Hello everyone reading!!!! Welcome to my new blog. I've never had a blog except for Livejournal back when that was the thing. I decided to start keeping one that will last until about mid-May of 2009.
This entire blog will be dedicated to my upcoming journey. I have recently been accepted to do an internship working at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Here's some background on me, to start with. My name is Allison, and I'm 20 years old. I live in Lenox Township, Michigan, and I've lived in this state for my entire life. I currently attend Macomb Community College for Hospitality Management, and I am planning on dual-enrolling at Madonna University in the Fall 2009 to obtain a bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management. I work for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Utica, MI, and I love my job. I do a variety of jobs there, and I've learned a lot about the hotel industry and I've discovered that I am truly excited to do this for the rest of my life. I'm not extremely smart, but I have true passion for what I love, and the industry is one of my loves!
I first heard about the Disney College Program last year when I took my first hospitality class at Macomb. It sounded like a really great opportunity and something that would help me get ahead in my career. Unfortunately there were some things holding me back from doing the program in the winter of 2008, but this fall I finally did attend a campus presentation and I applied and had my interview. After my interview, I waited 3 weeks and 1 day and my letter finally came in the mail, announcing that I had been accepted to work there. My job ''role'' is Hospitality, which means I'll be working at a hotel, doing front desk work or something of the sort. I'm pretty excited about this, because it's a role that not that many people get, and it's really hard to get it. So that is pretty exciting news for me. I'm also really excited because after this experience it will be so easy for me to find a job.
So what am I going to do about my CURRENT job? I haven't yet talked to my boss, but she knows that i've been accepted to the program and that I will be leaving to work there for 5 months. I really need to talk to her though because I plan on makin gmy last day on December 30th, and it's already November 29th. I really want to come back and work there after my internship. I know, I can go pretty much anywhere I want after this. Having 7 months experience working at a Marriott hotel and 5 months working at a Disney World hotel will look really good on my resume, but I love my job at the Courtyard, and I would love to go back again. So I will probably talk to her next time I see her. Hopefully that will be on Friday. Everyone at work is pretty excited for me though, so I'm glad to have so much support.
How will this internship affect me when I return to Michigan? it will probably have more affect on me than I realize right now, but it will open a ton of doors for me in my career. Not only will I have an awesome resume and awesome work experience at the world's home for hospitality, but I won't have to worry about the competition! I'll BE the competition. Employers will want ME! Especially after I finish college. Holy moly. Hopefully I'm not dreaming too big here, but I really doubt it. Just the bachelor's degree alone is enough to get me a job making $60,000+ a year, but the work experience and the disney experience will probably put me in the six-digit income. Not only will it affect me in the long term but in the short term as well. It will help me see how things are done at another hotel and compare it to what is done at the Courtyard, and it will just be an overall completely different experience that I can take with me when I return to the Marriott. I will probably learn a lot more about guest service and that will really help me when I go back to work! So i'm really excited for that!!
What am I going to miss about home? Well I'm not going to miss the winter months at all. I hate winter. I hate snow. I hate cold weather. So this is the perfect opportunity for me to get away from it all. I get the best of both worlds. I'll be home for Christmas, New Years, AND my birthday. I'm leaving on January 3rd so i will be avoiding most of January here. I will be arriving back in Michigan probably on May 18th. So by the time i get back here, the weather will be starting to get nice again. Awesome. I'm not going to miss the Michigan economy either. But I will miss my friends and family like crazy, and I will miss my cat more than anything else. He is my world and I treat him like he is my son. So i dunno what I'm going to do without him. I'm really close to my mom and even just not seeing her for a few days makes me miss her a lot. So that is going to be really hard for me. My friends I will miss a ton as well, but I don't see them every day. Especially during the school year when we are all super busy. I've always lived at home, so I have no idea what it's like to be away from my parents and my sister. i'm sure the first couple of days will be hard, but I will get used to it eventually. Honestly, in this first blog I don't plan on getting too personal but in my later blogs that I write before I leave I probably will, and I'll explain more about my feelings. I just don't want to do that in my introductory post. I don't want this to sound like a book report or anything, because honestly there is more to me than just good spelling and grammar. So just hold your horses for the good stuff. I feel like this post is super boring and informative....so yeah. Hopefully i'll update this in the next few days/week and discuss more things with a little more ''me'' and not so many facts. lol
Hmm lets see, what else what else. My friend Blair, who I've known for a few years now, is going down to Disney with me! She got accepted to work there as well so i'm really excited that I won't be completely alone. Even though I'll be making a ton of new friends and having an experience of my lifetime, I'm sure there will be times where I'll be super homesick and missing evrything, but having Blair there will really help me out.
Speaking of meeting new people, I have a room mate! Her name is Lindsey and she seems really awesome! I haven't met her yet because she lives in Indiana but I met her on facebook and she and I share a lot of the same interests and she seems like a lot of fun and laid back. So i am really, really happy about that. I was worried that I'd get stuck rooming with a random stranger who would turn out to be super weird. I'm really looking forward to meeting her and spending time with her along with all the new friends I will make. We both want to live in a 3 bedroom apartment meaning six girls in one place! that could get intense, but from what I hear, it's rare that everyone is home at the same time. We both have the same ideas of how we want to decorate the bathroom so thats cool. And...yeah. I'm just really excited about that.
So I leave in 34 days. That is crazy soon. I feel like there are so many things I need to do and start getting ready but i don't even know where to start because I don't want to start anything too early. I've been making a list of things to bring and things I need to pack but it's like, I feel its too early to start packing anything. So for now it's just a list. And it's not a very good list. It's short, and I know I have more things than just that. The beds are twin sized and I have twin sized sheets and a full sized comforter so i'll probably wind up bringing those, even though I think it would have been fun to buy new things. I'm a little broke so that probably won't happen. Though I love to decorate and this would be a great opportunity to be creative. We'll see what happens. My parents are planning on getting me a GPS for my car since I am driving to Florida by myself. That will definitely come in handy. I am not too good with directions sometimes. I think sometime soon, like this week, I'm going to start packing up my clothes because I will only really need my spring/summer clothes and right now all i wear is my winter clothes, since, duh, its cold. I am planning on bringing my tv and dvd player even though its broken and I need to get that fixed...which I'm too broke to do that....so i dunno. and other than those things and my personal items I have no idea what else I need. I want to bring a lamp but I might just buy one down there. I am going to try and not bring too many things since my car isn't that big, but theres alot of things I will need. It IS five months. most of the things are last minute items that I will probably put in my car either the dy before I leave or the day that I leave.
I haven't really planned out my route yet, but I know I need to do that. I am going to print out mapquest directions along with my GPS just in case it like breaks or something terrible like that. I have no idea what time I'm going to leave or how far I'll get in one day. It depends on how often I have to stop for whatever, and it also depends on how comfortable i feel driving at night in unfamiliar places. My parents don't want me to drive in the dark but I probably will anyway. As long as i'm not in the mountains when its dark I think i'd be okay. I'm planning on arriving in Orlando on January 6th, and my check in day is January 7th. I want to be there at like 8AM so I can get the apartment I want. I guess when it comes to driving there I will just wing it and see what happens. I think I will probably leave on January 3rd really early in the morning, like 4AM. The only thing i'm worried about is getting stuck in traffic, but I guess no matter what there will be traffic. However, January 3rd & 4th is a weekend so I will probably do the majority of my driving on the weekend and weekend traffic is not bad like weekday traffic. I just realized that I will probably arrive in orlando on January 5th. It depends on how long it takes me to get there, but yeah, umm, that is kind of weird. Maybe I should leave on the fourth. I dunno. I will have to rethink that.
Anyway, this blog is becoming REALLY REALLY long so I'm going to wrap this up soon. The last thing that I will discuss is my going away party. I'm planning on having it on January 2nd, the day after my birthday. I think I will wind up leaving on January 4th now because now that I think of it, I will be really tired on January 3rd from partying my ass off the night before. lol. I so far have 17 people on my guest list and I'm trying to find a restaurant with a private area so that we aren' tin the way of everyone else. Blair suggested Buca's and Mongolian BBQ so I will probably stop by those places sometime this week and check it out so I can start making reservations. I don't think Mongolian BBQ takes reservations so I could get screwed. I really want to start letting people know so they will be able to come but we'll see what happens. i think that that night or the night before I leave I will be an emotional wreck. I'm already starting to feel a little homesick and I'm still here. Sometimes I randomly think about what it's going to be like hugging everyone good bye and leaving and I almost cry just from that alone. I don't know what I'm going to do when it actually happens. I'm going to be such a wreck. Nobody will want to see me...lol:)
Okay well I think for now that concludes this blog. I will update this later on when I have something new and exciting to discuss or vent about or whatever. thanks for reading, and please come back again!
This entire blog will be dedicated to my upcoming journey. I have recently been accepted to do an internship working at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Here's some background on me, to start with. My name is Allison, and I'm 20 years old. I live in Lenox Township, Michigan, and I've lived in this state for my entire life. I currently attend Macomb Community College for Hospitality Management, and I am planning on dual-enrolling at Madonna University in the Fall 2009 to obtain a bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management. I work for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Utica, MI, and I love my job. I do a variety of jobs there, and I've learned a lot about the hotel industry and I've discovered that I am truly excited to do this for the rest of my life. I'm not extremely smart, but I have true passion for what I love, and the industry is one of my loves!
I first heard about the Disney College Program last year when I took my first hospitality class at Macomb. It sounded like a really great opportunity and something that would help me get ahead in my career. Unfortunately there were some things holding me back from doing the program in the winter of 2008, but this fall I finally did attend a campus presentation and I applied and had my interview. After my interview, I waited 3 weeks and 1 day and my letter finally came in the mail, announcing that I had been accepted to work there. My job ''role'' is Hospitality, which means I'll be working at a hotel, doing front desk work or something of the sort. I'm pretty excited about this, because it's a role that not that many people get, and it's really hard to get it. So that is pretty exciting news for me. I'm also really excited because after this experience it will be so easy for me to find a job.
So what am I going to do about my CURRENT job? I haven't yet talked to my boss, but she knows that i've been accepted to the program and that I will be leaving to work there for 5 months. I really need to talk to her though because I plan on makin gmy last day on December 30th, and it's already November 29th. I really want to come back and work there after my internship. I know, I can go pretty much anywhere I want after this. Having 7 months experience working at a Marriott hotel and 5 months working at a Disney World hotel will look really good on my resume, but I love my job at the Courtyard, and I would love to go back again. So I will probably talk to her next time I see her. Hopefully that will be on Friday. Everyone at work is pretty excited for me though, so I'm glad to have so much support.
How will this internship affect me when I return to Michigan? it will probably have more affect on me than I realize right now, but it will open a ton of doors for me in my career. Not only will I have an awesome resume and awesome work experience at the world's home for hospitality, but I won't have to worry about the competition! I'll BE the competition. Employers will want ME! Especially after I finish college. Holy moly. Hopefully I'm not dreaming too big here, but I really doubt it. Just the bachelor's degree alone is enough to get me a job making $60,000+ a year, but the work experience and the disney experience will probably put me in the six-digit income. Not only will it affect me in the long term but in the short term as well. It will help me see how things are done at another hotel and compare it to what is done at the Courtyard, and it will just be an overall completely different experience that I can take with me when I return to the Marriott. I will probably learn a lot more about guest service and that will really help me when I go back to work! So i'm really excited for that!!
What am I going to miss about home? Well I'm not going to miss the winter months at all. I hate winter. I hate snow. I hate cold weather. So this is the perfect opportunity for me to get away from it all. I get the best of both worlds. I'll be home for Christmas, New Years, AND my birthday. I'm leaving on January 3rd so i will be avoiding most of January here. I will be arriving back in Michigan probably on May 18th. So by the time i get back here, the weather will be starting to get nice again. Awesome. I'm not going to miss the Michigan economy either. But I will miss my friends and family like crazy, and I will miss my cat more than anything else. He is my world and I treat him like he is my son. So i dunno what I'm going to do without him. I'm really close to my mom and even just not seeing her for a few days makes me miss her a lot. So that is going to be really hard for me. My friends I will miss a ton as well, but I don't see them every day. Especially during the school year when we are all super busy. I've always lived at home, so I have no idea what it's like to be away from my parents and my sister. i'm sure the first couple of days will be hard, but I will get used to it eventually. Honestly, in this first blog I don't plan on getting too personal but in my later blogs that I write before I leave I probably will, and I'll explain more about my feelings. I just don't want to do that in my introductory post. I don't want this to sound like a book report or anything, because honestly there is more to me than just good spelling and grammar. So just hold your horses for the good stuff. I feel like this post is super boring and informative....so yeah. Hopefully i'll update this in the next few days/week and discuss more things with a little more ''me'' and not so many facts. lol
Hmm lets see, what else what else. My friend Blair, who I've known for a few years now, is going down to Disney with me! She got accepted to work there as well so i'm really excited that I won't be completely alone. Even though I'll be making a ton of new friends and having an experience of my lifetime, I'm sure there will be times where I'll be super homesick and missing evrything, but having Blair there will really help me out.
Speaking of meeting new people, I have a room mate! Her name is Lindsey and she seems really awesome! I haven't met her yet because she lives in Indiana but I met her on facebook and she and I share a lot of the same interests and she seems like a lot of fun and laid back. So i am really, really happy about that. I was worried that I'd get stuck rooming with a random stranger who would turn out to be super weird. I'm really looking forward to meeting her and spending time with her along with all the new friends I will make. We both want to live in a 3 bedroom apartment meaning six girls in one place! that could get intense, but from what I hear, it's rare that everyone is home at the same time. We both have the same ideas of how we want to decorate the bathroom so thats cool. And...yeah. I'm just really excited about that.
So I leave in 34 days. That is crazy soon. I feel like there are so many things I need to do and start getting ready but i don't even know where to start because I don't want to start anything too early. I've been making a list of things to bring and things I need to pack but it's like, I feel its too early to start packing anything. So for now it's just a list. And it's not a very good list. It's short, and I know I have more things than just that. The beds are twin sized and I have twin sized sheets and a full sized comforter so i'll probably wind up bringing those, even though I think it would have been fun to buy new things. I'm a little broke so that probably won't happen. Though I love to decorate and this would be a great opportunity to be creative. We'll see what happens. My parents are planning on getting me a GPS for my car since I am driving to Florida by myself. That will definitely come in handy. I am not too good with directions sometimes. I think sometime soon, like this week, I'm going to start packing up my clothes because I will only really need my spring/summer clothes and right now all i wear is my winter clothes, since, duh, its cold. I am planning on bringing my tv and dvd player even though its broken and I need to get that fixed...which I'm too broke to do that....so i dunno. and other than those things and my personal items I have no idea what else I need. I want to bring a lamp but I might just buy one down there. I am going to try and not bring too many things since my car isn't that big, but theres alot of things I will need. It IS five months. most of the things are last minute items that I will probably put in my car either the dy before I leave or the day that I leave.
I haven't really planned out my route yet, but I know I need to do that. I am going to print out mapquest directions along with my GPS just in case it like breaks or something terrible like that. I have no idea what time I'm going to leave or how far I'll get in one day. It depends on how often I have to stop for whatever, and it also depends on how comfortable i feel driving at night in unfamiliar places. My parents don't want me to drive in the dark but I probably will anyway. As long as i'm not in the mountains when its dark I think i'd be okay. I'm planning on arriving in Orlando on January 6th, and my check in day is January 7th. I want to be there at like 8AM so I can get the apartment I want. I guess when it comes to driving there I will just wing it and see what happens. I think I will probably leave on January 3rd really early in the morning, like 4AM. The only thing i'm worried about is getting stuck in traffic, but I guess no matter what there will be traffic. However, January 3rd & 4th is a weekend so I will probably do the majority of my driving on the weekend and weekend traffic is not bad like weekday traffic. I just realized that I will probably arrive in orlando on January 5th. It depends on how long it takes me to get there, but yeah, umm, that is kind of weird. Maybe I should leave on the fourth. I dunno. I will have to rethink that.
Anyway, this blog is becoming REALLY REALLY long so I'm going to wrap this up soon. The last thing that I will discuss is my going away party. I'm planning on having it on January 2nd, the day after my birthday. I think I will wind up leaving on January 4th now because now that I think of it, I will be really tired on January 3rd from partying my ass off the night before. lol. I so far have 17 people on my guest list and I'm trying to find a restaurant with a private area so that we aren' tin the way of everyone else. Blair suggested Buca's and Mongolian BBQ so I will probably stop by those places sometime this week and check it out so I can start making reservations. I don't think Mongolian BBQ takes reservations so I could get screwed. I really want to start letting people know so they will be able to come but we'll see what happens. i think that that night or the night before I leave I will be an emotional wreck. I'm already starting to feel a little homesick and I'm still here. Sometimes I randomly think about what it's going to be like hugging everyone good bye and leaving and I almost cry just from that alone. I don't know what I'm going to do when it actually happens. I'm going to be such a wreck. Nobody will want to see me...lol:)
Okay well I think for now that concludes this blog. I will update this later on when I have something new and exciting to discuss or vent about or whatever. thanks for reading, and please come back again!
