Friday, July 23, 2010

The one with my Pink Palace

0 comments
I can't believe I have lived in my new place for almost 5 months and not shown you! I did a whole spread on my crappy room in Kissimme and now I am in love with my room and I don't post it at all? That's just not right! So, without further ado....

Welcome to My room:
 I painted 1 wall in my room "Rasberry Splash". Until I left for college, I lived in a room with blue and beige walls. And I won't submit my future (and hopefully not imaginary) husband to living with pink walls, so essentially, I saw this as the one opportunity in life to have a pink room and I seized it!

I am also a fan of Tiffany Blue, so you can see splashes of that in there as well. This is not a complete tour of my room, I can't give you the complete run down of where everything is (like the pricless art and jewelry) because it's just not safe! lol I am kidding, my closet and desk just aren't that interesting...

On a different note, I am 3 days into my job at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's too soon to tell if I will like it so I will refrain from making any snap judgments. It's stupid because I enjoy being in the A/C but I miss the outdoors. And I enjoy not being rejected by guests but I am stressing over messing up their reservation now. It is kind of fun when I look out the window and see a giraffe just hanging out. I imagine people that work at a Zoo feel like this all the time. But to look up from my computer and see a giraffe is just so crazy!

Until next time,
Allie B

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The one about the Sexy-Accent-Kind

2 comments
My days in research are officially over and somehow it doesn't feel real. I am expecting to wake up tomorrow and go to Epcot, pick up my strat and a tablet and go survey people again. I miss the people already and I know I will miss the freedom to wander around the parks. But for now, I am enjoying the A/C and meeting new people!

Yesterday, I had a resort tour of Animal Kingdom Lodge which consists of the Jambo House (which is the main lodge) and Kidani Village (which is the Disney Vacation Club resort and the lobby is WAY small). I will be working at both, I think. It was a quick resort tour and I was the only concierge in the small group. I met 2 guys that will be doing Front Desk, so I assume I will be working with them for the first month at least because my first month is at Front Desk. I like making new friends =)

Today was awesome for so many reasons. It was Day 1 (of 4) of a class called "First Impressions" which is required for Concierge and Front Desk cast members so it was a big group of people who will be working at all different resorts.

First of all, I think I was the last person to arrive and I was still 10 minutes early and then I figured out why...every single person in the class, except me, is on the International College Program and therefor had to take the bus and therefor they all arrived at the same time. I was also the only American in the class. Which was a feeling I've never experienced before but I didn't mind AT ALL because the entire class was from either Australasia or New Zealand. In case you aren't aware, Australians and New Zealanders (is that right?) have just as awesome accents as people from England. Although, I was informed today that technically, in that room I am the only one with an accent lol. Tis true I suppose. Anyhow, I picked the first chair I could find and resolved to try to blend in. Soooo did not happen!!! The first thing someone said to me at break time, "So, you're the only one from the states, eh? Must feel like a foreigner in your own country!" Up until this point, despite the group introductions and my complete lack of a sexy accent in my "Hi I am Allie", I was hoping it wasn't that noticeable that I was the only one from America. I was wrong.

We were given an hour and a half lunch, and having made no progress with the sexy-accent-kind and not wanting to fumble through a lunch with them, I was like, hmmm let's go over to MK and see my research friends!! (I am having withdrawals afterall and I can make progress with the others later). To my luck, I found Katy and had the most perfect lunch just like the good ol' days one week ago.

Lunch with Katy must have been the perfect refresher because immediately when I got back, one of the New Zealanders started talking to me!! ::insert excited face here:: He was so nice and I felt like FINALLY I am not a social outcast of the group! Normally, I would just strike up a convo with them, no biggie. But from the beginning, they all knew each other and they made fun of Americans a lot so it was a little intimidating. (They also all look like they are some English soap opera, but their TV is apparently so much better than ours they probably don't have soap operas.) I tried to smile at everyone so they knew I was nice, and didn't take offense to the fact that they picked on Americans a lot, and I guess it paid off because at our next break I talked to 4 more of the sexy-accent-kind!! If I ever become friends with them on Facebook, I pray they do not find this blog. (Although, I guess if we become friends mates, we'd have a good laugh over it.)

I am thoroughly looking forward to my next 3 days of training with them, especially since I fully plan on brushing up on my Australian/New Zealand geography tonight so I don't look like a complete fool and/or arrogant American who doesn't know about any country other than their own (which is another thing they discussed). I am also going to see if I can sneak in the words/phrases "dontchya know", "pop", "out and about" and every other stereotypical midwestern saying just for the heck of it and see if I get any puzzled looks. They already picked on the fact that Americans say "What's Up?" and apparently we pronounce Pokemon weird too (We say poke-E-mon, they say poke-eh-mon, I am not the greatest at phonetics but I am thinking you get my point. We emphasis the E, they do not.) I am excited to learn what else they think about Americans! I will report back!

Bonus Features:
1.) I will fall instantly in love with anyone who realizes that I am wearing tiny old-fashioned key earrings because as Front Desk Hostess for a month, it will be my job to hand out room keys. If anyone makes this connection, I will love them forever. If you are reading this (and aren't a stalker), I already love you, so don't worry when I say you do not qualify because I already told you story behind my earrings lol
2) My dog died. I don't want to be a downer, but she deserves some recognition for her passing. I took this picture of her last Christmas (hence the snow village in the back). Her name is Buffy, I named her in like 5th grade when I was obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I am not gonna cry because she is gone, I am lucky to have had a great dog for 14 years, especially one that protected me from vampires =)


Until next time,
Allie B