character hunting

Yeah, that's what i do here. I hunt characters lol. hahahaha I always turn into a little kid when I see characters and just have to take a picture. 

Other then that I've just been working a lot since I last posted. 50-hour-weeks pretty much every week. But I still find the time to go out every now and then. 

Julia and me spent a lot of time in Magic Kingdom lately and last night I finally got to see the Christmas version of Wishes. it was soooo amazing and totally impressive. I love watching the fireworks and I'm not getting tired of it all. 

We also went to the international party on monday night and we had so much fun. Too bad in Orlando all parties shut down at 2 AM. I will never get used to that. 

Now christmas is coming up and I don't feel like christmas at all. I will work on the 24th and 25th which is quiet sad. And next week I have a 60 hour week coming up and only one day off. :(

But i wanna wish everyone who reads my blog happy holidays. Hope you're all enjoying the season. 

work, work, and winnie the pooh

The last couple of days I have been working daily except the 29th which was my only day off.
There is not much to tell really. However, I did get to meet Winnie the Pooh for the very first time which made me very happy. :)

I can't believe I'm here for one month already. It's been such an exciting first month and I really hope it stays that way the next 11 months. I love this place :)

Hollywood Studios, Work, Moving Day....

Lots has happened the last week. :)

14th: I went to lunch and then to Hollywood Studios with Gina and her friend Cathrine. It was a really fun day. Hollywood Studios is really great because of the shows. The Indiana Jones Show was awesome. i loved it. And we went on Toy Story Mania 2 times and it was sooooo much fun :D It's definitely gonna be my favorite ride lol. Also the dancing lights were spectacular. They made it snow in the streets and there were thousands of lights up. Impressive.

15th. This was my last day in training. After completing the e-learning I went on the floor by myself for the first time :) I was pretty scared at first but after a while I felt comfortable interacting with the guest.

16th: working went much better that day. I felt really good talking to the guests and telling things about Germany. Everything went well that day.

17th: work again...

18th: I worked a 14-hour-shift on friday and I gotta admit the last couple of hours were horrible. I thought my legs were about to fall off. I guess I will start to hate the extra magical hours as the park is open till midnight that day. I got home 1 AM. :( no fun

19th: I had to be back at work by 9 AM so I got up at like 7:15 and was super tired. And my legs hurt like crazy that day. I went on a 8 hour shift and was very happy when i finally went home. I was trying to stay up and do my laundry and get food but i ended up passing out on the couch.

20th: I was working again from 4 PM to closing. Work was fine. I spent my complete shift in the wine shop which was retty great. lol a couple of days ago I hated that position. Now I love it :D After my shift i rushed home and got dressed to go out with Laura. We went to the House of Blues and it was really packed in there.  But it's definitely a place I'm gonna go back to. I got home at around 3 and just passed out the minute my head hit the pillow lol.

21st: Today was my big moving day. I moved from Vista Way to The Commons. Laura helped me get my stuff into the new apartment. The new apartment and the new roomies are nice. I hope this will turn into a comfy home soon and we'll have a great time here. I loved vista way though and my roomies there. I'm a bit sad i had to leave but I'll see them tomorrow for our thanksgiving feast :) I also went to walmart today and how i hate these trips. America is so super expensive. I'm always afraid to go shopping here because I leave so much money at the store. oh boy....

So Many Things To Tell

I know I haven't posted in a while and I know i need to try to write more often or else i will forget about everything. :) So, here we go. This happened the last days.

6th: The was my first day on my work location. We got our costumes and our trainer was showing us around backstage and onstage. All in all it was a nice day and it was great to see everything for the first time. However, it was a lot to take in. I didn't do much else after the training cause I was just tired from walking around.

7th: On Monday we went to a Merchantainment class. 4 hours of cash register training. suuuuper boring. and then 2,5 hours e-learning. even more boring. But I survived and afterwards knew how the cash registered worked.

8th: Discovery Day. We walked around Epcot in business clothes and were told the story of Epcot again. Actually this was a really nice day. The discovery day only took 4 hours and we got to ride Spaceship Earth which was pretty impressive. I got home fairly early and decided it was about time to finally go and explore Magic Kingdom :) It was a really great evening. I love Magic Kingdom. It really is one of these magical places that makes you smile all the time. I went on some rides and watched the fireworks that night and had a blast.

9th: My first day of real job training. I started at 10 AM and met my trainer Alina. And then we went through the different shops in the German Pavillion and I got to work on the cash register for the first time and had some guest interaction. All in all it was an interesting day but also really exhausting. The people I work with a really friendly though. They all welcomed me very warmly and i like them already :) After work i met Laura in the bus and we decided to head over to Downtown Disney for the night.

10th: The second day of training. I was already feeling sick in the morning which made it a rather hard day. But everyone was really great about it and helped me through the day. I worked in different shops again and learned how to close. I was home at about 10:30 PM and i was totally done that night. I went straight to bed.

11th: day off. I didn't do much that day as i was still feeling sick. However, I had to go to Walmart though which is always an adventure and takes forever, especially on the weekends. Later that day I did my laundry and the rest of the day i was just relaxing.

12th: day off. I went to Magic Kingdom in the morning but it turned out to be a rather bad idea lol. As it was a saturday and the weather was really great, the park was packed. So it took me about an hour to get on a ferry boat and to the entrance. I got there by 11:30 AM and actually had to leave again by 1 PM. I managed to get on one ride and then actually had to leave again lol. In the afternoon I met with Laura and helped her move to The Commons. Now I'm just waiting to move to The Commons myself. I'm kinda looking forward to it but I also would love to stay with my roomies here at Vista Way.

After we were done moving I went back to Magic Kingdom and went on a couple more rides and got my pics taken with some of the princesses :)

13th: day off. Laura and me went to Animal Kingdom. It was a really great day. We got to meet mayn of the Disney characters and took a lot of pics. And we went on the safari which was really fun and we got to see many cool animals. We got soaked on the water rapids though. And later we went on the Dinosaur ride which was amazing. I thought it was a little kids ride but it turned out to be really cool and almost scary lol After I got home I spent the evening with my roomies and we watched some movies.

I will try to post a little more often in the next time :)

First Days: Arrival, Orientation, Traditions

yeah, so my first days in Orlando have been pretty exciting. I still can't really believe I'm really living here and not just taking a vacation. Emotions are running crazy lately. I think I haven't been smiling like that in a long while.

The flight: On November 1st I boarded my first plane in Berlin at 7 AM. I was still tired as I didn't sleep much due to excitement. And also because it was a pretty emotional morning as I had to say good bye to my parents for one year. Thankfully, I met another Disney CRP participant in Berlin. Unfortunatly we were never seated together though and I ended up being bored most of the time. The first flight went from Berlin to London.Then we went on the long flight from London to Miami. Unfortunatly I was seated in the middle betweent some guys on that flight which made it pretty hard to get some sleep. It was really uncomfortable for most of the time. The flight itself was really bumpy. No fun at all. In Maimi we had to sit around for quiet a while until we got on the final flight to Orlando. I slept through the whole flight though and didn't even notice the take off anymore as I was up about 24 hours by that time.

arrival: The arrival was really great although really late. It was about 11 PM which made it 4 AM in German time. The people who welcomed us at Disney were really nice though. We got our welcome packages, our keys to our new home, and fresh cookies. They told me that my new apartment complex would be Vista Way and I got really excited about it as I knew that this was the complex all of the American college program participants would be living. And I ended up moving into an apartment with 5 American girls :) They are all really lovely and nice and i really love living here so far. Too bad i will be moving to the Commons soon. This is the place where all of the CRP's live.

Orientation: Orientation started right away the next morning at 10 AM. My first night was really horrible as I didn't have a pillow or blanket. I was freezing and the jetlag was killing me. However, orientation wasn't that bad. We got to know all of our fellow CRP's and I got to talk to many new people. The energy was overwhelming. Everybody was in a great mood and smiling. We had to fill out a lot of paperwork though which was pretty annoying. But we got our housing ID and signed a lot of stuff which made everthing a little bit more real. After the first day of orientation we went for lunch at Wendy's and later on our first trip to Walmart. I got my new bedding and finally had my first decent night in Orlando :)
Another orientation class was scheduled for the next morning. Fortunatly this was a very short one and I was able to go back to Walmart and finally get a phone and American number :)
On Friday was my first day off and I went to Orlando Premium Outlets and took a look around. And later in the afternoon I went to Downtown Disney. I instantly fell in love with Downtown Disne. It was pretty much the first thing Disney I got to see since being here and I was totally overwhelmed. You could literally feel the magic. And I know this mind sound a bit corny but it is true and I will come back to it later.

Traditions: Today was my traditions class. 8 hours of sitting in a lecture room listening to all kinds of things. I thought it was gonna be super boring but it turned out to be the most fun class I have ever had in my life. Well, it's Disney. How could it not be fun? :) We took a little walk through Magic Kingdom and it was the first time I actually went into one of the 4 parks and I can't even begin to tell you about all the emotions I was feeling. It's weird being so nervous about setting foot into a theme park. This is by far not the first theme park I ever visited but going to and working at Walt Disney World is like a dream come true for me. So you can imagine how I felt today seeing the Cinderella Castle for the first time. It was again magical and starting tomorrow I'm the one who's making the magic. :) The whole day was magical. So many things to take in and we never stopped smiling.
Later in the day even Mickey Mouse came to visit us in our class. OMG that was the best thing that happened today. I've never seen Mickey Mouse before and I actually had tears in my eyes when he came in to bring us our name tags.
I also received my Disney ID today which means I can finally go to the parks and play all day. yaayyy :)

I hope the next days will be just as exciting. I start my job training tomorrow :) so that should be fun.

The Flight

I got my flight details this morning. I'll be leaving Berlin 7 AM, stop in London, stop again in Maimi, and then fly into Olando 8 PM. I gotta say this is actually a really good connection. Especially as I will be flying with BA and fly into Heathrow. My favorite airline and my favorite airport. :)

I can't even begin to tell you all how overly excited I am. It feels crazy that I will be leaving in 6 days when I still remember how I applied for this job almost 1 year ago. Time went by so quickly and now it's almost time to say good bye to everyone and everything. CRAZY

It's still so much to do and so little time. I'm sitting in front of my suitcase right now and all my clothes are scattered all over my room. It seems like I have a million things to pack and too many shoes lol

well, I better get back to packing. More updates soon...

Visa Appointment

So yesterday was my visa appointment in the American embassy in Berlin. Dad and me got up super early to drive up to Berlin where my interview was scheduled at 8:45 am. 

We got there a little early and so I ended up being in the front of the queue which turned out to be perfect because it all went really fast. I got in on time, went through security check, went through registration and then only had to wait 10 minutes for my actual interview. The interview itself was really short and nice. The officer thought himself funny I guess because he asked me where my Dirndl was as I wanted to work for Disney lol. 

Long story short, my visa got approved and now I'm all set to get on that plane on November 1st. Only 24 more days to go and I'm starting to get a little nervous by now. 

Visa Application

Yesterday I applied for my visa. And oh boy was that a rather annoying and frustrating process. It took me 3 hours to finish and I'm praying I did everything right.
I got my visa interview appointment on October 7th early in the morning in Berlin. I hope that will go smoothly and I will have my visa in the mail a couple of days later.

Besides the visa stuff I'm still waiting on my final grade and it's killing me. I get more anxious everyday now and I just wanna know.

42 Days To Go

Yesterday the Disney package finally arrived with all of the info for the visa etc. The official process finally started :) I'm all set to apply for the visa this week and I already got my pics taken for it today which look pretty horrible lol
More updates coming soon :D

my Disney package

England Adventures Part 2

I'm already back in Germany. I didn't really have the time to write another blog entry while I was still in Brighton so I'll make up for it now.

My summer in England has been pretty amazing. I had so much fun going on all the activities with the students. We did all kinds of stuff like golfing, swimming, badminton. We went to a dog race, saw the Seven Sisters, went to the Sea Life Center, recorded a song, went to the cinema, had cream teas :) As you can see I've been pretty busy.
I hated making sandwiches for lunch though :) ahahaha

The weekend day trips were the best. I loved seeing Cambridge. I haven't been there in the previous two summers. It is such a beautiful city and I fell in love with England once again :)
We also went to Oxford and London again. I've been to both places several times now but still love these trips.

Also I met some really wonderful people this summer. All of the staff at ISE was amazing and we had so much fun together. Not only during the day but also on our nights out. :)

Although the job can be pretty annoying and stressful on some days it is really rewarding as well. I love how you get to know so many people and most of my students were really great. Well, actually, all of my students were really great kids. I loved them all. But I was still really exhausted after 6 weeks working at the school. Sundays were especially exhausting when I had to get up really early to go to the airport and help with arrivals and departures of students. Sundays were awefully long but the coach rides gave me the chance to catch up on sleep :)

some pics:

Windsor Castle

welcome to England

Cream Teas

The Tea Cozy

The prime meridian 

Cambridge

a night out

dog race

 M&M World in London

Now I'm back home. I just moved on friday. My apartment is empty now and all of my stuff is back at my parent's flat. It looks quiet funny actually because my room is stuffed with thousands of things now. Everything I own is put in only one room now but it is quiet cozy. :) I love it.

Besides that, there is nothing new. I'm still waiting on my results for my dissertation and on more info from Disney. I hope things will happen fast now because I want to start planning.

England Adventures Part1 :)

Hello everyone!

I know i haven't posted in a while mainly because I was very busy writing my B.A. thesis and studying for all my finals.
The finals are over now and the B.A. thesis is handed in. I'm officially done with Uni. :D and i gotta say it was about time. Now I'm just waiting on my grades and hoping I past everything.

Last thursday I arrived in Brighton. My 3rd time now. I love it here. hahahah. I'm working as a tour leader again and it's sooooo much fun. My group is pretty awesome.
The activites we do are a lot of fun. We already went hiking, into the royal pavillion, the sea life center, bowling, and other great stuff. And above all the weather is fantastic. The kids really seem to enjoy it and i love it :D
The trip to London last saturday went pretty great as well. I've done that exact same trip at least 5 times now but it is still loads of fun and the kids were very well behaved and interested.
Today i have a day off which is pretty sweet. Although the weather isn't that great i still made it an exciting day. :D I think i will head back to the beach in some minutes and hang out a little.
My accomodation is pretty fun as well. I actually live with like 18 people in one house. hahahah but it's not that bad. The other tour leaders I share the room with are pretty sweet :)
I still have 4 fabulous weeks to spend here and I'm looking forward to all of the great activities and the awesome people I will meet.

I'll update as soon as I get the chance again. promised. :)

here some pics:

Seven Sisters

Trafalgar Square

 Brighton Pavillion

Brighton beach and Pier

some of my co-workers

 lunch at the beach ;)

my group

Finals

I'm officially taking my very very last finals ever :)

I took the first one this morning in international communication. 3 more are following during the next 2 weeks. I'm exhausted from studying but only 4 more weeks and I'm done with university. :) :) :)

On another note, I just found out today that a KFC opened up here. I have no idea how I could've missed that but I know what I'm having for dinner today :P

Blessings and L.O.V.E

In Honor Of Michael Jackson

As most of you know I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. He is my hero and always will be. To honor Michael Jackson's legacy today I decided to compose a little video. It contains a selections of some of my favorite songs and lots of pictures. I hope you'll enjoy it. (It is my very first video I ever made, so it's probably not too good but I tried my best)

PS: I don't own any of the pics or songs. 

It's all for L.O.V.E 

Welcome to my blog

In 146 days I’m off to Florida. J I’m beyond excited. But until then I guess I’ll just keep you entertained with random stuff so you don’t get bored.

I went through the application process for Disney months ago. It was a pretty exciting time. I think I got the call with the job confirmation and my departure date about a month ago. At the time of the call I was in class, so I went out in the hallway to take the call. Must have been a pretty funny scene when I started screaming and laughing. lol . I'll be working in the Epcot Center in the German pavillion, selling merchandise.

This will be my work location: 

  

Right now there is not much to organize for the trip yet. I’m just kinda counting the days until my departure and going about my day.  I still have to finish university though. Only one and a half months left until I’m done and my B.A. thesis is almost done as well. I have to hand it in in 49 days.

Besides working on my university stuff,  I started cleaning out my apartment because I have to move out. I’m a little sad I have to leave my first own apartment though. The last 3 years here have been pretty great and I loved being on my own.  

On the 28^th of July I’m leaving for England. I’ll be working there again for 6 weeks. I bet it’s gonna be an amazing time again, like it has been the last 2 years I’ve been working there. I’ll keep you updated on my adventures there as well J

I guess that’s it for now. I hope you’ll enjoy reading my blog.