Monday, September 03, 2007

Training in Sydney

On the 23-24th of August I had training up in Sydney (Parramatta actually) on Risk Management for Supervisors and Managers.
As I am officially a Canberra resident, work put me up in a hotel. The Courtyard in Parramatta. It was actually the first time that I have stayed in a hotel - ever! And it was way cool. I mean, I have stayed on countless camps and group things but they have always been a dorm type thing with at least 4 bunk beds in a room (and no room service!)
So, I turn up at the desk not really having any idea what I am doing and the lady asks me who I am. I say that I have a booking and she hands me this form to fill out. One of the sections is how I am going to pay. I look up to the lady and say that I thought that work was paying. She responded with "yes sir the company is paying for everything". Wow. So she gives me directions to the room and my swipe card and I go up the elevator to the room. I swipe the card, walk in and put my bag down. The room was quite nice. About 8 meters long and 4 meters wide including the bathroom (I stepped it out to see for fun).
The room has a queen size bed, large desk with a TV on it and the mini bar inside it, a single lounge chair and a coffee table. On the desk is a folder type thing with instructions inside of my mission (I mean how the hotel works). There is the costs for room service meals, things to do in Parramatta and so on.
I thought that I would get some dinner so called the number and a lady answered asking me what I would like. I ordered the salt and pepper calamari and a beer.
Soon enough there was a knock on my door and a friendly girl with my food turned up. She asked me where I would like it set down and if she could open my beer for me and if I would like it poured into the glass. It felt a bit weird actually but was nice to have done for me.
I could go on in heaps of detail about the rest but I will just say that it was really fun and I quite enjoyed the novelty of it all.
Also the training was helpful.