IT'S MAY

15 days are all I have left here at Walt Disney World. I am so emotionally conflicted. I want so badly to get back home with my family, escape 40 hour work weeks, and trade in the program buses for my car. That being said, I love Walt Disney World--the magic, the happiness, the rides--and being able to visit for free whenever I have time. Today (and the past few days) I've been panicking, trying to figure out what I have yet to do, but the more that I think about it, the more I realize just how much I've packed in to my short time here. Speaking of which, I've done some pretty cool things since my last blog post.

Denise, Kelsey, and me with the Easter Bunny!

Easter was pretty much the only holiday during my program, thankfully. I couldn't imagine being away from my family during Thanksgiving or Christmas! Since I had to spend my Easter away from my family, I tried to make it as normal as possible for myself. I celebrated by eating lots and lots of chocolate, dressed up, and went to church. A couple of my roommates and I went to the Contemporary resort for church and met the Easter Bunny afterwards! Though I had to work in the afternoon, it was still a pretty great Easter!

Meg, Kelsey, Gemma, and I met Stitch at Typhoon Lagoon!

On April 22nd, I finally got to go to Typhoon Lagoon! A few of my roommates and I met Stitch, almost drowned in the wave pool, and took on both the Humunga Kowabunga and the Crush n' Gusher. That night we ate pizza, watched Snow White, and played an old school version of Catch Phrase. We had a great day!

On April 23rd, I took this horrible picture with Rafiki at Rafiki's Planet Watch. I had never done Rafiki's Planet Watch before, so decided to scope it out when I was solo at Animal Kingdom. I went in expecting some kind of planetarium thinking that you could watch planets... boy, was I ever wrong. I took a train ride, walked down a long skinny path, and took that awful picture with Rafiki before I realized that the whole thing is about conservation as in keeping a close eye on the "health" of our planet. To say I was disappointed is a huge understatement. I did end up watching Finding Nemo: The Musical and visiting Magic Kingdom before the was through, though, so I ended the day on a high note.

On April 26th, I posted the above picture on instagram with the following caption:

Since the beginning of our Disney College Program in January, we've been getting mail (such as the pictured InStyle magazine) from "Princess Kathleen Denta". By some twist of fate, @kmdenta, a Disney fanatic whom we can only assume is THE "Princess Kathleen Denta," added my roommate, @khogs, on instagram today. Of course we scoured her profile and website/blog for glimpses of our apartment for confirmation. Katie, we found this picture that you took of your roommates and decided to recreate it with your InStyle. We, the current residents of your old apartment, hope this finds you in good spirits and wish you luck in all of your future Disney endeavors.

 Seriously, ironic/crazy/unlikely, right? Since I tagged her in the post, she saw the picture and responded with "This makes my heart happy!" so she took it well. I'm still curious as to why her mail gets sent here, but I guess we may never know!

David Bromstad from HGTV and me!

April 27th was a BIG day for me. I started my day off by watching David Bromstad from HGTV's Color Splash talk about the psychology of color. He was hilarious, often singling out members of the audience to tell them that they were "going to make out later". Seeing him on stage was pretty much all I had expected from the day, but near the end of the show, he mentioned a meet and greet. Of course I was determined to get in line for that meet and greet! Somehow I was able to get from the total opposite side of the crowd and into line for the meet and greet. I was the third to last person in line. As I got closer and closer to this sassy HGTV celeb, one of his "people" (for lack of a more official title) was taking pictures of the meet and greets for David and he started talking to me. Right before it was my turn to meet David, he asked me to look at his camera and say "My name's Kelsey and I love David!" and then run to him! Of course I followed his directions! I was so starstruck. I was shaking and David even acknowledged it... embarrassing! He signed an autograph for me and as I was about to say goodbye, his "person" said "Okay, now funny pics!" so David and I jumped at the occasion. HOW COOL IS THAT? I just about died of excitement and adrenaline.

Me and my Tootsie Roll Bowling equipment

After I met David, I volunteered at Give Kids the World. Families of children with life-threatening illnesses are able to stay there for a free week-long vacation. If you're familiar with Make A Wish, a lot of those families stay there too! Anyway, I was able to be a VoluntEAR and hang out with some cool kids and their families for the night. The theme for their Sunday nights is Candyland, so I was the helper at Tootsie Roll Bowling. It was so much fun to see those kids get pumped when they knocked all of the pins down. I'm so glad I got to go to the GKTW Village just because those kids were so freaking happy, they didn't even seem sick! It totally put life in perspective.

Anna, me, Kelsey, Meredith, Molly, and Elsa

I spent the 28th and 29th tagging along with my roommate, Kelsey, and her friend, Molly. I met up with them at Hollywood Studios on the 28th after I worked and went to Walmart. We hung out in the park and watched Fantasmic! On the 29th, I met up with Kelsey and Molly and Molly's roommate, Meredith, at Epcot after they got their faces painted. We ate and made our way to the Magic Kingdom. We went on a character meet and greet rampage. We met Cinderella, Rapunzel, Anna & Elsa, Minnie, and Daisy. After the meet and greets and a ride on Peter Pan and "it's a small world", we got caught in the pouring rain! So we ran to Haunted Mansion and, I kid you not, it felt like we were at a beach or in the middle of a hurricane! It was absolutely insane!

Vivian, me, Brooke, and Tanea

Yesterday my friend, Vivian, her roommate, Brooke, and our friend, Tanea, spent the day at Clearwater Beach. We waded in the water, napped on the sand, ate seafood on the shore, and watched the sun set. We at a place called "Crabby's" and Tanea and I tried our first Gator Bites. They were delicious! After we ate, a bit of rain came and we ate ice cream and window shopped while it passed. When the weather cleared up, we made our way back to the boardwalk and realized they had a bunch of vendors and street performers. The gist of their acts were asking for money, but some things they did were pretty impressive. We had a lot of fun, though! It was really nice to be off of the Disney property, I felt a little less stuck!

Today I went over to Hollywood Studios for its 25th birthday! I got a sweet button and way too close to a lot of other people. That's about all I've been up to lately!