The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 10 OCTOBER 2019 | Page 10

FEATURE
faith in myself began to dwindle. The experience was
so hard and every day I wanted to go home. I was
giving up a lot here, and people were counting on
me, but I was losing it. At the start of week 3, I let
loose. I needed some fun, and my friend was coming
to Denver to party. I had a test the next morning, but
I needed a drink and scenery outside the hotel. I
partied all night. The next morning I popped up and
took an exam with 150 questions. I did not miss one.
This was a “get to know yourself “ experience for me.
I can’t stress. I do better when I walk away from work
and come back to it later.
Everything wasn’t peaches and cream after this
moment. That’s right… I failed a written exam 4 days
before the final. It was the equipment exam that
explained the location of safety equipment as well
as its functions. There was too much information
crammed in, and I only could miss 9. I missed 13.
I was experiencing stress all over again. I had one
chance to get it all right: I passed my second time
and walked on eggshells for the duration of the time.
This was not easy for me.
CPR and Choking training were combined
somewhere between the final. If you did not
demonstrate correctly on the dummies, you were
out. That was a breeze for me, as well as building
a bomb stack and conducting an emergency exit.
My favorite part was jumping down the inflated slide.
Seemingly, I was pretty good with the physical stuff,
I even won an award in self-defense. I was nervous
about the written final. I sat and looked at the test 10
minutes before writing anything down. I was going
to sink or swim. Was I going to drown or become a
Flight Attendant?
The instructors made us sit patiently to find out who
had the job. I had nothing really to go back home
to, and I needed it more than ever at this point. On
the projector I saw a list of names pop up, mine was
there as well. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew
I wanted to cry. The next slide read “congratulations
class 1905!” Oh my God, all the hard work paid off. I
was starting a new career. “Mama, I made it!” I could
not wait to call and text everyone who helped me
along in this journey. I was relieved and humbled by
the experience.
The instructors ensured us that even though we
passed, we still could get sent home from disruptive
behavior in the hotel. I made sure I followed the
rules and was on my best behavior. After we were
congratulated, we were handed a packet with our
IOE information. This was a packet informing us
of when our test flight would take place, and that
Courtesy Photo
Above, class 1905 poses for a quick pic at the fire house after training. Below, Gabrielle learns to put out a fire with
firefighter in Denver Colorado to receive a fire certification.
“Mama, I made it! I was
relieved and humbled
by the experience.”
was pass or fail as well. Since I signed up to move
instead of being a commuter, I had 5 days to make
it all happen. Yes, that’s all, 5 days to move from
Waterloo, IA to Las Vegas NV.
The next day we graduated! An instructor called
my name, pinned my wings on me and handed me a
certificate of completion. I was now a flight attendant,
and starting a brand new career where I could travel
the world for FREE! Once I returned home, I was
embraced by friends and family who couldn’t wait to
hear about my experience. I even had the chance to
encourage some friends to start the journey as well.
Now here I am living in Las Vegas, that’s right
Sin City! I got an apartment squared away, I am
6 months into my career, there are so many more
details about how this job works. Want to hear about
it? Stay tuned, I’m going to tell you all about it.
I am Queen Gabby, Flight Attendant and I
thank all of the trainers, and strangers, now
friends -- I’ve gained through this experience
for having SO MUCH SOUL! ,
Oct. 2019 • The Soultown International Magazine • Celebrating 2 years • Connecting Our Cultures to Our Cyber & Conscious Communities • thesoultown.com
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