It has been an a long time since I have typed anything here, so I would like to apologize for that. Especially since so much has happened, so this will be ridiculously long. With that disclaimer out of the way, I will dive into my recent activities!
After spending a wonderful week home, I spent two days packing one suitcase and then flew down to Sugarland, TX for intern orientation (again). Why two days for one suitcase, you might ask? Simply put, there are several factors involved : my indecision, an attempt to avoid airline fines, a heart wrenching inability to leave my shoes without a good reason, and having never been to Louisiana, I had no clue what it would be like (the word "humidity" makes me think of nothing but the fact that the effect of humidity upon my hair causes me to look like a sheep). The intern orientation was interesting, and I, once again, had the opportunity to meet a bunch of really awesome, excited people. I have also not been forced to talk to so many people so often in my entire life. Since I was one of 7 returning interns, once one of them knew that, I was then peppered with questions unceasingly. Though slightly flattering that they thought I knew so much, I tended to start hiding and not going out to dinner with them on "free nights". I have come to the realization that I am an introverted extrovert. I love talking to people and making friends, however I quickly approach a "too much" limit where I then become extremely antisocial and start hiding/avoiding etc.
The first day of orientation was driving training. This was something new, but it needed to be added so we could be reimbursed for driving to and from our locations. It was a 4 hour class on "SMARRT" Driving and then we did a commentary drive with an instructor. A commentary drive is basically where a student drives around and talks about everything they could possibly see, which drive ways are clear, and what they plan to do next during their drive. Kinda fun. :) Monday and Tuesday were repeats of last year, where we participated in death-by-powerpoint ( thanks for the term, Dad) and learned about the company, where Schlumberger is at, and where it is going. I think we may've talked about expense reporting and benefits again, though I cannot say for sure. There were these very well-filled bowls of candy on the table and I am pretty sure I used roughly 4 of them to build an amazing tower of chocolatey goodness. Also, I got to skip out on one of the sessions and a couple of the returning interns left with me. We went and sat by this really cool manmade pond outside of the Sugarland campus cafeteria. It was dangerously blue looking, and had turtles swimming around it is with algae on their backs. The turtles seemed to follow us and have a special connection with one of the guy interns, so we decided to nickname him Splinter and Turtle Whisperer. I hope he lives up to his names. I would love to have mutated turtles as friends.
On Tuesday afternoon I flew into Louisiana, leaving orientation in the middle of the week. I had to do this because NEST training started the next day. NEST stands for New Employee Safety Training. Keep up with the acronyms, people! :) I had to take a flight from Houston to Dallas and then to Lafayette, which, for anyone who is not checking out a map right now, makes no sense at all. Seriously, send me an hour west, merely to send me 2.5 hours east again?!? Then again, it is Texas. That is all I will say. I made a friend on the flight named Leo, who is an auditor for oil companies. Small world...Anyway, he was helpful with helping me to find my driver when I got into the Lafayette airport. A shuttle driver picked me up as I slogged through the 8 pm Louisiana humidity and drove me to the apartment complex I will be staying in this summer. It is called Plantation Groves and has a wonderful pool, workout room, and is near some fun eating places, a movie theater, and target. Oh, and did I mention the drive through daiquiri place? Yeah, apparently there are no open container laws in this state. This means that you can pick up drive through liquor and drink it on the way home. I feel sooo safe now....hehe. Oh yeah, and I heard the bars have "To-go"cups. This place is weird.
Moving on : NEST training was ok. For Wednesday and Thursday, it was twelve hours straight each day (with a one hour lunch break) of safety topic after topic. These included : Hazmat, CPR, Fire, Rigging, H2S, um..can't remember anymore. I did pass the tests afterward and did good in my practical exams (the hands on exams) so you do not need to worry. I will hopefully remember it when the time comes. CPR is more important to remember than whatever I forgot, right?? I hope...:) Anyway, my favorite practical had to be the fire one, becuase I got to shoot a C02 fire extinguisher at an awesome fire. I wish I had pictures, but they didn't let us take them, because it was the first time they had tried these practicals with interns and they didn't want any potential distractions. Then came the day I had been waiting for MSTC...
On Friday we went to the Marine Safety Training Center. There we participated in a 4 hour marine safety lecture. By "we" I mean the 5 of us interns/new hires and 15 men from different companies who were their to renew their marine safety training cards. Offshore rigs feed people well, and so there were a lot of larger men in the room. One of the new hires leaned over to mean and in his Ukrainian accent said "Look, that is us in 5 years." My reply was a very affirmative negative. :D Also, I happened to be the only woman (besides the instructor) in this class, but I don't think I even noticed it until halfway through the day. I learned a ton of interesting things about offshore safety and survival, and why safety on oil rigs is so incredibly important. As one grizzled older gentleman pointed out to me "them things are just fire traps" and if something bad happens and you have to get off it quickly, then you better know how to take care of yourself in the water. If you want to hear a crazy not good story, you are welcome to google the Piper Alpha. Hmm..except for my grandmas..they probably should not, because they might worry more than is necessary. Anyway, we finally got to the 4 hour practical that was spent in 2 different pools in the afternoon!!!
The 4 hour practical consisted of basic water safety, such as knowing how to put on a life vest in the water, understanding the different types of life boats/rafts (we got to play in 3 of them), and practicing different towing and warming techniques if you are floating in the water with or without injured people. Also, we learned how to create air bubbles in our PPE (personal protective equipment) in order to let us float on the water without expending energy! Then we got to do the helicopter crash simulator! This was a really cool people of equipment. It was the cab of a helicopter that was attached to a crane in the ceiling and had seats in it that were next to different types of windows and doors, all either popped out or could be shoved out in the case of a crash. We had to do 5 "rides" inside the helicopter simulator. The first one was relatively simple. After explaining how to brace when the instructor yelled "ditch", work our seat belts, and break out of our respective windows and doors (i know, surprising, no one has ever taught me how before), 5 of us were put in the simulator, it was raised above the water and then dropped into the water. As it sunk we were supposed to take a deep breath when the water reached our chests and then wait until the cab hit the bottom of the pool, then push out our respective exits, unbuckle, then swim out. Besides the water rushing into my sinuses, it was ok.
The second time was slightly less good. It started out the same, except all of our doors and windows were to help us get used to the fact we were going to roll. Yes. roll. The cab was dropped, hit the water, and as the cab filled up with water it started rolling, so I ended up hanging upside down from my seat and for a second I could find the frame of the doorway to push myself out with. Probably one of the scariest moments of my life. I definitely panicked a little, but an instructor helped me find the door and i swam out. The third time we did the same thing, but the cab rolled the other direction, and my door was actually in this time. This made the exercise easier as i could find the door handle then push out and follow it. The only thing that made this un-fun at all was the effect rolling underwater has on your head when you can't cover your nose. I would be putting it lightly to say that it was unpleasant. I hope to never havea headache that bad again. :D After these 3 runs we took a break and then did our last two. Both of these involved "buddies" or, the person who was seating next to you at a window. For both of these I sat by the same man, a good humored guy who made jokes about how short our window was (admittedly, he was very correct). We were dropped in the water, rolled, then when we settled he shoved out the window, unbuckled and then slid out and away. The tricky part for the second person, aka me, was that I had to wait until he was out of the window (but I cannot see, so I just have to feel), then unbuckle (still upside down btw), slide over in the seat so I do not float anywhere, then find the window, duck through and swim out. Slightly scary. When it was my turn at the window, I was checking on how to get out of it and the instructor says "give it a good shove with your shoulder" which is kind of a not well defined answer because what constitutes a good shove? Is it an male in the oil field sort of shove, or what? I must have looked skeptical because the same guy beside me turned to me and said "don't worry when we hit the bottom I will just shove you really hard until you pop through the window". And he did. I will forever appreciate him! That experience was one of the coolest I have ever had. I have a new found respect for helicopter crash survivors because it was also one of the most disorienting, scary things I think I have done, as well, and I had instructors and safety divers there to help out if I made a mistake.
Finally, after Friday I was pretty tired. Of both people and doing things. So, I slept a lot this weekend, saw a movie on Saturday night, and tried to run today. Sadly, the running did not work out well, as my ankle still hurts. Oh well, there are other days! Today (Monday), I get to really jump into the practical part of my internship (or so I hope) and regardless of what happens I am really looking forward to it.
I think I am having a bit of a difficult time adjusting to Louisiana because of a couple of reasons which include: the absence of any sort of helpful smoking laws (like, maybe not in the taxi cabs), the humidity/heat, my inability to run, their accents (which are crazy-weird), and the extreme helpfulness/chatty/niceness of the inhabitants. Oh, and I have never been called hon, honey, babe, sweetie, sweetheart, and girly so many times in my entire life by complete strangers. *shudders* However, I have only been here five days, so I think I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that it will get better, and I will get used to this eccentric state and it's people! :)
Hopefully, though, I won't get so used to it that I will start using "ya'll" in sentences...
I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful June!!
Missing you in the South.
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