Post Holidays

So I am horrible at catching up and I kind of don't like catching up because I just like to write whatever I want when the feeling hits.  However I did have an amazingly epic New Years Eve that I would like to remember in writing.

I have the most incredible Grandparents in the world.  Their love for one another is the most spectacular example I have ever experienced and I aspire to be as in love as they are after 55+ years of marriage.  They also have an incredible love for their family.  The caring, kind spirit they share is humbling.  The way my Grandma lights up when I talk to her about Disney or school or whatever I'm doing really - it makes me feel so unbelievably good inside.  It's as if she really cares about how many doombuggies are in the Haunted Mansion or what exactly they are doing with the newest expansion - and I know she does care because she loves Disney as well, but I also know part of it is that she cares about me and loves to see and encourage the passion to pour out of me about these things.  The amount of times both my grandparents have told me to follow my heart and do what makes me happy and pursue my dreams - I couldn't do any of it without them. And I am so eternally grateful and thankful to have been blessed with them as my Grandparents.

You should hear what my Grandma is going to do to any boy who breaks my heart - watch out!!

I could go on for pages about how incredible my Grandparents are, however I started this post with another goal...to discuss New Years Eve.  I emailed my Grandparents my best account of New Years and being the uninspired typist I am thought I would pull a couple segments from my email to share with everyone else.  So Grandpa and Grandma, if you read this, I'm sorry it's about to get a bit repetitive!!

New Years Eve was amazing! My boyfriend Francel planned out the whole day and completely spoiled me! I got to get my nails, hair and makeup done and then went to Epcot around 3.  [The hairdresser was interesting to say the least!! She really liked going to haunted places and exploring and told me stories all about this old hospital for a disease they didn't have a cure for at the time and many patients passed away in. She had spent the night in it twice and had weird stories of people 'not there' in her photographs and hearing talking and such.  Not what you usually expect to discuss with the hairdresser, but it was entertaining nonetheless.]  

I spent a couple hours with my friend Rebecca who I hadn't seen since April and we went to a funny dance party in the american pavilion. The DJ was leading some pretty hilarious/ridiculous dance moves and we were laughing so much! Then Rebecca left to have dinner with her family and I met up with Francel and we changed into our outfits for dinner. 

We walked around the world and took silly pictures in all the countries such as me in a sombrero in Mexico, and him wearing a Panda Bear hat in China and us both in berets in France - things like that. We had a blast! A few of the different countries had music and laser lights and fire that shot up to the beat of the music (China), it was pretty amazing! 

Then we went to dinner at Le Cellier Steakhouse.  It was a four course meal with my favourite wine! Francel loved it because for the courses that were only meat he got both! So he had a potted pork amuse busche, lobster bisque, scallops with caviar, filet mignon with HUGE prawns, steak tartar and a trio of desserts. I had a salad and a butternut squash ravioli (that was delicious) and pink champagne sorbet for dessert. (the perks of being a meat eater eh? hehe).  Then we went outside and had special firework viewing for the midnight illuminations and New Years fireworks with Champagne! It was amazing! 

They went through the countries as a countdown celebrating who had their new years first (for example They lit up Japan, and then played Japanese inspired music and set off fireworks behind their pavilion) and went through the countries until Canada, Mexico and the US were left. Then they did a big countdown with shooting star fireworks until midnight and then just lit up the entire sky! It was breathtaking!

We had such an incredible night, I've never had such an extravagant New Years Eve before!

[I also started school again and here is a bit of a run down of my first week of classes and what I'm taking:]

Last week was my first week of classes.  I love them so far! I have theme park management with Ron Logan who was the Vice President of Disney Entertainment Worldwide and is a Disney legend with a window on Main Street (it's pretty much the highest Disney honour).  He tells magnificent stories and clearly knows a ton about the business.  The neatest thing I learned last week (relevant because fireworks have been on my mind) is that Disney has a patent on Airlaunch technology for fireworks.  That most fireworks are launched by gun powder off the ground.  Disney has technology where a computer chip is embedded in each firework.  They airlaunch the firework and it won't ignite until a button is pressed on the computer.  He said that the firework could fall back to the ground if it isn't activated by the computer and you could bounce it around and it wouldn't go off because the technology makes it so safe!  This technology also allows them to launch fireworks sideways and that is how they do all their shooting star effect fireworks.  I thought it was pretty neat. 

I also am taking English 1102 which is the second half of the year of English it is mandatory to take.  I have the same professor as first semester and she seems to like me and I understand her teaching style so it will be fine.  The subject doesn't really excite me, but it has to be done.  The main premise of the semester is an ongoing academic argument and inquiry where we will end up writing a 20 page paper for the end of the semester.  

My next class is Guest Service Management and it seems pretty interesting! My professor is very eccentric but very smart.  He has a ton of experience but many funny quirks.  Efficiency and time management are  extremely important to him, so much so that he said since he lives alone he sometimes eats his dinner at the grocery store instead of spending all the time getting home to have it.  He has serviced in some extremely fine dining restaurants and has a doctorate in guest service. He is quite the entertainer and there is no way you can't take in what he is saying because he presents it in such a dynamic way.  We are going to explore our leadership styles, our personality types and how that relates to service and that sort of thing in class as well so it should be interesting.  I love guest service and creating experiences - all that stuff - so it is an exciting class to be in.

My last class is probably my favourite mainly because I feel like I'm waiting on every word the professor says because I want to take absolutely everything in.  It's Lodging Management and the more I learn about it the more I feel like it's probably what I want to go into. My professor is originally from Holland but has worked in over 40 countries and was a corporate trainer for Intercontinental for many years.  He was in the hotel business when it was booming - when brands were diversifying and a lot of interesting things were happening in the industry so his stories are wonderful.  I feel like I can learn a ton from him and I'm very excited to.

So overall classes are going well.  Of course it's only the beginning of the second week so if they weren't going well we would have a problem.  :)

[Okay so we had an epic date day that first week as well. Bowling, mini-golf, yummy treats, fireworks.  It's almost as if I live in the happiest place on earth***]

***I say almost because we all know the actual happiest place on earth is Disneyland, California. ;)

On my day off last week (Friday!) Francel and I had so much fun! We started the day bowling at the new bowling alley/restaurant at Downtown Disney called Splitsville! It's this huge two story, 30 lane bowling alley with bars and a restaurant.  We bowled 4.5 games in an hour and a half for $20 total so it seemed like a good deal! He won by a lot overall but I did manage to win one game.  Apparently he was in a bowling league when he was little, whereas we only had 5 pin bowling growing up so I think I did alright!

We then took a stroll around downtown disney looking in the shops and just people watching for a bit! 

Then we competed again but this time at Mini golf! For Christmas Disney gives it's cast members a bunch of free or discounted activities an one of them was a couple rounds of mini golf.  We went about a week ago as well and I won!  I won this round too! (Thanks to your excellent teaching I'm sure Grandpa ;) ).  The course was called Winter-Summerland so the first 18 were as if Santa and the elves went on vacation so the holes are all sand and surf boards.  The second course was all snow castles and Frosty the Snowman, it was pretty cute! 

Last week when we mini golfed it was Fantasia themed so there were dancing hippos and alligators, Sorcerer Mickey and bigs waves of water over the course, music started randomly - it was super neat!

After mini golf we shared some ice cream (it was the winning prize! mint chocolate chip with caramel sauce and whipped cream from Ghiradelli's! Did I mention our day off is also our cheat day on our healthy eating plan? hehe).

After ice cream we went home for a little bit, walked Francel's dog, and got ready for dinner! We went to California Grill for wine and cheese in the lounge. It was so much fun! It was really casual because we were just in the lounge so we shared a cheese plate (they have 5 cheeses with accompaniments) and they give you a sheet with a description of the cheeses so we were reading them and trying to pick out the 'flavour profiles' they describe. It was pretty funny - not always easy to pick up the floral hints in cheese. [California Grill is our favourite restaurant and it's going down for refurb until something crazy like September so we wanted to get in one last visit before the closure]

 At 8 o'clock the Magic Kingdom has it's fireworks, and the California Grill happens to be on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort which is right beside Magic Kingdom. So we went out on the observation deck and watched the fireworks as they played the music! 

Can you believe that was all the same day?! It was absolutely incredible! 

Yup.  We do fun things sometimes.  Rereading that made me feel pretty charmed and lucky.  Which I am.  I am trying to learn to not stress out about situations that are out of my control - visa requirements, jobs, student loans etc.  It just so happens all the big things are the ones that I can't control! And I love life planning.  I like to know what i'll be doing over the next week, month, 6 months, year, 5 years, 10 years.  I love plans.  I don't always follow plans, but I've always had direction.  Breathing easy about things I can't control is not something I'm used to.  It's not something that comes easy and it's something I have to actively remind myself of each day.  Little goals.  I have an incredible support system and I am very thankful for having them.  

In all honesty, It's been a little tough lately wishing my friends and family from home were here.  Or i could somehow meld the two worlds together.  I know everyone is just a phone call or text message or email away.  But when I was sick last week I wanted my Mum so much, or when I was trying to figure out a situation I wanted nothing more than to grab a tea with my best friend and talk it over.  Face to face contact is important.  We all are able to pick up where we left off and have an incredible time together, which the holidays at home clearly proved once more.  But I miss my girlfriends, I miss my family, I miss my puppies, I miss my mountains and oceans. Homesickness comes in varying waves over the times I'm away, and its been a rather strong tide lately.

50 Days!

Hippogriff at Universal!!!

It feels like a week ago I was so excited there were only 100 days until I start at Disney again.  Well now there are only 50 days and it's crazy!  Today is also the day that I fly home to Canada for 6 weeks of family, friends, happiness and fun (well and maybe work! I'll keep you posted)!! I am super excited.  I clearly love it down here in Sunny Florida, but my family will always be the most important thing to me, and any time I get to spend time with them I'm super stoked! What is that saying, distance makes the heart grow fonder? Something like that :)

Out for Yelitza's Birthday!

I will back it up a bit though and return to last week when I was a little stress cadet.

We can all take a collective exhale as everything worked out with my presentations and exams! Somehow things always do turn out, we just can't always see that when we're in the thick of it.  After going in and talking to my accounting teacher, we fixed the miss-posted presentation (the girl in my group I guess somehow had a wrong extra couple letters at the end of the link so it wouldn't open, she sent it to me and I posted it). My accounting teacher let me sweat all day though by not responding to my email about posting it, or making it, until 12 hours later! Man did I celebrate when I saw that it was graded!

Beautiful Rosen College

So Wednesday (the big test day!) we started with our presentation for Entertainment, Arts & Events.  We had to create a gala for NACAS (the National Association of College Auxiliary Services) in October.  Ours was a reDiscovering Florida theme where guests would be able to go between the thrill of South Beach, the relaxing Space Coast and the Everglades! We worked pretty hard on the project, and although groups can be frustrating, we ended up with a great product.  Our professor agreed as we got 100% on the project! (Myself and a great girl Stephanie were the team leaders so we actually got 105%...yup I'm a keener! haha).

Next up was my financial accounting final.  We had 89 questions and some people were finished in 15 minutes! I couldn't even click through all the answers (it was on the computer) in 15 minutes, let alone read the questions! I ended up doing alright though so that's good! Our professor is pretty good at marking (minus that presentation problem) so we got our grades the next day which was awesome! I don't think I will become any kind of accountant, but I have a lot of respect for them.  It's a tough tedious job! The slightest error, or misreading of a figure can lead to a whole trail of mistakes that can lead to big issues. I did enjoy journalizing though, it was kind of peaceful haha.

Port Orleans: French Quarters! 

Next up was my Human Resource Exam! (Busy day eh?) It was harder than the other two exams we've had in that class, however I did all the extra credit assignments in the class so I feel like it's all okay.  Although Human Resources is another area that I don't see myself heading into (except maybe Disney college/international recruiting!) I also garnered a huge respect for Human Resource employees. You need a bit of knowledge about a ton of different things, and policies aren't the most thrilling read.

I AM running Disney in 2011! Getting into food running gift? (eventually, hopefully!)

Next up was my meeting with the visa advisor!! She was actually SO nice and SO helpful!! I found a lot of the people I've asked for help throughout the school process haven't always given the best answers or advice, but Daren Caine was incredible!!! If you're an international student and need help, talk to her!! She's funny, thoughtful and fully informed about everything!!! Being able to sit and talk to someone who knows the answers to all your questions is amazing and made me feel so much better about returning to school after my CRP. YAY!

Let the Memories Begin!

Wednesday night I studied with my roommate Emily for our Entertainment, Arts and Events exam on Thursday morning. We also baked! Emily's boyfriend is moving back to town so she made him a chocolate cake and I had been itching to create something, and made Margarita cupcakes!! With a home made lime tequila buttercream icing! I'm not going to lie, these were amazing! I'm usually not a fan of cupcakes as they're too cakey (I know I'm weird) but the flavour was perfect on these! They weren't dried out at all and the icing was incredible.  I'm definitely tooting my own horn here, but they're the best cupcakes I've had in about as long as I can remember.

Margarita Cupcakes!

Thursday morning came and went so quickly! My exam took half an hour tops and I was done my first semester back at university!! Going back I was really scared of how it would be, but I absolutely love Rosen College, I love being a part of UCF, and I'm so excited to return to school and finish my degree here.

The rest of Thursday was spent in the true Floridian summer spirit - suntanning and reading by the pool :D

I'm so not a fan. Although I would definitely be happy to
photograph someone wearing this shirt and eating a Turkey Leg.
So odd.

Friday was fun! I caught the Lynx Bus to Downtown Disney and from there resort hopped! Even before going to work at Walt Disney World the first time I always through Port Orleans was the exact resort I wanted to stay at! The pictures always looked so pretty and I throughout my contract I wanted to stay there, but just never did! So it was fun finally getting to go around and check the place out! I also went to Old Key West.  I was going to go to Animal Kingdom Lodge but there was a huge storm on the way and I was getting hungry.  As a celebration for doing so well at school, I treated myself to one of my favourite restaurants ever - Earl Of Sandwich! This place is SO GOOD! If you haven't been immediately google your closest EofS and GO! You're doing yourself a favour, I promise! They have the most delicious sandwiches and their Earl Grey Lemonade is just better than everyone elses! After dinner it really started to downpour and I hoped from store to store when it let up for a bit.

I LOVE that they actually have a shirt of this!
This question gets asked so often!

My friend Poldi is in Orlando on vacation with his Mum from Germany! Poldi was a cast member during my first contract and I haven't seen him in over a year so it was nice to get to hang out! We decided to go to the movies.  The only problem was the extreme downpour that wasn't letting up and the distance between myself and the theatre.

I was at the long yellow trimmed building to the right of the big boat, and had to get to the large brown building by the fountain and blue globe to the left of center.  So I got to run through Downtown Disney without shoes (I had flip flops and would have died!) in a white t shirt in pouring rain.  It's an ongoing theme in my Disney life that everytime I wear white it pours.  Every. single. time.  I looked like a drowned rat by the time I got there! But the movie was hilarious (though I still liked Bridesmaids more!!) and it was fun seeing Poldi.  I had been planning on going to Disney the next day as my fantastic friend Yelitza said she would let me and Poldi in!

It's raining, it's pouring

How cool are these!! Ipod/Ipad/Iphone covers!

Lego Woody!!!

Saturday morning Poldi and his Mum picked me up and we headed to the Boardwalk as Yelitza was meeting us as the World Showcase entrance.  Being the only one who didn't speak Spanish I apparently missed out on a hilarious conversation between Poldi, Yelitza and the security guard checking bags.  I need Rosetta Stone!!! We headed to Soarin' first and then Mission Space! Poldi's old manager Nicholas is now the area manager in Canada so we went to see if he was working, but alas, he was off! We headed over to Hollywood Studios and rode the Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster! We tried to get a fast pass for Toy Story Mania but at 1230pm they were sold out for the day! I know it's a popular ride, but the park was open until 9 or 10! We also watched an American Idol show which was really fun.  I like seeing them sing - they're usually pretty good!

Kate. Belle. Poldi

We headed back to Epcot and travelled around the world a bit! We watched the show in the Beirgarden and rode the Mexico Boat Ride, which is and will always be my favourite Epcot ride! It's SO fun! haha. We also got to meet Belle, Goofy and Duffy! We decided to watch the UK players tell the story of King Arthur which was fine and good until they made me be in the Show!!! I was the witch who turned herself into a pretty lady and had the holy grail they were looking for.  I had to say some interesting lines and couldn't stop laughing.  It was a little embarrassing but fun to be in the show! They gave us 'honourary World Showcase players' pins but mine fell off at some point later in the day and I didn't notice!! It was pretty sad!

Beer/Cider Sampler at the UK Pub

We had dinner in Germany because Poldi really wanted to.  It was pretty delicious and we got to have hilarious conversation with the two American families at our table. And the food was yummy! All the Germans kept coming to talk to Poldi so I got to meet some girls that will be there when I arrive in a month and a half. The band leader also came over for a chat, and as I find him to be quite the celebrity it was exciting!

After dinner we watched Illuminations and headed for the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom.  I'd never down it before, but we arrived right near the end of Magic, Memories and You and then watched Wishes! It was so cool seeing Illuminations and Wishes in the same night! Then we rode Big Thunder Mountain and The Haunted Mansion before watching the Main Street Electrical Parade!

Yay!

How incredible was that day!!!

We took the lynx bus back to I-drive, where Poldi's Mum said I couldn't walk 2 miles home alone (thank goodness!) so invited me to stay at their hotel suite with them! I got my own big comfy double bed, brand new clean jammies and fell asleep right away! It was sooooo nice! My apartment mattress is the same as the Commons ones - plasticy blue uncomfortableness! A real bed was such a treat! Then in the morning they got a free continental breakfast so I got to have waffles!!! Man o' Man! Could life get any better? Then Poldi's Mum was reading/teaching me some German language and about what is going on in their country through magazines she had brought for the plane!! So much fun!!! The scandals are fantastic over there!

Goofy's Candy Co. Rice Krispie Cake!

The Mickey Counterpart!

Yesterday (Sunday) was a pretty relaxing day! I packed everything up, took a final stroll around the school and did more packing.  I was suppose to go out to Howl at the Moon with some friends however it didn't work out. Ashley had some crazy bank issues arise (plus had the longest day known to man) so we didn't go out but we had a great catch up chat.  She is storing a bag for me while I'm at home so I can pack more!! (Friend award!) So she came over to grab my things and we had a great chat about our weekends. I can't wait to be able to work everyday with her again, and all my other Disney friends - and all the new ones I'll make! Fun!!

Baby Ducky in Canada (Pavilion)!

Today is Monday, aka flight home to Canada Day!!  My friend Nick is driving me to the airport and hopefully everything will go smoothly.  I'm flying through Houston and arrive in Vancouver at 1130pm...so 2:30am my time.  Amy is picking me up in Vancouver and it will be sooo great to see her!! I'm excited!

Random people trying to brake into the Cottage in Canada!
You aren't allowed to hop fences :)

There will be some changes to the blog happening soon! I start my marathon training on July 1st (Canada Day! Yay!) and will be tracking workouts and posting training tips etc on a separate page.  Also I have been getting a ton of questions on the blog as well as in person about how as an international student, and specifically as a Canadian, how the process of getting into and coming to Rosen College went.  I'm going to create a separate page all about Rosen as well to try and help answer those questions and help people out who also want to go to school down here!! So stay tuned! I'm always willing to answer questions and do whatever I can so let me know if you have any questions about me, working for Disney, attending Rosen College or UCF or on Disney/Orlando vacation planning! The email is katewdw@live.ca !!

On a random note, my purse has finally met it's end.  I got this purse at a throw out from Miss. Alysha Adcock a reallly long time ago.  Like in May or so of 2009.  I have used it religiously and it started to fall apart...a bit.  It got to the point where some friends said they wouldn't hang out with me if I didn't get a new purse.  So, I finally gave in and it met it's demise! RIP Purse!!

You can see about half of the outer layer had fallen off...

Until next time!!

Flight Booked!!!!

That's right, I finally booked my flight to Orlando!!!
Yes, I am currently in Orlando, and that may be why it took me so long to book my flight back down, because I sort of forgot I needed to until yesterday.  I wanted to arrive midday on the 16th, so I leave Vancouver around 11pm on the 15th, have a lay over in Houston, and then arrive in Orlando around 11am! Perfecto! Last time I flew down for the program I got to fly down with Heather, who I had met at the interviews!  This time it's all me by myself.  Tamara, who is actually from Courtenay as well (well Comox, and we've never met!) is flying out a few hours earlier and arrives earlier in the morning I think, so we're perhaps going to try and do our Walmart shop together! Yes I know people on the program already, but I'm excited to meet my arrival group and do all the fun things at the beginning with them!!
It feels good to have my flights booked! Now just insurance, the visa arrival and the assessment fee! ....for the Program anyways!

7 Random Facts I learned from Ron Logan this Week:

• Ron Logan enjoys driving up beside those kinda sketchy cars with blasting hip hop beats, roll down his windows, and blast jazz.  He said usually the guys laugh and give him a thumbs up
• Hitler as well as Mao's wife, use to put musicians in jail for not writing heroic music which is very brassy and strong sounding
• The baritone singer in the Voices of Liberty group in The American Adventure does many on the operations announcements on rides (ie: Please stay seated)
• Tokyo Rose was a broadcaster in Japan during World War II who tried to get American soldiers to pack up and go home by telling them it's what they wanted. She was later tried for treason.
• So much precision was put into Illuminations:Reflections of Earth that all Don Dorsey would go through the music and find one beat in one bar and change it from 3/4s to 4/4s so that it coincided perfectly with the fireworks
• The Globe in Illuminations was originally going to be 3 cranes (a mum, dad and child crane) but even after spending $3 million on them, they decided they didn't work well and trashed the idea
• It costs $15,000 per day to put on Illuminations, however it has been credited with $80 million in profit for Epcot!
• Bonus: Toni Braxton sings 'We Go On' in Illuminations, and the Show won "Most Spectacular Show in the World 5 years straight! (Including 2010!!)
• Double Bonus: The reason there is a countdown at the beginning of Illuminations is because Don Dorsey liked the countdown at Hockey Games! (when everyone slow claps, then it gets faster!)

Clearly our last class was about Illuminations ;) If you haven't seen this show it is absolutely breath taking. It's in three acts: The Creation of the Earth, Modern Day, and the Future.  Professor Logan absolutely loves Illuminations (I'm pretty sure he said he was the most proud of it...but that could have been the Wild West Show in Paris), and I absolutely love it as well! We use to walk out of work at Le Cellier and be able to conduct it.  I couldn't believe when I first started on the popcorn cart that we got to watch Illuminations! Incredible! It's no where near the same as seeing it in person, but here is a link in you want to check it out!

The Canucks won last night (2 MORE!! - as if everyone didn't already know that!) and I got to skype both my sisters and brother in law, and my Parents and Grandparents!! If you don't have skype and are far away from your family/friends, or going to be, GET SKYPE! It's free and you can video which is so, so nice! It was a pretty fabulous evening, especially because I had been feeling a bit homesick/overwhelmed earlier in the day with decisions.  I was missing my family a lot and then had about an hour long chat with my Grandma and she put me in the best mood ever! She has such an incredible knack for that! What a lady! I love her to bits!
I have a 615 workout and then 8am class tomorrow morning so I'm going to hopefully make it a pretty early Sunday night!! Hope all is well in your worlds as well, I almost start to feel selfish being so darn happy :)

UCF Orientation & The Weekend

 Orientation started around 10am.  I got there a little early, okay they were running a bit late, and this girl with very bright red/pink hair started talking to me.  She had already finished a degree in psychology at UF and was now taking micro engineering or something like that.  She currently however was a server at a Sushi restaurant where they "got to" dress up like Harajuku Girls aka Japanese Girl Dolls. It was an interesting 4 minutes... I'll never see her again yet know so much about her....

Since I did part of my orientation online we got to go straight to the Rosen College part.  All of the new Rosen students were brought upstairs to a room and talked to about the history of Rosen.  Here is the inside scoop:   


Hospitality use to be part of the Business School at UCF, but 8 years ago Harris Rosen (who owns many Hotels, golf courses and resorts) went to the head of the hospitality department and asked how much it would cost to build a Hospitality College in the tourist area of Orlando because the area really needed it and it would be great for the students.  The head of the department said $18 million and Mr. Rosen pulled out his cheque book and wrote a cheque that day.  In Florida the state has to match large donations, so they had 36 million dollars to build the campus and attract professors, plus Mr. Rosen donated the land, and that is how Rosen College was created. :)

Then we registered for classes.  In Florida you have to complete a General Education Program, taking certain classes from English, Science, Math and Social Sciences to complete a certain amount of course hours.   Upon arrival I thought you had to complete this General Education Program before taking any hospitality courses, therefore I had planned to take class and live on the main UCF campus.  However during orientation they told me I didn't have to complete all the general courses before I took hospitality courses as I had assumed, so I decided to register for hospitality courses and live at Rosen.  It wasn't just that simply though.  I didn't think I could just suddenly change everything, but I asked one of the girls doing orientation who lived at Rosen and she said there were definitely rooms available.  So during our lunch break I called my parents for a conference (yup, even 3000 miles away I still need their thoughts on big decisions), and then called the housing people to see if it could happen.  Turns out they had space for me, so 2 days before moving in, I changed my housing location! Then I was sneaky and called my Dad to register me in my classes while everyone else was eating.  This actually worked out great, I was in 3 classes, one that had only had 2 spots left at the beginning of the day, and was all set. Until I went with the rest of the new students just to double check everything and found out I didn't have the prerequisites for one of the classes, even though it let me register for it.  I kind of freaked out because nothing else seemed to be able to fit in my schedule that didn't have prerequisites.  Finally I talked to another girl who said if the class lets you in, you're in and said she was in a class called Entertainment, Arts and Events, which fit in my schedule. So I signed up. And went to buy my books.  The three courses I'm taking are Hospitality Human Resources Management, Hospitality Financial Accounting and Entertainment, Arts and Events. 

When I went to the book store to pick up my textbooks my heart started pounding and my jaw dropped - My coursework had Mickey Mouse on the front of it!!! 

My Entertainment, Arts and Events class is taught by Ron Logan, an ex-executive vice president of entertainment at Disney World, as well as one of the people who opened Disneyland Paris and he also helped produce and direct Lion King on Broadway!!!!! Among many, many other things if you read my last post.  I'm so excited! The course is a retrospective look on Disney Entertainment from 1955-2000.  My other classes text books weren't as friendly looking..and were sooooo pricey! Gross. 

After orientation I met up with my friend Doug and he helped me return my rental car.  As we were driving I heard a severe weather warning on the radio for 60 mile and hour winds, hail and rain by the airport...exactly where we were going.

I honestly couldn't see for more than 3 seconds when the windsheild wipers would first go across.  It was super intense. We pulled over for a while (that's when I took the video) and then had to get the car back before 8.  We ended up getting there perfectly fine, and took some back roads to get away from the bad tourist drivers....slash that's the way the GPS said to go.  There were puddles so high the waves went all the way up my car! Yikes!!

That night we went out to Alehouse with Ashley and Yelitza which was super fun!  We just shared a pitcher and chatted and had a blast.  We also saw a girl that was seriously 6'7...and then looked tiny compared to the guy she was with who must have been close to 7 feet tall!!! 

The next morning we did something I super love.... Breakfast!! I lived near the Golden Coral for a year and never went, even though a bunch of my friends would.  I have a weird thing with buffets...where I want to eat everything..all of it...three times!  Let's just say they are too tempting, so I never went.  However on this bright beautiful morning Doug and I decided to go and it was actually really yummy.  I didn't over indulge (my worse was a corn bread muffin, but common, those things are magic!) but was really stoked on the whole place.  I dare anyone to argue that breakfast isn't the best meal of the day! 

Then we got to do something really exciting.....wait for an hour and a half at the Car Rental place! I did something utterly dumb in the rain storm the night before...and left my credit card in the car! I was on hold to cancel it when Doug suggested I call the car place.  They had it in a safe that I could go pick up.  So we went to get it, and unfortuantely they hadn't mentioned that there were only two people who had access to the safe...and neither were working.  They called one in early (although he was half and hour later than she said she would be) and so we got to sit and watch Monsters Inc...the whole movie!  I enjoyed it. hehehe. Then we got to go to ....EPCOT!

We were lucky enough to have my friend Nick let us into Epcot and we went to visit Ashley in Canada who was greeting for the restaurant.   

All Star Greeter

She didn't want this picture taken :)

She called up Janice who I haven't seen in so long and we got to have a great chat! I miss her, she's such a great lady.  Sometimes a bit crazy about cleanliness of the popcorn cart, but a really good person, she use to give me great chats. We went into the Pixar Weekend event in the World Showplace but there were crazy lines for the characters so I just snapped a few shots of them and strangers ;)

It's true, My heart DOES beat for the Canucks <3

They had some great walls/signs up with Pixar info

They mentioned all the things that were in each movie...Like a Nemo toy in Monsters Inc
and the mobile over the Dentist's chair was from Monsters Inc.

The Luxo Jr. Ball is in every Pixar movie!

The old man who plays Chess with himself in the short is the restoration guy when Woody gets beat up!

Andy's neighbour Sid from Toy Story is the garbage man in Toy Story 3!

There were more but my other pictures didn't turn out so well...

He pretended to fix his hearing aid

They were outside in a Flower and Garden garden

I didn't realize Pixar puts so many little details in their movies connecting them all. It's pretty incredible.  Then we ventured over to see Yelitza in the UK before heading to France to watch the movie.  Originally the plan was to say hi, then go to Animal Kingdom then Magic Kingdom, but our passes didn't let us into MK (they had blocked it out), so we decided to go around Epcot and then Animal Kingdom.  I'd never bothered to see the French movie before and although it was very beautiful, it seemed kind of pompous... We travelled from France to the America Pavilion where I finally agreed to see the American Adventure show.  We stubbled upon the Voices of Liberty group and they sang K-k-k-katie, the song my Grandma and Grandpa use to sing me when I was little.  They use to take us out individually so we got to have our own special time together and they would always sing me this song:

I loveee it. 

The American Adventure was an experience and a half.  I will admit I was laughing at one point, but overall it was good. I wouldn't watch it again, and they brushed over a lot of American History details that weren't so favourable but it was fine.  When we came out our Animal Kingdom hopes were somewhat squandered because we found this:

African Outpost hiding from the rain

 DOWNPOUR! We tried to brave it and make it to Mexico but it was too much by the time we got to Africa and we had to hide out for a bit.  Eventually it let up and we got the best thing going in Epcot...Margaritas! and headed for lunch in the land.

The Best thing about Epcot is not Soarin', nor is it Test Track, Illuminations (although it's pretty close), Spaceship Earth, or the countries.  The best thing about Epcot is The Circle of Life movie in the Land.  I think every single person who enters Epcot should have to watch it, actually every 5th grader in the world should have to watch it! It gets the message about conservation across very well and very simplified (not that I think some people need simple) and it's also beautiful.  I will admit I cried the first time I saw it and have been dragging people in there ever since.  I think it's important, and made me respect Disney even more.

We also rode the Living with the Land boat ride and then headed to the Sea where I stared down this little guy:

So cool!

Next we headed to Hollywood Studios and took in some good ole fashioned Great Movie Ride.  I try every time to get the Cowboy, but they never have his/her scene going! I need to wait in one of those crazy long summer lines I guess...

On our way to the Studios we saw this little babies..

and these ones!

When we got off the Great Movie Ride we didn't know what to do and it hit me to ride Star Tours.  I wasn't sure if it was open yet, or what was going on, but I really wanted to check.  When the ride came into sight I got crazy excited because it was the first day of soft openings!!!! I couldn't believe it!! Immediately we jumped in line.  This ride is so good. Let's repeat that...this ride is SO GOOD! It's 3D now and has 54 different ride sequences you could end up with.  I guess there are different segments, and the computer system randomly puts them together to create a different experience each time, therefore making guests want to ride over and over and over again...the brillance of Disney, gets me everytime ;)  In our ride there Darth Vader, an Alliance (those are the good guys right?) spy on board that we had to protect and deliver somewhere (they took a picture and showed it of a little boy onboard) and an amazing holigram of Yoda is how we knew to protect him! Chewbacca was in the ride, a huge city, some Ewok, it was amazing! The only thing is it kind of felt a bit short - I never wanted it to end. New Star Tours? A++

We headed back to Epcot to watch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth....which I loveeee!!! They say the best place to watch them is from inbetween the two towers at the entrance to the World Showcase, but the two times I've watched from there we've gotten so much smoke and firework debris in our eyes/hair/clothes...

Sunday afternoon Ashley came over and drove me to Rosen College Apartments to move in! Once we found the room we went in and found Kelly, one of my new roommates. She was super nice and welcoming and got rid of all the girl who was here before me's stuff that she has left.  I was pretty nervous, moving in with two girls that were good friends, but so far everything has been great! They are so helpful and friendly and fun, so it's great. Kelly is freshly 24 and from Tampa, and my other roommate Emily is 23 and from Cincinnati, Ohio/has lived in California as well!

 This is where I was going to move into:

Lake Claire Apartments at UCF

This is where I live now:

Rosen Apartments at Rosen College

I think I made the right choice ;)

Do you know where this gazebo picture is taken?