2 Months!!!!!

Oh my goodness gracious me! Only 2 MONTHS until my Cultural Representative Program starts!!!!! I am So excited! If you can't tell....I CAN'T WAIT TO START!!! Anticipation is a double edged sword - if you're anticipating something it means something awesome is coming up, which is exciting; but I'm crazy UNpatient so it drives me crazy waiting! With all the surprise Disney trip commercials this year I asked my parents why they never surprised us, and they said it was so we could anticipate the trip and that part of the fun was looking forward to it. So I'm trying my best to think of this experience that way as well - I have to enjoy the lead up to it, because once it starts it's fast and hard until it ends again! Plus there are tons of exciting things in between now and August 16th: (Ready for the recap? You must have it memorized by now as well!) 

• My return to Beautiful British Columbia
• My reunion with my long lost sister Carrie who had been living in Toronto for far too long
• Hanging out with the greatest Grandma in the entire world! 
• Getting to hold/cuddle/give-back-to-her-Mum-when-she-cries my beautiful niece Clodagh! (just kidding on that last one ;) )
• July 1st weekend celebration with whole family (finally we can all be together!)
• Running outdoors without choking on thick air (humid 35 degree Orlando makes me die after 2 minutes)
• HARRY POTTER 7 PART 2!!!! Ahhh!!! Opening night baby - yeeeeyahh!!
• Baking/cooking with Carrie! We have SO many yummy recipes to try!
• My friend Claire's Wedding!
• My friend Erica's Wedding!
• Bridesmaid/wedding activities! 
• My sister Kim's Wedding!!!

Plus all the time spent with Friends before moving away for a long period of time.  Here is a secret...I don't know if I'll be visiting Vancouver at all during the year of my program.  It's an expensive flight and although it would be nice to be able to, it's not a guarantee so I want to get lots of friend and family love in while I can! Also my poochie Kona will need some mad love before I leave, pet-less living is HARD!

I can't find a picture of Kona so here is Lily who looks like a tormented
Beaver in the pool. Can't wait :)

My visa arrived at my home this past week and I'm so excited to see it!! There are 9 UK and Canadians arriving on August 16th, 3 being Canadian.  Myself and Tamara are both from the Comox Valley (even though I've never met her) and then there is one other girl whose name is slipping my mind right now but she is friends with my friend Jill so it is a small world. 

This contract is already so different from my last one, for starters I arrived in March in 2009, and got the chance to work my way into the Orlando weather, Disney summer guests, and high season.  This time I'll be arriving at the end of summer, in the heat/thunderstorms, with big crowds, on podium for Food and Wine Festival and then it's right into Christmas! Secondly my arrival group last time had 6 or 7 people and was mostly guys! 

Hopefully I'll be able to meet more people from other countries this time! I know this sounds silly, but I was nervous when I first arrived and spent the first couple days in a pack with the Canadians. This time I'd love to get to know the other 2 girls but we have a better chance of branching out and being part of the other countries crowds in the beginning as well! Also I've already been chatting with August 16th arrivals from Germany, the UK, and Africa so it'll be super exciting getting to meet these people all in person..in 2 MONTHS TODAY!!

School has been crazy busy!!  We just finished mid terms last week and we have finals next week! Ah! Plus group projects in between! I have been doing accounting homework for what feels like 1,000 hours today.  I finished two quizzes and my take home final exam! Phew! I'm pretty nervous about the in class final for accounting and will be studying like a crazy person for it all weekend! And everything else.  Here is my schedule next week:

Monday:

All 3 classes plus:

Quiz/Test in Human Resources

Assignment Due in Human Resources

Group Project due in Accounting plus 2 cheat sheets

Studying

Tuesday:

Entertainment class/Group Project

Insane studying

Wednesday:

Entertainment Project due/Presentation

Human Resource Final Exam

Financial Accounting Final Exam

Studying

Thursday:

Entertainment Final Exam

Looks fun eh? I also have some personal paper work that I have to get done this week as well, which gets to count as my "fun break activities" (isn't that how you always think of paperwork?)

Therefore this weekend is going to have a TON of studying in it, except for a little reprieve to celebrate Yelitza's Birthday with her!!! This weekend is also Father's Day, so even though I'm not home I'm hoping to get a good skype in there!

I actually have a pretty traumatic mid-weekend last weekend that mainly revolved around an incident with a creepy man getting way too personal following me down Universal Blvd in his car as I walked to Universal Studios.  I felt super violated and upset, but a little park time helped a lot. I hung out in Harry Potter work, rode Duelling Dragons 4 times in a row, took in the sounds and scenery and had a really good time.  Also I started the pilgrimage to Universal (it took about 2 hours to walk there...in 35 degree weather + humidity) because they have a Starbucks there and I have a gift card.  However once I finally arrived they had a big ole sign saying "This location is not set up for gift cards." I was a little sad as it was the iced passion tea that had inspired me not to turn back. Can't win them all haha.

Monday after school I hung out with my friend Nick from the Canada Pavilion (Le Cellier) kitchen. We sun tanned for a bit by his pool and then he made me the most delicious dinner! I don't really cook myself actual meals, I usually have some oatmeal, or some quinoa, or a smoothie or something like that, so when he offered to make veggie burritos I was so excited! And MAN was it good!!  The fact that Mexican food is probably my favourite in the world right now helped, and that he's a professional chef, and that I don't usually eat flavourful food, but I was one happy camper! 

That about sums things up I think. Thomas Kinkade was in our class the other day! However we (the class) weren't! We were kicked out for Thomas Kinkade and Professor Logan's meeting (alright, we were kicked out so we could work on our projects) and even though we camped out we didn't see him.  I feel as though Tuesday morning Professor Logan said that Thomas Kinkade either got sick or lost and didn't come, but then I thought it said they did meet so I'm not sure what really happened! (it's an 8am class okay? That's early to fully comprehend! ...just kidding!) I'm sad that my entertainment class is ending. I would go to Professor Logan's class at any time of day everyday for the rest of summer/until he ran out of stories. Yup, I'm just that into class/Disney knowledge.

I'm going to try and knock out my cheat sheet assignment for Monday before heading to the gym for a sweat fest. Hope where ever you are in the world the sun is shining and you've got a smile on your face. 

Life is good today!

Ps- I have a confession today was well...I have been listening to Christmas music on Pandora while studying!! It's both soothing, happy and somehow keeps the stress levels down! 

Are you the type to count down for Christmas from 6 months out? 

Or do you not allow any Christmas music or decorations until December 1st?

Know what's even better? Disney Christmas, especially fireworks! I know, I have a problem...

The Rest of Orlando! DC12-17! Big Update!

Such a beautiful site!!!!!

 This is how we spent the 8th of April! Getting some sun and sand! It is hard to describe the incredible feeling you get lying in the sun after so many months of being cold! I know a lot of you can agree!! We went to Cocoa Beach, looked around Ron Jon (Ashley picked out all the things she'd like to buy!), then went to tan and swim for a bit.  It was in the high 20s -low 30s (Celsius) while we were in Orlando and sooooooo lovely! I can't believe we swam in the Atlantic Ocean in the first week of April!
I got a little too much sun though and ended up totally burnt somewhat rosey!

The next day April 9th (Happy Birthday Jenn Pye!) we hung out with my friend Doug and his buddy Kyle.  We went to a UCF baseball game!! It was super HOT and I was burnt so it was good when we found a little shade to hide in.  A few of Doug's other friends were there too so it was nice to meet more friends. 

Go Knights!

 After the game we decided to go mini-golfing...and I got to feed these guys! Good ol' hot dog on a stick.

 They kept moving really suddenly and it freaked me out.  Mini-golf was Congo themed and super fun.  We had to do a scavenger hunt while we were golfing and we didn't quite find them all but got to do the scratch and win anyways! We only really won 5 or 10% off a t-shirt so it wasn't that big of a deal.  We had dinner at Chili's afterwards. The sunburn caught up with us and we were way too tired to go out. Went home and watched Weeds with Oscar and Kristin though.  Fun day :)
Sunday April 10th Ashley and I met up with two people arriving with her to Disney that she had chatted with on WDWIP.  Emily is from the UK (F&B) and Diego is from Mexico (Merch!) and so we picked them up from their hotel on I-Drive and went to IKEA! It was fun to look around and see all the pretty things.  I would love an IKEA kitchen...one day ;)

 After IKEA we went for lunch at Panera Bread and drove past the housing complexes to show Emily and Diego where they were going to be living!! Then we went and got them all set up with cell phones before going home to get ready for a night out at Howl at the Moon!

Nick, Me and Ashley

 Ashley and I switched friend's houses and stayed with Nick, who is a chef in the kitchen at Le Cellier.  We all went to Howl at the Moon! I was so excited because we use to go to Howl every Sunday when I was a cast member.  One of the main reasons we loved it was because the drinks were 3 for 1, and buckets were $18!! Now the drinks are only 2 for 1 and a bucket was $27!! Ridiculous! It is a fun duelling piano bar, and they sing hilarious made up songs as well as requests! It's super fun, but they need to bring back the 3 for 1s.

Ashley, Gonzalo, Me and Oscar

Monday April 10th was the day I had been waiting for! Nick, Ashley and I headed to EPCOT!! I obviously had known for a while that we were going to go, and was excited, but as we arrived it really hit me that it had been 9 months since I had been in 'my park' and I couldn't wait to get inside!

 Ahhhh! I had butterflies!! Yup, I'm a little dorky...but I loveeee it!

It just happened to be Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival  so there were many character topiaries about!

Daisy!!

Family Picnic!

Butterfly Garden

Pooh, Ashley and I!

Piglet and my favourite Eeyore!

These 3 use to live in the Canada Pavilion..now Bambi has his own Butterfly Garden

At least I wasn't excited about the engagement ring replicas! Yay Royals

 After riding Spaceship Earth (yay!) and venturing through the butterfly garden we went to Canada and saw Linda (the f&b manager) and Francis (the assignor)! It was so so nice :) Familiar faces are so great after long absences.  We also bought a couple Mooseheads from the Canadian Popcorn/Beer Cart! It was exciting using my ID in the pavilion as I was underage during my first program! Then we headed over to the UK to see Yelitza!! We caught up a bit and then made plans to meet later as we were again hoping houses and staying at Yelitza's!

 We travelled to France and they had some great Beauty and the Beast flowers! My favourite ;)

 They also had this guy!! HOLY! He is doing a hand stand on top of a jumbo champagne bottle on top of a huge stack of chairs! He also held his body straight out parallel to the ground which I found insanely impressive! I never stopped to watch before, but now I will again for sure.

 We also got to see the Japanese drummers!

and the Koi pond! Fun!! No saki though, I've learned my lesson.  Well, Ashley said no... :)  hehehe

I <3 Jessica Rabbit!

 I'd never seen these chocolates before.  They had a bunch including a super cute Pinocchio box.

 I love Duffy. Nick is not a fan. I don't think Ashley cares either way...Duffy opinions?

 Group shot...those were everyone's cups not just mine!

 I wanted to do this to Clodagh.

We went to Germany to check everything out and started talking to a cast member named Susannah.  She was super nice and we were talking about Christmas and this guy with a big white beard came up and said he couldn't help but notice we were talking about him.  He told us all about why and how things are done at the North Pole...for a very long time.  Ashley and Nick backed away slowly and then tried to get me to leave too but I felt bad, for both just leaving and for Susannah and so eventually cut in well enough to say goodbye to "Santa" and write Susannah a guest service fanatic card - patience is a big virtue at Disney!

 Mulan and I had a great conversation about her friendship with Giselle and how they like riding horses together.  I like when the characters talk to you about random things like this. Good show!  We also watched the movie in China which I had never done before! It was really pretty and I'd like to see it again.
We had a great stop in the Mexico Pavilion's tequila shop.  We sat beside a hilarious lady and her husband who kept telling us about all the trips she goes on with her girlfriends and leaves her husband at home.  Guests are so funny.

The End.

Well sort of.  It was the end of our day at Epcot and we headed out for dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant.  Then we grabbed our car and headed to Yelitza's for some television and girl chat before bed.

Tuesday April 12th was Ashley's Cultural Representative Program start date!! We woke up, had breakies (Nutella...YUM!) and then Ash took me to the airport for my 12:45pm flight! I got through security really fast which was nice.  My flight was to Montreal and I watched the King's Speech and slept.  It was a really good movie!! If you haven't seen it you probably should - there is a reason they won Oscars! After a jaunt through customs, getting my bag, delivering my bag, and going through security again I boarded my next flight from Montreal to Vancouver.  I finally got to the skytrain outside of YVR around 10 and arrived home to meet my niece around 1115pm! It was a long day! But Clodagh is gorgeous and wonderful and so tiny and incredible. She slept all nuzzled up in my neck :) Perfect.

Disney Challenge Day 12: Favourite Villain Song

This was my original thought, especially with that Hitler-esque scene with the Hyenas all marching past Scarm however...

The following song gives you chills. It is so creepy, he doesn't even think he's horribly evil! Hellfire from the Hunchback of Notre Dame sang by Frollo. Even when I meet him as a character at the parks it creeps me out

as you can see from these two photos taken over a year apart...

At Mickey's Not So Scary (except for Frollo) Halloween Party 2009

I didn't want to touch his hand and was SO uncomfortable. Disneyland October 2010

Disney Challenge Day 13: Least Favourite Song

This is actually really hard. I can't think of my absolute least favourite song, as I clearly don't listen to it very often. My dislike of bugs could make a difference, but I'm going to say this one :

Disney Challenge Day 14: Favourite Kiss

This was a choice between a kiss that created fireworks, a kiss that changed two frogs into people, a kiss that you aren't completely expecting and two kisses, one that woke up one lady and one that woke up an entire country.  These two take the cake for me:

Disney Challenge Day 15: First Movie I Saw

I don't know the answer to this.  I tried to ask my parents but they weren't sure either.  They said we use to watch The Little Mermaid a lot, and I use to watch the Lion King on repeat, and of course Beauty and the Beast.  I'll see if there is anything in my babybook... Sorry!

Disney Challenge Day 16: Favourite Classic

Fantasia

Lady & the Tramp

Peter Pan

I love all of these.  Jungle Book is pretty high up there as well except for how scary the end is with the Tiger and fire! Fun Fantasia Fact: I never knew there was a Ave Maria scene until 2008.  I always got so scared by the Night on Bald Mountain scene with the devil that we turned it off when that started and I just believed it was the end.  I was watching a television special about Disney and they showed a clip of this people walking through a forest from Fantasia and I thought to myself No way, that's not in that movie! I finally sucked it up, put in Fantasia, and watched the whole Night on Bald Mountain scene (and it still freaked me out!) and then finally got to see the Ave Maria scene..and it was beautiful.

Disney Challenge Day 17: Least Favourite Classic

I don't have anything against Dumbo himself.  The reason this is my least favourite is because I just feel so sad and embarrassed for Dumbo the whole time it makes it hard to watch.  I know the moral of Dumbo is to overcome adversity and 'fly high,' however it just makes me too sad to see him seperated from his Mummy and then made fun of so harshly.