The End AND The Start of Something New!

Hello!
It's been a little while I feel, so apologies! Let me start filling you in on the news:

***Michelle Park flew to Florida Today!***

As I write this at 12.30am, she is at the mall, and it's 90 degrees out there. Gosh I'm so happy that her day has finally arrived, I really wish her the most amazing year. Same goes for all the June 9th people!

In the mundane life of me, UNIVERSITY IS OVER FOREVER!!!!!! Yep, the end came after a rather gruelling 4hr exam on June 1st and now I'm free! I also have no purpose to my life...if only I had a job in Florida waiting for me... No such luck!

So, although the end of Uni means a new start, it also means lots of confusion and a ridiculous amount of debt! Que sera sera, I guess. Well, time to start taking the advice of graduate recruitment agencies and take a gap year lol. Unfortunately they also require funding.

On the bright side, the Grad Ball is on Wednesday and promises to be an extremely awesome night. We get driven to the country-estate venue, have a 3 course meal, enjoy the party with performances by The Streets and DJing by Scott Mills, enjoy a funfair including rides and vendors and get a lift home again. For that I had to pay £59 - which burnt a serious hole in my pocket - but I'm hoping it'll be well worth it!

There seems to be a couple of birthdays coming up soon: Nikki and Kathryn, so a variety of festivities to look forward to! Not to mention it was my Mum's birthday this weekend and we had a great time in Salisbury.

Plans for the summer are also shaping up too. Keswick 11-18th July (travel on the 10th to overnight with Ruth), GRADUATION on the 20th, Issac and Becky's Wedding on the 4th July, Momentum the 22nd-27th August and then I'm staying in Soton that weekend to attend James and Emma's Wedding! Whooop. Plus I'll be working too obviously!!

Anyway, I am pleased to report that yours truly will indeed be recieving a BA (Hons) degree in History at 2:1 level on that fateful day in July, having got 65 for my dissertation and 67 for my exam (which I was convinced I'd messed up)! So excitement all round, now I'm almost certain that the job is done!

I go home to Hastings for good on the 25th June and go to a Keswick Training Day on the 27th, so not long before I have to put the last 3 years of my life back in to boxes! Hmmmm, a sad day that shall be indeed. Then it's back to being tied to the maternal apron strings and under the maternal thumb... ...
Ummm I'm shattered so I'll leave you with this brief and vague semblance of a blog - which I may or may not update soon.

**UPDATE THE NEXT DAY...**

Welcome to Tuesday. Today has been bewildering. I'm just wandering from idea to idea about what to do with my life and not sure that anything is right for me. Now a job at Disney... Well, that would be perfecto!! Gosh I dislike decision-making.

Suffice to say I am currently considering a gap year. Where? How? When? By what means? With whose money? I do not know. Some things seem the right thing to do, others don't seem so good on second glance... Who knows? All I know is that if I go and live back home for good then I may as well have never gone to college, let alone Uni, for all the good I'll do.

Hastings is not a good place to be attempting to establish a graduate career, that much is clear to me. I love Hastings. It is - and always will be - home. But I can't go back there right now. Well when I say right now, I know that I'll be there for the rest of 2009. 2010 though? That's different. I want to get out and about. If Southampton broadened my horizons this much, then how much more, would time abroad benefit me...

Enough pointless rambling from me. Michelle and the others move in to their apartments in a matter of hours, which excites me greatly! Here in Southampton, the very real temptation is to put the heating on! In June :-(

I can't think of anything else to write. Ooooh, I must just record my excitement actually...I set up my 30 day free trial to LoveFilm.com today and have a lovely stack of films waiting for me to watch over the next couple of weeks, including Aladin and WallE!!

*It's In!*

Yep, that's right, the only thing of note that has occured this month, since my last post, is that I handed my dissertation in!! We'll ignore the fact that I forgot to sign the plagarism statement and had to go back after it was handed in to tell them the word count... Oh dear.

Now the only thing I have to do is revise for an exam nearly 4hrs long on June 1st whoop! Not.

No word from Disney obviously.

London with Michelle 'Green' Park

Well, I got up at quarter to 7, which is earlier than I've been up the whole rest of week. I paid a lot of money for the train, sat next to a business man with smelly aftershave and got to London just before 10am. At least I got there though cos the train was packed. I took the Tube straight to Marble Arch, where I saw these cool murals on the wall!


I decided to go to the Embassy and take a look and wait for Michelle. Its a rather formidable looking building with all sorts of security measures around it. Hmmm well at least I can say I've seen it, even if I never get to go in myself. I met Michelle - who has been approved! - soon after and we headed off.

We took a sroll along Oxford Street and Park Lane; visited the Disney Store, wandered in to a Pizza Express that had no door and which turned out to be closed anyway, before settling on a little cafe down a side street. I have to say that the food was awesome and for central London, cheap as well!
With lots to talk about and catch up on, there was plenty of chatter and so the waitress had to wait a while for us to decide! Anyway with some food inside us, we decided to set out to find Harrods. Because, as a frequent visitor to London and well-to-do member of society, Michelle has a loyalty card there!! Except, we couldn't find it! Small matter of forgetting that the nearest tube to it is Knightsbridge and not Oxford Circus.

So Michelle bought some teddies and we played with the toys!! I still swear that the Little Miss Chatterbox had a little bit of a Lancashire accent that made it sound suspiciously like her! As per usual, we saw some amazingly ridiculously expensive things: £110,000 for a 108" screen TV (looked like a projector screeen it was so big) and the most amazing ornate chandalier I've ever seen for £22,000!

Feeling a bit knackered due to a combination of the early starts and a rather extensive tour of Harrods (where we got pressed pennies!! [Thanks you for the £1 Michelle]), we sought out the nearest branch of Starbucks and collapsed into some rather comfy armchairs for further nattering over yummy drinks and amazing cake :-D Gosh, I love Hazlenut Hot Chocolate and the Ginger Cake was reeeaaaaalllllyyyy good.

With time pressing, we headed off to the tube station for our final journey. We changed at Green Park as you can see...
...and this sparked off conversation about all of Michelle's various Facebook names: Jurassic Park, South Park, Park and Ride etc. We said our final goodbyes there - Michelle went to get her coach for the 6hr jaunt to Preston and me to tube it back to Waterloo.
Except I decided not to go to Waterloo, I stayed on til Lambeth North and took a little trip to the Imperial War Museum! I didn't have long, but was interested (due to my dissertation) to see the Holocaust Exhibition. So I did. For a history nerd like me, it was good and I could have spent a lot longer than I did there.

It was about 3.40pm when I left the IWM and got the tube the one stop to Waterloo and pretty much repeated the exact same routine as when we came back from Paris in March ie running up esculators and running all the way to my platform to get the 4.05pm fast train back to Southampton, which I boarded at 4.03pm!!

Gosh! There endeth the tale of my little daytrip to London which I must say was a very welcome break from work. It was awesome to see Michelle again, talk about mutual (Disney) chums, have a laugh (or several) see the sites of London and be crazy!

*OTHER NEWS*
Happy 20th birthday to Ruth for the 3rd, Happy 21st to Tom for tomorrow.
Today is the official month mark since I've been on the Waiting List :-( and its also one month until Michelle heads off to Florida... How time has actually flown since October - or indeed since I first applied for the CRP in July 08!
In 24 days, I'll have finished with Uni forever too, so how 3 years have flown!

Ummm that's it, I think. Until next time, Keeeeeeep Daaaannnnccciiiinnnnngggg

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!!