Welcome!

Today, I set sail (not literally) on a new journey…a new journey through Europe.  This time it will be for seven months.  Yes, seven whole months on the other side of the pond.  I will be able to explore five different countries: Spain, Italy, Turkey, France, and Ireland.  I've had mixed emotions both prior and present to this whole, new, adventure thing.  Because of this, I'd like to write about it…I'd like to use my writing as an outlet and I'd like to invite you to follow along.  Let it be known here and now that I will not make any promises.  My stories may not always be very interesting.  The content of my stories could, quite possibly, be 90% about food and/or the restaurants I have experienced-I am a fat kid.  I use quite a bit of emotion in my writing…if I'm happy, the stories may have a happy tone, if I'm pissed off, the stories could be short and to the point…if I'm lonely and homesick…I think you get the idea.  Warning: I use sarcasm, curse words, and i sometimes change my mind and decide to talk about something else completely mid-sentence…P.S.Warning: my stories tend to take the form of novels from the 18th century…i.e. they're long and probably way too descriptive and drawn out.

Ok, so now that you have the basics…let's get started.  As you may know, I have been going on these little Disney adventures since February, 2009 when I moved to Orlando, Florida all by my lonesome self.  Pause for sympathy.  When I graduated from college in August 2008, I decided I just was not ready to grow up.  I applied for and didn't get an internship with the costuming department for Disney.  WAAAHHH!! Jokes…God had something else in store for me!  In October 2008, while working as a stand-in for Renee Zelweger for a movie in Nola (wink, wink, nudge, nudge!), I headed up to Washington DC for an equity, dancer audition.  I was scared shitless, but fairly confident all the same…I really don't know why.  It was a big audition and the first of my career life…i guess you could say?  After doing several routines and making it through different 'cuts', I was videotaped, measured, and photographed along with two other girls and one boy.  I was one of four!  I was on cloud nine.  When the lady put my measurements on my resume' I saw that she had written, 'Cindy' on it.  Upon leaving the audition, I was told that our audition tapes and such would hold relevant for the next year, and that if they wanted to hire us for something, they would contact us…blah, blah, blah.  As soon as I got in the car, I called my family and loved ones to let them in on the great news.  About a month or so later, I received an e-mail from Disney Cruise Line.  It became a back-and-forth discussion regarding a job, which didn't end up being the best opportunity for both parties.  I don't remember the exact timeline, but it wasn't long after that, I was recovering from just having my wisdom teeth pulled and I received yet another e-mail…this time from a casting director for Walt Disney World Resorts.  She wanted to speak with me about an opportunity in the parks.  I was asked to give her a call…I did so immediately and with cotton still in my mouth!  I was a little excited I guess.  Kelly (the casting director) offered me a job as Cinderella.  I was speechless.  It was not what I had in mind upon flying my ass to a DANCER audition in Washington DC, BUT  It was a job. In Disney World. With a relocation package (money to move me there). I would be freaking Cinderella.  In other words, I said "hell yes! When do you want me there?!"  At the end of January 2010, I was able to attend another audition in Orlando, Florida…this one was an open audition where I would be able to meet the casting directors and they would be able to determine whether or not it would be a good fit.  I got make-up put on me, a wig, and finally the dress.  I was to walk into a room and say a few lines that Cinderella might say (they were written down-i just read them).  I'm pretty sure I was a clown.  Apparently, they were hiring clowns that day.  I was hired on the spot and told that I needed to move to Florida within two weeks.  Shocker, there.  I did it, and by February 19, 2010 I was officially a cast member of Walt Disney World Resorts.

The whole moving thing was a whirlwind.  I had to leave Jeffrey behind.  I had to leave my sister and brother, and their kids behind…it was rough.  I had never lived out-of-state before, I had never had to pay bills before, and I had never really lived on my own before.  I began to grow up without even knowing it was happening.  My time at Disney in those first months were amazing to say the least.  I made friends fairly quickly, I learned the night parade in my first week, I learned the castle show about three months later, and I learned the Block Party Bash parade at Hollywood studios about two months after that!  In Disney "world", that's crazy…people were jealous and I had to deal with the usual cattiness that came along with it.  I pulled through and got over it…i was too happy to really let it bother me.  Somewhere in between all this craziness, Jeffrey was able to visit me on multiple weekends.  We had some of our best times during those visits…it was like mini vacays every time!  We would treat ourselves to nice dinners (I wanted to eat at every single restaurant throughout the countries in EPCOT), go to the parks, ride Space Mountain over and over! (and the carousel of progress…), sneak into the fancy resorts to lay out by their pools, you know, do everything our parents didn't let us do when we went as kids! hee hee  I loved it! :)  I was also able to have my mom, sis, and her family visit so they could see me in action!  Again, amazing times…amazing times…  

So, somewhere in between and before/after all this…whatever-SOMEWHERE, I decided to shoot the shit and attend two different auditions.  One was to be a princess in Hong Kong Disneyland and the other was an audition to be apart of Disney Live!.  Apparently, someone up above was rooting for me.  I got offered both jobs.  In the end, I chose to go with Hong Kong Disneyland b/c of some contract specifics with Walt Disney Resorts.  I was under contract due to my relocation package and could not join Disney Live! without forfeiting my contract/job with Walt Disney World Resorts.  Disney Live! is under Feld Entertainment…it has nothing to do with Walt Disney World Resorts.  I didn't know all of this at the time of the audition…you live and learn!  About a month later, I moved to Hong Kong for my second adventure.

My time in Hong Kong was like a dream…an unforgettable dream (bet ya neva heard that before!)  It's a different story for a different time.  I came away a different person, a better person, because of that experience.

Upon returning from Hong Kong in April 2010, I was given thirty days to return to my full-time job with Walt Disney World in Orlando.  I spent that thirty days at home with my loved ones having a wonderful time being back in the US. :)  I was, however, excited to get back to my job of hugging kids at Disney World.  I moved back to my new apartment with a close friend I had made in Celebration, Florida.  It was the best apartment ever…the location was adorable and I enjoyed every minute.  Not two months after returning, I got a random call.  This call was from the casting director of Disney Live! offering me the same job I had turned down the year before.

As history tells you, I took the job.  I traveled to Puerto Rico, up the center of the US to Canada, and finally to Japan.  Like Hong Kong, I believe last year was a story in its own as well.  This time, my journey continues with the same show, "Mickey's Rockin' Road Show" where I play a theater kid, Cinderella, and a dancer in a live stage show.  Unlike last year, I will be on the other side of the pond for an entire seven months exploring not only Europe, but myself.  This is my journey…