FINALLY FLORIDA!!!

Soooo today is my 3rd day in Florida and I can say that I absolutely love it!! I wish I had discovered it earlier. Let me recap my last 3 days:

Tues 3/22: I woke up still not believing that I would be in a new state by the end of the day. So on autopilot I packed my bags into the car while my dad drove me and my mom to the airport. Once security was over with I was feeling a lot better because you never know what security will do haha I had a wifi router in my carry on and I was really hoping they didnt think I was going to use it as a weapon! So finally we board the plane and the 5 hour flight flies by thanks to Virgin airlines and the personal TV in each seat :) As soon as we land in Florida I am in awe. The airport reminded me of Hawaii with very Tropical air and lots and lots of plants, even some fountains! We rent our car and drive to the Holiday Inn as the sun is setting, one of the most gorgeous sunsets I've ever seen.

I met this girl Emily on facebook through the WDW college program group and we decided we wanted to be roommates. I was wary because I had never met her but that night we met in applebees for dinner with my mom, her mom and her cousin Courtney and all my fears went away. They were such a fun group of people who can find fun in anything, which is a very important skill to have :) They are from Illinois and own a sheep farm!

Wed 3/23: The next morning Emily and I met in the lobby of our hotel to walk to check in at 8am. It was a quick 5 minute walk, but we had to run across a busy highway to get there! We had many laughs along the way. Once we got there (it was not crowded at all, due to the few number of kids arriving on our date) we filled out lots of paperwork and received our housing assignments! Emily and I were able to be roomates in the Chatham Apartments. (there were 3 complexes to pick between, Vista Way: which was known for being crazy, Chatham and Patterson: which was completely full). I am very very happy we got Chatham because it is right next to the bus stop and it is such a cute complex! It reminds me of a little town in New England. Also Mickey's Retreat is a 2 minute walk away! Mickey's retreat is a place only for cast members to go and there are amazing pools and a little beach on Lake Bryan.

Anyways, after we were done with that at about 9:15 we were free until 12:30 when we had casting. So I went to Walmart with my mom and bought supplies for my soon to be apartment. Then, at 12:30 Emily and I walked back to Vista Way (where check in was) and met our other roommates Lindsday, Kim, Shawna (all 3 are from Washington state) and Shaleen, from Puerto Rico (there were still 2 more roommates to meet who are both from Puerto Rico). We boarded a bus to take us to casting which is this HUGE building right across from Downtown Disney and there were golden statues of Disney characters in the lobby. I found out my job location which is Pecos Bills Cafe in frontierland in MAGIC KINGDOM!!! Apparently Magic Kingdom is open the latest, so I will be working very very late some nights. But aside from that, I am very happy to be working there because it is very similar to Disneyland, it will be nice to have some familiarity. The rest of casting was just completing boring paperwork and getting fingerprinted and such, so I wont bore you with that. Oh, also 2 of my roommates and I were told our highlights weren't natural enough, so Emily and I went and bought hair dye after. I had been wanting a change for sometime, so this was the perfect opportunity!

After casting my mom helped me move all my stuff into my Chatham apartment! Emily and I have a very cozy room with a walk in closet thank gosh! Following that I made another trip to Walmart to buy everything else that I didn't have, including tons of food!! Thankfully we have 2 fridges, but one is in the sketchiest closet by the front door haha Then Kim, Lindsay and I took a bus to Downtown Disney which was incredibly crowded! I was still overwhelmed by the sheer size and perfection of it! I am used to the Downtown Disney in Disneyland and that looks mediocre compared to this! I can't wait to explore more and see the parks! I met up with Emily and her family (did I mention they are fabulous?? and I am so lucky to have met her!) and we drove back to the hotel where we dyed our hair. eeeeek! Her cousin Courtney did mine, thank gosh or else I would have failed miserabley! It turned out darker than I expected but it's not permanent so it will get lighter soon!

Thurs 3/24: We all got up early to go to our Housing meeting over at The Commons (international student housing) and it lasted 2 hours and they went over housing policies and all that boring stuff. However, they did mention a bunch of activities for us CPs (college programers as we're called) such as volunteering at the Give Kids The World Village, which is a place families go with their terminally ilil children for a day of fun and relaxation. Also, there is a Carnevale event next tuesday for all of us to meet everyone and we get free Italian food! yum!

I am currently relaxing and watching Jurassic Park because I know this will be my ONLY free time in a long time. We have Traditions tomorrow, which I'm not even too sure how long it will be or what we will be doing. I know we get more info about our jobs and tours of the parks and such, so that will be amazing!! I already miss everyone from home soooo much and I know this will be a fun 5 months but also tough to be away :( This post was SUPER long but there is lots to say for the first couple days. As my time here goes on I will be very busy so I will try my hardest to keep it up to date!

Just keep swimming!! :)