The driver of the shuttle was a little old man named Bob. He had bright blue eyes and a little hearing aide, he opened the door for us, and then he drove us to the class LIKE A FRIGGIN MANIAC. We all started laughing because we were so shocked that this little dude was straight out of Grand Theft Auto. I'm not exaggerating: this guy was squealing wheels on his way out of the parking lot. He was taking turns at 40 mph and damn near running people off the road. I'm surprised the doors to the van didn't fly open and we all topple out into the street. I'm dead serious. When red lights turned green it was pedal to the metal and God help the drivers in front of him. Needless to say, we got to the building where class was held 25 minutes early.
You know those little turnstiles they have at the metro that allow only one person to pass at a time? This building had those, only they were electronic and didn't require metro passes to get through them. Instead, employees needed to scan their badge, wait for the light to turn green, and pass through individually. If they A) failed to scan their badge, B) scanned their badge but didn't wait for the light to turn green, or C) scanned their badge but waited too long after the light had turned green to walk forward, an excruciatingly loud siren blasted through the lobby and then the poor slob had to try it all over again. The alarm went off for all of us since we didn't have badges to scan. Well, actually, the alarm went off every single time anyone attempted to pass through because they were malfunctioning that morning. We ignored this and made our way to the classroom and got situated. Our very enthusiastic instructor gave us vouchers for a free coffee and bottled water in the morning, which was a plus. Then the other half of the class showed up... they were from Las Vegas. I don't have a vocabulary extensive enough to accurately depict how annoying this group of people was, but I feel as though saying that, right there, gets the point across pretty well. All these people did was talk. They joked with each other, they joked with the teacher, they poked fun at the one idiot who was completely computer illiterate, the idiot poked fun at herself for being completely computer illiterate, etc. etc. They wasted time in every way they could without being aware they were even doing it. And our instructor, God bless her, bought into every bit of it. They would go off on tangents about their pets, or their loan officers, or their ex-husbands, and my boss and I would sit there watching it all with straight faces, praying to just GET ON WITH IT. I'm sure they were just trying to liven up a potentially boring experience, but I don't see the logic in prolonging the boring experience in an attempt to make it tolerable. If something is verging on boring, why not just get through it as quickly as possible so we don't all hate ourselves by the end of the day, hmm?
Speaking of verging on boring, I'll let the above paragraph suffice as an introduction to the first day of class. We learned a lot about the new computer program we'll be introducing into the hospital, but by the end of the day it was information overload and we were all ready to get some dinner and focus on something other than a computer screen. We took the shuttle back to the hotel, driven by a young kid who also drove like a bat out of Hell, and discussed our plans for the rest of the evening. My boss and I wanted to try to get to downtown Raleigh a little bit, considering we were in a place neither of us have been before and we had heard downtown was awesome. The two women from the other hospital told us that they wanted to check out the mall right across from the hotel. I have to admit, I was slightly beyond horrified by this. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that they were in a new city with many sights to be seen and they wanted to tour the Old Navy less than 500 yards from the Marriott. We almost got suckered into going with them until my boss got up the courage to tell them that we were going downtown and we'd see them in the morning at breakfast. The two of us split a cab and our first stop was The CupCake Shoppe.
I was so excited I could barely contain myself. I am such a sucker for stores that house pretty little pastries. Not only was the exterior and interior of this place pink, but they had a good selection of flavors. I bought myself two of them because I couldn't decide between them... went w/ the coconut and the strawberry. My boss got an entire dozen because she has more money than me.
By the time we broke away from the cupcake wonderland, it was really cold outside. Of course I was in flip flops and a windbreaker because it had been sixty earlier in the day (and because I had forgotten my winter coat at home. Told you I always forget something important). We realized we should have bought cupcakes after we walked around, because now we had to lug these things all over town in search of a good restaurant. The cold, combined with the fact it was already getting dark, prevented us from straying from this one street. Granted, it was a rather impressive street filled with lots of trendy little shops and eateries, but I was still disappointed we didn't get to take more in. We ate dinner at 518 West, a cute little Italian place, and then we called the cab driver to come get us. I have always believed, based on previous experience and just general knowledge, that cab drivers know every street in the city. Apparently, in Raleigh, this isn't true. I did my best to describe where we were to the cab driver over the phone and I just prayed that he understood me and knew where to find us. We waited outside on the corner in case he wound up driving aimlessly up and down the street, but this was a huge pain considering the temperature had dropped even further while we were eating and we both knew damn well it would be about 20 minutes before he showed up. While we were waiting, a guy drove up and asked me for directions. I gave them to him. I had only been within city limits for 24 hours and I was giving other tourists directions.
Cabbie finally showed up and took us back to the hotel. Safely tucked away in my cloud bed, I ate half of each cupcake because I didn't want to try one and not the other. Then I got depressed knowing the other halves of these cupcakes would be hard as rocks and completely inedible come the morning. I probably should have just eaten one and saved the other for the next day, but I just couldn't help myself. The coconut was amazing and the strawberry had real strawberries in the frosting. I don't regret a damn thing! I would have gotten my money's worth had I eaten them both in their entirety but they were too pretty to ignore. Plus, I feel less fat knowing I ate the equivalent of one cupcake while getting at both flavors.
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