Let's get the show on the road

That's what I've been thinking yesterday morning. We finally were off. The doors will open, we'll meet the actors and see how it all evolves.

We started the day at ± 7 a.m. Getting up, taking showers, getting dressed etc. because we were expected to be on the premises of Skyguide Dübendorf at 8h15. Once there, we waited in the lobby/temporary lounge for Leda to come pick us up. When she did, we started our day at Skyguide by getting ourselves photographed in order to get personal badges that'll grant us access to all the places we'll be allowed to enter. These will include the buildings C, D and some limited access to building A.

- Building C is where we will get all our material (paper, pens etc.) from, should we need it.
- Building D is the actual training center. We'll probably be staying there for most of our time at Skyguide.
- Building A is where the actual Zürich ACC (both civil and military) is. Unfortunately, this section is off-limits to us not having the right clearances, but in the same building we have radar and tower simulators which, as far as I understood, will be available to us later in the training. We were told it isn't a playstation though, so no fun&games-section around here.

But that's where the staff comes in. At 9h30 (which was half an hour delay already), we were taken to the Amsterdam-room, where we would be welcomed and greeted by some members of the staff. These included, but weren't limited to the CEO of Skyguide, our Head of Training and our Head of Operations.
We got an introduction of the main structure of Skyguide from the staff, before we had to introduce ourselves to the group.
The group is a mixture of Skyguide-students, Apron-control-students and EUROCONTROL-students and we are 20 combined (it's 10 - 2 - 8, I believe). It soon came out we all have different backgrounds and as such different stories to tell.

Afterwards, the staff went, having more important things to do, like managing an Air Navigation Service Provider (hereafter ANSP), and we were greeted by Angela Cachin, who gave us an in-depth introduction on Skyguide and air traffic in Europe and around the world, of which I will spare you the details.

Because we were already half an hour behind schedule, we were only allowed 5 minutes of coffee break instead of 30, but eventually we ended up squeezing 10 out of it, so it wasn't all lost just yet. Back to the Amsterdam-room for a lecture about safety on the premises of Dübendorf. How to react in case of emergencies, what can we do and more importantly, what CAN'T we do, where are the fire extinguishers, first aid kits, emergency exits etc.
We were told we can't lend anyone our personal badges, because it is caught on tape and registered in a central system, so sorry guys if you wanted to come over and have a look yourself. You just won't get in with my badge. I doubt I'll be allowed to take guests in as well.

Then, the second big moment of the day, receiving our personal badges!! Or at least, so we thought. I was really looking forward to seeing my own picture (even though it's a bad one) on a badge, so it was quite an anti-climax to hear EUROCONTROL-students couldn't have any yet, because of some communication mishaps between EUROCONTROL and Skyguide. But hopefully we'll get them today (more later on about why I'm writing today).

Our morning schedule ended with an introduction by Leda about practical information in this region. This included for example, how and where we should register ourselves as students in this country etc.
The final part of this introduction was only of importance to Skyguide-students, so we were able to have lunch already.

FINALLY, a voice in my head screamed.

Another small anti-climax though. The caterers were told to come by the time the Skyguide-students had had their entire lecture as well, so we found ourselves trying some of the weird-looking amuse gueules. Luckily for us, there was soup a bit later (we believe it was pumpkin, but with the whipped cream on the bottom and in the small shot-glasses it was quite hard to tell) and eventually also lunch.
Our lunch existed out of rice, chicken and scampi. Very tasteful and obviously inspired by the Asian culture. Even the room we were having lunch in, had all sorts of Japanese items.

During lunch, we also had some small talk with some people of the management, about all sorts of things really. Obviously, being Belgian, our political 'issues' passed by as well, but I managed to talk my way out of it without really saying anything important. 1-0 for me, Skyguide, though I have a feeling you'll get back at me with the training, so I better watch out.

We started our afternoon with a personal introduction by the Head of Training, David 'Dave' Kocher, in the Constellation-room. He gave us an introduction to the Skyguide Training Center (hereafter STC) and what is to be expected of the course and our stay here. For those who have followed lessons in the Atheneum of Veurne, by the way. Dave reminds me an awful lot of Geert Costenoble, both in appearance and handling. About the only difference is, he's not caucasian.
To those who don't know him, he was my English teacher in the last three years of high school. ;-)

We ended our time at Skyguide with a mentoring introduction. We were greeted by Yvonne and Olivier, two psychologists working for Skyguide, who gave us more information on where, how and when we could contact them if we felt it to be necessary.
At the end of their tutoring, they asked us to accompany them outside, where they had laid down a circle. In this circle, there were about 7 blocks of wood which we needed to stack onto each other. Of course, it wasn't as simple as it looked. To do this, we had to stay out of the circle and had to use ropes and some sort of coat hanger to pick up the blocks and put them correctly on each other.

First time, we failed miserably. Everyone new to the game, no communication at all, everybody doing as they please etc.
Second time went smoother. There was some communication and some people were already getting the hang of it. We still failed to stack more than two though.
The third and final time was, as expected, the best run. We had a pretty decent communication, people knew sort of what was expected from them and we were able to think out of the box to get things sorted out. We did, however, not manage to stack more than three. Pity. Better luck next time, I guess.

Which was already quite obvious, was confirmed. This game's only objective was to encourage teamwork. As the results show, we got further by using it and showed as such the advantages of working together. A lesson not to be forgotten for sure.

Then we all went home and took care of our own personal things. We decided all to go to IKEA and shop for our apartment. We had asked and most, if not all, things would be reimbursed by Skyguide if the "investment" was deemed necessary for the apartment. This lead to us walking around in IKEA for about 3 hours. Of these three hours, we spent most shopping time at the least expected place: the light bulb section. For some reason, most guys just couldn't decide which lamp to take so we spent more than 20 minutes there, before we were finally able to move further. I already had my lamp, by the way (brought it with me from home) so I'm not to blame !!

We went for dinner in the IKEA-restaurant (about the only place where you can get full meals at decent rates around here) before we went to the cash register. In the restaurant we suggested to open a bet, just for honour. Everyone had to guess how much everything would cost. To give you an idea, estimated prices were between CHF 200 and 400.
We went to the cashier and got to an astonishing CHF 427.80!!!

A visual reference of our TWO carts at IKEA, put next to each other.

I'd actually wonder how Dave will look when we give him the receipt. For some reason, I don't think he'll be thrilled. Especially since he knows this doesn't include the desired water heater, toaster and microwave oven, (which we were allowed to buy, by the way)...

And this, in the end, brings me to why I'm writing this blog one day late. Yesterday evening, we were home so late, I just decided to go to bed and call it a night. I was just too tired after the long day (see for reference the length of this blog) to write this blog and still post it. I hope you can forgive me for this.

Not to break protocol though, I'll end as I normally do.
Tomorrow, we'll have SCS and LMS introductions (turned out to be something and Learning Management System, today) and an introduction by the instructors, general information about the school, schedules (finally), distribution of materials and a visit to the buildings (including the simulator). Thereafter we'll have a lecture about learning styles and techniques and we'll end the day with an open forum, in which we can as questions.

That was it for now. Thanks for reading.