Day 65: Day Off

Today was one of my days off, but I had class. I was getting really sick of my long hair, so I decided to cut it off. Here's a comparison:

This was 'Before'

And this is 'After'!

I can't really pull it back into a ponytail, so that's the only annoying thing, but I really like it!

'Til next time!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2015, Blogger! I've been home for about 3 weeks now and it feels so good to be home! I've been steadily packing up and I've actually trimmed quite a bit off what I'm planning on bringing.

Once I have everything figured out, I think I'll make a packing list post and talk about what I'm bringing. I have 15 more days until I leave for Florida!!

Official countdown to check-in: 18 days

'Til next time!

5 More Weeks!!!

I am officially done with finals and I am home in good ol' Chill-inois. The only thing that is separating me from Disney is 5 weeks!

A bunch of people got e-mails from Disney asking them if they'd like to bump their move-in day from whatever it currently is to March 2nd and get a week of free housing credit. One of the girls I was supposed to room with took the offer, but we found someone else to live with us very quickly! She seems super nice and will definitely fit in well with us!

So now for a few weeks, I get to relax and pack and watch DCP vlogs! Woo hoo! So excited!

'Til next time!

45 Days!

Wow, only 45 more days until I leave! I also have 7 more days until my last final, and until I get to go home for break!

This week has been constant packing, writing papers, studying, and binge-watching Netflix between all that. I took down all my wall decorations/posters yesterday and now my room feels so empty! It's just making everything feel more real!

So I still need to buy my sister's Christmas present, and clean up my room, but for the most part, I'm ready to go! Most of my friends are graduating in about a week, so this'll be the last time I see them for a long time :( However, Rebecca, my suitemate, is graduating but will be moving to Orlando with me in January! I'm just very happy I'll have someone I already know doing this with me.

'Til next time!

So, I'm moving to Disney in less than 2 months!

We are officially inside 50 days until I move to Florida, folks! And since it's the beginning of a new month, I figured I'd make a little post about it!

My school's football team just played in their big rivalry game (Alabama-Auburn) and won! So our season is still alive, which is great because it's keeping me busy and keeping my mind off of Disney. I will officially be done with this semester in 10 days, wow. Very little is now standing in my way of Disney! 

I've been procrastinating on my packing and studying, but since most of my classes are cancelled for Dead Week, I'm sure I'll have a lot of time to make up for it! I went Black Friday shopping and finally got most of my Traditions outfit purchased, which is very exciting for me because I do not own a lot of business casual wear.

Time has seriously been flying by so fast. I can't believe when I got accepted, I had over 120 days until I moved in. We are more than half-way! And soon, I'll be home with friends, family, my pets. Maybe I'll have some time to make a vlog? We'll see!

'Til next time!

57 Days!!

Well hello there Blogger, long time no post. So I guess just a little update on ya girl here. I officially signed up for 2 classes during the DCP! I will be taking the collegiate Human Resources Management class as well as the Exploring Guest Services class! So that's really exciting. Other than that, I've just been trying to get through this semester and power through!

As my title says, I officially have 57 days until I check in at Vista Way! I'm so so so excited!! Once I get home for Winter Break, and I can really start packing up, I'm sure it'll feel even more real! Here's a list of things I still need to do before I go home for winter break:

__ Pack up for trip home for Thanksgiving Break
__ Make sign for College GameDay
__ Write group paper (yes, group paper) for Tourism class
__ Write final case study for International Business
__ Study for 2 finals
__ Pack up remainder of apartment
__ Renew driver's license
__ Get birthday present for my sister

And during Winter Break:

__ Go to the dentist/doctor for check-up
__ Sort through stuff to pack for Disney
__ Concert on Dec. 16th
__ Get a folder to put my vehicle registration/insurance/blank check for check-in
__ Go to Bulls game on Christmas Day
__ Gather SS card or Passport for check-in
__ Look at any summer internships I may want to apply for as an alternate to extending
__ Get my sunscreen ready cause I'm moving to Florida!

'Til next time!

Graduating On Time

So, today I thought I'd post about the idea of doing the Disney College Program and still graduating on time.

Now, this hasn't really been a concern of mine, as I felt that if I ever got accepted into the DCP, I would just push everything back a semester and graduate a bit later than before.

Now though, things are a bit different. I've been accepted into the program before, for Spring 2014, and back then I even felt like the way I just described. This time around though, it's been over 2 months since I've been accepted, and I still get those moments everyday where I just stop and think, "I'm going to Walt Disney World. I'm so excited! I can't believe it!"

The fact that I'm still feeling this way is definitely making me believe that it will be difficult to leave Orlando after my program. I certainly won't want to come back and finish school, let alone have it all pushed back a semester.

So I will be graduating on time (Spring 2016). Not a semester late, which was the original plan. To make this happen, I have to take classes for credit while I'm at Disney! I was just planning on taking the seminars, but I'm glad I'll get to experience the collegiate courses too.

I'm definitely willing to do what I have to in order to graduate on time, instead of pushing everything back a semester. It may be difficult, it may be a heavy workload, but it will be so worth it!

I do feel that Disney is where I'm supposed to be. Hopefully by the end of my CP, I'll have a better idea of where I fit. I want to use the College Program to network, so that when I graduate on time, I'll be able to start everything a bit sooner. I want to do a Professional Internship after I graduate, perhaps another College Program right after I graduate, and before a P.I. The more time I can spend with Disney, the better I'll know where I belong.

I know a lot of people say it's a struggle to graduate on time after doing the College Program. That's especially true for me. I'm basically doing 5 years worth of school in 3.5 so I can do the College Program without moving my graduation date and come out of school debt free. It's a struggle, but it's worth it for the Mouse.

'Til next time!

Update Time!

So, quick update here, folks. After all that runaround trying to figure out what to do with my scholarship, I was told that if I want to take classes through Disney, I'd need to actually use my scholarship. Womp, womp.

So now, I'll be 'un-deferring' my scholarship and taking my internship credit during the Spring semester so I can take a Disney class and transfer it for credit! I guess all the runaround was for nothing. Oh, well. Now I know to double and triple check everything from my university from now on.

On to more exciting things. Roommates!! I've officially locked in my apartment! It'll be a 6 person apartment, and we're basically avoiding bunk beds. None of us want to deal with that! One of my best friends at school, Rebecca, just got into the program last week!! Everyone say yay! And she got my move-in day. Everyone say double yay!! She also applied for some professional internships, so if she gets one, she'll be heading back to California where she's originally from, but if not, we'll be rooming together at Didney Worl!

We are trying to figure out exactly how we want to rank our housing preferences in DORMS when the time comes. So far, I think we have Patterson, Chatham, Vista, then the Commons for a 3 BR, 6 person apartment. Beyond that, we'll just have to rank the others accordingly, but I think Patterson looks like the best option.

Patterson is the same price as Chatham, but it seems like it's a bit more spacious. Rebecca and I are of the mentality that we'd rather live/sleep in the quieter areas, because we can always go someplace that's a bit more lively if we want to hang out. So Patterson's reputation as the 'Retirement Home' does not phase us.

We're gonna be staying at the Art of Animation the night before check-in and go to Downtown Disney for dinner the day before. We've been making reservations for the hotel, dinner then as well as throughout our program... It is feeling SO real!

I was at work today looking up reservation times for dinner, and I literally just had a "Holy Crap" moment. I will be living at Walt Disney World for five months. I can have breakfast with Cinderella and visit the Hollywood Tower Hotel whenever I want to. It just felt so surreal until now. Now it feels so close! I'm down to 77 days. It's still a ways away but a lot closer than the 120 I started with!

I've already begun packing up my room in preparation of moving to Disney. I have to pack my entire apartment up and I've lived here for about a year and a half so I've accumulated a lot of things. I'm separating things into Disney or Home boxes so it's a long process. But this is also helping me pass time until I go home!

I have 3 weeks until Thanksgiving break. After that week, we get back to school and it's Dead Week. After that, Finals Week. When I think about it like that, I know the rest of this semester will fly by. Then I'll be home with family and friends, celebrating the holidays, hopefully doing a Chicago DCP meetup, etc.

Then I'll be moving to Orlando for the greatest semester of my life. I am so incredibly blessed and grateful for this opportunity, and I know I want to make the most of it. I'm planning on doing a post soon about what kinds of things I'd like to do during my program and what I'm going to take advantage of while I'm down there.

'Til next time!

Updates Part 2!

Hey guys! So, about this time maybe 2 weeks ago I was still trying to get everything squared away with my school. Good news! Everything is set and I am officially good to go for my DCP! Yay!

There was never really any doubt that it would work out, but it was still frustrating to deal with the run-around.

Basically, I'm on scholarship at school, which means I would deal with the Scholarships department. But I also need an internship credit for my hospitality degree, so I would deal with my advisors for hospitality.

After running around campus talking to advisors in both of my degrees, and e-mailing scholarships I finally was able to come to some semblance of an answer that I pieced together.

My contact in scholarships told me if I were to defer my scholarship for a semester, that would  be fine. However, I could not take any classes while I was down at Disney or my scholarship would be revoked and the credits would not count. But my internship credit counts as a class. So that left me scratching my head until I discussed it with my advisor.

She agreed to allow me to take the internship credit next fall (1 semester after I do the DCP). She e-mailed me the syllabus and all the assignments I needed to get my credit, so I will do the work while I'm in Florida, but I will turn it in during the Fall semester.

So, that leaves me with 1 deferred scholarship, 0 credits during the spring semester, my internship credit officially squared away, and one happy Taylor!

I will be taking a class during the DCP, but it'll be a seminar/networking class. One of the Explore series. That way I can network, it's slightly less hours in the classroom, and best of all- no tests!

Other than that, school's been going well. The material's very dry so it's kind of difficult to get through it, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel that is Disney!

I've started my job and my internship which is definitely keeping me busy. I work at my student union at the Information Desk, and I am a marketing intern at a Science Center in Birmingham!

So yeah, it's nice to see the progress I've made. One month ago, I was just starting the application process, doing my phone interview. I had just moved back into my apartment. Since then, I've been very productive and proactive, staying on top of things like this situation with my credits/scholarship, and I've already started purging things from my room that have just accumulated from me living there for over a year. It's nice to see how much stuff I'm working with, in terms of trying to move it back home/to Florida in January!

And to think, in less than 4 months, I'll be starting my College Program! I'm so incredibly excited still, which makes me super happy to know that it still means this much even weeks after I've been accepted.

Til next time!

Updates and Getting to Know Me

Hey gang. So last I left you, I had attempted, unsuccessfully, to pay my fees. Well, I know you were so worried, but fear not, I was able to submit my payments Monday afternoon, and I will officially be moving in January 19th, 2015! My departure date is May 15th at the moment, but I really want to try and extend into the summer unless an amazing opportunity presents itself elsewhere.

Also, quick update on school. I feel like it's not a super unique situation to be in, but it's been difficult to find help with what I need to do on the school end of things to make sure I'm squared away. I am on scholarship at the University of Alabama, but I also need to receive internship credit (just like a 1 hour thing) for the DCP.

So I've been running around talking to my advisors, the scholarship department, basically trying to figure out what I need to do and nobody's giving me the full picture. I'm trying to piece together everything but it's slow going. I'm just trying to stay on top of it because I still have lots of time rather than let it wait until the end of the semester.

So, on to more fun stuff: About Me!!! (Everyone say yay!) So there's this file that's been going around the Facebook group for a while for "Getting to Know Me". People are also using it to find roommates, but I think my roommate situation is relatively locked down. I'll probably dive into that in a later post. Anyways, I thought I'd post my survey here just so y'all can see a little bit about me!

'Til next time!

BACKGROUND

• Name: Taylor Suydam
• Gender: Female
• Orientation: Straight
• Relationship Status: Single
• Birthday/Age: September 27, 1993 / 20 (almost 21 whoo whoo)
• Current Location: Tuscaloosa, AL
• From: Libertyville, IL (North Suburb of Chicago)
• School: University of Alabama 
• Major: Marketing; Hospitality Management
• Are you allergic/allergies to anything? Liars
• Do you have any siblings? Yep! Two sisters

DCP DETAILS

• Are you applying for WDW or DL? WDW!
• Flying or Driving: Driving for sure
• Your Role?: Merch :)
• What program are you applying for? Spring
• Arrival Date/Departure Date: January 19th/May 15th
• Do you want to live in Wellness or Non-Wellness? Non-wellness but I'm open to Wellness if I find roommates who need to live in wellness!
• How many people do you want to live with? I’d probably be pretty flexible on that, but the more the merrier!
• Which housing complex would you like to live in?: Again, not a deal breaker or anything like that. I’d like Chatham, but I’m pretty flexible!
•  Alumni? Nope

LIFESTYLE

• Do you party? How often? Not really, I like hanging out though!
• Do you smoke? No.
• Do you drink? Socially
• Can you cook? I can bake?
• Are you a night person or morning person? NIGHT OWL FOR LIFE. I can be productive in the morning though. I just need like 10 minutes to wake up fully.
• Do you snore? Nah man.
• What does your bedroom normally look like? I normally have some sort of pile of clothes but other than that, it’s pretty good. I definitely try to keep common areas clean though.
• Do you like it when your room is hot or cold? Cold! I cannot stand waking up sweating in the middle of the night.

• Would you rather go out or stay in? Both! Just depends on my mood at the time!

• What do you like to do on your days off/the weekend? Watching sports! DAAA BULLS. I’m from Chicago, so I gotta watch my teams! I also love college football so I go to all my school's home games (Roll Tide!). I've been getting into painting lately, just to keep my mind off the application process and whatnot. So I've painted a few pairs of shoes and some wall hangings. I also love going to concerts, so let me know if we have similar tastes and we can check out some shows! I really want to spend time in the parks as much as I can, including Universal! 

• Do you work out a lot? As often as I’m able to get to the gym.
• Everyone uses one… how annoying is your alarm clock? How often do you press “snooze”? Not very, actually. Just loud enough to wake me up, and I can’t afford to press snooze haha. That’s a dangerous path to take for me.
• How would you handle a “bug situation”? I will kill it if I can reach it, but I’m *ahem* vertically challenged, so it’s not very often that I can reach.
• Should the toilet paper be over or under? I’m an over kinda gal
• Do you hang your clothes or fold them? I try to hang as many as I can
• How often do you shower? Mornings or nights? Every day. Definitely at night though.
• Will we sing obnoxiously together? Of course! I pretty much sing everything all the time anyways!
• As a Disney Princess (and/or Prince) animals flock to me and birds fly into my window when I sing… is this a problem?  Nah, that’s pretty cool though. Can you teach me your ways?

PERSONALITY

• Three words that describe you: Light-hearted, quirky, approachable 
• One good quality: I like to make everyone laugh, and I’m pretty good at diffusing situations. 
• One bad quality: Sometimes I stay up really late. I try to be quiet though, but my brain just won’t shut down sometimes.

• Are you outgoing or quiet? ? I’ve definitely become more outgoing as I’ve grown up. I may be on the quieter side until I’m sure I won’t offend you with my humor (I’m not mean, but on the sarcastic side), then I’ll open up. 
• Do you like hanging out with people or keeping to yourself? I love hanging out with people! But sometimes, I just need my alone time!

• What would you want in a roommate? Someone I can hang out with, go to the parks with or just have a night in. Someone who will keep the common areas at least respectable. Someone who can tolerate/enjoy my personality. 
• What are your biggest pet peeves/dislikes? Judgmental people, and controlling people. 
• Are you messy or organized? Organized in a lot of areas of my life.
• How do you feel about sharing? Definitely cool with it. Just ask!

• Do you like having people over a lot? Yeah! But if I’m at Disney, I’d rather be going out with people. But I definitely like having people over.

• Favorite Music: Queen, *NSYNC, Fall Out Boy, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Beatles, twenty one pilots, The Mowglis,  Froggy Fresh, Sleeper Agent, random 90s one hit wonders
• Favorite TV Shows: The Office, It’s Always Sunny, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Community, Survivor, Psych
• Favorite Movies: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Way Way Back, Back to the Future, Bridesmaids, Breakfast Club, Horrible Bosses, Mean Girls, Rear Window
• Favorite Food: Chicken, popcorn, pineapple (I’m pretty all over)

DISNEY!!

• Favorite Character: Belle or Hercules or Buzz Lightyear!
•  Favorite Movie: HERCULES, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin 
• Favorite Disney Channel Show: Even Stevens, Lizzie McGuire, That’s So Raven
• Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios for days! 
• Favorite Ride: Toy Story Midway Mania!

Applying for the College Program

So, to be perfectly honest, I'm getting kind of nervous for this application to drop. I am a textbook "over-preparer", and I don't want to overdo it on preparing for this interview, but it's kind of important to me.

See, I've been wanting to do the college program for about 2 years now. I had a rough start to my freshman year of college, which is when I discovered the DCP. I thought it would be a great escape, and that was about it. Fast forward 2 years later, during which I was accepted to do the Spring 2014 program but ultimately had to turn it down, and I now have so many more reasons for wanting to do the program.

I'm at the point where I really just want to do the program and be down in Florida. I'm not the kind of person who will take on a role they hate for that opportunity though. Especially if I get to do Spring Advantage, I don't think I would be capable of doing certain roles for 8 months without regretting it.

That being said, there are a lot of roles that I do feel I'm qualified for, and I would love to do, so picking a Top 3/4 is incredibly difficult at the moment for me. I am trying my best to at least think of some scenarios they may ask about during the interview, because that tends to be the one thing to trip me up during interviews, not even DCP.

I've done more phone interviews in the past semester due to me applying for summer internships back home while I was still at school, so I feel prepared in the sense that I can still deliver a good impression even though they may not be able to see me. Overall, I feel good about the interview, though I am kind of anxious for it to just happen and be in my rearview window. I think that once I'm done, it'll feel good to have this not hanging over my head. I don't want this to be a missed opportunity for the second year in a row, which is why this is so important to me.

Apps are going to drop anywhere from 1 week-3 weeks from now. Hopefully it'll happen before I start my classes on the 21st! I'll definitely keep this updated!