Fall in Florida ☀️

The past few weeks has flown by since my last post! I've been hanging out with my coworkers a lot lately! We've gone bowling, a few of us went out to a piano bar at one of the resorts, we've gone to the Food and Wine Festival again (I had a sip of a really delicious grapefruit beer) and watched the Illuminations fireworks show at Epcot, painted miniature pumpkins, and tonight some of us got together and watched Halloween movies! Everyone brought candy, snacks and drinks. SO many snacks! It's weird because it's so warm here and the leaves don't change colors so it doesn't really seem like fall, but it has been fun to do some fall activities with my coworkers!

Bowling at Splitsville!

Sco ducks!!!!

Last weekend on one of my days off, a friend and I went for a hike and swim at a local state park called Wekiwa Springs! The hiking trail was interesting because most of the trail was sand. The trail went around to a few different lakes and there were a bunch of different trails, some of which went to campgrounds. Also the main attraction there was a natural springs swimming area! It was so pretty and it was the perfect day for a swim. It was so nice to be out of the Disney bubble for a day and explore Florida a bit!

Wekiwa Springs

Let's hike!

The water was so pretty

Peace out, thanks for the great day

STOKED

I sure miss having my car! It's the little things like getting a ride home from work that make my days better. One night one my coworker Enrico gave me a ride home after a long day at work. I had just found out that he is studying opera and getting his master's degree at LSU, so I wanted him to show me some of the songs he listens to and sings! Picture this: two Disney employees stoked to be off work, windows rolled down, driving on the freeway, with French opera blaring out the speakers and Enrico singing at the top of his lungs. It was quite the memorable car ride home. He is such an amazing singer! I told him that one day when he is famous I'm going to come see one of his shows and hold up a sign that says "I worked with him at Disney!!!" :) (Thanks for letting me post this clip, Rico)

Back in August I found out about a mentoring program through American Speech-Language-Hearing Association called the STEP Mentoring program. I applied, and got paired with a speech-language pathologist mentor! The program started in the beginning of October and continues through the spring. It has been helpful to connect with an SLP and get advice and help applying to schools and figuring out what path I want to take with my career! In the program you set goals and your mentor helps to make sure you are on track in achieving those goals. I'm really glad I found out about the program. I also let my friend Nathan know about it, and he is currently a senior at UO in the program that I graduated from. He got a mentor as well! My mentor is from Michigan and went to school there, and she currently lives in Texas and does home visits and works with families, and also supervises SLPA's. I've been able to ask her about working as an SLPA - which is something I want to do when I get back home after my college program here - and she has provided me with a lot of info!

One thing I like to do to make the bus rides go faster is read on my kindle. I've finished 4 books since I've been here. The two I liked best are Wild:From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed and Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius. Wild is about a woman's thousand plus mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, and it was made into a major motion picture film starring Reese Witherspoon. I saw the movie last spring and then found out it was a book. I definitely recommend it! Ghost Boy is about a boy who became sick at age 12 and was diagnosed with a degenerative disease which left him wheelchair-bound and unable to communicate. It details his struggles in different care homes, his journey back to consciousness, and his amazing progress with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Told by Martin himself, this amazing real life story is so inspirational!!

Other misc. pics/video:

A few cool pictures that a friend took of Epcot from a plane



Bird's eye view

Some live music at a bar in Orlando!

Grad Schools and Disney Magic

I've been busy at work with grad school researching! This past week I've been calling different schools to get more information about their communication sciences & disorders/speech-language pathology programs. So far I am for sure applying to:
-Portland State University
-Texas Christian University
-Washington State University, and
-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Several more I am considering are Baylor, University of Texas at Dallas, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University. I will definitely apply to at least one school in Arizona. There are so many choices for grad schools that it has been hard to narrow it down to just 6 or 7, but that's my goal for this weekend. I've already begun a few online applications and also emailing professors about letters of recommendation (I already have 2 professors and 1 SLP writing me letters), and beginning to get transcripts sent in. This upcoming week I'll start brainstorming/writing my essays.

It's really neat working here because I've met people from so many different states and colleges! I've been able to ask coworkers about their colleges and states because many of them are from areas where I'm applying to schools/schools that I am actually applying to! One went to UNC at Chapel Hill, one went to ASU, I briefly talked to someone from Eastern Washington University which was a school I was considering previously, and I have a few coworkers that go to school in Texas so I was asking them about the cities/colleges there. So convenient while I'm doing grad research - everyone's hometown or college/university is right on their name tags!

We recently got our wifi fixed, but before that I was going into the Learning Center here at our apartment clubhouse to use the computers/internet. When you use a computer, you scan your company ID and then get assigned to one of the 22 computers. I go so often that the girls working at the front desk know which computer is my favorite to use, and they always leave it open for me in case I come in:) My favorite computer has a lot of desk space around it, is next to an outlet so I can plug things in to charge, and has a great view of the pool outside. The learning center also has 2 printers, and you're allowed to print as much as you want as long as its education related. It is super convenient because its the building right next to my apartment!

Recently, along with the Food and Wine Festival, the set of the ABC show "The Chew" filmed a few episodes here at Epcot! I would see their trailers on my work to and from work, and I even saw a few of the tv hosts on the set one day when I picked up an extra shift working at the Food & Wine Festival. They filmed it right at the World Showcase, with the huge globe in the center of Epcot in the background. The episodes aired on tv this past week, and our breakroom tv was turned to that channel so we could watch it during our break. One of my coworkers actually won tickets to be in the audience when they filmed it! It was cool to see it on tv and think - hey, I actually work there!

Epcot before park opening

I recently got to do a Magic Moment at work and it was so much fun! I had a family come through the line at Character Spot, and the mom was telling me about what a stressful day of traveling they had that day - they had problems with their flight, and had to take two separate planes to get to Disney World! They just arrived at Epcot and it was already 8pm:/ Not a fun way to start their vacation! I wanted to do something special for them so I called my coordinator and was able to arrange to give them a Fast Pass to any attraction at Epcot! I surprised them at the exit of Character Spot with the fast passes and they were so excited. It was so rewarding to see their reaction and make their night! There's nothing like a little Disney magic!!

More pictures below of fun times at the parks during my days off:)

Tarzan is still adjusting socially

BEST RIDE

My friend Priscilla and I! She also works in Epcot

Fun morning going on a few rides before work!

Something fun came in the mail last week - the 2015 Disney Family Holiday celebration coupons!!!!!!!!! Yay for Disney perks! Coupons for dining discounts, free treat coupons, doubling cast discount coupons, a spa coupon, and information about other seasonal park admission and hotel discounts. Also our cast discount of 20% off gets bumped up to 40% off starting October 19th through the rest of the time my internship lasts! I've been waiting for the discounts to kick in so I can get the better deal on any merchandise... (:

COME VISIT ME IN FLORIDA I HAVE THE DISCOUNT HOOK UPS:):) For real. Offer expires December 20, 2015.* Limited time only.** Yours truly will host you in an unforgettable discounted personalized Disney World Tour. Please call for more details or email at rachelmb324@gmail.com.***

*or it expires January 4, 2016 if you don't need the Walt Disney Resort discount.
**Offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
***Facebook messaging accepted as well.

Fun times at work and play!

It's been a busy few weeks since my last post!

A few weeks ago I went to a really interesting networking event. There were 7 Disney employees there, from all different areas within the company here. It is amazing how many opportunities there are here! John Stephenson is a recruiter for the Disney College Program and the Professional Internships program here and it was really interesting to learn about his career path within Disney and how he became the head of recruiting. The DCP was established first here at Disney World, and he actually was the person to launch the DCP at Disneyland in California! Another interesting employee is an associate industrial engineer here and he works in planning and industrial engineering - his job description was so unique. In his area they figure out things like how to get more people on a certain attraction and how to make things more efficient. I'd never heard of that area of engineering before!
 This networking event was part of a series of networking events that are available for everyone here doing an internship. I plan on going to a resume writing workshop and another networking event with tips and do's/dont's of networking. They're all free events so I figured I'd take advantage of them while I'm here!

Two of my roommates and I went to Blizzard Beach water park the other week on a day off! It was their first time at a water park. The waterslides and wave pool were a blast! Afterwards, we got ice cream on our way out. We saw someone else with the dessert and we had to have it - it was a small plastic sandpail FILLED with ice cream/hot fudge/toppings and topped with a mountain of whipped cream and Mickey sprinkles. IT WAS THE BEST and we couldn't even finish it.
Afterwards we went to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. There are different kiosks set up all around the World Showcase with food and wine from different countries. The portions are smaller so you can go to a bunch of different places and sample lots of different foods and drinks! It was so delicious. I had this really good cheese bread from Brazil and it was gluten free! Also I tried a raspberry wine from South Korea, and the pork and mangu dish from the Dominican Republic that my roommates had mentioned before that they wanted to try. The festival lasts until mid November so I definitely want to again.

I was so excited that I spelled 'ice cream' wrong...

France at the World Showcase

sombreros in Mexico

 Last week I went mini golfing with 14 of my coworkers who are also doing the DCP. It was fun to get to know them and hangout outside of work! Afterwards we went to Friday's for drinks and appetizers. They're a fun group to hang with!

I've been seeing more characters around my work area lately. I saw Mulan one day on my way into work. When I was working outside another day, I saw Ariel and Jasmine skip by to do meet-and-greets with guests in another area of the park. Just the other day I saw Cinderella and the Prince. They were the cutest!! After meeting a line of people, they walked off, the Prince escorting Cinderella by the hand, and she was holding up her skirt slightly with her other hand (typical princess move). It's always fun to see the characters at work!

Also last week I met a few people from Oregon! This lady came into one of the attractions I was working at, and I was chatting with her when her husband showed up wearing an Oregon Ducks hat! I got excited and we began chatting about Oregon and how I just graduated from there. They were from Gresham and they had a few nieces that graduated from U of O recently. It's awesome to run into fellow Oregonians:)

Had a fun day off at Hollywood Studios last weekend with my friends Brittany and Joe (not pictured below.. he was not the happiest camper at first because we made him go on the roller coaster :)

Rockin' Roller Coaster

Just at work last night we had a private event in half of Epcot. A company (Gartner..not sure what they do, I'll have to look it up) rented out all of Future World (West is the area that I work in, and there is also Future World East) for their employees. Funny to think that you can rent out part of Disney World - but definitely not at a low price. They had a DJ in one area, and a live band set up in our area. There was also tons of catered food, desserts, and several bars set up around Future World West and East. We had to close our areas early though, which made for some unhappy guests.. It wasn't fun to break the bad news to them:/ It was cool to see the event get set up and take place though! Apparently there were over 3,000 guests at the event! They also had their own fireworks show at the end of the night.

Next post will include a grad school update! Been busy every day spending a few hours researching grad schools and beginning to apply here in the next week!

I'd love to hear from friends and family from home - please send me an email or text or give me a call :)
rachelmb324@gmail.com