The First Day: Check-In

Being the overly–anxious, over-achiever that I am, I thought it would be a good idea to get to check-in at Vista Way this morning at least an hour early.  So my mom and I pull in at 8:00, ready to chill for an hour before check-in actually started, and ready to get in line if anyone else was there yet.  When we pulled onto the street for the Vista Way complex, there was already a line of cars going inside.  There were already people everywhere, and there were already people filing through the check-in area.  Before I even got to the main registration area, complexes were already beginning to fill up, people were already heading out with their new address, and even though I was an hour early, it felt like I was an hour late.   If I have any advice for future College Program participants, it would be to get to check-in as early as possible!

Eventually I got through it all, though, and even ended up with the apartment I wanted (3 bedrooms in Chatham Square).   I met one of my roommates at the apartment, and then we went together to our two big meetings for the day: Casting and a Housing Welcome Session.  These took forever, but it was worth it because Casting was where I found out my work location, which is…drumroll…Animal Kingdom!  I’ll be working in the Discovery Island area, where there are four shops: Beastly Bazaar, Wonders of the Wild, Island Mercantile, and Creature Comforts.  Animal Kingdom’s hours are great for me.  I’d mostly be working mornings, since this park usually closes around dark.  My only concern is getting enough hours.  But I’ll cross that bridge when (if) I come to it. 

I did decide to take a class, Exploring Marketing, which will begin mid-October.  This surprised me.  I had gotten the impression that the classes would all take place at the beginning of the semester, but in reality they’re sort of scattered throughout, though it does seem that most of them finish up before Thanksgiving.

Another piece of advice for future CPs–you probably won’t have much time to really move on “move-in” day.  We had so many meetings that there was little time to get settled in.  After I’ve finished unpacking, I’ll be posting some pictures of the apartment (which is super awesome), but right now there’s just stuff everywhere.  But at least there’s plenty of space for the stuff: our apartment is HUGE!  And each bedroom has its own bathroom, which is a definite bonus.  I think Chatham is the only complex like this, but that’s just one more plus for Chatham.  We also have the coolest pool, and are just all-around awesome. 🙂

It’s been a super long day, and tomorrow’s supposed to be much more relaxed.  The only event tomorrow is a “Toy Story Poolooza” Welcome Party at the Chatham Pool.  Otherwise, I’m going to be spending the day with my Mom.  It’s so sad to think she’ll be leaving in just a couple of days, and I’ll be all on my own!  But I really think I’m going to have a great time.  I’ve already made some friends, and we have plans to go to the parks as sooh as we have or Cast IDs.  One Disney Day down, only about 9,000 more to go.

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Easy Come, Easy Go

I’m a little less excited today than I was yesterday.  Just as quickly as I found out I was getting lots of scholarship money, I found out that I wouldn’t be getting any scholarship money. 

Looks like my dream of swimming Scrooge McDuck-style in a pit of money will have to be put on hold for a while.

I got a call this morning from Financial Aid – they took another look, and decided that I didn’t qualify for the scholarship, after all.  Those “second looks” always seem to bite me in the butt!  Turns out that the lady didn’t understand that I wouldn’t be getting any credit for next semester, and since I had full-time status, she just assumed that I was getting 12 credits.

Ya know, two days ago I wasn’t upset about not getting that scholarship at all.  I let myself get too excited yesterday, though, and so today I’m disappointed.  Oh, well.  I just need to move on and get over it.  It’s certainly not the end of the world…I mean, I’m going to freakin’ Disney World!

And even better than just going to Disney World, it’s looking like my friend Emily, who applied for the CP with me but decided not to do it, has decided to go to a college in Eastern Florida…just an hour from Orlando!  She’ll be moving just a couple of weeks after me.  Now I just need to convince her to buy an Annual Pass for WDW…

Pennies From Heaven

Actually, the title should be “Great Big Wads of Cash” from Heaven.  I just got some really great news:  I’m going to be eligible for one of my scholarships next semester, even though I won’t be taking any classes!  Woohoo!

Why, yes, Regis! I would like to be a millionaire!

I have three scholarships.  Two of these are good for eight semesters, so I had them deferred until I get back.  That way, I’ll still have enough eligible semesters left to finish school.  But I had forgotten that one of my scholarships is good for 10 semesters.  I talked to Financial Aid today, and I will be getting that scholarship this September.  Seriously–how can it get any better?  I’ve got no books to buy, no tuition to pay, yet I’m getting the money for these things. 

So, of course, I’m going to turn right around and pay for the rest of that computer I bought on Monday.  Then, who knows?  All I can say is that I’m very, very happy about it all.  Last week, I was hoping to buy one ticket to Cirque du Soleil.  Today, I’m thinking maybe I’ll just rent out the entire theatre.

Problem Found, Problem Solved

I went to the school library a couple of nights ago to get some books. I spent half an hour finding what I wanted in our huge collection, only to get to the checkout desk and hear that my library account was inactive, because I was not yet registered for the fall. Sigh.

At least they didn't sic the library cop on me.

 I was supposed to be enrolled by the Career Center in a GEN 099 class, a class that signifies that I have full time status, even though I’m not earning any credits. They told me at the end of the Spring semester that they would get a list from Disney of the participating students, and then sign them up for the class. I just assumed that this had been done by now, because registration was back in May. So I went to their office yesterday to see what the hold up was. She said that they usually don’t get the final list until the beginning of August, which, to me, seems like that’s cutting it a bit fine.

So, because of the library thing, I asked if they could go ahead and sign me up. It took a little work–the school’s switched over to a new record-keeping system, and the GEN 099 class hadn’t even been created yet–but they got it done for me. Thanks, MSU!

I now have the paperwork in hand, saying that I’m a full-time, off-campus student. Yay! One less thing to worry about. I’m going to go back to the library tonight, and hopefully this time I’ll leave with books!

My Life Lately, in 696 Words or Less

Updates on a few of my summer goals:

• Work Full Time–Check! At least one thing on my list is being done. But, boy, is it being done slowly! Since I work on campus, a large part of my job depends on the demands of students, faculty, and administrators thrown into the full-fledged tizzies that are the fall and spring semesters. But during the summer, things are oh-so-quiet.
  They make working in an office seem so glamorous on TV…

Last summer, working part-time, I felt like things were slow. But they were sort of pleasantly slow. In the “take your time with what little work you have to do and pace yourself so you don’t get too bored” sort of way. But working full-time, there’s just not nearly enough to do here. I’ve gone home early several days the last few weeks. My supervisor encouraged me to stay, because she knew I wanted the hours, but I just feel bad sitting around being paid to do nothing. In the three weeks since school got out, I have dusted every surface of the office, organized my work space, and even ventured into the dreaded “back room” to organize the mess we call our storage space. It’s all stream-lined, cleaned, and de-clutterfied now. Which makes me wonder…what am I going to do for the next 2 months?!

 

Volunteer–It’s not my fault! I applied at the Make-A-Wish foundation, but they said they didn’t need any help right now. So, basically I’m blaming this wonderful charity for my lack of volunteerism. It’s all their fault! Just kidding. I know I really should try to find somewhere else. Someone out there needs help! But I just haven’t yet. I’ll get to it.

Learn Spanish–This is going…okay, I guess. To be honest, I haven’t been practicing much, lately. I need to get back on that! But before I got lazy, I was really doing pretty well. I can now give basic directions. However, they translate to something like this: “Left. Go straight and right at next to bank.” As you might have figured out, I haven’t really gotten to grammer yet. Hopefully I’ll get motivated to do that very soon so I can stop sounding like I learned Spanish from a broken See ‘n Say.

Get Crafty!–Check! I dove back into crafts with a passion after my DIY binge at the ever-wonderful DesignSponge.com. And the one that really ended up catching my fancy was an old friend–knitting! In the last couple of weeks, I’ve bought knitting needles of all types and sizes, deliciously candy-colored yarns for hats, gloves, and scarves to come, and almost completed a bag. Seriously! The first project of my Craft Revival is almost finished! I started sewing the lining in yesterday, but here’s a picture from a couple of days ago when I was blocking the sides:
Instead of being completed and sewn at the top, this bag is actually designed to be finished on the needles–making this a very cute bag to carry my future knitting projects in! I’m very, very proud of my baby, so expect to see more pictures in a few days! I’ve already started my next project, even. No pictures of this work-in-progress, but don’t worry…you’ll get to see them (I know you were worried! Oh, come on. Can’t you at least pretend that you’re really excited to see these pictures?)

Other than these things, I’ve spent the rest of my time lately being robbed by homeless people, (He was drunk, my car was unlocked, and they arrested him. The only thing he got was some worthless text books. Seriously. I couldn’t even sell them back. Worked out real well for him, didn’t it?), unintentionally providing shelter for baby mice in the air filter of my car (This didn’t work out so well for the mice…or for me! Smelled horrible!), and seeing Shakespeare in the Park (Unlike the other things mentioned here, this was a very pleasant experience.)

It’s been a little crazy lately, but in a fun, interesting kind of way. And, yes, I just described being robbed by a drunk guy as sort of fun and interesting. Makes for a good story, anyway!

Remind Me: Why Am I Doing This, Again?

For the most part, it’s been a good week—I finished up the semester, working book buyback is going well. But today has been a little discouraging.

I was giving my degree audit a second look today to see if I was admitted to the program. Good news: I was. The paperwork went through. So then I started figuring how many hours I have left of required classes for my major. Since the semester is over, I have 60 hours under my belt, and have another 51, including my degree-required internship and Gen Eds, to go. So far, so good, right?

Both my current and former academic advisor told me that they thought I would be able to graduate early. So I was hoping that I would still be able to graduate on time even after my CP. To do that, I would have to finish up in 3 semesters after I got back from Florida. 6 of the 51 hours are a summer internship, so that means I have to take 15 hours per semester for the next 3 semesters. I should easily be able to accomplish that!

But then there’s that one stupid little requirement: I have to have a total of 125 credit hours to graduate. Even after I’ve completed all of my required Gen Eds, the requirements for my major, and a couple of electives that I’ve already taken, I will only have 111 hours down. That means that I will still need to take an entire 14 credit semester of just electives.

On top of that, I discovered today that I may have problems with my Honors College Membership. To remain a member of the Honors College at my school, you have to meet the General Honors Curriculum requirement, which basically boils down to this: during your first five semesters, you have to take five honors classes. Which I have done. But, even though I’ve read the requirements many, many times, I never caught this little jewel until today: “…in addition to the Freshman Honors Seminar.” This entire time, I thought that the Seminar counted as one of my five classes. So this means that next semester—my fifth semester—I am technically required to take another Honors course. But I won’t even be here!

I don’t really think this will be a problem. I haven’t talked to them yet, but I’m sure they will make an exception for a situation like this. And regarding my graduation date, I have been skeptical since the beginning when they were telling me they thought I could finish in 3 ½ years. So graduating a semester later now doesn’t really surprise me that much. But the stress is just starting to build, and with the problems I had with Student Employment last week (even though that’s all been resolved; I can work this summer), I’m starting to get a little discouraged.

So, today, for the first time, Disney isn’t looking so hot. I am having a few doubts, and today it even crossed my mind how much easier it would be to just stay here and finish up school as originally planned. I know that I still want to do Disney, but it just isn’t sounding as exciting as it did a few weeks ago. The reality of the situation is starting to set in and I’m not loving every aspect of it. I know I just need to work though it, though, and things will look brighter when all of this is settled. After all, none of these are major problems. But I guess I was hoping for no problems at all!

It’s a little cheesy, I know, but I’m just going to make this my mantra for the rest of the discouraging days (weeks? months?) to come: “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Know who said that? A pretty smart fella named Walt Disney. 🙂

Finished With Finals (Already!)

Yay! I am done with finals for an entire year! I just took my last final, and since I will be at Disney next semester, I won’t have to take another final until NEXT MAY! That’s a very exciting prospect.

So now that the semester is officially done, I am just trying to figure out how I’m going to pass the next three months. For the next week, I’m going to continue working at my regular job part-time, and picking up extra hours at the school bookstore doing text book buyback. Then, I will be able to go to full-time, something student workers are not really supposed to be able to do.

Student workers are only allowed to get 1000 hours per calendar year. Under normal circumstances, this works out to abot 20 hours per week. But since I won’t be here to work between August and January, I can work 40 hours per week over the summer, and still not go over the 1000 hour limit. I really love my job, so this will be a great way to spend the summer. And it feels really great to have a definite plan for the next few months, because I wasn’t sure that they would be able to find enough hours for me to be in the office full-time. But I guess it’s going to work out after all!

Right now, I’m off to do text book buyback for the first time. It’s going to be a great way to pick up some extra cash over the next week, and I’m excited to do something new for a while. Manual labor is fun when you don’t have to do it very often! 🙂 Actually, I’m not exactly sure what this is going to entail: I am assuming that we will be sorting and boxing up the books, but I really won’t know until I go in in a little while. But I’m sure I’ll be back complaining to you guys soon about how much my muscles hurt, and how much I’m ready for the week to be over. lol. I’m a wimp! 🙂