where is the time going??

Another couple of crazy months have passed by. All of a sudden I’ve become one of the more senior CRPs in the pavilion, who only has 2 months left. I’m one of those that sees people in the merchandise shops and have no idea who they are, and who struggles to remember all of the new people on podium. Its so weird- I couldn’t ever imagine it happening but it has!

It’s been incredibly strange to see the pavilion completely change. Most of the people that I worked with on podium have now left, and not one person on podium currently worked with me, and its been like that now for a while. Everything looks different. Not necessarily better or worse though. In general I enjoy it, simply because I am so comfortable here now that I no longer feel shy speaking to people I don’t know, and I know where I am in the programme. I’m happy to see that there are a lot of nice people coming into the pavilion, and despite the fact that ill see them comparatively shortly on my programme id like to think we can still be friends. It’s nice to see them with their whole programme head of them, even though I don’t envy them at all as I am so happy to be where I am right now.

The last few months have been cracking. The job itself- serving- I love. I really do. Its challenging (or it feels so after podium) but yet not ridiculously hard. Theres a lot more scope to have fun with it and you generally work more independently, which I prefer as you’re not relying on other people. And it sounds cheesy but most of the time I genuinely enjoy speaking with my guests. Don’t get me wrong- some of them are dicks, but a lot of the time you meet genuinely nice people. I’ve even had about 5 separate families over the last few months give me their email addresses and say that if I ever need a place to stay when I’m in their city I’m welcome to stay with them. First time it happened I was dumbfounded. Whether I take them up on the offer or not (i’d like to think I would one day, but maybe it would be a bit weird) it is the thought behind the offers that count. And you never know, maybe one day I’ll tour America and run into all my guests again!

Sometimes at the end of the night I’ll have one table left, and want them to go so I can get home. But them I’ll begin talking to them and completely forget about wanting to go home because we get into a really interesting conversation. It sometimes still shocks me how genuinely interested people are in where I’m from, and how I’m enjoying my time over here. They ask loads of questions- if I’m quiet I’ll stand and speak all day to them. the only time this becomes a problem is when I’m really busy. The last month or so has been astoundingly quiet ( which has meant more time off-yay!). But it was busier when I first began and it was hard to find the time to talk when you have a million and one other things to do. Its strange how stressful serving seems while you’re working when its not really. The worst thing that could happen is someone sends their steak back, realistically, but catch any of us in the kitchen when its busy and we’re stressed to hell worrying that someone’s waited more than a minute for some more ketchup! Its funny actually. I certainly don’t worry in work as much as I used to, as I try and keep in mind what it is at the end of the day, serving food, nothing more serious so there is no point getting stressed. And now that I’m comfortable in the job I don’t feel weeded even when I’m busy- experience really does help you keep things under control. I’ve also had the chance to train food running now which I enjoyed, even though once I became a server I stopped enjoying food running by itself.

So, on to more exciting things that I’ve been doing. I went on my first trip outside of Florida which was pretty cool. Me Lydia and Will went to Atlanta for a few days and had a great time. We rented a car and was going to split the driving between us. Problem was I only passed my test a week before leaving here and hadn’t driven since. I spent a bit of time driving but I found it stressful and nearly went into the wrong lane. Had some practice later and got better though, so I’m hoping ill improve my confidence in time until I can drive without another driver in the car keeping me calm!

In Atlanta we went to the coca cola factory, Georgia aquarium(which is so beautiful- I could have spent days there) and the martin Luther king area. The martin lither king centre was great- there was a museum exhibit, you could see his house and also the church where he preached. The coke factory was more interesting than I expected, although its not the original plant. We also spent a day in the six flags park. I have dreamed about going to a six flags park since I played roller coaster tycoon when I was younger, and the place did not disappoint. I couldn’t believe how many amazing roller coasters there were, I think there were like 9!

We drove back really late on the night. It was a seven hour journeys each way. on the day there it didn’t feel that long at all because we had so much to talk about, but it was harder on the way back because we drove through the night and we were all pretty tired. It was non stop though- when we got home I had chance for a ten minute sleep(well, nap) before getting ready for my next adventure…

THE DIAGON ALLEY GRAND OPENEING!!! after watching it be built for months and all the excitement and anticipation, universal studios finally released a date for the opening of dragon alley. Me and Sammy are big harry potter freaks, and Kathryn and us booked time off work and swapped shifts so that we would be able to go. We arrived at city walk, the entrance to the universal studios area at 4:30am because we wanted to be as close to the front as possible. We were amongst the first, as city walk didn’t even open until 5. We waited there for half an hour before being let through, then proceeded to the gates at the universal studios park entrance to wait for another hour or so, before being let into the area just outside of dragon alley, which is modelled to look like a street in London and where the knight bus is parked. It was a fantastic atmosphere. There were massive keenos there- all of the slogan t shirts, harry potter jewellery, and even full robes (despite the heat) were not uncommon. On the whole people were also very happy and friendly. There wasn’t too much pushing in or around and everyone was happy to chat. It was nice to see everyone there for the right reason and just wanting to have a good time

Diagon alley itself opened at 8,but because we were there so early we got pretty much to the front and just waited a while. when we looked back we could see quest were forming way back across the park, and we knew it was definitely the best thing we could have done to get there so early. The actual opening ceremony was great, there were some mini speeches, fireworks and banners… and then we were let in! One of the top moments of the hear was seeing it for the first time. The detail in it is simply beautiful. Everyone was cheering and clapping and the atmosphere was indescribable the gringotts ride is a lot of fun, but for me the best part is just wandering around the shops- the detail is such that you would think you was actually there. They also have a couple of great shows – Celestine warbeck the singer and a mystery play style re-enactment of the deathly hallows story. We ate breakfast in the leaky cauldron and left about 11. We didn’t go on the Hogwarts express because we were all dead on our feet- I hadn’t slept since the morning before and Kathryn had been out to lasses so we went home and I slept for the rest of the day. I’ve been on the express a few times since each way and its fantastic and a much nice way to go between the parks.

Another cool thing was that someone took my photo when I was entering dragon and put it up on the universal studios Facebook page, and its had loads of likes haha. I think they chose it because I had the deathly hallows sign painted on my cheek…
Me and some friends also took the opportunity to go to Tampa for a night… to watch kiss and def leopard! It was an incredible concert, the stadium was an open one so you could watch the sunset over the hill as they started to play. The show itself was unlike i’d ever seen from a rock concert before. Lasers, fireworks, zipwires (fake) blood pouring from the demons moth, massive animatronic spider on stage… just amazing. I even bought a starchild costume to wear and all of us went with full on faxe paint and got loads of compliments 🙂

Some good restaurants that I’ve eaten in that I would recommend are chefs de France, crystal palace, chef mickeys and hoop de doo revue (the last one for the atmosphere more than the food). Ive stayed in a few more resorts also, and I now have 8 left before I’ve stayed in them all. 8 resorts in 8 weeks. Lets do this!
My friend from home visited for 17 days. I unfortunately didn’t bet as much time off work as I would have liked but we still had a great time together catching up and I saw her as much as I could around work. She did the college programme last summer, and we had bonded over Disney when she had her placement arranged and I was applying for the crp. She worked for 3 months on the j-1 visa in the haunted mansion, and on our day in magic kingdom she was telling me loads of interesting stuff. A friend of hers also visited with her, but we had a couple of unfortunate nights were both of them, on separate days, became ill and had to go to hospital for some medicine. Luckily it was nothing major but I have to say it was kinda cool getting to go in an ambulance and seeing an American hospital. One of the drivers used to work as a pyrotechnic wxpert in Disney and helped design loads of shows- like illuminations which I see every night! So he was telling me loads of interesting facts… goes to show you never know where you are going to meet people!

I also celebrated forth of July! I was scheduled a pm but wanted to work an am so I could enjoy the evening off, luckily loads of people wanted to work it so it was easy to swap. I had a few drinks from the world with people from work and ate in the rose and crown before the fireworks began. and the were spectacular- might have guessed how much effort the Americans would out into them!
Other stuff that’s been happening… we discovered a new club downtown. On a Friday night a club called backbooth plays 80s music. Me will and drew went one night hoping for a rock night out. It was nothing like what we expected but the bartender suggested the 80s night so we came back to that and now its one of the regular nights out for some of the pavilion was proud to have started that.
So, more things have happened. more meals out, film nights in and everything in between its crazy to think of now busy life is out here. But its great. Just trying to focus on fitting as much in as possible in the next two months!
Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx