A New Role

September 3rd, 2016

To say the last two months of my life have been crazy is an understatement. I haven’t posted any updates in awhile, and between not knowing what to post about and finding my day to day life as a guard fairly uninteresting, I’ve just let my blog sit.

June was all about getting used to my new home. I went to the parks a lot, enjoyed time spent with friends, and got used to lifeguarding. It was an uneventful month, overall. I disneybounded, rode new rides, and saw new shows. I got my Universal Annual Pass and went to Hogwarts for the day.

But July? July was my crazy month. I worked, celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd to the 5th in the parks (Magic Kingdom on the 3rd, EPCOT on the 4th, Animal Kingdom on the 5th) and then worked some more. I got to go home for a wedding and spent a week with my family. It was so nice to have a break from the craziness of Florida. I felt like I was always rushing to do something instead of just enjoying my days off. I came back to Florida, and on my first day back to work, I got hurt on the job. I didn’t realize it was anything serious, so I kept working until I realized how it was affecting my breathing. Not fun to say the least. I ended up telling my managers and going to health services the next day, where I was put on “light duty” (no pushing, pulling, or lifting over 5 pounds and no swimming.). I spent my birthday in the parks, where I decided I was going to ask for a role change. It was a hard decision, and I didn’t really know what was going to happen.

I was on light duty at Typhoon for a few days before they decided to send me over to Transitional duty. Let me tell you, sometimes transitional duty pretty much feels like a punishment for getting hurt. I was on it for a month, doing odd jobs around the parks, generally not in the same place very long, and wishing I had some consistency in my life. I got to work at EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Blizzard Beach in various roles. I worked Park Exit, handed out maps, gave out stickers, key assisted for room evaluations, helped photopass, saw illuminations as my shift ended, gave cast members new pins, watched the frozen ride for 8 hours to make sure it didn’t catch on fire, and did crafts with children for the Frozen Summer Games, to name just a few. I can tell you that this experience gave me more knowledge than I had previously about the Disney Parks. It was always something new and different, which was great, but also tiring.

Transitional Duty Costume

After almost a month on transitional duty, I finally received a call about getting a role change! I was able to choose from what was available, and decided on EPCOT Park Arrival Merchandise. At my doctor’s appointment that week, I was taken off of my restrictions so that my role could be switched and I could start training!

While it was a rough few weeks for me, I am happy to be somewhere where I finally feel like I’m meant to be. I was, and still am sad to have left the friends I made at Typhoon and the wonderful Goonie family. It was an incredible experience, even though it wasn’t one that was quite right for me. I know I’ll be back to visit, and am glad that the friendships I made are not gone, even though I am.

Well, off I go onto a new adventure! I’ll be posting more about my training for Merchandise very soon.

Until next time!

Jennifer

 

 

 

TL Chapter 1: Training

6/4/16, 6/5/16, 6/7/16 and 6/8/16

Hi everyone! I decided that with work and everything being so crazy, I would start clumping my days into different “chapters” of my DCP Story. I probably won’t post about park days as much, but events and different stories of my weeks, and more information about what it’s like as a Lifeguard at Typhoon Lagoon.

This post is my first “chapter” as a Typhoon Lagoon Lifeguard: Training! I had four different days at Typhoon Lagoon before I actually had my first day on stand: Day 1, Day 2, Forecast Typhoon (Orientation) and my KAPA day. I’ll explain each of those below!

Day 1 – Saturday, June 4th, 2016

Today was my first day in costume! I got to Typhoon at about 7:30 for Day 1 of training. It was a really crazy day, and 11 lifeguards ended up calling out, and there was a giant group of us (12) for our first day of training (we all had Ellis together), so we were all with one trainer for the day! We got to walk around the park and see all of the shallow water stands and locations of backboards and trauma bags. After seeing most of the park, we did our required reading for training (reading Operating Guides of different attractions so we are familiar with how everything operates and emergency procedures).

Yay for costumes!

And that was honestly basically all of day 1. We also got a park map with all of the stands, backboards, trauma bags and other important locations and a zone card with what each rotation is and our closing jobs.

Day 2 – Sunday, June 5th, 2016

My second day of training was a little less hectic – it was just me and one other girl with our super awesome trainer, and we went back to every stand, reviewed information and actually practiced scanning in and out of every stand and roving. In the morning, we also did some vatting practice as a group. A VAT is a vigilance awareness test – typically done with silhouettes placed in your zone of coverage. For our practice, we just pointed them out. In an actual audit where you’re vatted, you jump in for them like they’re a real person.

We did it at the Rainforest Stand, which is a giant bridge that you have to rove (one of the hardest stands to guard) and so after we finished that I felt a lot more confident with VATs!

Another part of day two was finishing all of our reading that we hadn’t finished on Day 1, which didn’t take me too much longer! My trainer was hoping to take us down some slides for “product knowledge” once we finished with training for the day, but then we had a weather closure! So we ended up heading backstage a little earlier than we hoped, but we got to go over every stand except for Unload at the Family Raft Ride so all in all it was a successful day!

Another thing we went over on days one and two was opening/closing jobs and where to get equiptment, but something I found out is you really learn nothing about those, so ASK QUESTIONS once you’re actually on stand as a real lifeguard. Make friends with the other lifeguards and ask them your stupid questions because then you won’t have to ask your coordinator/managers stupid questions.

Forecast Typhoon – Tuesday, June 7th, 2016

My next “day” of work wasn’t in costume – it was my Typhoon Lagoon “Orientation”! Of course, when you’ve already completed two days of training, orientation isn’t as helpful for you. But, because it was raining (hello Tropical Storm Colin), we did the entirety of our four hour class indoors. Cool! Getting soaked in your “business casual” clothes really isn’t fun. Also, wearing business clothes to a water park is weird. I wouldn’t recommend trying it as a guest. If you’re a lifeguard at Typhoon or Blizzard, I’d recommend dressing down for it instead of up – you have to walk through the park, and it’s HOT. Just like… maybe not a full pant suit. It’s not traditions!

So, yeah. We learned more about the park (somewhat) and had a mostly good time in our little four hour class. And then, it was over! Which was GREAT. Because I was starving and brought no food. Don’t make the same mistake I did. All I had was sweet tarts and I ate a whole pack…

Day 3 – Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

KAPA DAY!

I don’t want to bore you all too much with the details, since it was a rather long day of going from stand to stand! In the morning, we had to wait until 10 to start so the park would actually be open (and we started at 8am) so, we had quite a bit of waiting we had to do. My group for my KAPA was me and two other Shallow Lifeguards plus our trainer. In the morning, one of the people in my group hadn’t finished their reading yet, so we started with that, and then did some more VATs before heading to unload, where I got to practice for a little while before I’d have to do it on my test.

Our test comprised of two parts – written and what I’ll call “on stand stuff”. KAPA stands for Knowledge and Performance Assessment (I’m actually not sure if the second A also stands for Assessment or not, but no difference really). The Knowledge assessment was a 69 question multiple choice test, which we did first, and then headed out to do the Performance Assessment (answering where the backboards/trauma bags are, what the zone of protection is, what the rules are for that attraction/pool, plus scanning in and out and roving the zone!). It was actually pretty fun and went by pretty quick. Our trainer made it really fun for me!

After we finished every stand, we were done!!

And with that… I’m officially a 100% official Typhoon Lagoon Shallow Water Lifeguard!

Stay tuned for more posts on my adventure here at Disney!

Until Next Time,

Jennifer

 

Days 9-11: Lifeguard Class

May 31st, 2016

Today was my first day of Lifeguard Class! We started the day off with getting more information about our training schedules, and getting our hip packs and CPR masks. Disney uses Ellis & Associates to train its Lifeguards, so our three day class was taught by them. After getting some background info on Ellis, Lifeguarding and watching a short video (Touched by a Drowning), we headed out to the pool and started by learning some lifeguard saves, and practicing scanning. Scanning saves lives and is how we as Lifeguards prevent drownings, so it is super important. In 5 years with over half a billion people under the watch Ellis trained Lifeguards, they have had no drownings. So just learning how to scan properly and being alert is really important. Our class had two main components: learning saves in the pool, and learning CPR.

Since I have no prior experience Lifeguarding, I enjoyed the challenge of this class and having it be something completely new to me. I love learning new things, and even though I never dreamed about having this job, I know it is going to be a really good experience for me.

After lunch, we started learning CPR! We worked on mannequins, but there weren’t enough for everyone, so some of the time we had to work on humans (which was definitely more realistic, but also awkward.). All of the steps were a little confusing at first, but we practiced a TON, so it got easier. I’ve never taken a CPR class before, so everything was brand new to me.

After the first day, I was a little sunburnt, very tired, but excited for another day of learning ahead!

June 1st, 2016

Day two was full of a lot of the same stuff as day one: saves in the water, and CPR. We did some review of CPR as well as learning new things (like choking baby), and other things before we got broken up into teams. As teams, we learned the Rapid Extrication (back boarding an unconscious guest) and how to do a Spinal Extrication (also on a backboard, but for guests with suspected spinal injuries). We had the same teams for day two as we had for team test-outs, so it was nice that we got to practice together beforehand.

After lunch, we did more CPR practice and learned the Trauma bag. We did this in our groups, and mocked several scenarios (adult, child, and choking baby) so we could practice with it. The trauma bag has the AED as well as an oxygen tank and hand pump to provide up to 100% oxygen (we only give about 15% when we breathe into someone else), and had a First-Aid “lesson”. Then we practiced CPR a little bit more before the day was finished. All of the practicing really helped me, but if you do need more help you can always ask one of the instructors/trainers, who are really great people. I really enjoyed the ones I had because they made the class so fun. It didn’t seem like work!

At the end of the day, we got to see what a CPR test-out would look like, and those of us who had already completed the study guide got the correct answers so we could review them. After that, I was on my way home to sleep and pretend like I didn’t have a super stressful day following…

June 2nd, 2016

Test Out Day! I was SO nervous about passing all of my tests. If you fail, you have to re-do the three day class, and I did not want to have to repeat everything again. I learned a LOT in the past two days, both with CPR and saves in the Pool.

In the morning, we started by practicing CPR: adult, child, and choking baby. We did each scenario about 4 times, and then practiced with the trauma bags as a team on the pool deck before we actually started our scenarios. Our team probably could have used more practice, but we did okay. We were the first group to go for our section, and we had no VATs in the pool, just 3 conscious drownings at the surface and then one unconscious drowning. I was the last one who hadn’t jumped in, so I knew I was going to be the primary for our back-boarding scenario. We got Rapid instead of Spinal, so it was a little easier in the pool, but then we had to start CPR once we got him out of the pool. The hardest part was we did the scenario on a fellow cast member, who was, quite obviously, a full-grown adult. But he was supposed to be a child, and that messed us up a few times. Luckily, we still passed even though we messed a few things up, and if it had been a real life situation, I know it would have gone a lot differently.

Once that was over, it was our lunch break! During lunch, I *attempted* to study for both my written test and my CPR test-outs, but mostly was just trying to stay calm and not stress over both of them.

The written test was super easy for me, and I flew through it (literally like 10 minutes), so before I knew it I was doing my CPR Test-Outs! I started with adult, which went perfectly, then did child and finally, conscious choking infant. I had no mistakes on any of them, and did all three perfectly! I was kind of in shock, but I knew what I was doing and was really happy about that.

Then, we all waited outside to be called back in to hear how we did on our tests and to sign our licenses! It was an hour or so later when we finally went back inside and heard how we did. I was a little shocked when my name was called as someone who got 100% on both my written test and CPR! We got little prizes (I took a pin) and then waited while we signed paperwork for our licenses.

So… I passed! I didn’t know how I would do going in, but I feel so much more accomplished (and so much more tan) than I did at the start of the class.

After we finished, a lot of us headed over to pick up our costumes! So, here I am, an official Walt Disney World Lifeguard:

I start On-the-Job Training on Saturday at Typhoon Lagoon, so tomorrow I am going to the parks! I am so excited to actually be in costume for the first time, and to get to see what areas I will be guarding! It’s going to be an incredible experience, that I know for sure!

Please feel free to ask me any questions about the Lifeguard Class and I will do my best to answer them. I am going to put together a “WDW Lifeguard FAQ” at some point in the next few months, so hopefully that can answer your questions (whether you’re reading this on the day I posted it, or two years from now!).

I know that when I got accepted for this role, I couldn’t find a ton of blogs that talked about what it was like at Disney World, so I hope to be a resource people can use in the future.

So, here I go… Off to save lives!
Jennifer

 

Day 8: EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival

May 30th, 2016

Today was the last day of the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT! My friend Haley (the Lifeguard) joined me for a day around the World Showcase and exploring EPCOT while eating our way around the world!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to spend at the parks. We arrived shortly after opening, and wandered around Future World until the World Showcase opened at 11. We were able to go on Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, and start our Flower and Garden passports all before the World Showcase opened!

We stopped at every booth along the way to get our passports stamped, and also tried many different dishes.

Pollo alla Parmigiana from Primavera Kitchen in Italy

Warm Chocolate Cake with Bourbon-Salted Caramel Sauce and Spiced Pecans from The Smokehouse: Barbecue and Brews in America

Frushi from Hanami in Japan

Macaron Chocolat Framboise from Fleur de Lys in France

Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade from Pineapple Promenade

After we ate around the world, saw all of the topiaries, and finished stamping our passports, Haley and I hopped over to Hollywood Studios for a little bit. We wandered through One Man’s Dream, saw the sneak peek of the new Alice movie, and then went into Star Wars Launch Bay where we met Kylo Ren, before we headed back over to EPCOT.

We walked back and forth between the two parks, so we got to enjoy the beautiful views of the BoardWalk and the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts.

At that point, Haley headed home and I met up with my roommate Kathleen, while we waited for one of our other roommates, Alyssa, who was also coming to EPCOT!

Kathleen and I road the Seas (my second time that day) and waited in line for Test Track for a little while before bad weather rolled in and we decided to jump ship and headed into Mexico to wait for Alyssa so we could get some Empanadas.

We also made a slight pit stop at the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros, and I was so excited to find out they had installed new audio-animatronics and no longer had the digital background at the ride’s end! It just made it that much better, and just look how cute the three of them are:

I WAS SO EXCITED. I have a video. I plan on riding this again often. I love the Three Caballeros.

Then we finally got our empanadas, because we found Alyssa (or, rather, she found us)! And we shared some yummy churros that Alyssa got. It was a very yummy dinner!

After dinner, I walked around the World Showcase again – and Kathleen and Alyssa stopped for some Frushi along the way! We walked all the way to the Pineapple Promenade stand to get another Violet Lemonade – but alas. They had sold out. It WAS the last night, so maybe I should have expected they would.

I got a cronut to make up for my disappointing lack of Violet Lemonade (those things were so good). A cronut is a croissant donut, covered in cinnamon sugar. These things are magical, I’ll tell you. And delicious.

Then, we headed to France, where Kathleen and Alyssa got ice cream, before we headed back to Japan to watch Illuminations!

Our view!

It was a very long day in the parks – open to close at EPCOT! But I had a ton of fun and walked 30,000 steps over the course of the day (a personal record). I can’t wait for Food and Wine to enjoy more delicious food around the world… so I can actually space it out this time!

Until next time,

– Jennifer

 

Day 7: Welcome to Ops & Recreation

May 29, 2016

Today, I had my first real day of training! I had two classes at Disney University, Welcome to Operations and Welcome to Recreation. Both of these classes taught me a lot about Disney and how I will do my job – but my day also started at 7:30 in the morning. You could say it was a really early day for me. This is a really short recap of my day, because most everything was “secret” and after training, I went back home and slept. But here’s a little info about how the day went!

All ready to go with my nametag!

I caught the bus at 6am to get me there on time, so I left my apartment really early. Waking up that early and getting out the door in time was definitely a rough morning. Luckily, since I’m at The Commons, the bus stopped here and I didn’t have to walk over to Chatham to get a bus to Disney University (by Magic Kingdom).

Once I arrived, they told us the cafeteria wouldn’t be open for lunch because it was Sunday (of course – just our luck), so luckily I had brought some snack foods to eat. It was a long day, 7:30am to 4pm, but I survived! And my Welcome to Recreation class ended up getting over a little early, so I was excited to get back home and take a nap.

On my way home, I waved hello to my location – Typhoon Lagoon! I still have a fair amount of time before my first shift, but I am getting closer! Just have to get through Lifeguard Class first.

After a full day of training, I called it a night early. Tomorrow I am going to the final day of the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT, so I am really excited to eat around the world!

Until Next Time,

Jennifer

Day 6: One Short Day in Magic Kingdom

May 28th, 2016

My first full day in the parks as a Cast Member! After staying out pretty late the night before at Animal Kingdom, (which I didn’t blog about, but we saw some of the new night stuff and had lots of fun!) we were pretty tired and slow getting up. Everyone had the day off except for Kathleen, who had Welcome to Operations & Welcome to Entertainment, and Alyssa who had her Traditions class. So, Haley, Hanna and I headed to Magic Kingdom where we met my other friend Haley, who I met during my swim test! We are working at Typhoon Lagoon together as Lifeguards! We have Welcome to Operations and Welcome to Recreation together tomorrow, so I am super excited to “officially” start training!

A Haley Sandwich!

It was a very full day, and also a very fun day! It was Kathleen’s Birthday, and even though she didn’t make it into the park until around 6, it was nice to spend some time together all in the park. We went on lots of rides and enjoyed our time running through the park and enjoying each others company. We started out the morning by meeting Ariel while Hanna got her hat embroidered, and then wandering around New Fantasyland for a little while. We saw Philharmagic, rode Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, ate food, and much more.

Showing off our Two Finger Disney Points!

DOLE WHIP IS A GIFT FROM THE GODS

Waiting in line for Haunted Mansion

It was a very surreal day. I have these moments here where I’m like: “This is my life now??? I live here??? I can go to the parks whenever I want??” and it feels pretty crazy and I feel so lucky to start working for this amazing company. For years and years I’ve wanted to work at Walt Disney World and now – I can officially say I am a Cast Member. I have a lot of training to go before I actually start working, but I’m here, and it finally feels like I’m where I belong.

I am so grateful for this opportunity and being able to come here and live my dream. I can’t wait to see where these next 7 months take me, and I am so excited to continue sharing my amazing experiences with all of you!

Have a Magical Day,

Jennifer

Day 5: Part 1 – Traditions

May 27, 2016

Today I became an official employee of the Walt Disney Company!

I had my Traditions (company orientation) at 8am, which meant I had to get on the bus at Chatham by 6:55. Luckily, four out of five of us in my apartment had traditions at the same time, so we all got up and walked to Chatham to catch the bus together.

Kathleen & I on the bus!

We arrived to Disney University at around 7:15 or so, which meant we had about 45 minutes before Traditions actually started. Everyone packed into the lobby and waited for a few minutes before they started taking groups to our individual classrooms. Haley and I were together in our classroom, so we got to know some other girls at our table before Traditions actually started. Obviously, it’s a company Orientation, so I can’t reveal too much of what happened throughout, but I will share some pictures! I will say this: we learned a lot in four hours, got to go into Magic Kingdom for a short walking tour, and got our company IDs and nametags! So it was a very exciting day that doesn’t need much more explaining.

Without further adieu, photos!

We’ve got some big ears to fill! Officially “Earning my Ears”!

We got to go on a short walking tour of Magic Kingdom to see where the magic happens. We also got to see a lot of amazing backstage areas, but I obviously couldn’t photograph back there.

Name Tag Official!

So… I’m officially a Walt Disney World Resort Cast Member! And I couldn’t be more excited. I have training for a little bit before I actually start working, so those days will be described in more posts! From now on, a lot of my posts will probably be days clumped together unless it’s a lot of stuff to talk about on one day (ie: Flower and Garden, Lifeguard Class), so you can look forward to more posts about my journey!

See ya real soon!

Jennifer

Day 4: Jambo Welcome Event

May 26th, 2016

Today’s post is rather short, because we had our DCP Welcome Event and didn’t do much else! That morning, we all slept in and then went shopping. I was looking for something to wear for the event, and found a dress to disneybound as Nala in. We also went to WalMart – again – to get more stuff for our apartment.

After a (mostly) successful trip for all of us, we headed back and started getting ready for the event. I was excited because I could finally tell people who asked where I am working!

The event itself was Lion King themed with lots of different things to do, including food, character meet and greets, a photobooth, dancing, and face painting. My roommates and I all waited in line to meet Rafiki and Timone for about an hour, and then got food and hung out before heading back to our apartment. Timone and Rafiki were great, and we all got some super cute pictures out of it!

We also took a roommate picture under the “Jambo!” sign – in order! We were pretty impressed with ourselves.

HAHJK: Hanna, Alyssa, Haley, Jennifer, Kathleen.

Overall, it was a fun night, and I encourage everyone to go to their Welcome event! You can get some free swag, free food, and at the very least, get pictures with some rare characters. What’s not to like?

Until next time!

Jennifer

 

Day 3: Lifeguard Swim Test + Location

May 25th, 2016

The day I had been waiting for had finally arrived: my Swim Test! It was at 6pm at Mickey’s Retreat, which is right across from Chatham. I can see it from my window in the Commons as well, so I just walked over there. I spent most of the morning organizing my room, hanging out with my roommates, and napping. At 5:30, I headed to Mickey’s Retreat with my swimsuit and towel, all ready to go but so nervous to find out my location.

I arrived at around 5:45 (as instructed) and sat at a table waiting for more information. Finally, the groups were announced, and I found out I was in Green! The ten of us in green did our vision tests, and then waited for our swim test. The way the swim test works is everyone does the deep test, but you can opt to just do shallow if you can’t make it. The deep test is swimming 200 yards, picking up a brick from 8 feet of water, and 2 minutes of treading. Shallow is 50 yards (there and back) and picking up a brick from 5 feet of water. I did 100 yards and then called it quits because I knew I would pass out if I tried to do all 8. It was no big deal though, and after everyone finished their laps, 3 of us did the rest of the shallow test and the other 7 did the rest of the deep test. I went last and did fine, but I was so excited to go sit down! At that point, our tester told us he would be back with our paperwork, and the three of us who did shallow waited inside for everyone else to finish! Once all ten of us were done, he came back with our paperwork that included our location, placement (shallow vs deep) and our training schedule! Since I only did the shallow test, that was all I was qualified for, and out of 7 who did deep 4 of them got placed in it. So, if you’re a lifeguard doing the program, don’t sweat the test too much. It’s not hard at all. All of us who tested together except for one person got placed in the same location, so it is kind of cool that I already know some of the people I will be working with!

I have been SO nervous to find out my location all week, and I was really really hoping for a waterpark. Guess all that hoping worked out, because I will be working at Typhoon Lagoon as a shallow water guard until January! I am so excited for this opportunity, especially since I am at a waterpark. I have been unsure about being a lifeguard since I got accepted, because I am not an especially strong swimmer and I have no experience, but knowing I will be at Typhoon Lagoon makes it all that much more exciting!

Typhoon Lagoon in 2005!

And with that… my swim test was over. After exchanging information with the other Typhoon Lifeguards, I headed back to my apartment where I shared details about my tests with my roommates, and finally got to put my training schedule on our super organized whiteboard!

#whiteboardofficial

For dinner, the five of us decided to go to Disney Springs and eat at Earl of Sandwich, because we really haven’t bought that much food to cook yet! I hadn’t eaten there yet, and since I didn’t feel like eating another pb+j, I was like yeah, let’s go!

Top Row: Hanna, Alyssa. Bottom Row: Kathleen, Haley, me (Jennifer)!

After roaming around Disney Springs, we got food (I got Mac & Cheese and some chocolate pudding) before heading back to Alyssa’s car and going back to the apartment. I was EXHAUSTED and falling asleep by the time we got back, so I was glad to call it a night and head to bed. I stayed up super late the night before talking to Kathleen, and the swim test also wiped me out, so going to bed relatively early was a good idea.

Tomorrow (5/26) is our Housing Welcome Event, and then 4/5 of us have traditions on Friday morning! So stay tuned for some more updates on my DCP!

See ya real soon,

Jennifer

Day 2: Housing Meeting + Movie Night

May 24th, 2016

Today, we woke up early for our Housing Meeting! It was at 9am at the Commons Clubhouse, and since we live in the Commons, it was only a short walk to get to the meeting. At the Housing Meeting, they went over some dos and don’ts about living in CP housing and some of the rules.  It was about an hour long, and went by really quickly! They also did some trivia and Haley (my roommate) won a pen!

Once we finished, Haley and I headed to take her mom to the Airport and then went to WalMart to pick up some stuff we needed, both food and stuff for the house. My drawers in the apartment are kind of broken, so I bought some plastic pull out drawers as well to put my clothes in. It was good to finally get some stuff that I needed to get set up in the apartment, so after WalMart and grabbing lunch, I tried to get everything put away and cleaned up.

That night, we had our very first movie night, and Haley, Kathleen, Hanna and I all watched The Force Awakens together while we waited for Alyssa to get home and talk about our weekend plans. I hadn’t seen the movie yet, but I knew basically every plot twist and thing that happened… so it was an interesting movie night. I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with my roommates so I could get to know them better!

Sorry this is such as short recap on my second day, but I spent most of it putting stuff away and figuring out what all I needed for my room as well as talking with my roomies. I will do an apartment tour video/blog post soon so you can all see what it looks like!

Stay tuned for a post about my swim test and my location!

– Jennifer