Waiting @ Pacific Central (greyhound station near science world) wasn't too bad but I waited around for 3 hours; oh wellz I was able to introduce myself to some new people which was nice. However, our bus ride was actually delayed by about an hour because one of the buses had broken down; luckily, our group had "priority" and we were able to be shipped off instead of waiting an additional 2 hours.
The bus ride down to Nashville, Tennessee was pretty crazy; I basically travelled from Vancouver to almost the other side of the States (eastern). I visited Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Missouri on the way to Nashville. On the way up to Toronto, I passed through Illnois, Michigan and was able to see some major cities like Detroit.
The day I arrived in Nashville, I immediately went to Jack in the Box for a meal b/c I took on one of the challenges for the program: if you don't purchase anything on the way to Nashville, your student manager will treat you to a buffet dinner. Even though I sacrificed great deals ($5 for 20 chicken nuggets from McD's), it was worth it (which was what I want to say) but the buffet was mediocre. I guess my standards for food is too high (got spoiled back in Vancouver).
As for sales school; the experience was pretty cool. Daily routine was waking up @ 6am everyday, pack up my lunch and snacks for the day and eat toast + a banana + orange j for breakfast. Then I'd catch the bus @ 7am and head downtown for sales school. We'd attend sales school from 8am to around 12pm. Sales school just consisted of lectures and motivational speeches; the lectures were interesting and lots of fun to listen to; unlike UBC (jokes, UBC is awesome too!). Then afterwards, I'd head back to another hotel's parking lot in the 30+ degree celsius heat with a backpack weighing 25 lbs on my back walking circles around the lot saying my sales talk out loud. Hardcore training eh? Then we'd do different sales school training activity outside for around 4-5 hours and head inside that hotel for 1-2 hours of lecture. Around 8pm, we'd have lecture again for another 1.5 - 2 hours. Head back home for shower + dinner + attempt to catch up on emails. Then sleep.
Then we headed back up to Toronto; on the way up there yes, I did do some food purchasing along the way.
Upon arriving in Toronto, I found out that not all the students homestays were setup (including mine). So what happened was I arrived around 6pm and I had to stay @ the hotel for the night.. in a double's room with 4 other guys lol. It was hilarious and the hotel receptionist lady was hecka pissed @ our group b/c was hanging out @ the lobby from 12 noon till 8pm and then she finally complained @ us. Well, we were trying to set up our housing knocking on doors and some students found a couple within a few hours. I stayed the night @ the hotel and started knocking on doors myself the next morning w/ my roommate. We received help from other students as well. Within 1.5 hours, my roommate found a basement suite from a Korean family (pictures of my headquarters coming soon)! The following 2 days, I spent knocking on doors (from 10am till about 5pm) with my roommate (Kevin) as well as 3 people from a team whose headquarters were close to ours. We were knocking to help the remaining people find their headquarters and we managed to find all our housing within 3 days (we set a new company record, woooo!).
Will type up more next time; stay tuned!
-Jason
