So we have some catching up to do

So I apologize deeply for not updating in like 2 weeks. I have been so crazy-busy but now I finally have a moment to write about my adventures from this week. I will try to not drone on, and only give the important details!

Tuesday, January 6th was my flight to Florida. I was SO nervous!! I hadn't flown since I was like 11 years old, so it had been awhile and I don't have fond memories. It was really really hard leaving my cats behind at home. I cried so much saying good bye to Callie and I couldn't find Milo because he kept hiding under things. I got to the airport super early and spent my time waiting chatting with some guy who was on my flight. The plane ride was scary, I decided I hate flying. Once we were about 10 minutes from landing and we were under the clouds I was alright though. lol...2 hours later.

Arriving in Orlando was crazy, I had to first collect my luggage and then figure out how to get to my hotel. There was a free shuttle service to my hotel which was a Marriott so I called them and someone came and picked me up. It was so nice once I took a shower (I was SWEATING at this point...wearing winter clothes in 80 degree weather) being able to relax and enjoy the beautiful evening...didn't miss the snow back at home at all.

I met a girl on facebook named Kim from New York a few months ago about sharing a hotel room so she came around 10pm and we stayed the night and in the morning drove to check-in together. The process altogether took about 2 hours with all the papers to fill out, getting housing assignments and keys, ID photos taken for our housing ID's, a background check, and all that other junk. I finally got to my apartment around 11:30 where I met Lindsey, my room mate, her parents, and some other room mates and their parents. At 12:30 we had our housing meeting which lasted until 2:30. Later that night I went to wal-mart to get a bunch of crap and ran into Kim from New York (yes thats her name) and she gave me a ride back home which was awesome. I came home and hung out with all my room mates and we went to bed around 12.


Thursday all we had to do was some employment paperwork. Me being the idiot that I am forgot to bring my driver's license with me so i had to come home, get my ID and take it to the Casting Center which is about 4 miles away. Luckily, one of my room mates, Andrea, has a car and she drove me there. That was super nice of her. We all hung out at the apartment for awhile until 4 there was a pool party at Patterson Court, the apartment complex for interns down the road from us (we live at Chatham Square). The party was pretty fun, there was free food and drinks, lots of people, music and dancing, a hula hoop contest, and limbo! lol. Lilo and Stitch were there as well. We went back home around 6 and then four of us went to some stores and then got back home and just hung out and went to bed.

Friday, yesterday, we had a class called Traditions. It's a class where you learn EVERYTHING about Disney the company, you learn about the past, present, and future of Disney and it's pretty interesting but it can be really boring too since its like four hours of sitting. The instructors were fairly interesting though so that made it less torturous. I met a few girls there. They were extremely strict about our appearance. We had to dress up really nicely and business casual so anything that they saw that was wrong we had to fix and if we couldn't we had to go home. I mean like they were looking at our clothes, our shoes, our jewelry, our hair, EVERYTHING! I was so nervous about my hair not passing because I have highlights and they really dont want us having them but I got away with it yay!

Anyway after traditions I didn't get home til like 6:10ish and I was tired so I decided to stay home while the rest of my room mates were out about and having fun. I felt like a loser but I mean i was tired!

Today I woke up at 5:20, took the bus to the Contemporary Resort (after having to change buses too) and got there around 7:30. There was about 15 people for "Legacy Day'' as they call it. I was the ONLY intern who had been chosen for the front desk out of the 15 of us. I asked my trainer later how many interns were chosen for front desk and he said a total of 13, so I'm really happy I'm not alone, but I AM the first one to be trained so I'm nervous!!!

The Contemporary is beautiful though...I still can't believe that I WORK there!!!

Anyway my uniform isn't too hideous...I've seen some horrible ones at Disney so far so I feel lucky haha. So yeah thats basically all that has really gone on but i've been so busy and now I am exhausted. my room mates are out at Epcot right now but I was still on my way home when they left so I am home just relaxing after a very very long day. I feel sort of like I should be out enjoying Florida but I figure I have plenty of time to do that later when I work less crazy hours.

And so anyway, I am out of this bitch. I'm probably gonna shower and go to bed cause i'm exhausted as hell. and i have another busy day tomorrow. peace out! and have a magical day.

You won't fall for me if you know what's good for you, cause I've still got a lot of leaving left to do

Alright I think this will probably be my last update until I get to Florida! How exciting!

I've managed to get down to five more days!!! Today is Thursday and my flight is on Tuesday so these two days barely count, so all I have left is Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday!! I'm like freaking out alot. I can't even believe it.

So for starters, today is my birthday! I am FINALLY 21!!! I'm very excited about this! Last night I had a New Years Eve party at my house and all my best friends came so the night was incredible. Nothing better than ringing in the new year with (most) of your favorite people. :) We had a great time, had lots of food and booze and games and we wound up not going to bed until like 6:00 this morning. My friends are hilarious when they are drunk, I can't even lie, it's the greatest thing.

Which reminds me that i'm really really going to miss my friends :( last night for the first time since I found out that I'm leaving I actually cried because Dana told me she's going to miss me, and that I'm her best friend. It's just one of those things that you already know, but to hear it being said outloud is totally different. I tried to not cry and ruin my party and make people look at me but I couldn't help it. Plus I had a few drinks in my system which always helps make me more emotional, PLUS I had JUST found out that my sister had been keeping a huge secret from me about who she's dating and i was really upset about that too. So yeah it was a combination of things, but ultimately I know that it's going to be really hard not seeing my friends for five months. I know we'll all be really busy but it's just going to be weird not seeing them for so long. I think tomorrow will probably be the last time I see them but I'm not sure. Me, Steve, Mike and Dana are going to the bar tomorrow but I'm not sure about if I'll see Chris or Kyle or Stacey or anyone else. Kyle is going back to GV on Sunday. I'm used to not seeing him though last semester he came home a few times to hang out with us so I saw him like monthly.

Well anyhoo, moving on, I shipped my shit down through UPS and it cost me like $22. I was very happy about that. I thought it would be a lot more. I had two boxes and they were a decent size. I'm pretty sure the rest of my crap will all fit in my suitcases that I'm taking on the plane and whatever DOESNT fit I'll just have my parents ship down later.

Umm and thats really about all I have to say. I just can't believe it's almost here. I'm nervous about a lot of things, but I'm also super excited, especially to get out of this weather and into the sunshine state!! :) Well I'll update probably on Tuesday when I get to my hotel after I fly in, so check back with me later!! ta ta!

My first post! Pre-Disney

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!