Yesterday (Monday) was my first official day of training.

It started bright and early…at 3am!  Because of the time difference, I was a little jet-lagged and ended up going to bed around 8pm and waking up at 3am, which gave me plenty of time to skype Mom and Brian after showering and getting ready.

Once all of the new trainees were ready, we headed downstairs and out to the bus stop.  None of us really knew where we were going or how to get there.  The only thing we knew was we needed to get to Steiner Academy on bus 258, and we were able to get there!  We rode in a double decker bus to and from the academy, and on the way home we sat in the top 🙂

The morning consisted of a welcome presentation about Steiner and medical exams.  Part of this medical exam included a blood test.  Now, I have never had to have a blood test, but when I have given blood in the past I have a very difficult time getting any blood to come out!  Well, the same thing was the case here.

They kept having me squeeze my hands and they were tapping my arms, and they ended up sticking me three times with no luck!

They even had to stick my hand.

By the end, I had to lay down because I felt very shaky and dizzy.  Clearly not from blood loss, but I guess I just can’t handle getting poked with needles a bunch of times.  I finally went to the hospital to get my chest X-ray with everyone else and they were able to take my blood just fine.

During the remainder of the day, we received our uniforms, listened to some other seminars about working on the cruise and finally were able to meet our instructor, Wayne.  We have heard that he is pretty tough, but I just have to keep the prize in mind (getting on the ship), do my best, and work really hard.

After our induction was over, I headed to the store to get some odds and ends because yesterday was my last day to get anything like that accomplished for a while.

We received our schedule and training will literally be from 9am-10:30pm with homework every night.  They said it was a vigorous program and they were right!

One thing that I am a tad worried about here is the food.  I have found that I can request a salad for dinner when I eat breakfast, and today is my first day eating breakfast in the cafe so I am making sure to request one.  All of the meals are very bready, have little “fresh” veggies, rarely fresh fruit, and don’t have a lean protein option.  I also am not provided lunch everyday, which stinks because I hate spending money….especially on bad food!  So, I went to the store and bought some plain mixed nuts, peanut butter, and crackers.  I have to have some way of getting protein!

After dinner and a bit of studying for our entrance exam tomorrow, we met with the group of fitness people above us who have just been here for 3 weeks (this is their fourth).  They showed us a diagram that we will be using in all of our seminars about how the liver turns fat into sugar to produce energy for the muscles.  They said that every seminar boils down to just that!

I am now off to use the gym for the first time here!  I am so excited to use that elliptical! 🙂