Journey to WorldSkills 2009 – CALGARY!!!

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Hello everyone!

Update: I MADE IT TO CALGARY! I have only been in Calgary for about 3 hours now and I have already met some people from other countries. It has been hard hunting down the printers from other countries… Hopefully I will meet them at dinner tonight.

When I got off of the bus in front of the competitors village, I saw a crowd of people sitting outside smoking cigarettes. I decided to go and say hi. It turns out that they are from the Netherlands (or Holland, whichever one you want to call it). When I told them I was competing in “Offset Printing” they immediately told me that I probably won’t win because their competitor is a 2 time Netherlands champion in printing and is also #1 in Europe. They also proceeded to tell me that he has been training for 3 months with Heidelberg.

I am NOT discouraged. I think I have a good chance of winning, just like the guy from the Netherlands does. I give him a lot of respect for getting to WorldSkills and I’m sure the competition won’t be easy. My secret weapon is time. We are allotted 4 hours to do the competition and I can do it in 2 and a half if I am focused. You get bonus points for finishing early. I also don’t know if he has had any training on the SHOTS simulator. Did anyone notice the computer from the pressroom missing?

I am going to go to dinner soon. All of the competitors eat dinner in the same place so I am hoping to meet all of the printers. I want to make lots of friends while I am here. Maybe exchange ideas on how printing is done in Europe. Should I try and talk to them about going to Ferris State University?

As for tomorrow, we are going to Banff! It is this super awesome place in the Canadian Rockies. It is a national park. They have hot springs and spas that I want to dip into. Lots of beautiful scenery. I forgot to bring my camera so you all will have to wait for pictures until James gets here. He is going to be here tomorrow!

I hope everyones first week of classes goes well. Keep me posted on GAA activities and such.