Coming to America!

Well America look out I am coming back! For about a week or so maybe a little less or maybe a little more only time will tell. So one of my friends also known as Robert Gancarz turned me onto the fact that Hilton Head Island is going to be hiring firefighters, in the next two years. Hilton Head Island from what I know about it (thanks Wikipedia) is similar to the wonderful and exotic Cape Cod. It is extremely seasonal with slow winters, mild springs and autumns, and hotter winters. It is situated on the coast, duh where else are islands, of South Carolina just over the Georgia border. This is extremely convenient since my Mom and Grandma live in that section of Georgia. Also adding to the allure of HHI is the fact they are recruiting already certified firefighters and are a right to work state. So in theory once I successfully pass my written test, which is the reason for me going home now, and pass my physical abilities test I should be on the upper part of the list being that I am already certified and what not.


What I am hoping happens is that I am able to hold off long enough that I am able to complete my contract here in Spain. As of now I don’t know if that is a reality or a pipe dream since I am just beginning the process now. The good thing is that the test that I am going to take is making up a hiring list that is going to be valid for two years unless it is exhausted before that. After applying for the test I have gained more confidence in the process since the test is being given in four different locations. One is HHI itself, which is where I am taking it, and the other three are at colleges that have a firefighter academy associated with their firefighter degree programs. The other locations are OSU, Oklahoma State University, EKU, Eastern Kentucky University, and UNH, University of New Haven (Connecticut). So after I have submitted my application I do a little more looking into these colleges of which will be providing me some competition. Come to find out that all the schools only offer certification to the Firefighter I level as opposed to the Firefighter II level that is required by HHI for a direct hire. That means that the main pools of candidates; that I am competing against, aren’t even directly able to hired without getting more certification on their own. Confidence is being spewed from me at this point.


So as I sit here on the train from Seville to Madrid on the 9th of March 2011 I am pretty confident that come this time next year I will be a full-fledged municipal firefighter in South Carolina, if I want to be. So therein lays the problem. So I want to be a municipal firefighter in SC or so I want to wait for Massachusetts? Do I even want to be in Massachusetts? Should I take SC, if I do in fact get it, or should I pass?


But anyways I have begun my trip to the US of A that will take me from Seville to Madrid via train then onto Atlanta, GA via Amsterdam by plane. Once in the US of A I will spend Thursday night in the greater Atlanta area with my Mom, Aunt and cousins who I haven’t seen in the better part of ten years. Then I will go to Kingsland, GA for Friday then Saturday morning I will have to take the 2.5 hour drive to HHI, SC for the early afternoon exam before going back to GA. Then it will be off to Florida to visit with my Dad and Kristi before flying to Boston from Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon. Then with a 23 hour 40 minute layover in Boston I will be headed back to Madrid via Paris on another airplane only to take the return trip via train again back to Seville. Hopefully the rain that I am experiencing here in Spain will turn into sunshine in the US of A. Otherwise I fear that I will be sick again after just getting over being sick for the last two weeks.


Watch out America!
Stay Frosty
-C