Library as a second home

These are some really long days I tell you. Closer to 10 hours a day spent at the local library are starting to feel a little bit like living here. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but the people at place where I get my coffee remembers my order by heart and the people in the library recognize me and bid me good morning and night as I come and go. But no surprise there I suppose.

The studying itself  is going pretty well. It's a really intense pace, but that was what I asked for. That's what I get. Time to walk the walk.

Enjoying the weather on the way back

Speaking of walking, I've tried to maintain a steady pace of physical exercise on the side. Yeah, I walk to the library and back, but I've tried to go running 3-4 times a week. I'd usually supplement this with some strength exercises at a gym, but as this would increase the "risk" of gaining weight in the form of muscles, I'm trying to hold back on that urge and concentrate on fat burn for now. Why would you do such a silly thing you ask? The aero-medical doctor examining me last time is actually one of the doctors making the company medical evaluations for one of the major companies, and he said that the company in question is somewhat obsessed with the body mass index(BMI). As that is one of the companies I'll be applying for, I figured it's better safe than sorry. I'm not the lightest framed person around, so I'll just stick to running for now. Alternating intervals and easy paced runs for the win. Besides, I'll need to learn to like running again as it's still one of the most effective ways of exercising both your respiratory- and your vascular systems.

And yeah, the sailing competition last weekend went pretty well. We had a really fun crew and a lot of fun both ways. We did not win, nor did we end up last, but we achieved a good first time run with this crew.

Next week I'll head over to the school a little early in order to take one exam and prepare for next week.

First set of exams

To keep it honest...

That felt like hitting a brick wall, but in spite of that feeling, it's a big step into the right direction as I managed to finish up the first of four E-learning modules. The exams on the subjects... Well I just wish I'd had time to study for them but as I finished the module at 23.40 the night before the exams, I admit that I did not prepare for the exams basically at all. I will not come up with any flimsy excuses. I should just have found the time to study and prepare better, but I didn't. So it's no surprise that I failed on one of them. Two out of the three I passed but on one, Principles of Flight to be exact, I just didn't focus hard enough. The passing bar is 75%. That's all it took.

But no reason for me to get depressed. I'll just study a little extra next week and ace the re-exam. No other option.

This weekend I'm going to spend away from the studies in order to be fully focused come Monday. I'll be taking part to the Helsinki - Tallinn sailing competition with a few friends. Honestly, there are some VERY tough opponents against us, but we'll give it our best and hopefully have some fun in the process.

First week of lessons a.k.a. Back to the bench

So, last week was the first one with me sitting back in a classroom. Not an easy drop in the sense that it HAS been a while since I last spent time absorbing information in that form, but I did manage to sponge up most of what was said.

The e-learning material I got is somewhat intense and I've got to say that absorbing all of it in a weeks time was a plunge directly into the deep end and I've got a LOT of work to do before Thursdays exams on all three subjects. Those subjects are Principles of Flight (POF), Aircraft General Knowledge (AGK) and Mass and Balance (M&B). Not the lightest subjects I tell you.

I have to admit that I've thought of all this before and still it feels a little absurd. It's great that we are to be generalists in all subjects touching on aviation. Then again we are supposed to be specialists in the specific skill of flying an aircraft and bringing it safely to the ground (hopefully at the destination) no matter the circumstances. That being said, I still do think that in some subjects we are dwelling a little too deeply into the rabbit hole. It's great that I get to know exactly how each type of an electric generator works and how to calculate the resistance in each system, but I'm not 100% certain that this knowledge will be practically used while flying an aircraft. Knock on wood, but if I ever find myself in an aircraft that will fall to the earth if I can't figure out the exact resistance in the lavatory's lighting system, I will be the first to admit that I was dead wrong. Stay in school kids! Better safe than sorry.
And I'm sure that someone much wiser and more experienced is the one who set the standard, so better just to suck it up and get on with it!

This one is a little shorter (and no pictures of the school still, sorry kids!) but I promise at the end of this week, I'll have some proper pictures from the school itself.

The three plane types currently in use at the school. From left to right:
Tecnam P 2002 JF (still in use for basic training)
Diamond DA40 (the new workhorse for basic training)
Diamond DA42 (the MEP-training plane)

First week down

So, the first week of study is done and it's time for some reflection.

The week didn't start off too well. First thing on Monday, I came down with a fever and a really bothersome cough. Nevertheless, I was off to the library each morning and studied late into the evening.

Days started nicely at around eight with me getting a big cup of coffee, then straight to the library where I set myself up at one of the tables.

My setup at the library. The only thing missing are my headphones - for I'm the type who listens to music while studying.

The local mall is adjacent to the library so I have a perfect place where to spend my self-appointed lunch hour as I don't have to eat the same food every day. Pretty convenient I'd say. So some practicalities are neatly taken care off. So every day between noon and one pm. I pack my things and take a stroll down to the food court of the mall. The break serves nicely both to fill my stomach as well as to give my mind a breather from the studies.

So after lunch I head back to the library with another cup of coffee for round two of the each day. As a side note, yes, it's true. We Finns sure do love our coffee.

All of that racks up nicely to a good 8-10 hours of study a day. Could be quite the lot worse., but I really need to start pushing the intensity of the time to the max.

So, with that in mind, it's time for me to head to next week with fresh mind and fresh thoughts. Next week will be spent at the new flat and at school. So the promised pictures should be on their way.

'Till then!