When cows fly..

So working for Schlumberger meant going to Norway. Going to Norway meant flying. And after a night of heavy partying, this really wasn’t on the top of my bucket list.

Knowing it was going to be my first flight, everybody asked “And how do you feel about it?”. And the only answer I could find was “I haven’t decided yet.”.

Only on my way to the airport, in the cab (a lovely silver Mercedes Benz) did it really sink in. Like “Oh, f**k. I’m going to Norway!”. And suddenly, my stomach disappeared by magic.

It did reattach itself however at the airport, when the line in fron of me looke like it was getting bigger and bigger. After what it seemed like forever, I got my ticket, left my luggage and went to “visit” the airport. It took a rudimentary passport check, a security check (thorough one; if a guy would have tried to feel me like that lady did, he would have picked himself from the floor in a handkerchief), a more responsible passport check and a treasure hunt for gate 14, but I DID get into the plane. In time. All by myself. For the first time. I’m the man, really!

It took the pilot about 5 minutes to get the plane in its right place for taking off. And after that..the climb. Like French people say: C’est magnifique! Cause it really is.. Feeling the nothingness beneath me, passing through the clouds, watching them afterwards through the window just to see their spectacular formations.. C’est vraiment magnifique!

On the downside, it was rather cold in the cabin. But on the bright side there was lack of dizziness or altitude sickness, no turbulences and even free sandwiches. Thumbs up for that, cause I was really hungry.

Unfortunately, I was also really sleepy, so I got one hour of sleep. Just like in a rocking chair.

And then we got to Amsterdam. It seemed to be a pretty surrounding area from the plane, but what really amazed me was how huge the airport was. I walked for about 20 minutes before getting to gate C06.and I must say that people are a lot more relaxed there than those from the Otopeni Airport. A short look at my passport and an exchange of smiles saved me some minutes. Not that I needed it, since I had to wait for almost 50 minutes for boarding.

Inside the plane, it was pretty much the same cold story, only I slept like a baby and there were no sandwiches.

I arrived at the flat (after paying the huge amount of money of 206 NOK for the taxi) around 12 o’clock, met Birgit from relocation.no, a lovely lady that showed me around and made sure I got to the right Schlumberger base. Apparently, there are three of them in Stavanger and I had no idea which one was I assigned to. Just in case you get assigned to Testing Services in Stavanger, the base is in Forus, on Maskinveien 13.

There, I met Olav Indrehus, one of the people in management and a very nice person to be around. He gave me the tour of the base, made sure I received my PPE and introduced me to everybody. Then he put these really heavy books in my arms and sent me to study in the office that I shared for a couple of days with Robert, a trainee from UK who had already been there for almost three weeks when I arrived.

I must confess I didn’t unpack on that day. After the total lack of sleep from the previous night and the flight, I just got back to my apartment and got a nice 12-hours sleep.

And then it was day two..

22nd July 2011

Schlumberger – The beginnings. Smartness is hot.

Let me start by saying that Schlumberger is a company that really respects its employees and it also has the necessary means to do that financially.

Once upon a time, there were about 15 people, including me, from France, Polland, Turkey, Austria and Romania, anxiously waiting to find out how Schlumberger actually is.

Aaand.. I don’t know about the others, but from the financial point of view, they’re a great company. For me, at least. Four stars hotel, plane tickets, going out to eat in the last evening.. those people would do everything just to get quality employees.

I arrived at the hotel earlier than I should have, and while waiting for my room to be ready, I got the chance to know Gamze, from Turkey, who was just as early as I was. I then played the guide role in Bucharest, role that really sticked to me for the entire period we spent there.

I believe I could speak about the trainings, but I don’t really know if that would be of any interest. Instead, let me just say I met the hottest people in our engineering generation. Cause according to our recruiter, smartness is hot, and smartness was his most important unofficial criterion. Which means we were the hottest.

With these people I had one of the most amazing experience this summer. And hopefully, this won’t be the only time we meet.

21^st July 2011

Creepiest shit ever!

Sambata seara am fost la muzeu cimitir. In gradina cu suflete a baronului Bellu, dupa cum inspirat au denumit evenimentul cei de la primaria capitalei. Ocazie cu care Bobby a binevoit sa sara de dupa un cavou in fata mea. Ii multumesc pentru asta. Acum nu ma voi mai speria de nimic since I now know the real deal. Mai jos gasiti poze ca sa vedeti ce’ati ratat daca n’ati fost acolo.

*All credits go to Dan Chirciu for the lovely photos.