Details Day...

Every Thursday is a day of details for students who have completed their training. One of the girls said one day it's like a Christmas Day :-) It really is... 

Very very exciting!!! :-) Loads of positive energy and loads of happiness :-)

Well, my time at the Academy is over too, for now any way :-) 

Ladies and Gentleman, please let me introduce you to my beautiful Crystal Serenity... my new home for the next 9 months :-) 

 

Joining her on the 24th of November 2013... in 3 days time!!! :-)

Felling blest and very thankful...

I will stay in touch as much as possible!

Would like to wish you all very best!! Enjoy every minute of this experience! :-)

Love,

Gosia. 

Stay Positive :-)

Very very important to surround yourself with strong and positive people. You will come across sooooo many different personalities...

People do complain about a lot of things but they forget to appreciate what day have... 

I know I've said it in my first video that the training takes 3 weeks - but that's what I heard... Well it's not exactly like that. It might take up to 12 weeks, which is very rare but it happens. I happened to be in the training in the quiest season and it took me 6 weeks before I got my ship details - but I didn't complain! I was happy to have a chance to go over everything again, to improve my therapies, to have time to get more knowledge about products I will be working with, I could practice my SPA tours. I even got a chance to carry a 20mins long seminar with two of my other friends!! :) 

Believe me I used to shake when it was coming to public speaking! :) and here we did so well! 

So if you happen to be in the Academy a bit longer use that time to your advantage! :)

Steiner gives you great opportunities and great tools to work with and it's only up to you what you are going to do with it! :)

Life in the YMCA and in the Academy

Hello again :)

The YMCA is a little bit like a students accommodation, sometimes you might be sharing room just with one person, sometimes there might be 4 of you - like in my case :) The space is very small but they want to recreate as much of a ship life as possible, as our crew cabins won't be any bigger than that. 

We get dinners every night in the YMCA, but we need to get our own breakfast and lunch. There are no fridges available at YMCA for us to use so we are not allowed any food in the rooms, which is understandable. Apparently people used to keep strange things in their rooms, like cheese under the bed and no one could figure out where was the smell coming from ;) haha etc... But to be on the safe side - they don't wont any of us to get sick or food poisoned so that's the main reason of these restrictions.

We are all on the budget there right? :) so this is what I used to do. Me and the girls, after checking with the reception if it was ok, we got ourselfs a kettle! Yeeeey :) Since there was 4 of us in the room, it cost us sooo little :) and at least we could enjoy our teas and coffees in the morning while getting ready for the Academy. 

We got it in a shop called Argos and it was only £5.00! YMCA is located next to a shopping centre ;) so you will always find everything you need at a door step. 

Marks&Spencer for example does great lunch deals. If you buy 2 salads it works out £1,50 each so you can share it with your friends and they are super healthy and delish!! Of course you have to go to a shop everyday to have it fresh but it's all next to each other so really not an issue :)

You can also get breakfast and lunch at the Academy at a reasonable price!

To the Academy we travel by bus. So to make it again cheap and easy get yourself soon as you get there an Oyster card. You top it up like a phone credit and scan it each time when using bus or train and the money is being deducted from your card. A one week bus pass for Oyster card is worth it only in your first week/weeks when you come to the Academy also at the weekends. The weekly bus pass is a 7 day pass and it costs £19.60. When you start having weekends off you might just get a normal top up of £20.00 and it will last you more than a week as one journey on it costs only £1.40.

If you and your friends are planning to go to London Town at the weekend to do bit of site seeing or to have a tea with Quinn Elizabeth ;) it's good if you a get a group pass tickets, I think it was around £6-7 each and we had all the trains and buses covered for the day :) 

Good to get - a UK sim card (if you are from abroad), talk to your friends which networks they are with or if you are all new in town get yourselfs the same networks. Myself and the girls we got the O2 cards, cost us £1.00!! When we topped up we had Internet on it and free calls to each other, you just have to follow few options to get that set up, so it's really worth it :) 

Also very handy is to have the What'sApp application in your phone, Skype of course and Viber :) these are my 3 musts to keep in touch with friends and family - there is a free wifi in YMCA and in the Academy! Thank God for Internet haha!! ;-) 

It's great to live with all the students in one building. You can study together, help each other, practice on each other. There are massage sessions going on every day in the corridors, personal trainers giving yoga or bootcamp classes :) it's real fun! 

I hope I've covered the main areas here. 

If you have any questions feel free to ask! 

Ciao for now!!

Gosia :)

Sea Survival Training!!! :-)

Fun! Fun! Fun!!! :-)

Most of the ships carry on their sea survival trainings on board. But there are few cruise lines that require this training to be done prior to the contract. And this is when you are sent to the training at RedEnsign in the Isle of Wight :) 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXyjGHKZXx8

My New Steiner Family :)

First week at Steiner Trainig Academy and in the YMCA

Hiiiiiiii!!! :)

Hope you are all keeping well!!

I want you to know that first week in the Academy is very very intensive!! But stay strong and positive and you will love it :) All the students get very close, everyone is helping eachother and every night people are studing together exactly like in college :) If you bring your focus and all your energy to it you will be just fine...

One month before London you will be given a list of products with their key benefits and ingredients. The best advise I can give you here is - make sure you study it. You are given a lot of time so use it to your advantage, as there will be an egzam on one of the first days, and belive me there were people who were up all night studing it and it's just imposibble to learn all this in one night. There will be a lot going on that week so why would you bring that extra pressure on yourself... So know your products!! :)
Also before coming to London work on your presentation - if you are not used to public speaking like I was not, try to get ready before.

In that first week you will have to be very organised and manage your time very well as you will not have much of it. But don't panic, second week get's a little bit lighter... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGQkrybkK8g

Packing, flying and getting to YMCA

Packing...

Well I tried to bring my whole warderobe with me but very quickly I realised that it's not gonna work ;)

20kg for the main luggage and 10kg hand luggage

 

 

You are thinking, how am I suppost to pack into this for going away for nearly whole year???

Well, first of all I was advised to get a soft suitcase, you know the type that will easly fold over, and the reason is a limited space in the ship cabin... so that's what I've got.

So I felt exactly like you feeling right now... but trust me there is no need to bring to many clothes.

In the Academy we are wearing our uniforms at all time (to the Academy and on the way back). In the YMCA everyone wears track-suit.

Trust me, you will not go out for the first two weeks as there is so much to study but you will go out after that! haha ;) so yes, bring some nice clothes but not too many!!! Dont forget your beach clothes! ;)

 

Steiner will send you a list of what to bring so don't worry, but here is a few things that are handy to have:

 

Jessi Lepa has advised on her blog to bring the mini traveling iron - best advise ever! Thanks Jessi ;)

They do have irons in the YMCA that you can borrow, but this is just so handy to have of your own!

 

I also bought myself a medical watch - it is important to have it, if you forget it you will be running around Watford looking for one ;) so get yourself one before you leave.

 

For Ladies - nice bright eye shadows and bright lipsticks - even if now you are use to wearing a gentle make up - believe me, you will get very creative in this department ;)

 

Also for Ladies, you will need a transparent vanity bag - big enough so you can carry your mobile in it, passport and and the valuables into the class room as the changing room in the academy has no lockers. 

 

Flying...

 

I've decided to be convinient and wanted to fly from the nearest airport wich is only 20mins away from home, but had to land in the furthest airport from YMCA haha which was London Southend...

Lets forget the fact that flight took me 2hrs and getting to Watford from that airposrt took me 4hrs, I met so many nice and helpful people!!! :) Everyone was happy to show me the right way, so don't worry, you will get there, just make sure you ask and of course check your route before you leave home. But the metro and overground trains in London are fantastic :)

 

When you arrive at Watford Junction it's very easy, have a look ;)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwNG3f6dmss

 

 

Good luck with packing! haha :)

Any questions - e-mail me!!

 

Gosia =)

xxx