Gloom and doom :-(

As you may have guessed from the upbeat and optimistic title of this blog... I have nothing positive to write about AT ALL.

First of all, its raining! Why? Why would it rain in the last few days of April hmmm? Not neccessary at all. Plus, its making the house cold, me cold and means I have to wrap up to go out, my trainers got dirty, my jeans picked up all the rubbish from the pavement and that was all to go to a boring 2hr lecture to which half the class didn't turn up. Thankfully there are no lectures now til Thursday, when I have to get up early and give a presentation... It'll probably be raining again.

Secondly, about a week ago if that, I handed in a truly shocking piece of work that I have no hope of getting a decent mark on. Since I also have no hope of doing well in the exam at the end of the year, this module's pretty much gone up the creek without a paddle...
Which brings me swiftly and no less painfully on to my dissertation, from which I am currently procrastinating. Whilst glaring out of the window at the rain. I have written a decent amount of words, but I'm pretty sure they're not even mediocre, so 0/10 on that score. Hmmm what else can I moan about?

Oh yes, we have the new tenant for next year coming round to sign the contract tonight. My housemates are staying and having two new people move in, which means the very, very, VERY sad day when I have to move out is approaching :-( Its approaching rather rapidly in fact: double :-(

Lastly and of course most obviously (due to the nature of this blog!) is the rather annoying fact that it doesn't look like I'm ever going to get to work for Disney at this rate. I've given up trying to compare this interview with my last one, because it all seems to be happening differently and seems a bit more chaotic than October.
I mean what with the gap of 9 days between some and then others being Wait Listed and then Jim getting an acceptance letter that wasn't meant for him (a way cruel mistake if you ask me!), it just seems a little messy.
The only hope on the horizon is that no one has been given January or February positions yet that I know of, so you never know... maybe... But probably not, knowing my luck.

Grrrr is all I really have to say, cos nothing seems to be going right at the mo! I mean is it too much to ask that Disney decide that if I was good enough to get through to the Waiting List TWICE that they actually give me a job?? Don't get me wrong, that is in no way to detract from the achievements of those who did get in, many of whom I've been lucky enough to meet. Buuuuuuuuttttttt I'm envious and I feel like having a rant. So there it was.

Hmmmm. Do I feel any better for my rant? No, is the simple answer. No because of [enter the contents of this blog here], is the long answer. The only comfort, and believe me, its cold comfort, is that if I don't get on with my dissertation, then I will well and truly mess up my degree and will have wasted the last three years of my life here in rainy but lovely Southampton.

I've been Wait Listed now for a total of NINETEEN days and the others have been for eleven days, so not as long for them, but over a week less than me. Hmph, I wish I'd hear soon (and other people too)!

Well I doubt, after all of that, there is anything to rant about, so I think I'll leave it there. I'm aware I sound like a whiney little child, but I feel like being one. This is just an outlet of how I feel and not meant to have a go at, detract from or in any way be jealous of anyone else.
I am, for example, VERY excited that Michelle and the other June 9th peeps get to go to London for their visa soon - they'll be at the month mark before they know it! :-D

On one brighter note, I have been paid today. Not that its much money at all, but it is there and it helps, so I might allow myself a little 'yay' over that.

Well that's it from La La Limbo Land for now. More news when either I hear from Disney or I decide to emigrate.
Ciao!

The Waiting List moves!! Happy St George's Day

Alright!!

So, admittedly John already got off the List after being on it for the sum total of five hours!

But now, it really moving!
Sooo, congrats to Dan who is going 22nd Sept FnB!!

Long may the job offers continue to come!!

Also Happy St George's Day everyone!

My current state of affairs remains >>>>>>



I'd also like to say a few words about a friend of mine, Michelle Park (mpark90) who may be known to many of you on WDWIP.com. Michelle is someone I met at my first f2f in October, who I went tramping around London with and who is a constant source of amusement and general happiness to me! Not only are her vlogs wonderful, but her incessant good nature is important in keeping me upbeat and optimistic about being Wait Listed again.
Many other people on WDWIP from the October interviews have done the same; Matt, Helen, Joanne and Kirstie have all been cool too, so kudos to them. Special props to Michelle though for being a legend.

Let's hope I hear that I'll be joining her and all of the other very cool, very lovely people I've met SOOOOOON!

Rolling news blog...

WELL DONE ALL WHO ARE GOING TO DISNEY!!!!

Whoop! Well done guys!

Right, I'm making a role list like Matt did last time round!

JULY 14TH
John - FnB

JULY 28TH
Sian - HRC

SEPTEMBER 8TH
Nick (from last interviews)- Merch, Carly - Merch
Michelle - FnB
Samantha - HRC

SEPTEMBER 22ND
Arron - FnB, Anna -FnB, Dan - FnB, another Dan - FnB (from WaitList)
Mimi - Merch

OCTOBER 20TH
Adam - FnB (his birthday!!)

NOVEMBER 3RD
Christina - Merch

DECEMBER 8th (was DECEMBER 1ST)
Damon - FnB, Lisa - FnB, Alison, Melissa
Luke - Merch, Jade - Merch, Steph - Merch

Wait Listees
Me, Jim, Todd, Laura, Clover, Andrew, Rachel et al...

Unsuccessfuls...
Kate, Laura

I also gave in to temptation and e-mailed Michele @ Yummy. She confirmed that there is no difference between those Wait Listed last week and those Wait Listed yesterday, so that's a relief to me anyway.
We all got very excited because John (14th July FnB) got off of the Waiting List pretty much as soon as he had gotten on it, so well done him!!
The rest of us have the unfortunate pleasure of remaining in la la limbo land... espcially since its now the weekend and we'll have to wait for Monday to find out if anyone else gets the call...

Everyone hates waiting....

Sooooo on the 9th April, I received this familiar looking e-mail:

Hi Victoria (Vicki)

Many thanks for attending the recent interviews for the Walt Disney World International Programs!

Disney would like to thank you for the time and effort you put into your application and very much enjoyed meeting you and spending time speaking with you.

As Roger mentioned in the presentation that there may not be immediate positions available but Disney would be delighted to offer you a position if one becomes available in the next six months, this can be anytime up to February 2010.

At the moment we do not have any specific dates and in the meantime, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your efforts so far.

I am attaching the link so that you can take another look at the presentation to enable you to understand the program a little better and also ask you to visit the website

www.disneyinternationalprograms.com

Cultural Representative - Epcot®
http://disneyinternationalepresentation.com/culturalrep

Look forward to speaking to you soon

Kindest regards

Michele

and took up my old place on the Waiting List!

I suppose having been there once before, it was kind of like I knew that I would have to wait ages to hear when the others got their calls and then ages beyond that for the Wait List to start moving, so I just put it to the back of my mind and got on with essay and dissertation work.

Speculation regarding exactly when the others would hear from Yummy was really abounding on wdwip, especially cos we had the Easter weekend in the middle. So we get to today EIGHT days after I received my e-mail and more people have got Wait Listed!! That must've messed up their heads quite substantially as even I was sure they were home and dry now!!!

Soooo, as 1pm GMT on the 17th April, no-one has a definate job offer YET. The Waiting List has just got larger... Needless to say we all have baited breath!! Will it be this afternoon, or tomorrow? Who knows!!

I, of course, have plenty to keep me busy; namely my essay and dissertation. Buuut the suspense is still killing me.

Everybody sent really lovely messages to me though, which made my day yesterday so Adam, Arron, Michelle M, Michelle P, Helen, Megan, Jim, Todd and anyone I missed thanks for the Pixie Dust!! Well I must be off, things to do and people to see. I will, naturally, be updating here with the news as it breaks, which I hope is soon!

Congratulations to Bee and Matt on their engagement which I found about 5 seconds ago!!

April Fools' Interview at Chez Gerard

Hello! Well, I'm back from London, off to work in a little while, and still very tired! Buuut, I had my interview, so now to tell the story: if you're sitting comfortably, then I'll begin!

Day One ~ Travel and TGIs

So I got the train to Victoria, got there at 1pm, promptly got lost and spent half an hour looking for the hotel! Then when I checked in, I found out that I was on the third floor and there was no lift... thanks for that Wellington!
My next discovery was that none of the lights in my room worked! So back down the stairs I went to Reception, who sent someone up. He couldn't fix it, so they gave me a floor-standing uplighter instead!
On the subject of the Wellington, all I can say is that its only pretending to be a hotel - I would say it was actually a reasonably nasty youth hostel, worse than the one I stayed in for my last f2f! So note to self (and you!) don't stay there unless you need to!!

Anyway I set off from the hotel at 3pm to do some touristy stuff and my first port of call was Kings Cross to find Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. I found it, and here's proof!


Then I went to have a look at Buckingham Palace, before heading back to the wonder that is the Wellington. Spent a couple of hours doing interview question prep, before heading down to the Reception at 6pm to meet the others so we could head off to TGIs.
Well, I met Arron, Adam and Steph and we were actually the first people to arrive at TGIs! We were finally seated by 8pm or something silly like that, but it gave us chance to chat. I was starving by that point, but unfortunately, the eyes were bigger than the belly, cos by the time I'd had a starter of skins with cheese and bacon, I was not only really full, but totally knackered and so left most of my bacon burger :-(
But of course it was great to meet a lot of the others who were to be at the interviews the next day: Michelle (who I already knew from October), Jade, Mimi and all the others from the wdwip forums.

Gosh was I tired when we finally got back to the Wellington and I think I was in bed, by half ten or something.

Day Two ~ Interview!

So, I was up at 6.45am - a veritable lie-in compared to last time - and met the others in Reception to check out etc at 8am. We tubed it to Waterloo and then set off to try and find Chez Gerard. Needless to say, we went the wrong way at first until a friendly passerby offered us directions and set us on the right track.
Thankfully we didn't get mixed up in any violence aimed at business people, who rather sensibly had dressed down for work that day, due to all of the G20 etc protests planned. We on the other hand, looked uber smart, if I say so myself! :-D

Apart from Kate, us 4 were the first to arrive, but were soon joined by many others. Eventually I reckon we had near on 50 people there! We were taken to the far end of the restaurant to a little conference room and just chatted until the people from Yummy Jobs (Nick and Jenny) and the Disney recruiters (Roger! and Sarah) arrived.
After that, general hilarity followed as Roger had innumerable problems with the projector for the presentation. Whilst the men fixed it, Sarah kept us occupied with questions etc and had all of the alumni tell us about their programmes.
Thankfully the technical difficulties meant that we didn't get too much of Valerie (don't get me wrong, you can't fault her enthusiasm, but she does get to you afer a while!), but it did mean there were no trivia questions and therefore, no prizes :-( I love the presentation though and just being with actual Disney recruiters is awesome! After a shorter version of the presentation, the times for interview were given out - I was scheduled for 3.20pm with Michelle M (who, like me, was Wait Listed from October and so we knew each other!)

To pass the time, a big group of us headed next door to Pizza Express to indulge. What with people coming and going, our group was there for over two hours!! Eventually around 2.30pm I headed off with Kate, Steph and Arron for a walk over Waterloo Bridge where the view was amazing, the weather lovely and we saw (very briefly) Graheme Norton walking his dogs! He ignored us, so we don't like him!!
Despite rumours that the interviews were running an hour late, I got back to Chez Gerard at 3pm, had my paperwork checked by Jenny and went in for my interview with Sarah all within half an hour so hardly late at all!

As for the actual f2f... its all abit of a blur. Michelle and I got off to a good start by interacting well together and laughing as we went in. We'd said exactly the same thing at exactly the same time to Nick and all fell about laughing!
I think we got asked:
0 What unique cultural experience would you share with guests?
0 Why do you want to work for Disney?
0 What is your work experience in relation to Merchandise (my 1st choice)?
0 Can you tell me about a time where you faced a difficult negative situation and turned it in to a positive one?
0 Tell me about your previous travel experiences.
0 Do you have any FnB experience?

There was also a lot of ad lib chat so I got to talk about a lot of other stuff too and then it was over, we were with Sarah longer than our counterparts were with Roger, so that's a good sign I guess! Michelle was a great partner to have for the interview, cos although she's going for FnB, we bounced off each other really well.

Sooo, after that, I waited for Steph to finish and we met Arron at Waterloo. We headed back to the hotel, changed and then hung out for a bit before I left to catch the train home.
Both the tube back to Waterloo and the train to Hastings were packed cos it was rush hour, but thankfully I still didn't see any hint of protest or violence, which was very very good. Also I was sooo knackered by that point, I couldn't of cared less so long as I got to sit down!

So, its all over now and the WAIT has begun! My laptop battery is about to die so I'm finishing off very quickly. I have to really catch up with all of the dissertation stuff I should've been doing so far, so its nose to the grindstone from now on! I'm off to work now anyway, so I may come back and edit this, I'm not sure, but the basics are there!

Shout out to Kim from Canada, who's on the Waiting List for the CRP. Hang in there!!

EDIT: 3rd April
So, I gave in and edited this post just a teeny bit. Work is over for the week, so I'm chillaxing before dissertating again this evening. I'll blog again in 2 weeks and not before! So if I do tell me off. Of course if I hear from Disney before then with good news, or any news, that doesn't apply!! :-D
Ciao x

SECOND EDIT: 8th April
This is not a new post, so you can't tell me off, but I just thought I'd mark the 'One Week Since Interview' Point! It's also two months tomorrow until Michelle heads off for UK FnB and that is crazy exciting too!
Right, bye for another week. Hopefuly I'll be back with news!
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN