Hello again everyone!
It's been a long time since I have actually sat down to write a blog post. Nearly 2 months to be exact. Lots of things have happened since my last post. I have gone from being a quiet, scared person, ready to be done with my program and just go home, to already planning out the next time I can come out here even though my program is nowhere near close to being over. Two months ago I kept virtual calendars on my computer with the amount of days listed on each date and I would put a big red x over the days as they came and went. I was extremely homesick, I didn't want to be here anymore at that point and was just hating everything. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but something just clicked with me eventually. I began loving my job and to this day I still look forward to going to work because I know I will be able to make some kind of magical moment for a guest.
My latest magical moment happened with a little girl. You could tell she wasn't feeling well, and had no hair, so I believe she was undergoing chemotherapy. She stood very patiently at the end of the long line of people I had wanted to look at my pins one night. When she finally made it up to me, her mother informed me that she didn't have any pins, only buttons, but she really wanted to see mine. I smiled, bent down on her level and asked her if she saw one she liked. She pointed to a Cheshire cat mickey hat and said she liked it. I started taking it off and her mom told her that she would have to give me one of her buttons if she wanted that one. I told her mom, that it was ok. I handed her the pin and smiled and said "here you go princess, I think this one belongs with you." She started jumping up and down all excited, her parents and sister started crying thanking me and I kneeled there biting my tongue as this little girl hugged me. I said bye to them and they went on their way. I grabbed my pan and broom and booked it to a backstage area and just burst into tears. I couldn't help it. All I kept thinking is that for all I knew, that could have been their last vacation with her and I just gave them a special memory. I stood back there crying for a few minutes before I finally dried my eyes and headed back to my zone before anyone came past and saw me crying. It's moments like these that keep me loving my job and keep me going strong.
I spend a lot of time with my coworkers as well. I fell hard for a guy I work with, to the point that I would sit up late and talk to him, come to work on my days off and stand with him for hours just talking. I fell harder than I have ever fallen before. I was then informed by him that he had no feelings for me at all, and I took it hard. Without my group of coworkers, I probably wouldn't have been able to make it through. They were there for me with 3:00am Denny's runs, or car ride talks where I could complain and get my anger out. They became my family out here and I couldn't have asked for a better group. We support each other and help out when someone is going through something. It's reached a point where we seem to know each others personalities and when someone goes off from what their normal is, we swoop in and try to figure out what's wrong. They literally are my best friends and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to spend my 8 months with.
Now, you may think that in 6 months my adventure is going to be over, but that's far from the truth. When I finish the program in January, I am giving myself a year to tie up some loose ends. I need to get my license, save up for a car, hopefully get an RA position with my college and a management position for the cocoa shack, and find an apartment. After those get taken care of, I want to start apply for a management internship and come back as some as possible. If I can get the next internship, and it goes well, I want to come home, finish school and then apply for a full time management position with Disney. I would love to stay on the West side with my family, but I am willing to go anywhere I am needed. Since coming out to Disney, my dreams have shifted from wanted to work at a Videogame company to wanted to stay with Disney. So far this is an amazing opportunity and I know I still have plenty of time left to have some more awesome experiences. Even if I don't make it back to Disney in the future, I can use the lessons I learned from working here to help make me a better person and help me get hired at another company, but we're not thinking about that right now. I totally recommend that anyone who is in college applies for the college program. It is a lot of long hours, unpredictable guests, sometimes it gets stressful, but I would not trade it for the world. I have learned so much out here and enjoy it more than I could have ever imagined.
