One of those not so great days...

So today was far from great, one of those days where all you want to do is go home home lay in bed and have your mom bake cookies. Last night there was some roommate drama that went on. Its still hard sometimes living together with very different personalities, and Im trying my hardest to understand  others and how they were raised. But last night was the last straw. This morning I had already made plans with my friends from work to go to Hollywood Studios. It was fun but I was also still bummed about getting into a fight with my roommate. After a few hours I went home to get it all figured out because she wanted to talk in person. She didnt come until after 5 and by then I was still upset how she handled the situation and I gave my Halloween party ticket to my friend from work. The one and only roommate I got into a fight with was who I was supposed to go to Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party with. We had this planned for weeks but after the days problems I was really not feeling up to it. I am really bummed but I think in the end I made the right decision. I stood up for how I felt and I made it apparent that I may be nice but I will not tolerate others to walk all over me. Hopefully things will start to get better but its been one rough week. I am going home in 12 days and counting and it couldnt come at a better time. Hopefully going home will give me a reboost of energy to make it through the program. My second friend from work has decided to self terminate herself, thats 2 friends in 2 weeks who have decided to leave due to the way we are treated at our work location. I have put in a request to get a location transfer so hopefully things will start to look up.

Here is a picture of what was supposed to be my costume for the Halloween event:

it was Rapunzel with her sidekick Pascal on my shoulder. If you havent seen the movie Tangled... GO NOW and watch it!

Adventures on my day off...

Today I went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of the water parks here, with my friend Emily from work and her roommate Sophie. The rides were so so but they do have a "water rollercoaster" its like a normal water slide with a tube but there are parts where your tube goes on a conveyor belt type thing so you go up and back down it was actually pretty neat. The wave pool there was also beyond amazing. The waves are so big you can take surfing lessons there in the morning. The highlight of the day was swimming with sharks in the shark reef. You are given just a snorkel and are allowed in this big reef with fish and sharks. They arent closed off at all they swim right by you. They were about 4 feet long. So not huge but still really neat.

After I went home took a shower and got ready to go to Epcot. I went to Epcot with Emily, Sophie, and my two other friends from work Bridget and Lauren. It was the preview for the Food and Wine Festival. It was really really cool. Even though the countries are there year round, for the festival which lasts until November, there are additional little booths for each country. They have 2 to 5 different food items and some kind of drink. You get a little passport that has the menu and you get a stamp for each country.

Our first stop was Belgium for some chocolate:

Then we went to America and I got a pumpkin mousse and an apple cider beer

Then it was Ireland for a chocolate lava cake with Baileys chocolate sauce

Finally a chocolate creme brulee from France

Overall it was really really fun I had a great time. We went on Soarin which made me happy but sad at the same time because I realized I should never ever leave California again, unless its a vacation somewhere tropical.

Saturday I went to work and after being there for only an hour I felt awful and had to go home. I felt bad for leaving but the other part of me was thinking I am miserable here I need to go home now. I went home took a long and much needed nap and felt much better. I figured I didnt want to waste the entire day that I took off so I went grocery shopping and went back to Downtown Disney that night with my roommate. Probably not the best idea but I stayed far away from World of Disney. We went to pin trade and made our way up and down all of the shops. We got the BEST pins ever. I decided to solely stick with collecting Minnie Mouses. At first I was collecting anything I liked but my collection was turning into a big mess. It was a lot of fun and it was good to play a little hooky. 

Someone needs to buy me this!

my entire pin collection

Yesterday I had work but again I asked for an Early Release to leave an hour early to go volunteer. Luckily they said that was fine, so I raced off work changed and made it just in time to get in the van to go back to Give Kids the World. This time the event was Worlds Largest CandyLand Game. They have a play ground that literally is the Worlds Largest Candy Land Game. There are colored squares on the ground and signs along the way that is exactly like the game. In addition there was riddles to solve for prizes, gingerbread house making, cotton candy, and snow cones. I was the lucky one at the Cotton Candy machine. It was a different experience than the last time I went because this time you didnt have as much one on one interaction with the kids. You basically just made sure they were having a good time with their families. Although I didnt see the little boy I was paired up with last time, Oliver, I did see my favorite little girl Abby. She was so surprised when I remembered her and her sister and asked how her lunch with Cinderella went. Her face literally lit up that I remembered her. She told me it was her birthday tomorrow (which is today) and that she gets to do whatever she wants. When I asked her what it is she leaned over and whispered its a surprise for my sister but we are going to Magic Kingdom. I thought it was amazing that even though it is her birthday she wanted to surprise her older sister with something. So far my favorite part of the program is to go volunteer here. I have next Wednesday off so I am going again and even invited some friends from work. 

Later that night I went to AppleBees (its across the street) with my friends from work. One of the girls has already self terminated because she really hates the program. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them outside of work and realize we all have the same frustrations at work and its not just me.

Now its time to head off to work. I work 3:30 to midnight tonight. I want to wish my new friend Abby the best 6th Birthday ever! and I hope there are many many more birthdays to come. 

Epcot

Today I went to Epcot with my roommate Danielle. We decided that today was our birthday and we were twins for the day. We had our last name, birthdate, how old we were turning, and where we were from all picked out. It was actually kind of fun having people say Happy Birthday all day. Our first stop was Mexico to get lunch and we got free Churros because it was "our birthday". After eating we went shopping for our Halloween costumes. I will keep that a surprise. Next Friday we are going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party so costumes were a must. We then went on Soarin' which made me realize I never want to leave California ever ever ever again. It was really fun but at the same time made me a little home sick. We then got ice cream and went to the Character Spot. You can wait in line for about 15 minutes then you are in a room filled with at least 4 different characters. We met Daisy, Stitch, Mickey, Minnie, Duffy the bear, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. After we went to the Innoventions building to Sum of all Thrills. This is probably one of the coolest things in all of Disney World that not a lot of people know about. You basically design your own roller coaster on a giant screen, How fast you want to go, drops and how high, corkscrews, you name it. Then you go in a simulator and actually ride your roller coaster. It was really cool and I cant wait to do it again. After that it was time to go home. Its amazing how long you actually go to the park and how little you actually do because they are so big.

Link to my Roller Coaster

VoluntEARing and More

SO much to catch up on...

I have been working like a CP slave here. Some days are better than others and some days just really suck. Working every night until midnight and long shifts everyday start to really get to you. The older full time people who work there are also not very welcoming. They wont ever offer to help, they make fun of you, and honestly just treat you like you are worthless. You do find some really great people however that make it a little better. I love all the other CPs I work with but I hate the management there. So its just been one of those weeks where Ive had enough but I am trying to remain positive because I still have over 3 months left.

On a positive note we had our first celebrities come into the store when I was working. It was a band called One Direction. I have heard of them but I dont know who they are very well. Basically they are the BackStreet Boys and Nsync of this generation. It was exciting but at the same time I wasnt really sure who they were.

Last night I went to the Vegas Nights Welcome Event. There was 2 giant tents filled with poker games. They also had a DJ and a BBQ company catered for it. I am all for the free dinner so I dont have to go home and eat PB &J or rice a roni. The Villains were also there and I met Cruella de Vil.

Today I went to Animal Kingdom with some friends from work. We basically had time to eat lunch and then we got in line for Expedition Everest (like the Matterhorn but WAY better). We were at the front of the line when a thunderstorm came out of no where. They had to close the ride because of the lightning. We decided to wait it out because it was better than walking in the rain. After waiting for 30 minutes I finally had to leave to get home. The 10 minute walk out of the park was the most rain I have ever been in. I looked like I jumped in a pool with my clothes on. I took a picture for everyone's enjoyment.

Once I got home I changed and got ready to go to a "Voluntear" Event. It was by far the most amazing thing I have ever done. It was at Give Kids the World Village. A place where families go with kids with life threatening illnesses to have a week of fun. They stay there, there is a cafeteria, boats, a train, mini golf, and different activities every night. In addition the Characters from all the theme parks come every morning and they also go off the property to the parks. I got paired up with a little boy Oliver from Indiana. I am not sure what was wrong with him but I didnt ask. He was adorable and loved every minute of it. We played in the arcade, played with boats and trains, went to dinner and then there was a talent show "Village Idol". Over 30 kids participated and it was so amazing to see them on the stage. After there were 5 judges that all said positive things about their performance. Each one of them also got a trophy. It kind of put things into perspective for me because lately I have really been not liking being here when it gets tough. But my life is far from bad, its actually really great and I need to not take it for granted. There is volunteering there every Sunday and Wednesday and I hope to be able to go as much as I can while I am here. If you want more information you can go to www.GiveKidstheWorld.org

p.s. highlight of the day... found a JoAnns

Today is day 5 of my 7 day work week. For the past week not much has been going on besides working and sleeping. I wish I had more time to enjoy the parks but when I finally get a day off I'm exhausted. Last week I went to Magic Kingdom with my friend from work and her roommates. It was basically deserted. We walked on to all the major rides, splash mountain, thunder mountain railroad, space mountain... Basically all the mountains. I heard to take advantage of this now because starting in October the parks are going to be packed.

My home away from home

I finally took some pictures of my apartment and the complex

This is the front door

View from the front door this is the living room window

 Dining room area

kitchen area

 kitchen

 view from my rooms door

my bathroom

vanity area outside the bathroom

my side of the closet

 my roommates bed

my bed

 our dresser

 my bulletin board

the club house

the media room and library... it has a computer lab, couches, a tv, library to rent out books, movies, games

 lobby area of the club house

 lobby of the club house and front desk

 lagoon area of the apartment complex

 building 21 where they give out free cookies