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!

And we are live in 3...2...1...

Exciting news people!  I now have a YouTube channel!  I won't be uploading much between now and when I leave for Florida, but I have uploaded two videos that you might like to check out.  The first is just a little intro video and the second is a vlog of my interview day.

I will post the videos below, but if you want updates when I add more videos you can head over to my channel HERE and click on the 'subscribe' button.

Here's the Intro video...

And the Interview video...

The Countdown Continues

Helooooo!  Ok, super quick post because I have this amazingly awesome countdown ticker and I just had to share it!  Plus it's exactly 100 days 'til check-in :D

99 Days and Counting

So today is exactly 99 days until I leave Australia!  That might sound like a lot but when I think about all I have to do in the next 99 days I realise it's all going to go so fast.  To begin with, I have a big list of all the things I have to do for Disney like the visa and immigration paperwork and sorting out health and travel insurance.  On top of that I am also moving out of my apartment in about 6 weeks so I need to do a huge sort through of all my stuff and begin packing (my stuff is going into storage and I'll be staying with family until I leave for the States).  I also still have another term of classes, but fortunately I've finished all my major assignments so I just have to go to classes.

In the week since I received my acceptance I've been pretty busy.  Luckily, I am on mid-semester break for this week and next week, so I've been able to start sorting and packing but I've also done some Disney stuff too.  After officially accepting my offer from Disney, I received an email to pay the program fee, so I took care of that.  The next big thing I wanted to take care of was my flights so I popped down to the travel agent to get a quote HOWEVER, when I got home I realised I could buy the flight online myself at a cheaper price, so I ended up just doing it myself.  I'm flying out of Melbourne on January 9th so I'll have 4 nights in a hotel before I check-in at Vista Way on the 13th.

In between all my packing and organising I've been working on updating my blog and in particular my DICP Guide.  Make sure you head over there to see the new info about the Presentation and Interview Process and I'll hopefully have more updates coming soon.

I'm sorry this is a bit of a mixed-bag update, but I'll share more soon!

I'm Going to Disney World!!!!

In case you couldn't work it out from the title - I've been accepted into the Disney College Program - J1 Cultural Exchange Australia/New Zealand!!!!

This morning, at 5:30am, I was in the middle of a dream about Maleficent when my phone pinged.  I woke up with a start, grabbed my phone thinking "An email!"  An sure enough, when I looked, there was an email with a great, big, bold CONGRATULATIONS in the subject line.

I am so proud to say that I have been offered a role in Merchandise, and whilst it wasn't my top choice, it was in my top 3 and one of my High Interest roles so I couldn't be happier.  The best part is that most of the friends I've made on the facebook group have also been accepted so it's a really happy day all round :D

I will write more on this soon, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the happiness of it all.

I'm off to the most Magical Place on Earth!