The Schneider adventure begins - Orientation process in Green Bay

I arrived earlier today in Green Bay WI. and checked into my hotel room. Early tomorrow morning my adventure begins. Like others before me, what I am going to try to do is document my experience as a student driver starting out with Schneider National. I have enjoyed reading others experiences with SNI and other companies and thought I would do one of my own. Before I was a student working towards my CDL, I spent quite a bit of time here in these forums trying to get an idea of what I should expect in my adventure to becoming a commercial truck driver. I appreciated the honest posts, without the sugar coated recruiter talk, and that is what I am going to try to accomplish here. For those who have not read any of my previous threads I will quickly sum up what brought me here.

I'm a 38 year old former construction worker. I was a sheet metal worker for 12 years before becoming a victim of the economy. Worked various positions in various fields trying to re-establish myself. Been at it since 2007 with no luck, or at least nothing that I enjoyed or paid much over minimum wage. I had no real skills other than my trade. Having a clean background and driving record I thought I would give driving a shot. I used every penny I had to pay for school and obtain my CDL. I attended school at Interstate Truck driving school in South Saint Paul, Minnesota. Overall my experience at ITDS was great, and I have no regrets. I had a week off after graduation and left this morning and arrived at the hotel around 3:45 this afternoon. I opted to drive rather than take the greyhound for obvious reasons. (have had one previous greyhound experience) The greyhound is probably a decent option for most, but since I had access to driving I figured I might as well. I arrived at the Settle Inn in Green Bay and they told me I would be staying at their other property across the street. It looks as if half the students are staying at the Settle Inn and the rest of us at the Extended Stay. I thought is was sorta funny and thought to myself "well, here we go..." but it turns out the place is pretty nice. The rooms are small but clean. The few times I have left the room I noticed some strange smells in various parts of the hallway... not sure what that is about but the room seems fine so I'm not complaining. My room mate arrived just before me and was getting settled as I entered the room. He seems like a decent guy, but is a man of very few words. English is not his primary language and it's almost like he is uncomfortable having a conversation. Either way it could have been much worse, so again I am not complaining.

We have a small strip mall right next to the hotel that has a Subway restaurant in it within an easy 5 minute walk. A little further there is a McDonalds and a Tony Roma rib joint. One nice thing about the room is the small kitchenette. It has a sink, full size fridge, and a 2 electric burner stove top. I brought some basic food but nothing that needed refrigerating since I did not know whether or not I would have access to a fridge. I am glad it did, as it will make it easier to keep my water and soda cold. I brought a cooler and figured on using the ice machine here to keep it filled, however, the ice bucket is only big enough to hold what I would consider a small cup of ice, and on top of that the only ice machine is near the lobby on the main floor. I would not care to take dozens of trips in the elevator to fill my cooler.

The information I got from the front desk tells me I need to be at the Settle Inn for the shuttle that will take us to training at 6:30 AM. I'm wondering If I should drive across the street, or if there will be some sort of shuttle that will take us to another shuttle in the morning. I guess I'll head down to the lobby a little early and see what everyone else is doing. I will post about day 1 once it's in the books. Until then!