Well, it has been a while. So much as happened since I last
wrote a blog entry that I might end up writing up several different post and
putting them up over the next couple of days. Slash that, I am going to write several in the next couple of days. I wrote this first one when I was
offshore in West Africa. When working the night tour (pronounce like ‘tower’)
you have time to write some things, especially when in normal operations and
you can look up and keep track of signals while still typing.
Where to start….
France:
On Sunday the 8th of July I landed in Paris and
took a bus out to the hotel that Schlumberger had booked for those of us going
through are initial introduction and training. That first day I meet many of my
fellow new hires from around the world, well mainly Europe, Africa, and several
of us Americans. The following morning we all boarded a bus and drove 45
minutes through the French country side south of Paris to the training school.
Throughout the week, the 50 of us went to class, used the coffee machine a ton,
and went to dinner back near the hotel in the evening. We were quickly
recognized as the SLB group at a couple of restaurants, which where frequented
because of the good food/ price ratio. 
Sunday the 15th we were given the day off and my
roommate (a fellow American) and I took the subway system into Paris to go
exploring! For 15 euro we got a day pass to the subway, went to town. We first
got off near Norte Dame, and walked along the river to the cathedral. Talk
about busy, we decided that we were going to just take photos from the outside
and not bother trying to get in. We then walked down into the Latin Quarter for
me to exchange some of my US money into euro and find lunch. The Latin Quarter
was super legit! Many of the streets were for walking only as they were so
narrow. The shops were bustling, and seeing as it was lunch time, the air was
filled with the aroma of fantastic food. After stopping in at a Starbucks for
free WiFi for our phones, we continued on back to the Luve, which we did not go
in, and walked around the glass pyramids, down the gardens, to the beginning of
the Champs Elysees. From there, we zigzagged our way back and forth over the
river on some very ornate bridges until we decided to continue up the Champs
Elysees towards De Truimphe de Arce. After taking some more photos, we walked
over towards the Eiffel Tower. The tower is a very easy way to reference were
one is at on the city streets. We were doing all this walking with coming to
the corner of the streets, locating the tower and deciding which way to turn.
It was great. The Eiffel tower is truly a wonder of the world! Walking
underneath it and around it makes one feel overwhelmed and in awe of the
impressiveness of the architecture and human inspiration. At this point in the afternoon, we decided
that since we didn’t want to wait in the incredibly long lines at any of the
attractions we had been to in the main tourist part of the city that we would
go up to the highest point in the city. While this spot was visited by tourist,
on this Sunday afternoon there were plenty of Parisians there as well. Sainte
Scouer is a dome cathedral built on the high point in the city. In
pre-Christian times, this was the sight of Druid worship. As the early
Christian missionaries brought the faith to the franks, this in turn became the
sight for one of the earliest churches in what would become Paris. You can even
see some of the older church structures around the cathedral. This church is a
literal example of the defeat of the “gates of Hades”, I love it. This Church
was spectacular and the lines were practically non-existent! We walked up the
hill from the tube-station and got to the church at the end of the late
afternoon mass. As we walked in they were singing the closing hymns, and the
bells were ringing. After walking around the interior and admiring the
ornamentation and grandeur we paid the 5 euro and walked the several hundred
steps up to the top of the domes. Wow. From the vantage point of the highest
point in the city and the late afternoon sunlight you could see many of the
sight and landmarks of Paris, including the La Defense building we had been to
on Friday. By the time we finished spending time at the cathedral is was early
evening and we decided to take the tube back out to the outskirts of the
suburbs of the city to our hotel and call it a day. We got back about 10 pm in
the evening (we made a pit stop and spent about an extra hour or more getting
back. It was a fantastic day.
Disclaimer, due to the nature of where I work this shall be
brief and delicate. I flew from France on the 17th of July and
landed in the city that I will be calling home for the next couple of years. It
is the rainy season here in West Africa and as we flew through the clouds into
the airport I took my first glimpse of the steaming jungle. After going through
customs and retrieving my bags, a driver took me to the SLB base where I was
introduce to the site. As I write and post this as of September 2nd I
have been both offshore and on land at the base. My time has been filled with
training, shop time, online quizzes, and learning the basic of my job. I really
do enjoy work and enjoy the people I have met so far. That is all for this one.
"The world is a book and those
who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustine
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