homeless man whistling at you in an unlit park to make you run faster!

 

After a seven hour flight back to KL, a 24 hour uneventful layover that involved Sushi, shopping, and sleeping, another seven hour flight back to Dubai, and an afternoon nap I'm pleased to announce that I am now feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day! It's midnight.

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." - G.K. Chesterton



Old Layover, New Baby

Do you ever get the feeling that some things in this world are just meant to be?

Mickey and Minnie. Sonny and Cher. Peanut Butter and Jelly. Kelsey and Bangkok.

No matter how much I try to stay away from this city, fate always brings us back together. Actually, Emirates' crew scheduling department usually brings us back together, but the other way sounds so much more whimsical.

After completing the first half of my fairly uneventful reserve month, I was crossing my fingers and tattooed toes for a layover in Viena, Amsterdam, Prauge, or anywhere that is in need of a tick off my ol bucket list. So naturally, when I received the news that I'd be traveling to Bangkok this week, I was slightly disappointed. However, I quickly turned that frown upside down when  I discovered my friend Dominique was also working the flight. Instantaneously my three day work trip turned into my three day vacation. Life is all about perspective people!

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

If Dom looks slightly familiar, I can almost promise you that unless you're also a 20 something net ball player from Perth, Australia, it's because she was featured in this here blog when we went backpacking in Thailand together in March.  We had such a blast during our first visit, I had no doubt that round two would be any different.

After delivering our award winning customer service for six hours, we landed safely into Bangkok at 8:00 P.M. local time. The forty five minute bus ride from the airport to our hotel provided me with the perfect opportunity to grab a quick power nap. The nap was just long enough to be considered restful, but short enough to keep the drool on my chin from dripping onto my beige jacket!

With a quick wardrobe change, Dom, four other crew members, and myself were off to a nearby Thai restaurant. I went for my standard Thai meal, Pad Thai. I always order Pad Thai in Bangkok for two reasons: it's delicious and it's the only thing on the menu I am able to pronounce.

After dinner, we hailed a cab and headed to one of my favorite streets in this whole world, Khaosan Road! Khaosan Road is basically a backpacker's paradise! The entire street is filled with young travelers, market stalls, cheap drinks, and fried scorpions on a stick! What's not to love?!

Being the responsible adult that I am, I only had one drink. Never mind the fact that my one drink was served in a sand bucket.

After a fabulous night of dancing and laughing, I retired to my bed at the crack of dawn. Going to bed when the sun is coming up is always a sign of a good night out!

No visit to Thailand would ever be complete without getting a Thai massage, so I rolled my lazy bum out of bed this afternoon and treated myself to 90 minutes in Heaven! This massage could not have come at a better time as I've actually been an 11 on the 1-10 scale of soreness this past week. Nothing in this world is ever free folks, including the free Groupon voucher my friend Paula and I cashed in last Monday for an hour long MMA fight training session. I should have ran out the door when the instructor began the "training session" with five minutes of non stop jump roping while wearing boxing gloves. I've been sore in places this week that I didn't even realize it was possible to be sore in!

So after the much needed Thai massage was completed, I enjoyed a quick lunch in the form of, you guessed it, Pad Thai from the cleanest looking street cart I could find. I then returned to my hotel room for a little pre flight nap.

Although the trip to Bangkok certainly didn't disappoint, no way is it comparable to the real highlight of my week. I'm elated to announce that I'm an auntie again! My sister gave birth to Anna Marie, a beautiful and healthy baby girl, bringing my niece/nephew count to the grand total of five! I wish I could say I love them all equally, but the oldest two girls are getting a little too lippy for my liking. Ah, who am I kidding, I taught em everything they know!

Lana, Bridget, Taylor, and Aunt Kelsey

Welcome to our posse, Anna Marie!

Have a fabulous week everyone!

 

Testing One, Two

Shalom my friends and welcome to the glorious month of June! It's officially summer! Actually, I don't think it is, but June equals summer in my book, so summer it is!

Every six months us flight attendants at Emirates take a turn being on reserve for a month, where rather than having a set schedule we serve as substitute flight attendants. June is my reserve month, and so far I've only worked two turn around trips (flights with no layovers); one to Hyderabad, India and the other to Kuwait City, Kuwait. Easy peasy!

Although the weather in Dubai has been hot with a side of really hot, it has been nice to be in the same time zone for one week straight. The highlight of this past week's stay-cation was checking out Wild Wadi Waterpark for the first time. After spending my entire summer of 2006 rescuing some of St. Louis's finest citizens from the violent tides of Raging Rivers Water Park, I vowed to never step foot in a water park again. There's something about obese African American woman, who are unable to swim, repeatedly mistaking your pony tail for the rescue tube, and physically attempting to climb on top of your head, that just forever changes a person's enjoyment level of all things waterpark. Luckily, I was able to suppress my memories for a few short hours, and enjoy the day with my friends.

This past week's lack of work came at a great time, as I really needed a few free days to do some good ol fashion, uninterrupted, nose to the grind stone studying!

When I graduated from Western Illinois University three years ago, I knew that I'd most likely end up going back to school at some point, but before I embarked on a full time career or a graduate degree, I wanted to enjoy a few years of pure fun. Hi, I'm Kelsey a former Walt Disney World employee, turned flight attendant living in the middle east who on any given week can be found jumping off bridges, riding camels, or partying on yachts. Yep, that part of life's going according to plan, if I do say so myself! As much fun as I am having, this lifestyle isn't exactly sustainable, and thus why I'm s-l-o-w-l-y starting to think about my post fun years' plan.

Although there are aspects of my undergraduate degree in social work that I love (it's focus on social justice, human development, and social policy), for various reasons, I'm not exactly sure I would want to get my masters in the exact same disciplinary, however, I'm not completely ruling it out. When I really think about the components of social work that I'm passionate about, the area of study that seems most inclusive of my interests is law.

As cool as I think it would have been to have always known from age five that I wanted to be a firefighter, grow up, and become said firefighter for 35 years, that's just not me. My career path will probably forever be a bit of a winding path, and I'm kind of okay with that. Going to law school has been in the back of my mind for quite sometime, but I always dismissed the idea, thinking it was simply too tough for me and I wasn't smart enough.

Over the past three years I have not only had a crap ton of fun (actual amount), but along the way I've also overcame an obstacle or two, and gained a lot of self confidence. Without sounding like a complete walking motivational poster, I really have discovered that there's not a whole lot I can't do if  I really set my mind to it!

So with this mantra in mind, I signed up for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), and began studying in March. I may decide this whole law school thing isn't for me and not even apply to one single school, but I'll at least have the option available by completing the exam.

After months of studying, or perhaps more accurately, thinking about how I should be studying, I finally took the exam this morning. The entire thing was brutal, and after the four and a half hours test I walked out of the room looking like I had just left a prisoner of war camp. I have no idea how I did on it, and at this point I don't care how I did on it, I'm just happy to have it over! I'm using a trick from the U.S. Navy's deck of cards, and enacting my very own policy, Don't ask me how I did on the exam if I don't tell you first. I get my results back in July and if I did well I'll shout it from the Burj Khalifa, and if I scored lower than a mentally handicapped monkey, then we're just going to pretend like it never happened.

The only place the LSAT was being offered in the middle east was in Abu Dhabi, a city about an hour and a half away from Dubai. Thankfully my friend Sara lives in Dubai, but works in Abu Dhabi, and she graciously allowed for me to a bum a ride with her between the two cities. Sara has a super cool job in which she works for Hedayah, a global center for countering terrorism and violent extremism. Like most people do, I celebrated my completion of the LSAT by attending a farewell dinner party for a U.S. embassy official that was hosted by the C.E.O. of Hedayah. Dinner with fascinating people AND a goodie bag, don't mind if I do!

Sara, Me, My Goodie Bag

   Have a great week, everyone!






























 

When In Rome

Chow!

I've just returned from my first trip to Rome and, like most things in life, it didn't exactly go according to plan. Recently, I have been trying to improve my time management skills, as I figure out how to juggle working full time, taking an online class, training for a half marathon, AND watching seasons eight and nine of The Office! Somehow there is ALWAYS time for The Office; online class, not so much. Anywho, I had three main goals I wanted to accomplish for this Italian layover: take in the sights of the city, run six miles, and use the phrase 'When In Rome' as much as possible!

According to several different articles I found on Google, one of the first steps in time management is learning to multi task. Perhaps, the mere fact that I took the time to Google time management skills says something about my lack of time management skills.

So armed with my new found knowledge, I decided I would go for a run in the city! Three stones, one bird!?

In order to actually reach the city center, I had to take a forty minute shuttle bus ride, provided by my hotel. The majority of my fellow bus mates were seniors, and I'm not talking about high school here, who, complete with umbrellas, cameras, and maps galore, fit the stereotypical tourist description to a tee. I, on the other hand, decked out in my Saucony running shoes, headphones, and moisture wicking attire from head to toe, stepped onto the bus appearing more ready for the 2013 European Marathon Party of One, rather than a relaxed day of knee slappin', fanny packin', site seein' fun!

Feeling slightly uncomfortable and out of place, I sat down in a seat towards the front and reminded myself that in just a few short minutes I'd be out on a run in a major international city, and "my people" would be there as well. Sure, we don't always know each other or speak the same language, but we're runners, we're in the same club.  We pass by one another with ear buds attached to the sides of our head and share a nod. The nod always translates in every language to mean, "Hey, good to see ya, buddy ol pal! Nice work! Keep it up!"

Forty minutes later, the bus pulls up a few blocks short of the Coliseum, AKA the tourist capitol of the world. I jump off the bus eager to get my run on, and immediately I feel like I'm a subject on Sesame Street's segment of One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other....and I'm the other!

As I attempted to bob and weave on cobblestone streets through never ending guided tour groups, it was made very apparent early on that running six miles in these highly congested areas just wasn't gonna happen! With no running buddies in sight, I resolved to just chill the heck out and walked a few blocks until I reached the famous Coliseum.

The entire structure was incredible! I would have loved to have taken the guided tour that included access to the inside of the amphitheater, but unfortunately traveling the globe, seeing cities 24 hours at a time doesn't always allow for the guided tour option. Instead, I walked around the edge of the building a few times, stole peaks inside, and determined, that yes, it did indeed look old. Before I left the grounds, I shamelessly asked another non camera stealing looking tourist to snap a selfie for me.

In Case You Can't Find The Coliseum, I Took The Liberty of Pointing It Out For You

After studying a souvenir shop map that I was pretending to be contemplating purchasing, I discovered that Villa Borghese Garden was close by and contained several jogging paths. Exiting the store, I set out for run attempt two. My timing was obviously impeccable as thirty seconds into the run the skies opened up and a torrential down poor occurred! Naturally, I had to seek shelter from the rain. The first form of shelter I found just so happened to be an authentic pizzeria. Ok, maybe it was the third form of shelter I found, but who's counting?

Clearly, after downing this entire fungi and sausage pizza, I was in no condition for running, thus I finally threw in the towel and decided to scratch any running plans for the rest of the day. While I tossed my running plans, unfortunately I was stuck with the running clothes. You think I'm being slightly dramatic about NO ONE else in the entire city wearing similar attire? The Italian waiter even made the effort to make fun of my large Garmin watch through broken English, "You are able to speak to the men in the outer space with this?"

Hardy Haaaaaar Haaaaaar Har

The shuttle back to the hotel departed every two hours, and since my late unplanned lunch lasted longer than unexpected, I missed my bus, and had an hour and a half left in the city.

Life as a flight attendant is weird for 105,304 reasons, but one of the strangest things is randomly bumping into your co workers all over the world. Just as I was leaving the pizzeria, I spotted Charlotte, a co worker from France who I had flown with before, standing on a street corner taking pictures of an ancient building. Since we were both catching the same bus back to the hotel, we decided to wander the streets together, and had a great afternoon talking and walking down the side streets of Rome.


Streets of Rome



Before heading back to the bus we stumbled upon an outdoor café. This place served every type of pastry imaginable, and I'm fairly certain I consumed well over 500 calories by just smelling them!

Pastries. Yes, please!

In Italy, it's illegal to enter into a pastry shop and not buy something (at least those are the rules I chose to follow), so I settled on a lemon tart topped with blueberries and a Caffe Americano! It was healthy. Because it had blueberries. Blueberries are a fruit. Fruit equals healthy! It does, ok ?!?!

While I was slightly disappointed I didn't get my run in, actually I was more disappointed I didn't get to listen to my sweet playlist I titled Running In Rome, complete with Dean Martin's That's Amore and Mambo Italiano, it was still a pretty cool trip. However, if I continue this practice of replacing six mile training runs with trips to the pizzeria, I may be in trouble, but hey, when in Rome....

"When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie, that's amore..."

Good luck getting THAT one out of your head! =)

Have a good one everybody!