dos meses

today is the two month mark of being up in orlando. i cannot believe how fast time is flying! surprisingly, i am still not homesick yet. of course i miss home, and the irreplacable people i regularly surround myself with there, but everytime i reflect on this experience, i can't help but smile. everything still continues to be perfect. from day one, everything has been a dream, obviously with one or two hiccups along the way, but nothing that has terribly affected me. i am still happier than ever.

i'm soon going to be heading over to quick service food and beverage, in about a month or so. i'm still unsure how i feel about this. obviously, i am going to embrace the opportunity and be open minded, but everyone i talk to about this, gives me such negative feedback. but i know how fortunate i am to be able to say that i worked in two different areas at walt disney world, not many people can say that. however, i love every single person i work with in merchandise on main street. i have become so comfortable working there, and so comfortable with everyone i work with. it's nice that people i didn't know two months ago, are now the familiar faces i look forward to seeing every day. i can't tell you the amount of days of mine that have been made because of the cast members i work with. i'm really going to miss that when i go over to food and beverage. but i'm not nervous about the people i'm going to work with over there - the majority of the people that work here are so pleasant. the minority i rarely encounter, so it's okay.

i feel as if i am accomplishing so much up here. i feel like if i learn something new every day. a couple things are: i have become less dependent on things that don't matter. before i came here, i was so obsessed with being caught up on my favourite tv shows, and now i don't even know what's on tv, and instead, i am now i've gotten back into the habit of reading. and not reading articles online or in magazines. reading actual books. it is so soothing, and i can't believe how long i have gone without reading books. i have learned to appreciate my family even more, and i didn't even think that was possible, with how much i appreciated my story-book family before. i can't describe how much i miss my family. i have learned more words in spanish, and my need to become fluent in a second language has grown. i am desperate to be bilingual. or even trilingual. i have learned a few phrases in sign language. i have learned how to say what my name is, how to ask someone what their name is, and how to ask a deaf person if they can understand me when i speak. and i am hoping to continue learning sign language, because i think it is such a wonderful and neglected skill. spanish is sometimes difficult because i have spanish friends from different countries, and they speak differently sometimes, so when one of them will tell me what one thing means, another will argue that it means something entirely different. i've settled with the fact that i will more or less learn the general things i need. right? i have even moreso learned the value of time management. while i think i have always been particularly on time, something i inherited from my dad, being up here has showed time management to me in a new perspective. a couple weeks ago, i clocked in ONE MINUTE late, and i got half a point on my record card. i was so mad. i still, however, have not mastered the art of NOT procrastinating. i continue to do so for everything. right now, i am currently supposed to be organizing all my clothes, because i have gone a TAD overboard, and everything can't fit how it was organized before. oops. needless to say, i am quickly learning the value of saving and spending money. in barbados, i was a definite saver. in fact, my mother always quarreled with me for saving so much money, and said i had to spend it sometimes (which i did, mainly in harbor lights.) but yesterday, me and two of my roommates went to the outlet. we just wanted to go 'quickly.' trust me, we went quickly. and so did my money (and theirs.) we probably spent less than an hour at the outlet and charlotte russe was the only store we visited, but a couple dollars must've fallen out of our credit cards somewhere along the way. when i went to the atm to get cash to go out last night, i could't take any out because i had less than the minimum allowed to be withdrawed. that was a definite wake up call. but i am very happy with my purchases and i don't need to go there again for a while. like a month. or three weeks. or maybe two weeks. yes. i won't go again for two weeks. i have also come to the realization that i definitely took our beautiful beaches for granted. my skin is craving barbados sun, and everytime i plan to go lie out by the pool to get some desperately needed colour, it rains. so i do plan to go tomorrow, and my weather forecast says it will be sunny, so fingers crossed i can get in a couple hours of tanning and reading before work tomorrow evening. the relationships i am building with my friends up here i know will be everlasting. it's incredible how close i got to some people up here. we are close enough that we can quarrel with each other, make fun of each other, and sing together (which is the most important.) we are close enough that we can embrace each others similarities (which there are a lot of,) and close enough to accept each others differences (which there are a lot of.) i feel like i've already grown up more from being up here, and life has been put into perspective a little bit more, and i have come to the realization that i have the entire world at my fingertips. i can do anything i want to do. i feel unstoppable.

i didn't know what to expect before coming here, but it has by far exceeded anything i could have dreamed of. now i don't know what to expect when i go back home in just four short months. my friends and i have already told each other that we feel sad that we have to leave in four months. i have no idea why we're thinking so far ahead - that's never something i do;)