KIA ORA

Hi, my name is Ella and I am from New Zealand. Next Year I will be going on a magical adventure to "The Most Magical Place on Earth" ie Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida (not to be confused with "The Happiest Place on Earth" in LA, California. Lol!) to be a part of the International College Programme. This means that I get to work (and Play) at Disney.

Now some of you may be wondering how this opportunity came my way? Well...

Way, way back in May of this year I happened to see an advertisement for a student work program to Walt Disney World. Now my line of thinking was that I would be graduating Uni this December 2010; I was itching to travel; with the recession jobs are difficult to come by. So I thought why not apply? Here comes the interesting part. No sooner had I sent an email asking for more information, the Uni advertises that the very same Disney people would be coming to visit the uni that week to give a presentation. It must have been Fate! So I went along and then did the spontaneous thing and signed up for an interview that week. Originally I had been planning to work for 6 months after I had graduated and then go next July, but they were only interviewing for the January intake - so I thought why not?

Everything happened really quick from there on out. The Presentation was on Wednesday, My Interview was that Saturday and I was accepted into the programme on the Following Friday. Wahoo! Was sooo excited!!!

Then all I had to do was get a new passport because my old one expired in June next year. But the new passports turned out to be extremely pretty with pictures on the pages - it was way cooler than my old passports. I also had to get a background check, but luckily everything was allright there and I do not have a record! Lol!

The last few months I have just been researching everything from flights to cell phones and American Banks. I even had a couple of weeks where I was addicted to Wallmart and filled my shopping basket up with all the stuff I was going to buy once I got there! Lol!! I know I am such a geek!

Oh I forgot to mention before that when we get accepted they tell us what Job description you got given (you are allowed to say what you are willing to do but then the disney people pick the one (6 month program) or two (12 month program) jobs that you will be doing from the jobs you ticked).

My jobs are, for the first 6 months (Jan - Jul) Quick Service Food and Beverage. Which definitely was not my first choice, but if it gets me to Disney then I will do it. I could be doing anything from working on an outside stall or cart to selling ice creams or drinks to working at a fast food restaurant. Personally I would really like one of the outdoor carts or stalls - I think it would be more fun being able to see the action.

From July through to January 2012 I get to work on Operations. This is either working on a ride, show, taking tickets or working at the front gates to the parks. I really hope I am on a ride, because that would be super fun!!!

Well there isn't much else to update you on. All of us that are going in January are waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for our Disney Welcome Packs which we hope will be arriving sometime soon. As there is only four months exactly until I leave, I think that this is a fair assumption. We are also trying to save as much dollars as we can because with flights, visa, insurance plus the $US100 registration fee it all adds up. Although it is a lot cheaper than probably spending a year in the US by yourself. At least we know we have a job and we know we have a place to stay.

Money also is annoying because the American dollar is worth more than the New Zealand dollar which means every dollar we save in NZ is really only about 72 cents in the US. Sucks!!

Anyway this has been an extremely long post. I will update when I have some exciting news ie Disney Welcome Pack comes.

xoxo

E