Don't Alaska Me What I'm Doing After College Anymore

One of the many reasons that Matt and I decided to come to Alaska after graduation was so that we'd have something awesome to say during the agonizing period of time when everyone and their mother asked us what we were doing after college. Lucky for us, our experience so far has proved to be a lot more than a good answer and an excuse to avoid the real career hunt. We didn't really know quite what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew we were ready for an adventure. We left Matt's home in Kingston, Massachussetts and headed out on Monday 21st and made our way to Ketchikan (Special thanks to Matt's parents Nancy and Mike for waking up at 4:30am on Monday morning to get us to the airport for our flight).

Matt and Bridget at Logan International

After a gruelling day of travel (a five and a half hour flight from Boston to Seattle, a four-hour layover and a two-hour flight to Ketchikan, followed by a ferry ride to the main island and a taxi cab to our new apartment) we finally made it. We met up with our friend Kevin, who came up to live here for the summer too, and checked out each other's digs. Kevin lives just up the street from us- we live in a beautiful, two story apartment overlooking the water with a third roommate named Heather who is super sweet and works at the local ziplining tour.

The view from our kitchen window on Water Street

Today, I woke up bright and early for the first day of my new job at the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. I was really nervous- they'd hired me on the phone. What if they didn't like me? What if they were really strange, and not in a good way? It turns out that they were awesome, my job is awesome and the people I work with seem pretty awesome too. I was thrown right in, learning to work the register, the concession stand during the three shows they have throughout the day for the tourists coming off the cruise ships, and organizing the stock room merchandise. All in all, it was a thoroughly exhausting but fantastic first day, and I can tell I'm going to love it!

First day of school! First day of school!

This afternoon, to our great delight, Matt found out he got a job with the Duck Tour company (hence the name of our blog) working as a Dispatcher and starts first thing tomorrow morning. He's not quite sure what that means yet, but he'll be performing a lot of different jobs on the dock while also getting trained for the guide position on the boat. The best part about the jobs here is the variety of activities involved in the day-to-day routine. In the late afternoon we met up with Kevin and walked around the downtown area- it was awesome to be there after the cruise ships have left because we got to explore without the hassle of crowds.

Matt and Kevin looking like they were photoshopped into a postcard

We've only been here for two days but I can already tell that I love this place and that it's going to be quite the adventure getting to live, work, and play here this summer. We are so excited to share our stories with you- more to come soon!

-Bridget