Leaving Orlando

I leave in the morning to head back west. I am super excited to head towards home and experiences all the joys of summer that I love but I can't help but be sadden by closing this chapter of my life...It is just like college...great friends, many laughs, a few tears, and countless memories...but I suppose you couldn't expect anything less when Mickey Mouse is your boss.

Edward (my stuffed elephant) and I are all tucked into bed and watching the end of the Celtics/Magic Game. I wish the Magic would have given a better showing in this series but as long as the Lakers don't win it all I will be happy.

Goodnight.

My Last Day

So I am officially done with my internship. Today was really bittersweet. I am headed off to Earl of Sandwich (my favorite place) for one final goodbye tonight. I worked in Nacho today which is the hand scooped ice cream that used to be nachos...but they never bothered to change the name. I was super excited to end in a place that I really like working.
I got there opened everything up and in walks Mirjam...yes it looks like Mer-Jam...but she says it Meer-eee-um. She was a piece of work...and I really don't know why she is not locked up in the loony bin. I asked her a simple questions about ice cream sandwiches and she replied "if the little girls don't like sugar cookies, just tell them that Tinkerbell made them...then they will eat anything." Well Mirjam...thanks for the advice...throughout the day she continued on with quite possibly the most idiotic statements that I have heard including singing happy birthday in Spanish to guests midway forgetting the words so improvising with an odd hopping dance. She was a gem...She always told me that she was a stalker. Coincidentally her "ex-boyfriend" called three times in about ten minutes and she was complaining about it...wow.
The day concluding with her leaving, not saying a word, then being told my a manager to come back and help us close because she wasn't scheduled to leave for an hour...which she knew because she told me at the beginning of the day. So friends, if any of you are feeling like you are going crazy...Disney is hiring loonies.

I said my goodbyes and took a few pictures...threw away my gross work boots and was out of there!

Katie and I are gonna do a few last of the things on our list and some of our favorites in the park tomorrow and then off to Scott and Lisa's tomorrow night. Katie leaves Friday and I am staying the weekend :)

The Countdown

Two weeks from right now at this very moment I will be on a plane leaving Orlando and heading back west. Today is my only day off before I move out so I need to be productive and get things done...so far so good. I got up and did a four mile run. Now I am headed to the outlet mall to try and find a cheap duffle bag to carry on the plane...because I don't think everything is going to fit into two suitcases...at least not without my mommy's help.

I went to Magic Kingdom last night and watched the Spectromagic Parade and Wishes fireworks...both for the first time and they were great! But the Illuminations fireworks at Epcot is still my favorite.

I am supposed to go to the mall with some of my friends because one of them needs to get a touch up on her tattoo and then we want to take our ears to Magic Kingdom to get our names stitched on the back.

Spring Formal

Wednesday night was Spring Formal for all of the college program and international program cast members. It was at the Coronado Springs Resort in one of their huge convention rooms. There was food, a casino room, and of course dancing. Mickey and Minnie were on hand in their formal attire taking pictures with everyone, although the line was far too long for me to wait in all night. It was pretty fun to see everyone that I work with in dress clothes and not in their peanut butter colored safari outfits. We stayed until the very end and as soon as I got home I went straight to bed.

I tried to give Melissa a lesson in how to take a photo because every picture she takes has so much space above everybody's head so after the lesson this is what I got! Ha!

Katie and I looking sharp :)

Me, Natalie and Katie

Justin, Melissa, Me and Crystal

Ola, Me, Melissa, and Crystal

Gator Tail

Last night we went to Gators for one last time with our friend Crazy Lady. As usual she had a billion and one stories to tell us. She is very animated and always uses big hand gestures. I will definitely miss her.

I was determined to at least try gator before I left Florida because there is gator everything everywhere. At Gators one of their specialty appetizers is gator tail. My friend Brad said it was good so he ordered it. It is cut in pieces and put in a breading and fried. I tried it and it was pretty chewy...I didn't really notice a distinct taste more just texture because I haven't had anything chewy like that in so long. But they serve it with a dipping sauce and that was pretty good.

So there you have it...I tried gator :)

Shit Happens

SO the other day I was working in funnel as usual. ODF broke sales records this spring so they gave us a taco bar for lunch as a reward. I was working with a girl name Milly and we had been all excited about the taco bar all morning. She went on her break first and when she came back she told me that it was delicious and that she had eaten too much. I went and as soon as I arrived at the taco bar my guy friends were joking and warned me not to eat it because one of the had the sudden urge to go about 30 minutes after eaten.

Well I paid them no attention. About 15 minutes into my break I got called into the manager's office. "Kassi, Milly is not feeling well, can you go back to funnel in case she gets sick? We will pay you for your break" Since I am such a nice person I headed back out to funnel..about two steps out of the door I got a text from Milly "Kassi I just threw up and I have the runs"

So my guy friends weren't kidding about the food...so not only did I have to go save Milly from funnel but I was worried that I was gonna get sick too. I got back to funnel and Linda who had been given us breaks had to leave so I was running funnel on my own. Every ten minutes or so Milly would go back and forth between the funnel stand and the bathroom and each time she would call the managers and tell them that they needed to send someone out to help me because she needed to be close to the bathroom... I survived working in funnel all by myself for almost two hours...it was crazy but I survived. Milly felt so bad that she had left me stranded there but I keep telling her "hey, shit happens" hehe in that literally.

MJT

I worked at MJT yesterday. MJT stands for Maharajah Jungle Trek which actually an animal walking trail where you can see tigers, bats, and birds. MJT sells beer, pretzels, and cinnamon glazed nuts. It was my first day working there and I got to work with my pals Tony and Lydia. It was a fantastic day from the get go. It was also our first 90+ degree day of the year :) :) :) I was a very happy camper.

I poured a billion and a half beers throughout the day and I guess I am a good beer pourer because several men complemented me on the no foam at the top...I told them my dad would be proud! We ran out of bud light once and waters twice and it got a little chaotic but none the less it was a fantastic day at work. :)

Disney Graduation

Friday was graduation.
Katie and Natalie and I went first thing in the morning so we could get our pictures taken with all of the characters and get those ears that we have finally earned! There was music games and food and we completed the day with paddle boat racing in Little Lake Bryan (Olivia and I got our butts kicked by Jaimee and Natalie...dangit)

Animal Kingdom, Kitchen Sink, and Ale House

I went to Animal Kingdom on Tuesday with Katie, we met up with my friends Ola and Omega and did several of the rides including the Safari and Expedition Everest :) Omega's backpack yeti JP came along with us and really enjoyed being back at his home (Mt. Everest) They sell everything yeti around there so there were about 200 other yeti backpacks too.

After Animal Kingdom I met up with Olivia, Melissa, Jessica, Beka, and Caitlin at Beaches and Cream at the Beach and Yacht club and we share a Kitchen Sink. A Kitchen Sink is 8 scoops of ice cream and every topping they have, complete with a whole can of whip cream in a bowl shaped like a sink. Can you say disgusting? It was delicious but gross at the same time and we finished the whole thing! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. But it was on the bucket list of things to do while here at Disney so now I have accomplished that!

Tuesday night Katie and I join Natalie, Sam, and Melissa at the Orlando Ale House for ladies night. Pretty much everywhere in Orlando has a ladies night and they know how to treat their ladies right. Beer and well cocktails were free until midnight :) Katie and I ordered vodka cranberries and rather than bring us each one, our waiter brought 8...holy crap. They are small drinks but still it was a lot.

Mr. Ruckel Turns 23

Chris got in Friday the 23rd (his golden birthday) and picked me up from work. We stopped at the Florida mall for a little shopping and dinner and then headed out to Cocoa Beach for the night. Cocoa is a little more than an hour's drive away and Chris was comparable to a little kid (are we there yet?) with "how much longer does the GPS say it will be til we get there" We stayed right on the ocean and had a pretty good view from our room. In the morning we walked along the beach and even managed to spot a few sea creatures the had been washed up on the beach including a few jellyfish. After our walk it was time for the Kennedy Space Center!

The Space center is about 30 minutes from the beach and it is also a national wildlife reserve. Everyone that I had talked to suggested taking the bus tour so we did. It takes you out into the "cool" parts of the space center. We got to see the launching pad that actually has a spaceship on it right now that is set to launch next week. We also saw the vehicle assembly building (i think that is what it is called) which is the 3rd largest building in the world by volume...it takes 45 minutes for one of the garage doors to open. We also got to see movies about the Apollo missions and then see the actually Apollo 8 ship...It was huge!!! And we even got to touch a moon rock which was not as cool as it sounds and didn't really look any different from a earth rock. The last stop on the tour was where they are assembling stuff to go up to the international space center. We were there on a Saturday so there was no one actually working so if you ever go I suggest going on a week day. We were both pretty tired after our tour so we decided to head back to Orlando and get ready to meet up with my friends at my favorite restaurant "Earls of Sandwich" yummy!!!

Chris got to meet a bunch of my friends from work as we dined on delicious sandwiches. I think he was a little bit overwhelmed because it is hard to get a word in while all of us are together especially if it was a bad day at work which it had been because 14 people called in. Yikes!

We stayed with the Krause family Saturday night so we could get up early on Sunday and go boating. It was kind of an overcast day but it was still a ton of fun. We tubed on a four person tube which was an absolute riot. Mikey and Ashley wake boarded for a while. Ashley just started and she was pretty darn good for a beginner. Mike has been wake boarding for a few years but he is amazing for a 12 year old. He was getting a lot a air and landed several of his tricks. We boated around a bunch of lakes that all connect together. There were no gator spottings but we did see Shaq's house and Tiger's house from the lake view.

Monday Chris and I hit up the outlet mall and had lunch at a cute little sandwich shop. Then I gave him as much stuff as he could fit in his suitcase so hopefully I can fit all of my crap in my two suitcases to fly home.