Promisepromisepromise

I promise to write a blog soon, I haven't forgotten I'm just wicked busy. But stay tuned because there are dinosaurs, custodial duties, and new roomies to come...

Chapter 4: a Tale of Two Stephanies.

One of my dearest prayers was answered, we have roommates!! They came Monday while I was working til 10, they stayed up to meet me even though I didn't get home until 11 (which was really cool of them because I know how exhausted they must have been on their first day). As you may be able to tell by the title of this blog we got another Stephanie. Jillian and I were elated, now we are no longer alone. Although now it's much harder to have a conversation between us. Our other two roommates are Lauren and Paige, they share a room because they actually know each other from before (which leaves us with two bedrooms which each contain a Jillian and a Stephanie). They're all really nice which is great, I mean I was definitely having nightmares about all the possible ways things could go wrong.. Like a language barrier or meanness or drunkenness. But it is really nice to have people to do things with. Monday morning my Steph and I went to Epcot before my shift started. We went on Test Track and just had some fun. I got to go to Magic Kingdom with new Stephanie (from herein referred to as Jonesy). And today I went to Disney's Hollywood Studios with Jillian. Jillian and I got to be the volunteers in a stunt for the Backlot Tours. I got to Captain a ship through a hail of bullets and Jillian got to be my first mate who freaked out beautifully. We got soaked and it was awesome. We also went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground and stuck our arms into the giant nose of a dog who proceeded to sneeze. I've had today and yesterday off which are nice because I've been in training for the last few days and working really hard. My shoes have been chewing up my feet and I have been in a lot of pain of late between my head, legs, and hips. The more constant pain is homesickness. It's a lot better now then it was previously because I like people here, but I do long for familiarity. Especially when I see families enjoying themselves at the parks. It really makes me think of my family and being here with them, and of course wishing that they were here with me. Oh and I have included a picture of the evil ducks below!!

Chapter 3 (day 3, 4, written on day 5)

Traditions, "the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way, or a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way." Sorry it's actually Friday, day 5. I'll be writing three days worth now. Prepare the carpal tunnel.
        Traditions was fun. My opening quote is the answer you will need if you want to win a "critter" which are tiny Mickey Mouse and friends figurines. I had the early session, caught my bus at 6:45. There are two traditions sessions, one bright and early and one at two o'clock which is kind of a waste of a day so I'm glad I had the early one. We went over all the Disney policies, good to know. I really like their policies especially because they put safety first, which is great to see in a big company. We did get to go over to Magic Kingdom for a bit to watch some of the policies in action. We were only there for like 20 mins. But we did get to use the Utilidors. Not as special as I expected them to be. When we got off the bus we were passed by Rapunzel. That girl has a lot of hair.  Towards the end of Traditions we were visited by a very special friend: The Boss Man. By which I mean Mickey Mouse.
        They did show us a lot of videos of executives who wished us luck and told us we were important, which were kind of cool. But we got out of there about 1:20 and I went back home to wait on the roomies. Took a nap and when I woke up the girls were back so we went out to Downtown Disney.
   Oh, but no new room-mates. We were hoping to get roomies on Wednesday and I waited around for them but no such luck. We went to Rain Forest Cafe and enjoyed the atmosphere and some Downtown shopping. Yesterday (Thursday) I had a day to myself. A long, long, long, day all by myself. I took a shower did some reading and writing, went to the front office to ask about a new bus schedule, then I looked at their small library of books to see if anything was worth reading. Asked them about their donation policies, because I brought too many books and I don't want to bring them home with me again. They said they will take a look at them. Happiness. From there I proceeded home to my apartment and decided to take a second and sit in the sun in the grass near the pond. The ducks did not like this idea. Now, let me tell you, these are not normal ducks, they are not normal ducks and they look nothing like ducks you might find at the Duck Pond in Boston. These are demonic ducks. These ducks look like turkey vultures. By which I mean, evvviiiiiillllll. They chased me away by hissing and flapping their wings. They chased me all the way back up the hill. I've decided it would be ironic to refer to them from now on as Mr. & Mrs. Mallard and their son Ack (because that's the noise I make when I run away). But yesterdays loneliness resulted on reflections on my true loneliness in the universe. I miss everyone back home so much. I miss familiarity and I hate not knowing anyone here. If Jillian and Stephanie are working the same day I am screwed. Which is why I was kind of waiting for those new roommates. I miss my family and the library and my friends and just knowing my surroundings. I love you guys:)
Moving on like the big girl I am, I went to my Custodial Core training today from 8.30 to 5.00.  The day was relatively okay. It was a very long day but we actually learned the basics for our jobs. Watched a couple of fun videos. Got our Custodial shoes. Then my new friend, Arden (who is also working janitorial at Epcot) and I,  found the Disney liquadation store (I will not disclose it's location because it makes me very happy, especially after my long day.) I bought lots of things for my family which were relatively cheap for Disney prices. Again. Made me happy. I will include pictures of my booty (like a pirate). Definitely going there again soon. Then I got home and facetimed my mum like I do every night. Caught her up similarly and then said goodnight just like I will to you people..."Goodnight!!!"

Interlude II

I thought it might be nice to share my roommate Stephanie's vlog on here. That's a video blog where she makes videos which require less typing and therefore, sometimes, means more detail. Her blog is:  
                                       http://stephindisneyworld.blogspot.com
so check that out if you want. I have a day off tomorrow so I will be taking advantage of that to write about today's events. There were lots so stay tuned..

Chapter 2 (day 2)

Woke up early today, 7:45. Well actually Stephanie had to yell at me because I was sleeping through my alarm. I didn't remember where I was and just dismissed the little "diddly-doo-diddly-doo" as dream music.  We had a housing meeting at 10 am but they told us to catch the bus at 9. Thankfully we got there right at 9 because that bus proceeded to fill up very quickly.  The bus brought us to the Commons  which is a housing complex for International student. It's gorgeous. I had a lot of fun, but there were points I feared Stephanie might fall asleep. The meeting was a lot different than expected. Not to ruin the surprise for anyone, but it was actually pretty cool. Lights, smoke machines, loud music, and trivia questions. And the wave. Disney is really corny in the most beautiful way. Went shopping with the roommates, there's a Walgreens and a Dollar Tree within walking distance.
       And next to the Dollar Tree? A Dunkin Donuts!!!!  I left Massachusetts making my peace with the fact that I would not see one of those for four months. I love Dunkin Donuts. I don't drink coffee though. Hot chocolate is my drug of choice. I don't think they would have hot chocolate down here though. We cleaned our whole apartment today, washed every piece of cutlery that is in this place. The front desk actually gave us some new ones and we also told them about the broken table and the two drawers that are suffering greatly. They're gonna send someone out to fix it/ look at it. Cool. Stephanie cooked us pasta for dinner and it was delicious. We enjoyed our first night as a family. Tomorrow I have Traditions, first session at 8am and they have it second session at 2pm.  Also tomorrow the new roommates will be coming. We got a letter today basically telling us to be nice to them and make them our friends. If they don't want to be our friends I will just show them the letter and say, "well we are supposed to be friends!!" And of course I do want to be friends with them.  I miss home today but I feel better about it. I'm here because I want to be and because it's awesome. I will see my family in a few months and in a few more months I'll be home. For now, I think I'll just enjoy the magic...

Chapter 1 (anew continued, embellished)

My roommates and I spent some awesome quality time together last night. We played a lot of games of cards and ate some leftover candy from my carry on. I also video-chatted with my family for about an hour.  I gave them a tour of our apartment using my awesome iPod (thing's amazing) thanks to my aunt's wonderful boyfriend Chris who bought and set up for me a Lynxys, which makes our internet here wireless.  My aunt and Chris came over about three o'clock yesterday and brought me some really nice surprises. They bought me a pretty fuzzy purple pillow, two awesome Mickey Mouse beach towels, and a really great Eeyore t-shirt which I wore today.  They also took Steph and I to Wal-Mart where they purchased me the Lynxys (my other surprise) and I bought muy mucho food ($$).  They really spoiled me rotten in more ways than one. It was really nice to have some familiar faces in this sea of newness. I'm still really excited and all but now it's very real. I'm still excited and all but now it's very real. I still have a few things to unpack something I'm fighting the urge to repack.

Chapter 1 (anew)

Today is my first day at Disney, and it has been a really long one. Started early at 4.00am so I had enough time to quadruple check my bags, have several panic attacks, get sick to my stomach, and get dressed. We arrived at the airport at 5.50 with my family in tow.  Too soon we had to say goodbye. One of the hardest moments of my life. It might be the hardest I'm not sure, it's definitely top two. Mum was gonna get a guest pass so she could accompany me to the gate, but I knew that would be way too hard.  I was crying on my way through security, I thought they might stop me or something but they just admonished me for the placement of my laptop.  Then I hid in the bathroom to cry some more (sue me I'm a big baby, and I do not do grown up things).  When I finally managed to drag myself out of there I moved on to the terminal where they began almost immediately boarding. However, as this could not have gone off correctly, after they had loaded all the wheelchair passengers, advanced boarding passengers and part of group A, the alarm on the plane went off. They evacuated everyone already on the airplane and told us to hold on a minute. I used this opportunity to sprint towards the bathroom for some more bawling.  Upon my return I noticed, pretty much immediately that the entire gate was empty besides two women eating their sandwiches and openly staring at me. After munching on their sandwiches for a moment and enjoying my obvious anguish at the thought that I had somehow missed my flight though I had been gone only five minutes,  they deigned to tell me that our flight had been moved over to gate 17, about five feet to my left, and that it had been set back forty minutes thanks to a fire alarm.  Not the best day for this to happen.
     When we finally got on the plane I sat next to a really nice adorable old couple in the front row. We took a group nap together for the first hour and a half.  It was kind of sad/ kind of nice because the old man reminded me of my Papa, because he kept making noises and at one point he farted then shrugged at his wife who gave him an admonishing glare. We managed to make it there on time. Somehow. I met Stephanie at baggage claim. Or actually I wandered around blindly until a girl I sort of recognized started waving at me. We grabbed our luggage and booked it from luggage claim A up and around to baggage claim B. After successfully lugging our insanely heavy luggage around and back down to meet the mears shuttle, the mears shuttle went all the way around the airport to pick up people at baggage claim A.
     Upon arriving at Vista we got our cast books, rules etc, and we got to choose our housing location. At this point it was 12.00 and no one else was there. we were sort of kind of supposed to check in by 12.00  so our options were limited. Option 1: 4 bedroom at Patterson. Option 2: 3 bedroom at Vista. No single for me I guess. But after weighing the options I chose Vista. Less bedrooms. Own bus stop. Cheap rent. Maybe a tiny bit freakishly dirty. But as of right now there are only three of us in an apartment made for six. The other three girls will be placed in here on Wednesday.  My other roommates name is Jillian as well. Sound familiar? I think a lot of jokes could be made about that.. but I don't have any.  When we finished up at check in they sent us on a bus to casting where we did other paperwork (generally terribly boring and long but I guess exciting?) I did however win a prize. It's just a pen but it's A DISNEY PEN. Those things retail for 6.95. I also found out that I will be working in Epcot!!! (which is one of my top picks). After getting back from casting we were sent to settle in to our apartment. We lugged our heavy luggage again (guys, don't bring heavy luggage or heavy carry ons.) and arrived at our lovely apartment Vista Way building 13. (Ominous music). There are several weird stains and broken drawers and a table that's falling apart, as well as a bathtub that may have seen a home birth or two, but for the next four months this place is home.
My aunt came by and brought over my suitcase as well as plenty of surprises both for me and the apartment. She very graciously took Stephanie and I out to shop at Wal-Mart which is a super Wal-mart so I got plenty of groceries. Also, the bus goes there for future access!

I have plenty more to say, promise I'll continue, embellish, but it's wicked late. (My roommates say that I have a sort of Boston accent. They said my aunt had a definite Boston accent, so weird to me) Good night!! Have a magical evening!! I miss you guys back home something fierce!!

Chapter 9 (Leaving tomorrow)

     It's official, tomorrow I embark on my great adventure. After waking up at four oclock and making myself insanely crabby first of course. Just kidding, there's no way I'll be grumpy tomorrow, antsy, excited, scared, anxious, freaking out? Yes. Grumpy? No. I've been insanely nostalgic these last few days. You should have seen me the other day at Dunkin Donuts. I was thinking 'Goodbye Dunkin Donuts..' Then on Route One today 'Good bye Route One, we've had such great times together..' And at every other place in and out of Norwood that's normally not even remotely sentimental for me. It's been really hard saying goodbye to my family, especially my mum. I love them to bits and it's scary that I'm going to be so far away from them by myself. Time to put on my grown-up pants, though. It's obviously been really hard to say goodbye my friends too, especially because they're all really amazing and special people, but I know that there promises to be new friends down there, along with amazing experiences and stories to bring back.
   It was also astonishingly hard to say goodbye to all my wonderful friends/ coworkers at the library. I will admit though that I was seen skipping through the children's section. I almost cried at Friendlys when Heather and I were sat at the isolation table (like the Parent Trap). Even being squished by the cat I'm about to leave makes me a little teary. But I do realize that I'm being dramatic. This isn't forever and I'm going someplace amazing. I'm not moving or dying, I'm going to Disney World for four months to work in the Happiest Place on Earth.  I promise I'll be back.

     I don't know if I'm gonna get a chance to write tomorrow because it's supposed to be an insanely busy day, but expect an entry soon. I leave tomorrow at 6:50, arrive at Florida around 10:00.  I hope that I can sit in the first aisle so I have some footspace, and I hope that I don't have to sit next to someone with a flatulence problem for obvious reasons, I also hope that I don't sit next to a cute guy, because the chance of tears is about 99% and I am an ugly crier.

Chapter 8

So close, interesting things to follow in later entries. (if you have actually been reading these pre-arrival you are a saint). I'm trying to make plans with all my friends and important people in my life before I go. It's weird, I have eleven days left which at some points seems like a forever and at others not long enough. Still have to pack my bags and clean my room so my cat will not completely destroy everything in my absence. She's already managed to break a vase. She also knocks over my trashcan to better expose the embarrassing contents.
I've been talking to my wonderful roomie Stephanie about our arrival meet and greet plans, it's wicked exciting. We're meeting each other at the airport then heading to TERMINAL B to collect our luggage and grab our shuttle to the check in location. We've decided on Chatham for our living arrangement, not sure yet how many rooms in the apartment.
I've packed business clothes as well as every toiletry under the sun (including straight up toilet paper) as well as many other odds and ends like my comforter and sheet sets. I can't help but feel like I'm missing something, but like Santa I've checked my list twice (then three times, four times etc. I am more of an overachiever than Santa could afford to be) and all appears in order. Also, my wonderful aunt is taking down one of my suitcases with her ahead of time so I don't have to worry about it. Honestly I'm actually all ready to go. The only other thing to really worry about is what to wear to the airport. Warm enough for up here and easy to wear through security (i.e. no heavy metal chains or extreme amounts of jewelry).

Chapter 7-continued

Packed one already :)