Well if 2006 was the year of adventure, 2007 is definitely the year of knowledge. As yo go through Engineering school, you hear it said many times over, that those years simply gives you the tools. The real learning starts after you leave school.
The year 2007 started off in a rush. I arrived home the first week of December 2006 and was to leave for my new job in Olympia, Washington the first week of 2007. That gave me exactly four weeks to finish off my pilots license. And due to some bad weather, it came down to the last minute. I ended up going in for the license test flight on Friday January 5th. I got the license...packed my car drove to Washington Saturday morning. That's probably been the only bad part of the year. Is I have flown very little due to being in different countries..and thus the license needs to be transferred...
My 8 months in Seattle were a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. On the great side is the work. I feel so incredibly lucky to have gotten the job at Soloy. I learned more at that job then I thought possible. In reality I knew nothing of the aerospace industry and how it worked. FAR 23 standards, Aerospace Material Specifications, Certifications procedures, the 'extraordinary' cost involved, test flight procedures, sheet metal forming. It's incredible. When I started school here in France all of these procedures and information was thrown out...that I already knew. And it got me thinking....how far behind would I feel if I had not gotten that job at Soloy and just come straight to grad school.
It was perfect to work for a nice smaller company, but one that has been in the business a long time and knows what is going on. I would be up in the Engineering office, and then down in the shop talking with shop personal, working on the airplane checking for problems. The staff was great, I got along really well with everyone. And it was hard to leave. The hardest part was, at any new job, especially a new grad....for the first..probably 4.5 months..I had no idea what I was doing. Constantly asking questions, trying to figure stuff out. Then around May/June I really started to understand, and could make my own decisions, work on projects, write reports and feel confident about them. It seems I was just starting to really get it, and be a benefit to the company when I had to leave. In another world I could easily have stayed there and learned another year and started grad school the following year.
The other great part about being in Washington was being close to my relatives. I don't get to see my relatives often, seeing as growing up there wasn't a relative within 1500 km. So living in Olympia I was only 1.5hrs from my Aunt Sherrie, Uncle Joe, Uncle Dyrk, Aunt Kathie and my two cousins Sam and Steph. Plus my grandparents are also in Oregon so they often come up to visit so I got to see them too. So i spent a lot of weekends down there, doing Cowboy Action Shooting with my Grandpa and Uncle, water sports with my cousins, Easter etc... It was really cool.
The hardest part about Olympia however...was Olympia and the time after work. It just seemed I never really fit in there. Never really got a good group of friends. Had problems finding stuff to do for all time 'after work.' I eventually found some volleyball and soccer, but it wasn't enough. And the bustling city of Seattle was just a little to far out of range. Especially with the brutal traffic. I would find online some cool events, clubs, teams that I would have liked to do...but to leave straight from work and drive in rush hour traffic...I'd be looking at 2hrs+ each way...just not do able. Hence...my time in Olympia was really great 8-5 at work...and then not so much afterwards....such is life though. Live, Learn and Move on.
In June I began to hear back from the grad schools. I honestly had no idea what to expect. On one hand I knew my grades aren't first class, B+ average isn't astounding. But i hoped my combination of work experience, travel experience and volunteer work would count for something. I guess it did. First I heard an affirmative answer from Cranfield in the UK. It was a really good school, but the cost, due to the pound was a lot to swallow. I was eagerly waiting to hear back from SUPAERO. I was told I would hear by June 16th...but it came and went without anything, a week later still nothing. Then I got the call from my parents! Apparently they post mail the acceptance letters! It was the best news of the year. SUPAERO was really where I wanted to go and here it was.
July came in as the month of weddings. I had three I wanted to attend. Chad and Chelsea's, Cole and Kelly's, and Derek and Erin. In the end I had to miss Cole and Kelly's simply due to it being three weekends in a row, the cost of flying back and forth and the upcoming move to France. But all the wedding were great. Still hard to believe all my friends getting married like this, but I guess we're getting to that age.
August was a whirlwind. My last day of work was August 10th, then I had one last waterskiing weekend with my cousins in Portland. Then the drive back. My cousin Samantha came with me for her own little vacation. So she drove back with me to Edmonton, stayed 10 days and then flew back to Portland. While at home, i tried to make as many visits to friends as possible, and do all the little things...like take out a $25,000 loan for school *sigh*
And then came the flight to Toulouse and the start of school again. School here has been great. It's been everything I hoped it would be. It's practical knowledge, the teachers are nearly all professionals most still working at Airbus, or Eurocopter or somewhere else. But they really know what they are talking about. It's incredible how much I've learned here, like my brain is going to explode from everything inside.
In October I got to take a week and visit Ireland and my Norweigan friends living in the UK which was a nice much needed break back to an English speaking country.
December brought my first Christmas away from home. I spent it in Germany with my German family. And although it's never easy to be away from home, especially at Christmas it was a really nice Christmas and spend time with Jasmin and family.
And Finally the year finished in Hungary with my good friend Baly, who was my Hungarian roommate in Denmark last year.
Voila! 2007 was yet another fantastic year. And 2008 promises to be the same.
