One of the great things about the year changing is although it’s still winter you feel that the spring and summer are suddenly a whole lot closer. What I mean is you start to talk about June rather than “next June” and the month after that, July, I’m off to sea for two four month periods. Brilliant prospect, especially when you’re studying Health and Safety and Risk Assessments in college. The only down side about going to sea is missing football. It’s OK for the guys who just watch football or support teams. They can still do that but I play the game and that’s a problem at sea.  I don’t play for a professional team, strictly for fun but my mates and I play twice a week and that is a big part of my social life when I’m ashore. The great thing about football is how fit you are without trying to get fit. Even if it was just five a side it must be better than jogging around on your own. Football certainly clears my head and the morning after a match I’m a lot sharper in college. If I could play football at sea I would be the sharpest guy aboard! Right now college is going fine.

My group is building a warship that fires water balloons and I’ll report on progress. The weather recently in Glasgow has been just as Baltic as the rest of the country but from the higher floors in the college the views were something else. To the North you have the Campsie Fells and to the South the Cathkin Braes and they form the two sides of the Clyde Valley and the college is right on the riverside. For a few weeks there it looked like Canada with the hills just pure solid white. There are worse places to go to college. 

 

I’m not sure exactly how many other people there are on my course at college but I’d guess somewhere between 60 and 80 people. There are about 23 in my class and we all get on pretty well. We’ve lots of different backgrounds and accents as many of us have travelled to Glasgow to do this course from elsewhere so for many of us the only people we really know in the city are the guys on the course. We’ve had about 5 or 6 guys drop out of our class since we began. I don’t think that’s too bad a number, I’ve heard of people doing other subjects at other colleges where half their class has dropped out by Christmas! I think most of the people on my course are pretty dedicated though, we really want to work in this industry and appreciate the opportunity we’ve been given. Obviously we all had different experiences when we were away at sea earlier in the year but when we are at college we are all in the same boat, so to speak. I do like college and I enjoy the course but I really want to get to sea again, I think most of us doing the course think that way too. Off now for the Christmas holidays, have a great Christmas and 2010.

 

 

 

I like living in Glasgow.

I’m a long way from home, although not as far as some others at the college, but far enough. I do miss home when family or friends are doing something and I can’t get back for it but on the whole I’m enjoying my time here. It’s a fun place to be a student in. Glasgow has a big student population and a really good mixture of people. It also has a decent nightlife although I don’t get to see as much of that as I’d like. I’m sharing a flat with a few mates and we usually have people over to us at the weekend but if we go out we usually head to the pubs and clubs on Sauchiehall Street. We’ve a sports hall so I play football a couple of times a week and I’ve also joined the gym to help me keep fit. The only thing about Glasgow I don’t like is the weather! It can really be miserable particularly in the winter and after spending a few months sailing around the Caribbean it takes a bit of getting used to again! I suppose if you plan to spend your life at sea it is good preperation for the rigours of nature though!

I’m now firmly back into the swing of college life. I’m in phase 3 of the five phases the course has and so I’ll be in college until next summer now when all going well I’ll go to sea again. Unlike phase 1 we’ve no exam at the end of this phase but rather we have a project to complete. Along with 2 others we have to build a warship that can fire water balloons through a target! Now this sounds like a lot of fun I know but it is much harder than it sounds and we need to complete the project to pass the course. Of course the idea of the project is that we use some of what we’ve learned in it. We’re doing fluid mechanics, control systems and transducers, plant systems and health and safety just now some of which is bound to come in handy! We do get small exams when we finish each subject but so far at least I’ve found them to be OK. Currently I’m not having to do much studying outside of college, that might change going forward particularly nearer exam time. I really enjoyed being at sea but for the next few months I’ll have to get used to the Glasgow weather again.

Goodbye Caribbean sunshine and hello Glasgow rain! Well, actually it’s been quite sunny for the last few days in Glasgow, but still.
I’m back to the GCNS now. I’ve started phase 3, it’s easier than last year as I know everyone on the course now as well as the college and the city. In fact I’ve enjoyed being back, it’s nice to see everyone again, swap stories and catch-up on others experiences. Being back also means I’m one step closer to being qualified.
Catching up with the rest of the guys it seems we’ve all had similar experiences on ships, certainly work wise anyway. There were a lot more people on my ship though compared to some who were on ships with only twenty of a crew. So I’ve got to get my student head back on again, I’m sharing a flat with five mates from last year so I should get into it pretty quickly.
Being at sea was hard work but I enjoyed it a lot though and I miss it. I hope my next trip will be as enjoyable.

My time on-board is coming to an end. I've enjoyed the experience but I'm looking forward to catching up with people back home although I will miss the weather, a lot! I tried to come here without any expectations or preconceptions and with as open a mind as I could. Looking back the biggest surprise was the sheer size of everything. The engines are huge, bigger than I ever imagined engines could be and the amount of equipment is staggering. You do look at it at first and think there is no way you'll ever remember what everything does yet after a while it starts to become familiar. People on board are friendly and helpful, they were all trainees once too and understand what you are going through. I really feel the time onboard has given me a fresh perspective on what the training is all about.

Well that couldn't be further from the truth if I'm being honest. We actually get quite a few oppotunities to go ashore and so far highlights for me have included surfing at Tortola, playing football in Key West and renting a jeep to go cruising around Cozumel in Mexico. The work balance is good though, we work hard when on duty and as well as watch keeping I've worked with the 4th engineers, motormen, electricians and the hotel department. The variety is good and every different job is a new experience. Believe it or not despite the great weather I still don't have a tan though.

One of my first duties has been Watchkeeping. I've been doing a 4 - 8 watch recently. This is a split shift and involves working from 4am to 8am and then from 4pm to 8pm. I keep watch in the engine room, making sure everything is running smoothly and undertaking some general maintenance like checking the boilers are in good condition. It's hard work but it's enjoyable at the same time. The ship is working 24 hours a day 7 days a week so the early starts are part of the job. I found them hard at first but I hardly notice them now.

One of the things I'm really enjoying on board is the food! Every meal I eat is prepared by a professional chef and there is a really wide selection which is great. There are 4,000 people onboard my ship so the food needs to be good and offer huge variety, and that suits me just fine.