One week!!

Oh my gosh, I start in one week!! AHHH!

Last week we had a little family good bye party thing. Sarah made me a cake for it:

It is Spaceship Earth with a mountie hat. I love it!

Anyway, we leave on Thursday and my suitcase is half packed. I feel so unprepared, but all I have to do is pack everything so it's not that bad. All of my non-clothing stuff is ready. It will all be ok, but I am very nervous to get there and start. This is such a huge thing that I have wanted to do forever. I am a little worried that I have made it seem amazing in my head and it won't turn out like that at all. I really doubt it though. I am off to continue packing and will be in Florida next time I post!!!

1 Year Ago!!

That's right. 1 year ago today I sent in my application to work at Walt Disney World and I now have 20 days until I start!!! I am getting really nervous but also excited. I'm slowly getting things done. I paid my housing fee the other day, I have my American passport (which is really pretty and I show everyone), I just bought insurance, and I bought a new computer to take with me. I just need to get some American money, figure out how to set up a payment plan for my student loan and ummm... pack. There is a huge pile of junk in mum's room already. Since we are driving I can take down more than I would if I flew. So I have some hangers, my super comfy matress cover (I'm assuming the beds are going to be like residence beds and very uncomfortabel), sheets, pillows, blanket (not douvet, that is one of the things I am going to buy in Florida since mine has no feathers left in it), and lots of food that I had left over from school or than mum has picked up for me. I'm hoping that my first shopping trip in Florida will be only the douvet and groceries. I know it will be more but I will be optimistic. The one thing that I have not even started is packing clothes. I hate trying to figure out what I will need/want for an entire year. I know I will buy lots so I need to think about that too. My room right now is a disaster zone so I really need to go through stuff but I have been procrastinating that for awhile.

We have booked all of our hotels for the drive down to Florida and figured out all of the things we are going to do. One place we are stopping is at the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg Tennessee. We will do the tour there then eat at a really popular restaurant that is apparantly amazing. Then we will go see Ruby Falls in Chattanooga which is a waterfall that is underground or something like that. The next day we will go to Atlanta Georgia to see the house and other important parts where Martin Luther King Jr. lived and played and such. Then we will be going on a 2-hour zip line thing just outside of Altanta! I am so excited for that. After the zip line we are going to go along a small Georiga highway to the second biggest peanut. (I'm not sure where the biggest is). It is really tacky looking but should be funny. Then we are heading straight down to Orlando! We will get in on the Monday and I check in on the Tuesday. We may go on an airboat tour on Monday afternoon, but we are still deciding.

So that is the upcoming roadtrip, we went on one up to Thunder Bay at the end of May. I had my graduation on May 30 and a wedding on June 6 so we drove a fun way. Normally the drive to Thunder Bay is 16 hours done over 2 days, but we did it in 5 days. I'd post pictures, but it is so much easier to post a link to facebook. After the wedding I did the long drive home again.

Since I have been home mum had her birthday and Sarah made her a Mary Poppins cake:



Then last weekend I went and visited Shanna and Karl. Shanna and I went to Boldt Castle. It was my third time going there so it was really neat to see how things have come along since the last time I visited in 2000 or 20001 (I can't remember). Now all I have to look forward to is Florida! Hopefully once I am there I will actually update this thing. No promises though, I'd rather spend time at the parks :)

Drive home

I had a good drive home. It was bright and clear the whole drive and I didn't see any deer or moose! I haven't started cleaning out my room, but I need to get started soon. I managed to get an appointment at the American Consulate for Thursday. I need to make sure I have all of the paperwork sorted out, and a book because I wouldn't be surprised if it takes hours. It just sucks that it is supposed to rain on Thursday. I hope not because I would prefer to walk than take the subway and I don't want to walk around in the rain while trying to find the entrance that I need to go in.

As I drove home I took a few pictures. I will do the drive one more time but I figured I should stop this time when the weather was nice. I stopped at White River which is where Winnie the Pooh is originally from:



The plaque that is in front of the statue telling the story of Winnie the Pooh.



The statue and me in front of it

US Passport!

So not too much has happened since the 19th. Last Tuesday (April 28th) was my very last day of placement! I was very excited. It is just hard to believe that after 5 years of university I am done school forever, and am officially a teacher! The Tuesday was also my 3 month mark until Disney!! So I now have less than 3 months to wait. It is getting so close.

About a week ago Kristen (from Yummy Jobs, the people who hired me) and I were e-mailing back and forth and playing phone tag. She had asked if I have an American Passport since Disney had started my Visa and were wondering. For people who don't know, I was born in the states and lived there til I was 12 so I have dual citizenship with Canada. Kristen finally got through to me on my cell one day and she said that because of my citizenship I do not need a Visa to work in the states. BUT in order to enter the country for a year I need to use an american passport. I'm not sure why and it is a bit of a pain, but completly worth it. So I will have to make a trip to the American Embassy, and pay lots of money to get this passport. It is kind of annoying because the visa is just sent to Canadians about a month before they leave for the states and they just get it stamped at customs. But it is all worth it to work at Disney World!

In more recent news, I leave Thunder Bay bright and early tomorrow morning! I am very excited to be leaving and going home (though I will be back in less than a month for grad and a wedding). It is just a huge pain to pack up 5 years worth of junk to take home. Then once I'm home I'm going to have to gutt my room there. It is going to be a busy three months, I hope they go by quickly!

It's.............

That's right, in 100 days I will be a Walt Disney World Cast Member! It can't come soon enough.

In other news, I have 7 days of placement left. Finally! And two weeks in Thunder Bay. I've been trying to pack but it is hard, because some of the stuff I still need. But my room is starting to look emptier and my pile of junk to take home is getting bigger. I hope it all fits. If not I will just have to get rid of more junk. Also I finally got around to taking pictures off of my camera so I can finally post this:



For my art class we had to take we had the choice of making a mask, making something with clay, or making something in copper. I had done both masking and clay before so I wanted to try the copper. I thought forever what I wanted to do but kept going back to putting a quote on it. I asked the teacher and she said I could, so I practiced and finally felt ready to do my real one. It was hard because I had to put the writing backwards to have it pop out on the front. But I am really happy with how it turned out. I decided I wanted to frame it and wanted to buy the frame before leaving Thunder Bay so it doesn't get squished. The only thing I could find that could fit it was a pretty big shadow box. But it looks really good against the black of the frame. And I decided that after Disney I will put other things in the box. Like my nametag, maybe some pictures and whatever else I get that would look good in it. I have nothing else to really talk about right now and should really figure out what I'm going to teach this week.

4 months!

Yay it is getting so close! I now have 4 months until I am in Walt Disney World. I can't wait, winter is dragging on forever. We had a big ice storm on Monday night and sadly school was not cancelled so I still had placement. I know I'm almost done so I'm not in the mood to be at placement. It sucks but I have 20 days left in the classroom. Not much else to write about except that I have 4 months!

6 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!

So I haven't posted in awhile, but nothing has happened. Except today is my official 6 month mark! I can't believe that, it seems so far away. Also today is 3 months until my last day of placement and I will officially be done university! I hope those 3 months go by really fast. And that I will get more Disney info to keep me entertained in those 3 months.