Phew! It sure has been a while. My life has taken a left turn at Hectic Street. But let me tell you, it's about to get even crazier. And I mean that in the best way possible.
Earlier this year, I was talking to a good friend of mine after church. We always have these delightfully long chats, you see. And we got to talking about life, college, and what the heck we are going to do with our lives. She mentioned the Disney College Program. Maybe you've heard of it? Well, I had not. This friend of mine has this contagious excitement about her, and before I knew it, I was fist pumping the air declaring triumphantly, "WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY!" And then she said it.
"You have to apply first."
Well. There goes my chances! I thought of mountains of paper work piling up in my room. Nope. Not for me.
Fast forward a month or two. My church hosted a ladies Q & A night. Anyone could submit a question, and hope that it would be answered by the wives of the pastors of the church. This was my opportunity. I submitted the typical "I am a young woman who doesn't know what to do with my life" question. And to my giddy surprise, they answered it! And that answer changed my life.
All the pastors' wives agreed on an answer: Go on an adventure. Do something crazy fun. Do something you won't be able to do once you're married with kids. You're young, you're unattached. Go do something that you can look back on when you are old and grey and think, "yeah, I did that." And at that moment, the Lord spoke to my heart. He told me to apply for that Disney College Program.
Immediately after arriving home, I got online to sign up for the program. Only they weren't accepting applications. So I selected to receive email updates. This would alert me as soon as the application process began. It became a waiting game.
Early September. I'm at home, chilling on the couch in my sweatpants. *ding* "The Disney College Program is now-" That's all I needed to see. I texted my friend, alerting her that the application process had begun. I opened my laptop, and applied, giving my general information and resume; I also had to identify which positions I was most interested in. (I put "Disney Character" as my top pick. Who doesn't want to be a Disney character?!) Immediately after applying, I received an email telling me to begin the Web Interview. I began the timed Web based interview answering case-scenario questions on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree. About five minutes after I had completed that, I received an email telling me I had been identified as a "strong candidate", and I needed to schedule a phone interview. I scheduled the interview for September 15th at 5:15pm.
September 15th rolled around. I am not a prideful person. But I rock at interviews. Face to face interviews. Phone interviews are a completely different story. I have never been so nervous in my life. At 5:17 pm, I received the phone call. I was already sweating profusely at that point. Disney was two minutes late... this can't be normal. I have to be honest. The interview did not go very well. I couldn't really understand what my interviewer was asking because the connection was horrible. I'm not making this up. At one point, I got so tired of asking, "I'm sorry could you repeat that?". I was determined to make my ears stretch, so I wouldn't have to ask that again. She asked a question. "Have you ever worked with mermaids?" I pause. Careful, girl. This is Disney. Mermaids, Ariel. Ok, makes sense I guess. "Well, I have not worked with them, but I've heard they are a delight to work with." Silence. "What?" I take a breath. I will not ask her to repeat her question! "I have not worked with them, but I sure would love to." Silence. I can't take it anymore. "I am really sorry, but I don't think I heard the question correctly." She enunciated every syllable. "Have. You. Worked. With. Money." Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Face palm! The interview lasted an hour and 15 minutes. I also had to identify the dimensions and placement of my tattoo. That made me nervous too. Because the "Disney Look" does not allow visible tattoos.
I get an email soon after, giving me the character audition dates and locations. I was going to have to go to Austin, Texas two days after arriving home from a week long Disney Caribbean cruise. At this point I was starting to spiral out of control with excitement. And then........
*stay tuned for Part Two!* :)
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