Floodzone!

It wasn't long before the excitement began in Chatham 13104. Aside from a housing meeting full of strobe lights, fog machines and safety rules, we had nothing planned for our first few days here. We spent a lot of time unpacking and shopping for groceries and apartment stuff.

While unpacking, I realized that there was a spot on our carpet that was soaking wet. Stacey and I had no idea what it was from, so we just kind of ignored it. As time passed, we noticed that it seemed to be spreading. Earlier in the day, maintenance had come to fix exposed nails in the carpet and Kacey mentioned that when they lifted the rug, it looked like there were some water stains on the floor. We decided to call maintenance again but they said that they had a few things to do before us and they were unsure when they would be able to stop by. We were a little upset but soon forgot about it once we started hanging out with our new roomies! A few hours later, we noticed that there was a dripping noise coming from the AC vent. Kacey wanted to check it out so she walked over and realized that the carpet in the living room was also soaking wet! Since maintenance was closed, we had to call security (how exciting is it that two security guards were the first guests invited to our apartment?!). They unlocked the maintenance closet and we discovered what the issue was - the AC unit literally had water pouring out of it! We decided to turn the AC off until maintenance could get there the next morning. When maintenance finally came, they told us that the water was freezing to ice and there was some kind of drain clog which was causing the leak. In order to dry up the mess, they placed two big, and very loud, fans in the living room and our bedroom. Hopefully that will dry it all up! The issue now is that the air conditioner doesn't seem to be working... I guess we'll have to call maintenance AGAIN.

The dusty fan in our room. I think it was blowing on my shoes - that must be why they are so disorganized...

Casual fan under the carpet.

I'll be working at Disney, but it turns out I'm living at SeaWorld!

Getting Started!

I knew I was going to Disney back in October but that didn't change the fact that I waited until the morning I left to finish packing :). My dad and I packed the car up and began the long drive down south! The trip went by pretty quickly with the help of Rebecca Black and her hit song Friday, which was played several times along the way (mostly in South Carolina). I think it might be my dad's new favorite song now...

Before leaving for the program, my friend Stacey and I had talked to a bunch of people via Facebook about living together. Disney has you live with whoever you are standing with on the check-in line, so we wanted to try and find some roommates before we got there. We were able to find six other great girls: Annie, Ashley, Kacey, Nicolette, Shelby and Tara! We were told that check-in would begin at 9am, but the apartments are first-come-first-serve and we learned that those who had earlier check-in dates than us were beginning to line up for check-in as early as 11pm the night before! We didn't want to risk the chance of not getting to live together, so we made the slightly crazy decision to get in line at 1am. We were a little nervous about not getting any sleep, but we figured it was worth it! I, of course, forgot to turn my alarm off and was woken up by a text saying that all of them were on line... whoops. I was able to get up and get ready pretty quickly (partially because I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to in the sketchy hotel my dad had us staying in) and headed towards Vista Way to meet my new roommates! Vista Way is one of four apartment complexes that DCPers can live in. The other three are The Commons, Patterson Court and Chatham Square (which is where we hoped to live).

Around 5:30am, we were greeted by a Disney employee named Vanessa. Vanessa gave us some nametags and sat and talked with us about the program. She was extremely helpful and very friendly. By 7am, check-in had begun. Because we had gotten there so early, we were first on line and therefore got to go through the check-in process before everyone else. Another Disney employee told us that most of the people would be placed in Vista Way which bummed us out a little bit since Vista doesn't have 4-bedroom apartments. We were about to discuss what we would do if we were broken up, but the employee stopped us which hinted at the fact that we, being first in line, wouldn't have to worry. When we got to the housing part of the check-in, everyone there knew us as "the eight girls who showed up at 1am." We were all excited when they said they had a 4-bedroom at Chatham for us!  After we were done at Vista, we took a bus over to the Casting building at Downtown Disney where we were finger-printed and completed even more paperwork. We finally finished check-in around 11am and headed over to our apartment!

The apartment we live in is HUGE! The apartment itself has a few issues, but the complex as a whole is beautiful. We have four bedrooms, and each pair of bedrooms shares a connecting full bathroom. There is also a large living/dining area, kitchen, 1/2 bath, and tons of storage space. It's a bit bare but we are all excited to make it our home!

Mine and Stacey's room + Annie

Our closet + Annie

Our bathroom + Annie

Our living room + Annie

Kacey!

Our kitchen + Annie... she's not actually cooking, she doesn't know how to. 

Hi Nicolette!

Second fridge and storage area

Welcome to our humble abode!

Dining room + Annie

Who would have ever thought that a girl who is petrified of mice would wind up working for one?!

As a student at Northeastern University, I am given the opportunity to spend three of my undergraduate semesters on co-op. A co-op is sort of like an internship, but better! The school arranges full- and part-time jobs with companies around the world and students are able to send their résumés to the companies of their choice in hopes of being hired. The program teaches us valuable skills like résumé writing and interview etiquette, and the jobs we receive help to enhance our professional profiles and give us a feel for the kind of career we would eventually like to pursue. When I began applying, I looked at a lot of jobs involving social media, broadcasting and marketing in the Boston area for companies like Puma and ZipCar. I never expected that I would end up at Disney World!

A single phone call changed my plans. I was catching up with my friend from home, Stacey, when she started talking about her acceptance to the Disney College Program. It sounded really interesting and I began to wonder if I could somehow do the program and have it count as my co-op. After several phone calls and meetings with my advisor, it was clear that if I got accepted, this would be the perfect first co-op. I applied on a Monday and by the following Wednesday I had accepted the offer! 

Everything happened so quickly that I barely had time to process it. I am about to begin what many people say will be the best four months of my life. I'm super excited but also ridiculously nervous! I am going to try to post on here as often as I can to keep those who are interested updated on my happenings in and around the Walt Disney World Resort!