October 9th, Tuesday

It is now the beginning of my fourth week at the United Training Center. I have made it through two quizzes and one practical thus far, with flying colors.

Quiz 1- 100%

Quiz 2- 100%

PA and Demo Exam- 96%

All those late night study sessions and sleepless nights in college must have paid off because I am still in that “school mode” that has allowed me to succeed under these brutal training conditions. The first week was excruciatingly long but I made it through and it is getting easier by the day. My classmates are all so awesome and we have formed some amazing friendships over the past couple of weeks.

Last weekend I went to a penthouse party with Will and some others from our group. It was a fun time and I had a chance to experience the nightlife in downtown Chicago. The weekend before that I spent the whole day on Sunday with Daneka, Ilya, and Thom in downtown walking around and enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon. We went to Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Chinatown, and Logan Square.

In Chinatown we ate at this amazing Vietnamese restaurant and then stopped in a lovely little bakery for some sweets. At one point we entered into what we thought was a decent grocery store but we were quickly bombarded with the sights and smells of what could only be described as raunchy. Open containers of raw fish lined the inside of the store as well as a bucket of what I presume was a type of seafood but looked like little round balls of curry-covered intestines. Nasty!

This weekend I spent Friday night at the local bar around the corner. The San Francisco class arrived last week so a couple peeps from my class hung out with them and gave them all the juicy details of the training program. Then we made our way to the gay bar called Hunter’s. It was a good time and we concluded the night around 2:00 a.m. and made our way back to the compound.

Saturday night a bunch of us girls, had a girl’s night out and hit up some clubs in the city. I won’t divulge too many secrets from the night but who knew driving home could be so hilarious. Sarah and I were laughing uncontrollably for no apparent reason (I was later told). At one point I almost peed myself I was laughing so hard. However Sunday morning went surprisingly smooth considering the antics from the previous night. The weekend came to a close with a big group of my classmates packed into my room for a fun-filled social gathering. In the words of Monica from Friends “I am always the hostess.” Or something like that. Our room seems to draw people in and never let them out. It’s where the party’s at.

I started TK or Emergency Training week yesterday…but more on that in a separate note. Have a wonderful week!