another disney post... part1

i decided that i really wanted to try to recollect all my memories and feelings from my college program. so i am going to try to break up my time and write a few post-disney journal-like blog postings.

i honestly didn't think my life back home was going to be like this. i didn't think i was only going to want to think and talk about disney and all my friends i met there, but it turns out i do. i also didn’t think that this was basically going to be a blog about disney. but it turns out it kind of is. and so it is….

i left my home and my true loves in new mexico on august 23. i'm going to go ahead and say that was one of the hardest and most emotional days of my life thus far. i woke up at my dad’s after packing all night and headed to my grandma’s to pick up my mom so both my parents could drop me off at the airport. i still had to pack and repack some of my things so i was a little stressed out and didn’t really have time to be that sad.

may i add, two nights before my best friends all had a going away party for me at micki and les’ house. which was absolutely amazing and wonderful and so much fun. i got to hang out with all my friends and have one last wonderful night before i was off to florida. the next day i had a lunch at which wich and got to say bye to my best friends in my life (micki, les, ashley, jess, danielle s., sara and rach) then i got my hair cut and went to say bye to dez and erin. the night after, which was the night before i left, my family had a going away bbq at my grandma’s. that was also so much fun but also very bittersweet. i think i cried every time i looked at my dad and every time i had to say bye to someone.

back to that morning… we headed to the airport and i had tears in my eyes the entire drive there. even as i write this my eyes welt up because it was one of the hardest mornings. we checked in and got to sit together because we had about an hour to waste. when it was time to get up and say bye, i completely broke down and couldn’t even breathe. my dad hugged me and immediately walked away. he couldn’t even say bye or look at me, which broke my heart even more. my mom tried to make me feel better and talk to me but it wasn’t helping. i eventually just had to walk away, completely sobbing. the security guard lady who checked my id gave me a tissue and could tell that i was saying goodbye.

i walked through and waited at my terminal. sunglasses on. tissue in hand. anna called me and tried to cheer me up but it wasn’t really happening. i then boarded the plan and realized as i was sitting there that there was no turning back and that i was going to have to try to embrace my time and make it the best i could. once i got to florida, it was a lot better. i talked to my parents and i wasn’t as sad as i originally was. i met up with nichole (my first roommate who i met during the summer and became good friends with through facebook) and we headed to the hampton Inn to meet up with sydney and bethany our other two roommates.

we all went to dinner with syd’s parents and then went back to the hotel to hang out and get to sleep. i skyped with my friends (les and ash) and then went to sleep.

the next morning we all woke up early and got ready and headed to vista way to check in. we got a 2 bedroom apt in chatham square. the first couple of days were a blurr. we went to casting, which was in a cool disney building that was alice in wonderland themed. we also attended traditions (the class that everyone has to take before they start work at disney. it gives the history and information about the past, present, and future of the company). we also took a few trips to walmart and got stuff for the apartment.

seattle..

i went to seattle with jessica for our spring break. we went to visit our friend lauren aka “lo.” lo was one of my best friends when we lived in the kappa house and we have kept in touch and talk at least once a week. she moved away from albuquerque about two years ago and to seattle about a year ago.

i have always had a special connection with that rainy city. my brother stephen used to live there when i was a kid. my family and i would visit him often. it is a fabulous city! he was a doctor and worked with prisons and people with AIDS. he was a smart smart man. he passed away when i was a sophomore in high school. it was really hard for myself and for my entire family. that was last time i was in washington; to go to a service for him and help clear out his condo. seattle will always remind me of him.

the last time we actually went, i was in high school but we didn’t tour or look around the city like we once had. so for me, this spring break trip would be like reopening a chapter of my life that i once considered closed.

the trip was great. we did a lot and saw a lot. and of course we did plenty of touristy things. things i once had done as a child but got to see with new adult eyes. we went downtown, to pike’s place market, to the freemont troll, to the beach, to ikea, the university of Washington campus to visit their greek row (the kappa house was wonderful) and just to local restaurants and bars.

it was amazing to see all these areas and sights with virtually a new pair of eyes.
and it was weird to me. i remember absolutely loving every little parts and area of that city… but for some reason it was a odd this time around. everything was how I remembered but i just was able to see things differently and i’m not sure how much i liked it. as i think about it now, i can’t help but think that my love for the city had a lot to do with my brother. he was such a cool person and i used to look up to him when i was younger. maybe that was the appeal of the city.

i went to seattle with the thought of moving there. scoping everything out as if i were going to live there soon. i did this because i really actually contemplated moving. but for some reason being there this time, i couldn’t actually picture me living there. and just saying this and admitting this is freaking me out because this was always the place that i wanted to live.

disney post #2...

some days i wish i had never left to experience florida. and not in a way in which i regret that decision but in a way that i wish i was still there. i wake up some days and STILL expect to see my korean roommate in the bed next to me. or the random smell of SPAM in the morning. it makes me sick sometimes because i just wish that was still my life. it’s somewhat difficult to explain to someone who has no idea what i experienced but i try so hard each day and i will try now.

my third and last placement wound me up in main entrance merchandise at the magic kingdom, which was hardly merchandise at all. this job would encompass locker, wheelchair, ecv, and stroller rentals; along with cleaning strollers, stacking them in piles of 5 and also selling some small merchandise. i was very upset with this placement because i had loved working at epcot so much. i also heard horror stories about working in “strollers,” which it is known as around the disney community.

but when i got there, my entire world changed. i met some of the most wonderful and loving people here. and in some weird and crazy way, we all became family. we all have different backgrounds. we all have different lives. we all have different cultures. but it worked. and that’s what i think i miss the most. i can literally say this was the best time of my life. everyday was a new adventure and being a cp (college program praticpant) it really was. somedays we closed the park at 4:45am (this is not a joke) and others we had to be in at 6:00am (this is also not a joke) but it all never seemed to as bad because we were all together.

we adopted a song. a motto…. “we’re all in this together.” it comes from high school musical. and it worked so well with all of us. we were all in it together. and we will always have that…. “the time of our lives.”

university of dreams...

i've been thinking long and hard about doing the university of dreams internship. i applied and got in but the price to actually participate is very VERY high. i'm still trying to decide...

greek week...

i went to see the girls perform at greek sing. they did so well. i am so preoud of them.

it is a really odd feeling going back to the whole greek scene after being gone for a year. i loved every single moment of being an active kappa. and once it is over it really feels like there is absolutely no going back. and i think definitely think it is something in me. i think too much and i feel like people are asking "why is she still coming to these things?" when i feel like they could care less.

but all in all it was great. small group was wonderful. they all had tutus on and it was really cute.

oh and theme was DISNEY... what could be better. i waited four years while i was in kappa for the theme to be disney and then the year right after i graduate then they decide to do that. go figure.