Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Sorry for the delay! I’ve just been lazy, I’ll try and summarise the best bits from the last few weeks!

Work has been quite busy at the moment due to half term at home and spring break in America so I’ve been working slightly longer hours. I greeted a couple the other day who’s surname was Sether , I got very excited! We had a great conversation about how people find it really hard to spell and pronounce, I felt we were practically family. The park will probably stay quite busy now as they has a Flower and Garden festival at the beginning of March, then Easter then summer. For the festival they have made loads of cool sculptures out of hedges and flowers which keep springing up around the world showcase. Today when I came in there were hedge statues of Hook and Peter Pan!

I only had one day off this week and it was lovely weather so I went to Typhoon Lagoon, the last time we will get in free before summer. We got there about 1pm and had a nice relaxing afternoon, going on all the slides and swimming with baby sharks! We went to downtown Disney on the way home and saw ‘I am number four’ at the cinema. It was quite a good film, it was scary and funny and romantic and full of action all at the same time!

Yesterday there was a Space Shuttle launch from the Space centre on the East coast of Florida. I didn’t realised we’d be able to see it but we were told to look above Mexico at 5pm to catch a glimpse of it. It was quite a cloudy afternoon which was annoying but we saw it for a few seconds! The whole restaurant was watching and everyone clapped when we saw it in the sky. They say it was a successful launch even though a few things broken off as it took off so hopefully they will get back safely!

Last week I went to Hollywood Studios and went on the two biggest rides, Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Rollercoaster. I was genuinely scared on both! We also saw Fantasmic, the evening fireworks show. It takes place in Mickey’s dreams and has loads of characters and music from the films. We had seats right at the front and started a slow clap while we were waiting for it to begin! Disney definitely knows how to put on a firework show. I have seen Illuminations, the show at Epcot, countless times but I still love it.

I took my pre-service test last weekend, the written part I have to do to become a server. I had to wait all afternoon to find out how it went but I passed! My training will start on the 20^th of March and takes too weeks. It seems quite tough as you are running round the kitchen all day but it will be a nice change of scene! That evening I went to a dinner show called ‘Hop Dee Doo’ in Fort wilderness, a resort near Magic Kingdom. I had to get all the way there from Epcot in an hour, which involved getting to the front of the park, taking two monorails and a ferry. I just made it in time! It was an all you can eat and drink buffet which lots of chicken and ribs. I think the show was pretty good but I was more interested in the food and wine to concentrate much!

Last Thursday we decided to go somewhere different so went to Hooters after work for wings and beer! We then went to next door and played some pool, I think I won once. There are loads of bars and restaurants close by so it’s good to try somewhere new every now and then. Or earliest shift start at 11am so at least we don’t have early mornings! I’ve been trying to cook a bit more at home this week. I’ve made tacos, sausages and curry with all the trimmings! I do miss a good home cooked roast though.

I have booked a trip to South America for next year, starting at the end of December. I am hoping to head to California when I finish here then will fly to Chile on the 31^st to meet Vikki and the rest of the tour group.  It’s seven weeks long, travelling through Chile, Argentina and Brazil, ending up at the Rio Carnival! Depending on how much money I have left over I’d love to go to Mexico or Cuba, but then I promise I’ll come home!

I will remember to write again soon!

From Florida with Love,

Emily

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American Pie

Another jam packed week! Work has been up and down, sometimes crazy busy but sometimes really quiet. We are getting five new people this week which will be strange, no longer being the new kids! My arrival group has been here two months now, happy anniversary to me!

After I went to EPCOT last Tuesday we headed to the Boardwalk for dinner. It’s only about a five minute walk from EPCOT so is really easy to get to. We ate in ESPN which is a sports bar, showing every American sport possible! For dessert we went to Beaches and Cream. It is a traditionally ice cream parlour with a juke box and everything! Between the eight of us we bought a kitchen sink. It has eight (massive) scoops of different flavour ice cream, every topping and a whole can a whipped cream. The brownie was good! Once the others had eaten the whipped cream I started on the mint choc chip. We only just about ate half of it, it beat us! We had to run for the bus on the way home, that was not fun.

On Wednesday and Saturday I went to the dance studio I found last week. I went to a Zumba class and Hula Hoop aerobics! I hadn’t done either before so it was a very exciting experience. Zumba was tough, very intense! Hula hooping was quite hard at first but it was good when you get the hang of it. There were only about 5 people in each class as its quite new. I want try do belly dancing and line dancing!

The best show I’ve seen at Disney since I’ve been here is definitely ‘Festival of the Lion King’ at Animal Kingdom. If you’re ever here you have to make sure you see it! It’s full of acrobatics, singing and dancing, along with all the classic Lion King characters. I saw the show for the second time on Wednesday and it was just as good as the first time! As Animal Kingdom closes at 5pm, we went to Magic Kingdom for food and fireworks in the evening. We went on Space Mountain, I love that ride! The Disneyworld theme this year is ‘Let the Memories begin’ and before the fireworks show they project guests pictures from that day onto the castle. It’s really lovely, although our photos didn’t get picked!

It was Superbowl Sunday this week and I’d booked the day off. We’d all been out the night before so I had a lazy morning, sleeping a lot. We went out to lunch where things got a bit hysterical as we were all still drunk/tired! I didn’t manage to eat dessert which upset me as it was chocolate brownie, yummy. We stopped at the supermarket on the way home and bought supplies for the evening (crisps, cookies, beer etc!). We also bought mini flags, just to feel really American! The game was actually quite easy to understand, especially as our Canadian friend Jill was there to help explain the rules. I had my first corn dog! They are actually quite tasty but you can tell they are really processed and unhealthy. The Black Eyed Peas played the half time show with Slash and Usher, it was quite spectacular. I was cheering for the Steelers, not for any particular reason but we all picked a team. They lost, but it was a good night!

Yesterday I had to go to Disney University to have a class about waitressing! They take serving very seriously here. We had to be there at 8am meaning I had to get up at 6am, a time I rarely see!  Most of what they said was quite self explanatory but we watched some funny videos and didn’t group exercises, which are always good fun! In the afternoon we learnt all about different types of wine and how they are made. It was quite interesting, plus we got to eat grapes and skittles which are two of my favourite things!  By 4pm me and Arran were slightly delirious from the long day and were finding everything hilarious. I had an early night as I was cream crackered!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

From Florida with Love

Emily

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Purple Rain

This week I have started to feel settled here. It’s a very different lifestyle, even to university. The social life is similar but I don’t have any classes or coursework to worry about! I do have a service class next week though and I have started to learn my menu and wines but I’m quite enjoying it. Although I said I never wanted to learn anything ever again it’s good to use my brain for something slightly challenging! I really should try and learn Spanish while I’m here too as lots of employees and guests speak it, and it will be really useful when I hopefully travel South America.

Last Tuesday I went back to Universal as a few of my friends still hadn’t been, and I love it! We got the bus at about half 10am so we could spend the whole day there. We met Spiderman in guest relations, as you do!  We headed straight to Hogsmeade which is at the back of the park. The girls took lots of photos when we arrived, and got some butterbeer. The frozen one was really good, it will be nice in the summer! The whole park was really quiet all day so we didn’t have to worry about queuing or missing anything. We ate lunch in The Three Broomsticks, overlooking Hogwarts!  It was only a quick service restaurant but the food was good, the potatoes were amazing.  By 4 o’clock the weather had started to turn bad so we headed back to the bus. As soon as we got on the bus the rain went crazy! There had been tornado warnings all day and it looked like it was going to happen. There was sheet lightning across the whole sky which had turned pitch black in about 20 minutes! It was quite scary, especially as we had to walk home from the bus stop. It carried on for about 3 hours but we lucky didn’t have any tornadoes. I guess it was good preparation for the summer!

I decided to have a quiet day on Wednesday and I sorted out things around the house. I also went to the gym, which I am actually quite enjoying at the moment! I’ve found a dance studio about 10 minutes walk away so I will hopefully go to some classes next week. They do lots of different styles, such as ballroom, hip hop and belly dancing! On Wednesday evening I went out for dinner then watched Friends at someone’s apartment. I do miss having a TV just to have on in the background. I can’t even play DVD’s on my laptop so I might treat myself in a few weeks if I can find a cheap set. When people leave they sometimes hand down the things they can’t take home so I could try and get one then.

The next few days I was at work till late so I just have a few quiet drinks or watched a film. We tried to watch Titanic on the TV but there were so many adverts. It got to 2:30am and the boat had only just sunk! There were honestly adverts every 5-10 minutes, it was so frustrating! I can’t say it is one of my favourite films, it’s (obviously) so depressing. We turned it off before we found out what happened to Jack so we can pretend they both lived happily ever after! I got up early on Saturday and did my weekly shop as the fridge looked upsettingly empty. I’ve been cooking quite a lot lately and also taking dinner into work, I’m not used to being so prepared.

On Saturday we found out we are getting two new housemates arriving today, which means there will now be 8 of us. There will be another Italian and French girl moving into the other bedroom. We cleaned the fridges and cupboards to make room for them and found loads of stuff that didn’t belong to anyone! It was a good house bonding experience! We all get on quite well at the moment so hopefully they will be ok. The cleaners came in this morning, while I was still in bed. I hope they didn’t mind me sleeping while they hoovered!

I’m off to EPCOT today to play, not work! Sending lots of sunshine back home!

From Florida with Love

Emily

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