All moved in!

I realize that my last post was in March when I got accepted into the Disney College Program, but I am now here to update you guys on everything going on in Orlando!

Let's back up to Monday, August 12. Monday was check-in day. All of my roommates and I got in line at about 8:00 am and didn't get finished with the process until noon. It was a very long and tiring day. We turned in our paperwork, took pictures for our ID's, got our housing assignment, and received the exciting news of where we will be working! We are living in Patterson Court, which is where we wanted to live! It is the newer apartments so that's definitely a plus in my book!!! The apartment is great, they provide all the kitchen utensils, furniture, pretty much everything. However, they don't allow you to hang a thing on the walls. So, all we have is our own personal cork board. Splendid.
For the semester, I will be working in Epcot! My location is a store called World Traveler that is located in between France and the UK in World Showcase! I am really excited about it because it is not one of the busier stores in Epcot and so hopefully I will not be stressed. I personally love Epcot, and I absolutely love the countries as well. I feel like this is the perfect location for me :)
After the check-in process, we started to move into our apartment and make all the necessary Target and Wal-Mart runs!

The following day, Tuesday, I had Casting. My roommate, Morgan, and I took the bus at 9 am to head over. This is where we did even more paperwork, and learned a little bit more about what we will be doing for the next week or so. I received my first training schedule... so I start training on Saturday in Epcot. That day is called "Discovery Day," in which we will be touring Epcot and learning more about the park and our job. I'm excited about that! During Casting, they also perform background checks and fingerprinting. My poor pinky finger had to be scanned a good 30 times before it finally worked. My life. After that, we just signed more paperwork and finally got to go home.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had my housing meeting at 12 pm. It took place in The Commons, which is the apartments known for the International CP's. It lasted about 2 hours, and we were taught rules and regulations of living on Disney housing and everything in between. It was probably the most boring thing I have done so far.

Today, I have the day off. I have not a thing to do so I am hopefully going to rest and get some errands done. I need to take advantage of this time off because after today, I hit the ground running. Tonight we also have a "welcome party" and a few friends from Toy Story will be joining the party as well! ;)

Tomorrow is my official first day of work. I have my Traditions class at 8 am (I have to catch the bus at 6:45) and I am excited about it! All I know is that we learn more in depth about Walt Disney World, take a underground tour of Magic Kingdom, and we receive our name tags. The course is about 4-5 hours long, so it will be interesting. After finishing Traditions, we also get our main gate pass, which lets us cast members into the park!!!!! I have yet to be able to go into the parks since my arrival, and I am so excited to finally be able to go whenever I want. Ahhhhh

I am already having a great time, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to be able to make magic and work in the happiest place on Earth! Life is certainly different here. People don't have the "southern charm" that I am used to in Mississippi, but I have to remind myself daily that I will be back home before I know it and to take advantage of all of this.

It is also so weird to be surrounded by people from different countries. I sat by a guy on the bus yesterday from Germany, and it was neat to talk to him.

And people stare at me in wonder about my accent. And my double name.

That's all for now! Catch up again soon!

-Meri Scott 

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Fun facts from my housing meeting haha....
 - The August 12th arrival date was the largest arrival group in the Disney College Program history
 - In 1981, the program had 248 members, and now it has 14,000 annually!
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