Testing...testing...
Well hello there! I'm guessing by now you had assumed me dead, having fallen to my death on Space Mountain or fed to the crocodiles on the Jungle Cruise - right? And yes, I know, I went completely awol and didn't blog at all last year. Bt if you're still with me I'd like to make amends.
For the record, I am back in Australia for the time being, my Disney ICP adventure having ended sometime in January, but I would still like to share my experience with you all. And hopefully I can help out anyone who is thinking about doing the program in the future. I make no promises, my updates will probably be sporadic and random at best but I will do my best to keep updating for you.
If you have any areas you're interested in or questions for me, please don't hesitate to let me know!
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Monday, 9 May 2016
Monday, 2 March 2015
The Adventure Begins
Ok guys, sorry I have been soon unbelievably bad at updating this blog, but I've got a laptop now so I'm going to try and get some updates up. I'm going to post these retrospectively, because even though it's been over a month since I came here, I want to share my entire experience. My goal is to catch up with myself so I can post in a more real-time manner, but for now, I'll start with the beginning of my adventure and my journey to the USA.
So the day before I left Australia, I travelled with my parents to Melbourne. We stayed the night at my brother's house which was nice because got to say a last goodbye to my brother and his family. On Friday morning, January 9th, I got up bright and early and made sure all of my stuff was securely packed before we headed to the airport. I was excited, but at the same time it didn't quite feel real that I was moving to America. I got to the airport first and messaged the other girls to let them know where I was. Before long, Aprille, Hannah and Nichola arrived - I'd met Hannah and Nichola before but it was my first time meeting Aprille. At this point our flight had been delayed, but we stayed positive and checked in before heading off for some final time with our individual families. Finally the time came for us to head to the gate so we said our final goodbyes. I tried not to get too emotional, but it was weird to think I wouldn't be seeing Mum and Dad for nearly a year.
Once we found our gate, we discovered that our flight had been delayed even further. We were worried about making our connecting flight in LA, but there was nothing we could do about it so tried not to let it bother us. The airline did give us all $20 vouchers to use in the terminal food court, so we stocked up on snacks for the flight. Eventually we boarded and settled in four our 14 hour flight to LA. As far as long haul flights go, it wasn't too bad. It was my first time flying international with Qantas and I was very impressed. Having an individual TV screen is so good, and it makes me wonder how I actually coped with my first flight to LA back in 2000 when I had to watch the same three movies as everyone else! I watched Guardians of the Galaxy and Despicable Me 2 during the flight and went for lots of walks around the cabin and eventually we landed in LA. We had missed our connecting flight and by the time we got through customs, we'd also missed the second flight they had booked us on! Unfortunately, the next flight they could get us on wasn't until 10pm and it was only midday! However, the airline put us up in a nearby hotel so we cold get some rest and relax before our flight. I managed to catch a few hours sleep at the hotel which kept me going for the last leg of our trip, although the flight to Orlando was pretty tough.
But...FINALLY we landed in Florida at 6am on Saturday morning - about 12 hours later than we had originally intended. The Orlando airport was very cool - we had to take a monorail from the gate to the main terminal building! We picked up our bags and headed to the area where Disney's Magical Express picks up from. We didn't have to wait at all before we got on to a lovely coach bus that we had all to ourselves! Our driver was very friendly and told us lots of little tidbits about Disney World and Orlando during the trip to the hotel. The moment we drove under that famous Walt Disney World sign was incredibly surreal, and it was even more special that the sun was just rising as we made our way on to Disney property.
Eventually we arrived at Disney's All Star movies Resort and made our way in to the check-in desk. Check in was super easy and they even allowed Nichola and I to split the payment for the room which was very convenient. We got given our magic bands, which have our names on the inside and we made our way to our rooms. Nichola and I were kind of disappointed because whilst Hannah and Aprille had a room in the 101 Dalmatians area of the hotel (also where Lily and her Mum were), we'd been given a room in the Toy Story section, on the opposite side of the hotel. But there were more dramas to come. You see, when we got to the room, it wasn't clean. In fact, it looked like someone had crashed it for a movie night or something because the beds were unmade and there were food packages everywhere! Nichola ran back to the front desk so we didn't have to drag all our luggage again and when she returned she said they were going to allocate us a new room but it wouldn't be ready yet. We left our suitcases with baggage services and went to find Hannah and Aprille's room. We all had showers and got changed in to fresh clothes which was such a relief after so many hours of traveling!
We'd been messaging Lily, our roommate who was also staying at All Star Movies and she said she was heading down to the food court for breakfast so we made our way down there to meet her. Once we found Lily and her mum, we snagged a table and got some food - I finally got my first taste of Mickey waffles! After breakfast we checked out the hotel gift shop, which was much larger than I was expecting, and then said goodbye to Lily as she and her mum were heading off to a park for the day.
We returned to Hannah and Aprille's room and rang up to check on our room, but it still wasn't ready, so we all had a bit of a nap and just sat around watching old school Mickey Mouse cartoons for a few hours. After a while, I rang the front desk again and they said our new room was ready! The most exciting thing was that our new room was in the 101 Dalmatians area! And we found out a little bit later that by some incredible coincidence, we had been put in the room right next door to Lily and her mum! So crazy! Nichola and I finally headed to our new room to get freshened up before the four of us caught a taxi to Walmart. We wanted to see if we could get some bedding before the crazy rush of check-in day. Walmart was great, but in the end we were all so tired we just wanted to go home.
Back at the resort, we had some dinner at the food court and then I skyped my family back home. Nichola found Finding Nemo on the TV, so we watched that for a bit and Lily even came around to visit for a while but we were starting to doze off so we settled in to our beds to finally get a well deserved good night's sleep.
So the day before I left Australia, I travelled with my parents to Melbourne. We stayed the night at my brother's house which was nice because got to say a last goodbye to my brother and his family. On Friday morning, January 9th, I got up bright and early and made sure all of my stuff was securely packed before we headed to the airport. I was excited, but at the same time it didn't quite feel real that I was moving to America. I got to the airport first and messaged the other girls to let them know where I was. Before long, Aprille, Hannah and Nichola arrived - I'd met Hannah and Nichola before but it was my first time meeting Aprille. At this point our flight had been delayed, but we stayed positive and checked in before heading off for some final time with our individual families. Finally the time came for us to head to the gate so we said our final goodbyes. I tried not to get too emotional, but it was weird to think I wouldn't be seeing Mum and Dad for nearly a year.
Once we found our gate, we discovered that our flight had been delayed even further. We were worried about making our connecting flight in LA, but there was nothing we could do about it so tried not to let it bother us. The airline did give us all $20 vouchers to use in the terminal food court, so we stocked up on snacks for the flight. Eventually we boarded and settled in four our 14 hour flight to LA. As far as long haul flights go, it wasn't too bad. It was my first time flying international with Qantas and I was very impressed. Having an individual TV screen is so good, and it makes me wonder how I actually coped with my first flight to LA back in 2000 when I had to watch the same three movies as everyone else! I watched Guardians of the Galaxy and Despicable Me 2 during the flight and went for lots of walks around the cabin and eventually we landed in LA. We had missed our connecting flight and by the time we got through customs, we'd also missed the second flight they had booked us on! Unfortunately, the next flight they could get us on wasn't until 10pm and it was only midday! However, the airline put us up in a nearby hotel so we cold get some rest and relax before our flight. I managed to catch a few hours sleep at the hotel which kept me going for the last leg of our trip, although the flight to Orlando was pretty tough.
But...FINALLY we landed in Florida at 6am on Saturday morning - about 12 hours later than we had originally intended. The Orlando airport was very cool - we had to take a monorail from the gate to the main terminal building! We picked up our bags and headed to the area where Disney's Magical Express picks up from. We didn't have to wait at all before we got on to a lovely coach bus that we had all to ourselves! Our driver was very friendly and told us lots of little tidbits about Disney World and Orlando during the trip to the hotel. The moment we drove under that famous Walt Disney World sign was incredibly surreal, and it was even more special that the sun was just rising as we made our way on to Disney property.
Eventually we arrived at Disney's All Star movies Resort and made our way in to the check-in desk. Check in was super easy and they even allowed Nichola and I to split the payment for the room which was very convenient. We got given our magic bands, which have our names on the inside and we made our way to our rooms. Nichola and I were kind of disappointed because whilst Hannah and Aprille had a room in the 101 Dalmatians area of the hotel (also where Lily and her Mum were), we'd been given a room in the Toy Story section, on the opposite side of the hotel. But there were more dramas to come. You see, when we got to the room, it wasn't clean. In fact, it looked like someone had crashed it for a movie night or something because the beds were unmade and there were food packages everywhere! Nichola ran back to the front desk so we didn't have to drag all our luggage again and when she returned she said they were going to allocate us a new room but it wouldn't be ready yet. We left our suitcases with baggage services and went to find Hannah and Aprille's room. We all had showers and got changed in to fresh clothes which was such a relief after so many hours of traveling!
We'd been messaging Lily, our roommate who was also staying at All Star Movies and she said she was heading down to the food court for breakfast so we made our way down there to meet her. Once we found Lily and her mum, we snagged a table and got some food - I finally got my first taste of Mickey waffles! After breakfast we checked out the hotel gift shop, which was much larger than I was expecting, and then said goodbye to Lily as she and her mum were heading off to a park for the day.
We returned to Hannah and Aprille's room and rang up to check on our room, but it still wasn't ready, so we all had a bit of a nap and just sat around watching old school Mickey Mouse cartoons for a few hours. After a while, I rang the front desk again and they said our new room was ready! The most exciting thing was that our new room was in the 101 Dalmatians area! And we found out a little bit later that by some incredible coincidence, we had been put in the room right next door to Lily and her mum! So crazy! Nichola and I finally headed to our new room to get freshened up before the four of us caught a taxi to Walmart. We wanted to see if we could get some bedding before the crazy rush of check-in day. Walmart was great, but in the end we were all so tired we just wanted to go home.
Back at the resort, we had some dinner at the food court and then I skyped my family back home. Nichola found Finding Nemo on the TV, so we watched that for a bit and Lily even came around to visit for a while but we were starting to doze off so we settled in to our beds to finally get a well deserved good night's sleep.
Sunday, 25 January 2015
I'm still alive!
Hi all! I'm so sorry this update is a long time coming but I've been so busy these first few weeks in America and I also don't have a computer at the moment so I'm attempting to to this update on my iPad. This is just going to be a really quick update and I will do my best to put up more soon because I want to make sure I don't miss out on anything.
First of all, this has been such an incredible adventure so far. I won't lie and say it has been all sunshine and roses because there have been some huge challenges already, and I've had to learn to adapt my expectations of certain people and experiences. That being said, I've also had some wonderful experiences and met so many lovely people so far, which far outweighs any difficulties I may be encountering.
I'm just going to go through a few of the basics here and then I'll go back and cover things in more detail in future posts.
Due to delayed flights, we ended up getting to Orlando 12 hours late so we arrived Saturday morning instead of Friday night, but it all worked out fine in the end. I was lucky enough to be housed with the roommates I'd selected and we were allocated an apartment in Chatham Square (our first choice of complex), unfortunately we were given a 2-bedroom apartment, which means we have triple occupancy rooms/bunk beds. We were pretty disappointed at first, although it hasn't been as bad as we first though it would be. Our rent is significantly cheaper than a 3-bedroom apartment and they've also given us 2 fridges, which makes a massive difference in terms of space and storage. Also, our apartment is really conveniently located near the main entrance to Chatham and it's only a 3 minute walk to the bus stop, so that's fantastic.
I was also initially slightly disappointed with my location as I was placed in Disney's Animal Kingdom park and that wasn't my first choice (I was hoping for Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios) but since my orientation and the training days I've had there so far, I'm actually really excited about working in DAK. It's an incredible park and my location is great so you'll hear more about that soon.
Because of my work/training schedule, I didn't get to visit a park until a week after I started, which I was pretty bummed about, but it was definitely worth the wait, and I got to have a day playing at Magic Kingdim yesterday - more to come about that!
I'm going to have to cut it short here because I have to head to work, but I've uploaded a few pics to Instagram if you want to check that out. I promise to update as soon as I can!
Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Christmas Wishes and Bucket Lists
Merry Christmas everyone! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve here in Australia and I am writing this from my parent's house where I am spending the festive season. I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family before I head off to Florida next month! I can't believe how quickly everything is happening - it's less than 20 days until I leave Australia!
You will hopefully begin to see more frequent updates from me very soon, in fact there's already some blog updates you can check out. You will notice I've added my bucket list to the navigation bar at the top of the page, I will try to keep that updated throughout my program as best I can. Please let me know if you have any ideas for things I should add to my bucket list or great things to do in Florida, because I would love to hear them.
Also, I have been feverishly trying to get my DICP Guide up-to-date before my departure because I don't know how much time I will have to work on it once I'm in America. I'm currently finishing off my posts on the visa process which has been a mammoth task.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy taking some time out to enjoy being with your loved ones. Thank you to everyone who has been following along with me in this journey so far, and the real adventure hasn't even begun yet!
You will hopefully begin to see more frequent updates from me very soon, in fact there's already some blog updates you can check out. You will notice I've added my bucket list to the navigation bar at the top of the page, I will try to keep that updated throughout my program as best I can. Please let me know if you have any ideas for things I should add to my bucket list or great things to do in Florida, because I would love to hear them.
Also, I have been feverishly trying to get my DICP Guide up-to-date before my departure because I don't know how much time I will have to work on it once I'm in America. I'm currently finishing off my posts on the visa process which has been a mammoth task.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy taking some time out to enjoy being with your loved ones. Thank you to everyone who has been following along with me in this journey so far, and the real adventure hasn't even begun yet!
Monday, 8 December 2014
And the Vlogging Continues
I'm sorry that this is just another vlog update (unless you really like my vlogs, in which case - you're welcome!). I am officially done with school as of tomorrow so I plan to work on updating this blog a lot more in the coming weeks. But for now I just want to share my two latest youtube videos. The first is an About Me/Roommate Survey video and the second is a Disney Tag video. If you enjoy them, please head over to my channel HERE and subscribe!
About Me/Roommate Survey
The Disney Tag
Thanks for watching!
Sunday, 16 November 2014
Visas, Roomies and Packing - Oh My!
Hey guys! sooo sorry I've been MIA lately - I've just been so super busy and despite thinking "Oh I need to blog" about a hundred times, I never quite managed to actually write the post! And this one is going to be just a quick update sadly, because I'm in the process of moving out of my apartment but I have plans to do lots of blogging and vlogging in a few weeks once things have settled down.
So the three big things going on with me at the moment in regards to the program are:
1. Visa: I have my American J1 Visa! Yay!!!! It was quite the stressful experience, but I'm relieved it's over and done with now and I'm all good to go work in the USA. It took close to two weeks from receiving the forms in the mail to recieving my actual visa, but that was because I had to travel to Melbourne for my visa appointment. If you live in the same city as he US Consulate it can take less than that. I won't go into any great detail here and now because I plan to write a detailed post in the DICP Guide so keep an eye out for that! I also vlogged some of my trip to Melbourne so I'll post that video as soon as I get a chance to edit it.
2. Roomies: So I've got my Roommates sorted for Disney, which is super exciting. There are 6 of us in total and I'm already having so much fun getting to know them. Some of them are from Melbourne too so I got to catch up with them when I went over to do my visa. Finding great Roomies was something I was really worried about so I feel really calm now that I have that sorted. I'm sure you will see/hear more of them as time goes on :)
3. Packing: No I haven't started packing for Disney 2 months early - I'm moving out of my apartment this week so I'm packing up all my worldly possessions and discovering how much crap I actually own! I'm staying with family for the rest of my time in Australia so that will be interesting, but a good chance to spend time with my loved ones before I head off to the states.
So, that's a really quick update on me for the time being - I promise I will post more once I've got some spare time and I've finished packing and moving!
So the three big things going on with me at the moment in regards to the program are:
1. Visa: I have my American J1 Visa! Yay!!!! It was quite the stressful experience, but I'm relieved it's over and done with now and I'm all good to go work in the USA. It took close to two weeks from receiving the forms in the mail to recieving my actual visa, but that was because I had to travel to Melbourne for my visa appointment. If you live in the same city as he US Consulate it can take less than that. I won't go into any great detail here and now because I plan to write a detailed post in the DICP Guide so keep an eye out for that! I also vlogged some of my trip to Melbourne so I'll post that video as soon as I get a chance to edit it.
2. Roomies: So I've got my Roommates sorted for Disney, which is super exciting. There are 6 of us in total and I'm already having so much fun getting to know them. Some of them are from Melbourne too so I got to catch up with them when I went over to do my visa. Finding great Roomies was something I was really worried about so I feel really calm now that I have that sorted. I'm sure you will see/hear more of them as time goes on :)
3. Packing: No I haven't started packing for Disney 2 months early - I'm moving out of my apartment this week so I'm packing up all my worldly possessions and discovering how much crap I actually own! I'm staying with family for the rest of my time in Australia so that will be interesting, but a good chance to spend time with my loved ones before I head off to the states.
So, that's a really quick update on me for the time being - I promise I will post more once I've got some spare time and I've finished packing and moving!
Saturday, 30 August 2014
Blog Update
I've been working on my blog a lot lately and there's more to come so I thought I'd give y'all an update:
- I've finally set aside some time to update my DICP Guide. See that button up the top there? Go click on that and it will take you to my guide. It's a work in progress and I plan to update it as I go through the interview. I've recently added a tour of the Disney Careers Dashboard (including what those blue status bar boxes all mean!) and a guide to the Disney Look, complete with awesome (if I do say so myself) collages of Disney Look appropriate clothing that I made myself. There will be more updates to the guide coming soon, so please keep checking back.
- I'm doing some tweaking on my resources page (Once again, just up there in that row of buttons under my lovely banner). I've recently updated the blogs section and as soon as I post this I will be adding links to some of my favourite vlogs too, so you should definitely check that out.
- I've added a new way for y'all to contact me to ask questions, say hi or just to tell me whether or not I should be using the word 'Y'all'. If you look to the column there on the left (with my smiling picture) and you scroll down a bit, you will see a section titled 'Contact Bec' and then there's a little form to send me a message! I'll try to get around to questions as quickly as I can. Of course you can also comment on any of my blog posts, in fact comments are encouraged! I love to hear from people and I love making new friends so don't be shy to drop me a line.
- For those of you following the story of my application dramas, I promise that the third (and final) installment is on its way. If you haven't read about my dramas yet, follow these links to Part 1 and Part 2.
- My interview with Disney is on September 9th and I promise to do a full report afterwards, so make sure to check back for that.
- I recently hit 600 page views for this blog, which may not seem like much for some people but it's a very big deal to me. Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who is reading along, please keep reading and make sure to tell your friends about my blog too.
Ok, that's enough updating for now. I better keep my promise and go add those vlog links to the resources page. Keep reading and have a magical day!
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Interview Prep Update
So this is just going to be a quick update on my interview prep - I promise to update my application saga tomorrow!
Today has been a crazy busy day and it started with me (finally!) officially booking in my Disney interview in Melbourne on September 9th! Cue that excited dancing I was talking about in my last post. Next up was my role checklist, which I filled out pretty easily because I'd planned my preferences aaaages ago like the nerd I am. When I got home tonight I hopped online and booked my flights to and from Melbourne (I will be flying in and out on the same day). After that I downloaded the Proof of Student Status Form to take into Tafe with me tomorrow and then logged into DOC (Disney's Onboarding Central) to upload the rest of my documents.
I'm going to update my DICP guide soon, hopefully over the coming weekend, and I'll go into detail about all of these things there so keep an eye out for that.
Also, I went shopping yesterday to get the last of the things I needed for my interview outfit. I did a bit on co-ordinating with pieces I already owned so all I needed to buy was a new skirt, some stockings/tights and I treated myself to a new black handbag so I don't have to take my ratty handbag that's falling apart.
Today marks two weeks until my interview so I'm glad to have all of these things sorted now. It's been a pretty bumpy journey for me to get to this point, but now I can sit back and enjoy the excitement.
Thanks for Reading!
Today has been a crazy busy day and it started with me (finally!) officially booking in my Disney interview in Melbourne on September 9th! Cue that excited dancing I was talking about in my last post. Next up was my role checklist, which I filled out pretty easily because I'd planned my preferences aaaages ago like the nerd I am. When I got home tonight I hopped online and booked my flights to and from Melbourne (I will be flying in and out on the same day). After that I downloaded the Proof of Student Status Form to take into Tafe with me tomorrow and then logged into DOC (Disney's Onboarding Central) to upload the rest of my documents.
I'm going to update my DICP guide soon, hopefully over the coming weekend, and I'll go into detail about all of these things there so keep an eye out for that.
Also, I went shopping yesterday to get the last of the things I needed for my interview outfit. I did a bit on co-ordinating with pieces I already owned so all I needed to buy was a new skirt, some stockings/tights and I treated myself to a new black handbag so I don't have to take my ratty handbag that's falling apart.
Today marks two weeks until my interview so I'm glad to have all of these things sorted now. It's been a pretty bumpy journey for me to get to this point, but now I can sit back and enjoy the excitement.
Thanks for Reading!
Friday, 27 June 2014
My DICP Guide
So, I'm still in the process of waiting for interviews to be announced, but I thought I'd share a little project I'm working on. I decided that after a lot of searching and not being able to find a lot of information on the Australia/New Zealand J1 Cultural Exchange Program, that I would start making my own little unofficial guide, using my experience as a starting point and hopefully providing some useful information for others. If you look at the tabs at the top of the page you will see one there for the guide so you can check out what I've done so far. It's very much a work in progress, but please have a look around and keep coming back to check for updates because I plan to keep adding to it.
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