I am sitting at the airport in Grand Rapids getting ready to take off to Washington DC for a team building exercise. We are going to tour DC as a team and meet Senator Mike Enzi. On Saturday we will be leaving DC to head to Calgary, Alberta. That is where the competition is being held this year. I will be going up against 14 other competitors from different countries. These guys are the best of the best and the competition is NOT going to be easy. Just last night I had a dream that when I got to the competition, the press was a manroland, the other competitors all beat me at the print simulator, and I came in last. Oh well... At the end of the day, my friends are still my friends and they will accept me if I win or lose.

I am a little nervous about running 100# text through the feeder since that is the ONLY kind of paper I haven't run on the Heidelberg SM-52. I guess I'll just put all of the settings in the middle and see what happens. I really wish I could have brought my own ink. Grand Rapids Printing Inks was going to send me off with 5 lbs cans of CMYK inks but we weren't sure how we were going to get it across the border and through airport security. We also weren't sure if I was allowed to bring my own ink; it might give me a competitive advantage. I think it would be cool if the students in the paper and ink class come down to GRPI's facility to mix some ink. Or maybe do a GAA tour/ink mixing session? What are your thoughts on this idea?

I think I blabbed enough about the competition for today. Off to Washington DC!

I am super excited that this airport has FREE WiFi

Keep checking the website for updates on my trip to WorldSkills 2009!

-Amela Mujkic

Related posts:

1. Journey to WorldSkills 2009 — CALGARY!!!
2. One School, One Country