Last day of May

Guaranteed this will be my last post of the month. Why? Because there's only one hour of May left. That's right, it's 11pm and in just one hour it will be June 1st, the start of a new month. A new coloured pen for my journal, a new scent of body wash for my showers, and a new year of my life starting in just seven days! Yes, my 19th birthday is one week from today. Can you believe it? Unfortunately we couldn't get a group booked off for that day because we requested it too late, but Meagan and I have the 9th off anyway so we're planning a birthday celebration that day.

The last month has been long in some ways but short in others, incredible and unbelievable, memorable but at the same time, so much happened that I can't remember individual days without the help of my journal. Every day goes by so fast that the month has flown by, yet so much has happened in these four weeks that it feels like I've lived here forever. And I still have a hard time believing that I'm really here, doing what I'm doing.

Yet on the other hand, I'm already a third of the way done! I need to find some way to hold on to the present, despite how fast it slips away, because I know I'll be on the plane home crying by the time I realize two more months have gone by.

As for photos, a lot of my time has been spent with friends so one person takes photos and we're supposed to share them on facebook, so unfortunately I don't have many pictures. I'm also really tired and posting pictures takes a long time. I will post one though, for Corbin's benefit:Star Wars Weekends! Yay! Unfortunately most of the stage shows got cancelled that day because of 2 hours of solid pouring rain, so I saw nothing but one indoor show about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated show.

I'm sorry folks but I'm very tired and I have to work long and hard (well maybe not hard, I'm a spare) tomorrow so I really can't write anymore tonight. You'll have to wait until June for more updates from me (hardy har har!). Happy Memorial Day to all and to all a good night!

Eating Around the World: Week 3

Ok, so my blog has become a bit of an eating-around-the-world blog. But I promise I'll post another one after this that will not be about food. Or at least, not entirely. :)

This week's meal came a little early because we happened to be in epcot today, and Meagan's family is coming on Thursday so this was probably our only chance this week to eat together.

As we walked back to future world after last week's Morrocan adventure, we saw a man eating a big ol' pile of nachos in Mexico. We decided this week's meal would be macho nachos with all the fixin's in Mexico. That is, until we found out they were loaded with beef (doesn't work for me, though we may have been able to get them without) and narsty nacho liquid cheese rather than melted cheese, so we passed up mexico and went to the next country over, Norway.

Unfortunately Norway has only an expensive princess sit-down restaurant and a bakery, neither of which appealed, so I suggested we go to La Boulangerie Patisserie in France because I'd heard good things. Of course, France is on the other side of the world. It was a hike, but we finally ended up in France. I got the cheese plate with baguette, an ice cappuccino and we both got strawberry tarts for dessert. (which is funny, because we'd already decided to go to Ghirardelli's for sundaes again, which we also did. Double dessert is double the fun!) Unfortunately I forgot to photograph my food until I was almost done, but just envision these cheese slices only bigger, plus one more hunk that looked like mozza, plus standard white baguette.
The beautiful strawberry tart I did get, though. It was pretty AND yummy.

The ice capp looks really gross in the picture so I'm not going to post it. Actually I was a bit disappointed by the flavour too, I remembered disney ice capps being really good, but maybe they are in other places.

After dinner we walked back through Canada and took a long route via Port Orleans to Downtown Disney. We did a lot of walking so there, I earned my Haight Ashberry thousand plus calorie sundae. It was really yum. Once again I ate the whole thing. I didn't think to photograph it this time but it was beautiful too. After dessert numero dos it was already after 9pm and I have to work at 7:30 tomorrow morning for 11 hours, so I decided it was time for me to leave. Now it's a pouring rain thunder storm out there, so I'm kind of glad I did! Also it's nice to be in a warm, comfy bed, that's for sure.

Eating Around the World: Week 2

This is going to be a quick post since I really need some sleep before work tomorrow, but I wanted to get it up here before tomorrow rolls around and I run out of time all over again. And eventually, I still have to talk about last week!

This morning was the trolley workshop at Animal Kingdom. I'll talk more about that later, as well as the fanfare that happened afterward...

Ok so today was week 2 of eat around the world at Epcot. I know it seems like all I talk about is food, but that's only because a) all I think about is food and b) to be fair, my last post was talking about a full week ago, I just published it late.

This week was Morocco. We went to Tangierine Cafe, the quick service Morocco restaurant in Epcot. I got the falafel wrap because although the vegetarian platter looked good, it was really big and it came with a huge pile of olives that I wouldn't eat. It would've been good to share but people down here like to get their own things, so whatever. The wrap was supposed to come with couscous and lentil salad. I asked to have hummus with my wrap, which it did not include, but she said I could add it. I was served two whopping containers of hummus and no sides. It turned out alright though, because I got through most of the hummus and I was very, very full by the end of dinner.

After dinner we hit up a few rides. We rode the Land boat ride before dinner, then took the boat from future world straight to Morocco. Then we walked through in the Mexico direction trying on hats and accessories and taking pictures in each pavilion. Unfortunately this was all on Meagan's camera, but hopefully she will make these pictures available on facebook soon. On the way back we rode the boat ride in Norway and the three caballeros boat ride in Mexico, then test track in future world. By then the park was closed and it was time to leave!

We still wanted dessert so we took a bus to Port Orleans resort then a downtown disney bus so we could get sundaes at Ghirardelli. I got a peanut butter hot fudge sundae: vanilla ice cream, melted peanut butter, hot fudge sauce, whipcream, and peanuts topped with a peanut butter Ghirardelli square. Yum. Never before have I eaten an eight dollar sundae, at least not to myself. Did I eat the entire thing? Yes, yes I did. Don't judge me.
After dessert it started POURING all of a sudden so we took refuge in World of Disney, but eventually we got tired and made a run for the busstop. Then we took the annoyingly long busride home, and here I sit, full but happy and also very sleepy, at midnight in the living room.

I have to work at 8:30 tomorrow which means getting up at (at least) 6:30, so I really need to be off to bed now. I promise I'll try to write a blog tomorrow after work (Note I said I promise I'll try, not I promise I will). Hope all is well back home! Love you all and miss you!

Eating Around the World: Week 1

I know, I know, it's been nearly a full week since my last post. But I'm going to start right where I left off: Thursday evening (May 20th).

Soon after I finished that blog I went out to Epcot with Meagan. We walked partway around the world showcase doing the Kim Possible adventure game! It was really fun. We got to be super sleuths and it was a good way to notice all the little details they put into each pavillion. You also get to see little easter eggs that can only be activated by the Kimmunicator. We stopped the villains in 2 of the 7 participating countries, France and Germany, but after that it was time for dinner. We were both feeling like a change from American food so we walked over to China (a surprisingly short journey from Germany, hahaha) to get some fastfood Chinese. It still tasted American but hey, it was a change!

So then we decided we would make a pact to eat around the world. Every country. Well, every participating country, which is 11 in total. Since we started last week, we have exactly enough time to eat at one country per week, and finish on our last week here. I've also decided to document this epic, so here's my first week of around-the-world dining:Above is my vegetable stir fry from Lotus Blossom Cafe. The vegetables were a little greasy from the oil in the sauce but overall, a good meal. About the quality you would get from any middle class chinese restaurant in Vancouver, which is pretty good for theme park food!

It's coming up on our second week of world dining, so we'll have to pick somewhere to go and get ourselves back to epcot. I think Meagan wants to go to France, but not the expensive restaurant, just the boulangerie for pastries. Sounds like an excellent idea to me!

Well since this is my around the world dining post, I'll leave writing about the weekend--or rather, your weekend, my 5 days straight of work--for another post.

Until then, zài jiàn, which according to wikianswers is goodbye in Chinese! (Hope I'm not offending anyone by having it totally wrong, heh...)

Picture blog

I just remembered I'm supposed to post some pictures. So, here we go.

My roommate convinced me to walk through the water fountain (see that one in the background?) at Epcot just as we were leaving. I was soaked. It was ridiculous. And by this time I had just finished getting completely dry off Kali River Rapids earlier that day. The air conditioned bus ride home was cold.

My friend Dale and his brother Chip and me!

Me and my friend Winnie the Pooh. Oh no wait, it's just Winnie the Pooh. Willy nilly silly old bear!

Me and my friend Tigger. I had to skip his buds Eeyore and Pooh to get to see him in time! He racks up some pretty crazy lines yes indeed-y.

My roommates Amy, Megan and me at Animal Kingdom. That goes in order from tallest to shortest :p

Still tired

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't written in a while but it's been crazy as always around here. I've been surviving on 6 hours or less of sleep so today I slept in until 11. It made today go by so fast- it's already after 4 and I haven't really done anything yet except set up my new phone and eat. Oh and speaking of my new phone, here's a picture:












It's cute and fun and best of all, it has unlimited texting! Yay!

I've been off work for the past few days. I tried to pick up a shift on Tuesday but no dice, so I just went to Animal Kingdom to visit my friends (yes, I practically live at Animal Kingdom). I also went to Magic Kingdom with Meagan and met a creepy guy who reminded me disturbingly of stalker boy... Finally we went to Beaches and Cream at the yacht and beach club resort and ended up with a group of 10. We got seated right around closing time, so luckily they seat until 11, not serve until 11! We ordered the kitchen sink. Just one, between ten of us, and we still had plenty to eat. It was an interesting concoction. I'm glad we got one between 10 and not 2. Maybe we'd get through 2 with 12 people, but not 10! After eating we went out onto the beach and played around on the sand for a while. But pretty soon we had to call it a night because Wednesday morning was the morning of the 6am social security trek.

I got up at 5:30, got on the bus at 6, and didn't leave the social security office until 9. I only had 4 hours of sleep so I was exhausted all day, but I still found the energy to go to Animal Kingdom (AGAIN) to visit Goofy and then Hollywood studios with my roommates. I rode tower of terror twice, once alone while I was waiting for my roommates in American Idol and once when they found me. Then we got coke slushies and went on the backlot tour and toy story mania, but that was pretty much it. We were all tired and Megan had a 5am shift the next day, plus Amy and I had to go to Walmart, so we left around 6.

Ah, Walmart. Or rather, UGH Walmart. I spent a very very very long time getting my phone and the sales associates weren't much use but I finally got the cute blue AT&T one, which I set up today. I also got an over-the-door towel rack, hair elastics, Silk, and envelopes for receipts. All this cost about $15 and took about 10 minutes. The rest of the time was spent in electronics.

On the busride home I met some newbies who just arrived yesterday and are here until January. It was weird giving them advice and being the experienced one, even though I've been here less than 3 weeks and I still feel pretty new myself. Still, it's a bit of a shock that I'm already nearly a quarter of the way through my program. I only just started and yet I haven't got a whole lot of time left!

As for today, it's been a bit of a lazy recuperation day. I'm planning to hit up epcot later but nobody else can/wants to go, except for Meagan who's busy right now. I might head over to Downtown Disney for a while until she's done doing laundry--I want to check out the dog store, the $10 or less store and the World of Disney. It's probably good that I'm resting today anyway because it's been pretty go-go-go since I got here and I'm getting pretty tired. In fact I've been eating and sleeping all day but I'm still tired! I've got 5 days in a row of work coming up so a bit of rest is probably a good thing.

Anyway I'm getting bored so if Meagan doesn't text me soon then I'm going to find something to do with myself for a while. That's all for now!

Loooong Haul

Wowee today was a long day. I worked from noon until 11:30 as a spare at MK, and I got pulled twice near the end of the night. Surprisingly I never felt like the time was dragging or that my out time would never come. I actually enjoyed the day--I was just getting very tired by the end of it (not to mention hungry!).

Guess what? I haven't spent any money on food in the past 2 days! I've eaten only food from home. That may not sound like anything special but for me, it's something to be proud of! I would really love to go back to AK and get another one of those chai things, though, that was delicious. It also cost me $5.25 so I don't think I'll be getting another one soon, unfortunately. I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of money on my birthday (in exactly 3 weeks!) so I'd better save up until then.

I requested a shift partnering my training buddy Meagan for tomorrow morning but I can't seem to get onto the site where I check my schedules, so I don't know if I got it. I guess I'll have to go in tomorrow morning to make sure one way or the other. That means I'll be up at 6am, and it's already after midnight around these parts. Besides which, I'm exhausted! I don't know how Mom works 12 hour days every day. One is enough to wear me out!

Goodnight and until tomorrow! PS I just uploaded my pictures to the computer this morning so I should have some photos for you soon. :)

Oh what a crazy day...

Today started out with a Florida based phone call to my cellphone that I missed by a second. I tried calling back and the number was apparently unassigned. I was terrified it was Disney calling me in for a shift that I definitely would've taken if I could've talked to them! I decided to wait it out and see if they would call me back so I checked my schedule online, and found out I hadn't been paid for yesterday because of a 'clocking violation' that never happened. So I called in to the Entertainment base hotline to get it fixed. The lady was really nice but she wanted to know my manager, which park I usually worked at, etc. I don't know! It's my first day! Aaah!

So while I was on the phone Jamie started messaging me on facebook to see if I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom with him. I didn't have anything planned for the day so half an hour later he picked me up and we went to the park. Unfortunately we couldn't find anyone else to go with but it was still fun. We saw all the shows and rode practically everything and I got this really delicious frozen chai frappe thing from the tea emporium. Only problem was I had to down it fast because we went to the Lion King show right after.

We were just finishing up at the end of the day when we saw John so we went backstage to meet him and wait for him to clock out. Turns out John was waiting for Dave to clock out, so we all waited and left together. We wanted to hang out so we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and a movie. Bad idea! There were 2 hour waits at every restaurant except the ones that didn't have a single vegetarian item on the menu. As for the movie, well, it was Iron Man, Iron Man, or hm...Iron Man. So we decided to go off property to eat at a cheap family restaurant. Meagan had just gotten off work and wanted to come meet us though so we waited at Downtown Disney for her to come before leaving. The only one missing from our little entertainment get together was Meg :( !

Once Meagan arrived we drove to TGI Friday's, which was only a few minutes away. Surprise, surprise, no vegetarian food! Even the macaroni had bacon in it. I ordered a side salad and garlic bread sticks. I got a wedge of ice berg lettuce smothered in salty dressing, and the 'bread sticks' were salty donuts. Everyone else got shrimp, steak, chicken, etc. Luckily Meagan and I split a spinach dip appetizer (good but salty) and a vanilla bean cheesecake as well, so I definitely didn't go hungry. I could only eat one of my breadsticks, though. John also had one and the rest I brought home. After all the hmm-ing and haw-ing and waiting and driving and finally eating, it was after 10:30 by the time we left the restaurant. Now it's 11:15, the day is gone, and I have to rise and shine for another long work day tomorrow. In some ways it's good I'm only here for 3 months--I don't know how much more of this I can take! I'm off to shower and sleep. Night!

Heigh Ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go

Today was my first day of work outside of training. I was super nervous in the morning but I managed to pick up a shift and the day flew by after that. I even got to be in a parade at the end of the day, bringing up the rear! I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to be in a Disney parade, and there I was on my very first day! It was really exciting. As usual I can't say much about my day, only that it was long, but fun!

After work I went directly to Publix for some "quick" grocery shopping. I ended up spending $85 and 3 hours (although 2 of them were in transport) shopping. My complex, Chatham, is the last stop in the loop so to get home from Publix takes an hour, even though it is only a 10 minute drive. Publix is waaaay nicer than Walmart. They actually know what a vegetarian is! I stocked up on easy to eat, easy to cook veggie meats and fruit snacks, including a tub o' watermelon and a huge box of banana chips. Yum!

I also threw together the last of my Walmart produce into a gross pasta sauce that I had for dinner, and saved the rest. PS why do I suck at cooking lately? I think I depend on recipes to succeed. Also on ingredients, and I'm lacking both.

Tomorrow is a day off for me but today was a long day with an early start, so I'm already exhausted (it's midnight and I've been up since 6, with a lot happening in between!). I don't know if anyone else has tomorrow off so maybe it will be a rest day with no park visitings, which is kind of sad but I could use the rest. What with laundry and grocery shopping done though, I've made a big dent in my to-do list! Yay!

Busy Times

Sorry I haven't been writing much lately, but I think days off down here are even more packed than working days! I've really got to get to sleep but I'll sneak a quick blog in here while I wait for the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Yesterday was my day off after training. I planned to do chores. I didn't. I decided it would be more fun to go to Animal Kingdom and Epcot with my roommates, Megan and Amy, who also had the day off. It was, of course! We rode all the big rides at both parks and a couple smaller rides too. I bought a really cute t-shirt at the dinosaur ride and I'll probably put a picture up later when I have time. I also rode Everest for the first time. It was fun and really pretty but not super amazing to ride. I was hoping for more of a thrill.

Epcot was really fun, but we didn't stay long because it was closing so I still haven't seen the world pavilions. I did eat 2 ice cream treats in 3 hours though. Please don't judge me!

Today me and my entertainment friends, along with a couple of tag-alongs, went to Typhoon Lagoon. It was fun, although we didn't get on much because we spent most of the time waiting for people. I definitely want to go back to ride the rest of the slides, but even more I want to go to Blizzard Beach!

When I got home I made myself a gourmet dinner of burnt bagel with PB&J, and spent most of my evening doing my laundry. It cost me $4 for one load, but at least it's done now. I still have to do my grocery shopping an stock up on Morningstar Farms and Boca from Publix (Walmart doesn't sell anything vegetarian) and clean the house. So much to do, so little time! And who wants to do housework when there's Disney World a bus ride away?

Alright well I've widdled down my sleeping time to less than 7 hours for my 9 hour day tomorrow. So depressing! That means it's time for sleep. More tomorrow after my first day of non-training work!

That's Entertainment

Five more days have flown by and here I sit on the comfy chair in the living room, drinking hot chocolate and eating a cookie, and coming up fast on day 11 (May 12th). My training is complete, and to celebrate us all passing, all of us post-trainee entertainers went to Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks. Of course we were a little early, so we watched a parade, met with the princesses, ate dinner, and rode Space Mountain before scoping out a perfect spot in front of the castle about 15 minutes before the show started. The fireworks were beautiful but it's sad to think that our group may not share another moment like that. I know I've only been with the group five days, but to be fair they were five long days and we were together constantly. We bonded fast and since I've only been here 10 days, 5 days is half my time here! So it makes sense that this group has become a family.

Alright well I'd love to write more but my roommate's already gone to sleep and I'm losing my focus, so I think it's time for me to follow suit. Tomorrow will be an errand day--I've got a long list of jobs that have been neglected over the past week and a half of adjusting and training, such as grocery shopping and laundry. Sigh. But it needs to be done and I might as well do it while I have spare time, because that doesn't seem to be easy to come by!

Okay one of my other roommates just got home and it's the first time I've seen her in days! We had a little chat and now it's an hour later so I really need to get to bed! I can hardly keep my eyes open. Until tomorrow!

Earning my Ears

First of all, Happy Mother's Day! I realize it is a day late but thank you to all those moms out there who are missing their babies this weekend as we enjoy ourselves and work hard down here in Florida, and I'm sorry I couldn't give a hug to my own mom on her special day.

Tomorrow is the fifth and final day of training. After tomorrow, I will be a Disney Entertainer! That is, if I pass. I'm going to miss all my training buds though--the furry ones, and the people too! Hopefully the last day of training won't be our last day together. We're planning on going to Typhoon Lagoon on Thursday (just the people friends, the furries are going to a party at Mickey's house), so I'm looking forward to that.

Wow the time is just evaporating. For example I'm lying in bed now and it's dark outside, but it feels like seconds ago I was sitting on the floor a few feet away when I first got home, four hours ago. The minutes, hours, and days fly by. In fact, day 9 of my program is coming to a close, marking another important checkpoint: 9/90 days means I've already completed 10% of my program. When I first started over a week ago, I was scared and homesick and though 3 months seemed like a long time. Now I'm beginning to wish I was an American citizen so I could take a full time job with Disney! 3 months just won't cut it, especially at the rate they're going. July 30th is going to hit me hard and I know I'll be heartbroken to leave. But better to think about the 90% that lies ahead than to worry that 10% has already gone by!

Anyway, enough dilly dally. It's past my bedtime as I had a late night last night and another early start tomorrow morning, so I need my sleep! I was exhausted at 8pm but I've managed to stick it out till 9:30, yet I can feel I'm losing my focus. Hopefully I'll have the energy to write more tomorrow because I'll know I won't be facing a 6am start!

Oh, just one more thing before I fall asleep. Here's a picture of two of my favouritest furry friends, Chip and Dale. I had fun playing with them that day:

Day off and Training

Wednesday was my first day of work at Traditions, as you all know. Well, I feel like another landmark was Thursday, my first day off, even though it was only 1 day later. It was probably the most fun I've had in a long time. I mean, come on, how often do you go to the Magic Kingdom twice in one day? And before you get all jealous, let me just say that I don't think that's going to be the norm for me around here, either. Let's just say my hours will be many and my time off will be few.

Ok, so Thursday I got up bright and early-- well, 8:30, which is pretty early considering how late I stayed up Wednesday-- to go to the park with Jen, an Animal Kingdom ride attendant who lives over at Patterson. We had to take the bus of course, which is a lengthy process in itself, but we did get a fair amount of time at the park. My only complaint? She didn't want to ride Splash Mountain! We did get a good lunch in though and lots of rides, so I went home happy.

I barely got home and had a snack though when my roommate Megan said she was going back to Magic Kingdom (she also spent the morning there) with her friend Rachel, who had spent the day training, and asked me to come along. Well, I wasn't about to pass that up! This time, we did get to ride Splash Mountain, among other things. We also got dinner at the end (my second park meal in one day-- I'm going to be so broke by August) and then went home an hour before closing to beat the final parade/fireworks rush. I got to bed at a decent hour, around 11pm, though not as early as I'd have liked. Still, I went to bed happy and I have no regrets!

It was another early start though, this time 6am in order to catch the 7am bus. That was a mistake-- I didn't want to be late for my first shift, so I took the early bus and got there an hour early. My alternative was to arrive only 15 minutes before my shift, but that's the bus all the other performers and attendants took, so I guess I was the only overly-eager beaver.

Training was really fun today, even though it was a long day. We got lessons from Tigger himself! Now I can't say much about the process (I wouldn't want to spoil the magic, now, would I?) but let's just say it was a laugh and a half. I also can't share photos or even take any behind the scenes, so expect a lot of photo-less, detail-less blogs from now on (phew, the pressure's off for me!). I can let you know, though, that I'm going to be best friends with Winnie the Pooh, Chip and Dale, and the mice from Cinderella for the next few days/weeks/months. I'm excited to go back again tomorrow and play with my new furry friends, and my people friends too!

Well having enjoyed my peanut broccoli pasta and almond chocolate bar (yes I'm still working on the one from Lunenberg!), I think I'm going to have an early night so I can be ready for tomorrow. See y'all real soon!

Traditions!

Wow, I just noticed! I've got followers! Yay! Now you guys just have to start leaving comments, because really, this blog's pretty lonely with just me here!

Today was a big day. I had my traditions class at Disney, aka my first day of paid work! It was pretty fun--they pumped us full of pixie dust with the history of Disney and all that's great about the company. It was actually really inspiring to hear Walt Disney talk in some of the older interviews. We also got to go in the park for the first time (albeit briefly) and we also got our Disney ID's, which allow us to go back to the parks for free! But I think the most exciting thing of all was getting our legendary Disney nametags. Mickey himself came to deliver them! I almost cried when I saw my name engraved on a Disney tag; somehow it seems to make this whole thing that more real.

I really wanted to go to the park with my new free entry pass, but today is not the best day because I wasn't home from traditions until 1pm and I've got a formal dance tonight starting at 8pm. I've got three months to go so it's not a big deal, and besides, I don't have to wait long because I'm going to Magic Kingdom tomorrow on my day off!

So instead of visiting the park on my break, I went swimming with my new friend Jen, who I'm also going to MK with tomorrow. She lives at Patterson Court, which is about a 5 minute walk from my building, Chatham Square. We stayed in the water for 2 hours talking! The exciting news? I got my first tan line! I don't even care about tanning while I'm here, I just forgot to wear sunscreen. But it feels a little like a landmark.

Alright, well although the formal does supply food, I don't know what they're supplying, so I think I'll grab a snack before I get all dressed up. Then it's off to the dance!

<--Us at traditions! From left to right: Me, Katy (from Halifax), Amy (my roommate from the Okanagan), and Megan (my roommate from Ontario)



<--My nametag! I can't wait to wear it again!

First Few Days

<--Me wearin' my pimpin' new Walmart sunglasses

















<--My bed area after some serious brightening up












Hi! Not much to report today, especially since I am once again exhausted and I have to be up at 5:30am in order to catch a bus at 6:50am for Traditions.

The past two days have been full of paperwork, meet & greet, and Walmart. Ah yes, and no lack of sunshine either! I went to Walmart both yesterday and today, and as you all know, no Walmart trip is short. Especially when you have to take a bus both ways, and the bus only comes every half hour! I also went swimming yesterday with one of my roommates, Amy. Oh, and a milestone! I cooked my first dinner tonight! (last night I had Subway from Walmart.) Toast, salad, and an orange. Yay me! But really, I don't know if it's the heat or what, but I haven't had enough appetite or energy to bother with cooking dinner. Our rooms are nice and cool and (over) air-conditioned, but the outdoor heat totally dazes me out.

Of course I miss everyone back home very much, but the good news is that I'm meeting lots of new people and lately I've been so busy that the time is flying by. I know it's only my third night here, but even so, I can't believe I've already had two full days here! I'm sure by July 30th I'll be wondering where the time went.

Ok, well now I've worn myself down to only 7 short hours of sleep, and I've got a formal dance coming up tomorrow. Oh didn't I tell you? There's a formal tomorrow night and apparently it's the only one happening while we're here, so everyone's going. I spent the afternoon at the Outlet mall with a group of girls buying dresses, jewellery, shoes, etc. It's from 8pm till midnight, and traditions starts at 8am (bus at 6:50) so I am def going to need a nap.

So anyway, the point is, I'm going to have to cut this short for tonight and hopefully fill you in more about how everything's going here at a later date.

Ta for now loves!

In Florida and adjusting

Hello again! I guess broke my blog-roll by not writing yesterday. I was sooo exhausted! Well, I still am really, so I think I'll keep this short.

My first day here, May 1st, after saying goodbye to mom and riding a plane for 4 hours, I landed at about 5:30pm. The plane taxied for 10 minutes and then I was stuck on the plane for probably another 10-20, waiting for all the babies and kids and parents to get off. There were so many kids! I rode the plane beside a newborn baby and his family. The baby was cute but it meant I couldn't really get up without causing tons of problems! I was sitting near the back, so I was the 2nd last one off the plane.

Luckily I didn't get lost in the airport, thanks to Mears instructions, and I found my way to the baggage claim. I didn't have to wait too long since I had already sat on the plane for so long and gone to the bathroom, but probably at least another 10 minutes. After I picked up my suitcase I went downstairs to the Mears desk, bought a ticket, and waited for a shuttle. I rode the shuttle to Vista Way and the guy driving loaded my suitcases out. I was the only one arriving at that specific time, so I got a bunch of paperwork and my roomkey alone. Right after I finished though, a big bus holding a bunch of British people arrived, so I had to wait for them to get their orientations before going to my apartment.

When I got to my apartment it was pretty late and nobody was home, I guess they were all out buying their groceries. I had a shower and set up my room and got a little homesick, but eventually my roommates arrived and I got to meet them (Christina, in my room, and Amy and Megan in the other room) before turning in. I was pretty upset last night, and tired, and hungry, but I'm feeling better today.

Today was not too interesting; I had to eat my roommates cereal because I didn't have a chance to go shopping last night. Then we walked over to The Commons where we had a long orientation about living at Disney. The room was super airconditioned and we were all really cold! It was even more of a shock, then, when we walked outside into the 30+ degree C weather.

After that Amy and I went to Walmart. It took about 45 minutes to catch the bus (they're supposed to come every 30) and another 40 to actually get to Walmart. At Walmart took about 2 hours, then we had to bus back, so suffice it to say that took most of our day up. Christina wasn't home when we got back and Megan went out right away (my stuff was so heavy, btw, that I barely made it back to our building and up the stairs from the bus!!) so Amy and I unpacked and went for a swim. Then we came back, had dinner, watched a show on her computer, and went to bed!

Sorry I don't have more details or pictures but it's really late, I'm tired, and my roommate's trying to sleep. More tomorrow! (hopefully!)

Last day in Canada

Phew! Two blogs in one day! I am on a blog-roll! Alright, down to business. Today was a really fun day. We got up at the usual time (early) and were still full from last night. Ugh, I hate it when that happens! But since we were the only ones staying at the Inn, we were polite and ate all our breakfast anyway. Not that it wasn't good--grilled cheese on Farmer's rye with fresh fruit, tomato, and orange juice--but we just didn't feel like eating! We left the hotel just after 9am thinking we'd never eat again (of course, we were wrong!)

This time, we took a much shorter route into Halifax from Sydney, and we still arrived far ahead of schedule. In fact, it took us less than five hours to arrive, even with a gas station break and a rest stop, and it felt even shorter than that. We arrived in Halifax and checked into the Waverly Inn (which just makes me think of Wizards of Waverly Place, hah I'm such a Disney geek). The Inn is incredible! Or should I say "Inn"-credible! Har har. The room has ceilings at least 12 feet high, which is about 2 1/2 Kayleighs stacked on top of one another. Anyway, they're ridiculously high. I could put my IKEA loftbed in here, stand up on my toes, and still not be able to reach the ceiling. You can probably tell I'm impressed by the ceiling.





<--Reeeaaaalllyyyy high ceilings!!











We also get really cool Harry Potter 4-posters to sleep in. No curtains, but thick wooden beds high off the floor (yes, I need a stepstool to get on them) covered in lush thick pillows. We've gone from rock hard foam in Lunenberg, to springy comfort in Annfield, to oh-my-god-this-bed-is-amazing comfort here in Halifax. Then I'm going to Florida to a single, old, hard mattress with el cheapo IKEA bedding. *Sigh*. All the furniture here is antique AND it matches (a step up from the Annfield!). I don't know what the breakfast is like here, but we get complimentary coffee and tea all day long, and lucky us, the hot drink making table is one step outside our door. Pretty sweet! Ok, so I love the hotel. I'm really quite sad that I'm only staying here for one night!

Moving on. So we arrived in Halifax this afternoon and checked in. Then I wrote the blog from earlier today because I'm a little blog-writin' machine! Ain't no stoppin' me! (Can you tell I'm tired?). Then Mom went out and got our laundry started at some little laundromat a few blocks away, and get this? The East Indian woman who runs it has a son who lives in Vancouver! What's with all these Vancouver connections we've had here? Wierd I tell you, wierd. Well we had a little while to kill while we waited for our laundry to be done so we went out and walked around Halifax. We hiked up Citadel Hill to the third fort of this trip. One week, three forts. Nova Scotia was one fort-ified province back in the day! (man I'm just full of these today aren't I?) So Citadel Hill was not too exciting, Louisbourg was way cooler. There were other people there though, including a couple tour groups led by guys in full on Scottish get-up. Now I don't have a picture unfortunately, but it was quite the sight to see. I guess it is May 1st now, so Nova Scotia is beginning to open to the general public...

Alright, so we saw the citadel. Next we walked down to the harbour, an area called "Historic Properties" (don't ask me what that means 'cause I don't know). There was a Cows Ice Cream Shop with a big cow in front of it (see picture below) and some supa'-tacky tourist shops. Ok, Mom said when we were on our way to the airport last week that I could buy a stuffed lobster in Nova Scotia since I forgot my stuffed animal, and I laughed, thinking she was joking. Not so. There were several different sizes and assortments of lobster stuffies, along with other lobster memorabilia (including a lot of rather gross assorted kitchenware detailing how to eat a lobster in all the gory details). Some of them were actually really cute!



<-- Me with one of the not-so-cute stuffed lobsters. Notice the tartan in the background-veerryy popular in Nova Scotia.









<-- Me kissin' a cow at Cows










After the browsing, we picked up the laundry and amazingly, we decided we were ready to eat again (which was probably not a good idea in hindsight. The food was delicious, but I'm back to being so full I could burst.) We went to the Wooden Monkey to eat. Partly because the name is amazing, but mostly because they have a lot of vegan dishes. We got a seitan pita sandwich served with "roasties" (fries, but roasted instead of fried), and a yummy roasted chickpea salad that tasted a lot like the Sesamum Salad from Foundation. We also enjoyed a chocolate tofu pie for dessert--their specialty. It was really yum, and the restaurant was pretty funky and cool inside. And there were monkeys everywhere! (Not live, obviously, unless you count homo sapiens. I more meant paintings and statues and such.) After dinner we walked back to our Inn where even now I am lying in my luscious bed writing this with (can you believe it?) fast, reliable internet!

I'm getting pretty sad and scared since today was my last day in Canada. Tomorrow I leave the country at 3pm and I'm not coming back for quite a while. I'm really going to miss everyone, and even though I know the time will fly once I get going, right now 3 months seems like a long time. On the one hand, it feels like May 2nd flew up on me and I haven't even had time to think about it, but in a way that's good. Having this last-minute trip that delivers me to Florida has allowed me to spend some time with Mom, get used to the time change, and just have fun not thinking about being away from home. It's not like I've never done this before (remember France?) and I know I'm getting the opportunity of a lifetime. I just need to get past the element of unknown and start living the dream!

Well, that's my last blog from Canada. I've got some paperwork to triple check before the big day! Talk to you all from the US of A!

Fort Louisbourg and Sydney

Hi again! This is really a post about yesterday (Friday April 30th) but the internet in the Annfield was really patchy and I didn't feel like going down to the dining room to write, so here it is now.

Yesterday we drove to Sydney and looked at the Coastguard College--or at least, the sign for it. It was a private lot surrounded by ocean and forest with gated entry, so all we could really see was the sign. It actually took us quite a long time to find it at all; we had to stop at the Days Inn for directions since no tourist information centres are open yet. (Remember, Nova Scotia doesn't officially open until May.)

<--See? We did go to the Coast Guard College!










Slightly disappointed and very exhausted, we figured we'd just go back to our Inn and relax for the day, but the innkeeper had suggested going down to Fort Louisbourg, so we figured we'd get on the highway and judge how long it would take based on the mile markers. Well, there weren't any mile markers until many kilometers down the road, and with no way to turn back, we were kind of stuck going to Louisbourg.

So we drove down the highway and eventually reached the town of Louisbourg. We wanted to get lunch or something but no such luck: the ENTIRE TOWN was closed for the season. The gift shops, restaurants, coffee shops, tourist centers...everything. Ok, wierd, but whatever. We continued to drive along the highway until we arrived at the Canadian National Heritage interpretation centre for Fort Louisbourg, which had a big fat metal pole blocking the way! Apparently the fort, along with the town, doesn't even open until summer! Suffice it to say we were pretty ticked.

Still, we could see the fort across the water just a little ways down the road, so we kept driving and a couple minutes later arrived at a dirt parking lot and got out to look around. There were no signs for the fort, but a nice old guy who was parked there (seemingly the only living person in Louisbourg this time of year) told us it was just a little bit further down the road. We thanked him and continued.

We got a little nervous as the road turned to dirt and were even more annoyed when we found the gate to the fort, also closed. But the gatekeeper, another nice old man with a strong Cape Breton accent, just smiled and waved us through the gate, telling us that the fort was closed but we could take a look and stay until 4pm. It was 1:40, and we didn't think we'd need that long. We drove along the dirt gravel road to the fort, which is only open to buses during tourist season and parks Canada trucks the rest of the time (well, and us of course).



<-- Us at Fort Louisbourg









The fort was really cool! It was much bigger than the field we saw back in Annapolis Royal, and it was full of old reinforced buildings and surrounded by a big stone wall. The best part, though, was that it was completely deserted and we just got to walk around and look at whatever we wanted. The Parks Canada people didn't say anything, they just kind of smiled and waved. Maybe they thought we were working there too? It started to get pretty cold and rainy (you can see from my pictures that my hands were pretty much constantly in my pockets) but we walked around the whole fort and saw everything that was open. It was definitely a unique experience to be there when no other tourists were!



<-- Me in front of the really cool Zelda-esque drawbridge








What started out as a pretty frustrating day turned out very exciting and satisfying, and we went back to the inn happy that we'd made the trip all the way out to Louisbourg. We spent the evening eating junk food and watching TV in our room, a little bit of relaxing before Saturday's long drive!


<--Chillin' at the Annfield (in my Monkey Socks!)









Today we packed up and drove out to Halifax, where I am right now in my super cool room at the Waverly Inn (like Wizards of Waverly place! hee hee). I'll write more about today later tonight; right now I want to enjoy my last day in Canada!