Texas Day 1 (pics to come later)

Firstly, I have to say, this house is amazing! It has super fluffy carpet and my living space is massive!! I even have access to my own (carpeted) bathroom and walk in wardrobe! The bed is also massive and I love it!

Today is my first official day in Texas!

After breakfast this morning of fresh fruit (yum!) and cereal we went out to go cowgirl shopping. This place was sooooo fascinating! There was everything you'd ever want to dress like a cowboy/girl! I was excited by everrrrything!

I'd have to say the sparkly belts were heaven on earth for me though. SO gorgeous!

It took ages for me to choose my boots. There was a huge selection. The ones I chose I loved right away except I was afraid they wouldn't go with everything. However, inthe end I just had this attachment to them, they were calling my name, so yeah, I ended up with them.

Taking the boots off was a mission. They have these boot wedges to help you take them off. Robert showed me how you take them off without a boot wedge, and uh, not a fan!!!

Hats were more of a challenge, but I found one I liked. :)

My belt goes with my shoes (both have wings), and my hat goes with my belt! (both have horse shoes!). Isn't it awesome!?

Then Robert went to get his truck. It's huge! You have to step up on a rail thing to get into it! Not to mention the giant wing mirrors! (abotu 3x the size of a normal one!)

We went to have lunch at this place called Southern Flier eatery. It was 50's themed and the girls were all dressed up.

I tried a malt shake and a burger. They were good. Filling. But good.

Then we went to this ice-cream factory famous in Texas and number 3 in the USA. It's called Blue Bell. They even seal it in those ice-cream tubs you see on tv! We went on a tour of the place and then got free ice-cream after. :)

After that we went to the bank (everythign is so far away and you have to drive for ages!). Unfortunately they couldn't really help me though. :(

Ok now I'm off to go shopping (fun! Can't wait to see what's there). Also we'll take BB for a walk. BB is adorable! I definately made a new friend.

Lastly, everyone says ya'll! It cracks me up. I love it. :)
Oh and the boys here, their southern accent is just like the movies and soooooo adorable!!! I just want to wrap one up and take 'em with me haha

I'll edit this post later and put pics on it.

It's warm outside! :D
xx

My cowgirl boots!

Let the journey begin!

So finally it was the 29th. How long had I waited for this day? Quite some time. …and yet I didn’t manage to drive grandma totally crazy from excitement. In fact, I find myself really mellow about the whole thing. You’d think since finally the adventure was upon me that I’d hardly be able to contain my excitement. Maybe I’m so ‘normal’ because there’s so many things to try and remember. Even then I managed to forget to take something out of my bag at security! In any case, I’m sure the excitement will hit more fully when I’m in Texas.
The day began when we were driving to the airport. The fog was scarily low and I was freaking out that my adventure would be shortened and interrupted! However, luckily the Wellington mist wasn’t bad enough that we couldn’t fly!

Richard, Chris and Bri met me at the airport (and yay to Hannah, Jasmine, Zerlina and Liz) for coming the night before – so much for 20mins haha).  It was nice to say goodbye to you all, I’ll miss you. Xx

Eventually it was time for me to go past security onto my plane. Except when I did and went to my gate it said Christchurch. Christchurch? This, was not a good start! However, I asked the man there and he let me know that there had been a gate change, to gate 11.

The Air NZ flight was pretty good. Once above the clouds it was beauuuutiful! The sun was shining and the windows were even warm. It was amazing. The soft pillowy clouds below looked magnificent.

I had a really interesting neighbour. She was up for her son’s newborn. She looked like she was good at puzzles. I actually tried the one she had completed on the plane to Tahiti – and I honestly was stumped by the first word. :/ Something tells me I need practice!

I met 2 Aunties in Auckland and that was nice to catch up with them. It was brief, but I appreciated it.  Then I got my bags and they drove me to the international terminal.

When I went to get my boarding pass they seemed confused. I then realised they didn’t know I had a visa and were expecting me to have a return ticket! Phew. Good thing that was not a drama. Then, we went and had a sit down for a while before I had to go.

Once I went through the overseas area gate I had to fill in these orange forms. Except I didn’t know how to fill in the last part – “overseas port where you will leave this aircraft”, was it Tahiti or Los Angeles (turns out it was Tahiti)? I wasn’t able to convince myself of the right answer so I just filled in 2 forms. That was fine, and then I lined up for security. I managed to get all things out that they required except for the liquids I had in a small clear bag in my backpack. So then they had to take them out and re put my bag through again. It turned out ok, but the security guard growled a little. So –sorry- that I forgot that – but at least it was in a clear plastic bag, nothing was over 100mls and I had done everything else – like taken my laptop out and from its bag. I guess I won’t forget next time though.

Once through and into the waiting area it was almost like a maze! I was freaking that I’d get lost or something! Good thing I had about 45mins to kill since my plane was late. So I window shopped and bought some nibbles and a drink since I felt headachy and craved chocolate. When it was almost time for boarding I went down to the lounge. …only to find out there was a further 30min delay. Joyous…

Observing the people whilst waiting was quite interesting though. I found myself surrounded by French. It sort of freaked me out! In NZ you hear the odd language being spoken, but not much. I felt quite out of place, even though not everyone spoke French!

There was this funny kid who got great enjoyment from his plane toy. I took a pic so you could see what I mean.

Once I was on the plane I was amused by how everything announced was done so in both French and English. I was thinking – you know, if there was an emergency that’d be awfully inefficient! How do you tell people what to do effectively when you have to relay it twice? Anyway, it was kind of neat. Not that I could totally understand when they spoke English either, obviously it wasn’t his first language!

I thought that I had chosen my seat on the plane, but it turned out that actually it was random.  So I was in the middle set of chairs. However, I had 2 seats between myself and this other girl, so there was lots of space.

I played with the controller once I was able to, to find that the sound on my was corrupted. So I used the seat next to me for sound. Must have looked weird but oh well.

I thought it was a really nice touch when they came around with little bags of things for us – earplugs, hand wipes (which smelt amazing), eye mask, headphones (oh my goodness they were confusing – a mission to figure out how to put on. You would have all laughed if I was filmed trying to figure it out)… Then they came around and gave us all a really nice smelling flower! A really sweet touch in my opinion!

The food on board was interesting. I actually ate the pavlova despite the fact I hate pavlova! It was put with this really nice syrup and yummy thick cream stuff so it wasn’t bad at all! They were forever asking to fill up our glasses too. I was impressed by the service.

One strange thing I noticed though was that the flight attendants changed clothes 3 times! THREE times! Why, and where do they keep all their spare clothes?!The dresses were neat.

When I stepped off in Tahiti (on the ground, quite exciting!) it was warm!! I looked at the neat shops where everything was in Tahitian Francs (which made everything look really expensive!) and wandered around the outside area they had. I quite enjoyed it. I felt…independent. Alone, but free. The Tahitians were lovely and even helped guide us to the toilets!
My phone switched onto F-NUI which I thought was strangely humorous.

Then the 2nd part of the journey. The 2 meals I was pretty impressed with. They were fancy and I could barely understand what the menu was telling me, but I enjoyed it. This part was long and I tried so hard to sleep. I had 2 seats to utilise but no matter how I tried I was both uncomfortable, and unable to sleep. Usually I’d get close to going to sleep but then there’d be turbulence. I feel uneasy trying to sleep with it because I think, if it gets bad and I’m asleep that could be dangerous….

Anyway so I eventually got to LAX. Woo! I tried to get off as fast as I could because the flight was pretty much packed and I knew if I wasn’t quick I’d be in a line for ages!

Even though I’ve been to the USA several times, I forgot how much of an alien you feel like. People everywhere on their cell phones, people talking loudly, strange accents everywhere, fast food, chewing gum, caps, big logos. Then of course there’s the super grumpy LA airport people. It was as if they despised their job and the people around them. I was lost on occasion and wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing, and they always reply as f you’re stupid. Uh, can’t you tell by my accent I’m not from here? The –only- nice person I encountered (and I had to talk to about 10 security/airport people) was the person who stamped off my visa. Except can you really count him since he was German? It was funny, he asked where in Australia I was from (darn that passport), and of course I said actually I was from NZ. …then he had a big conversation with me about how I thought NZ was and what the situation was like with immigrants. Then he went on to tell me about his friend who went to Disney World in summer, saying it was hot. So yay for him. After he’d finished I told him he was way nicer than the previous guy who had been like:
“where’s your blue and white form?”
Huh? What blue and white form? I was not told of this?
“it’s over there. Go get it and then line up again”
All the while acting like I was some kind of retard. It wasn’t just me though, the girl who I was sitting in the same row as had the same problem.

I told the German guy about that and he was like “yeah, they can’t ever do the smart thing and communicate to people.” So true…

Then I had to pick up my bags. Oh my goodness that took forever. All I can say is that I’m glad I had a flight to Texas with lots of time to spare. When I was waiting for my bags the loudspeaker said “urgent page for Kimberley regarding baggage”
Oh, great. Now what? I thought.
I found the security person who then referred me to another security person. He started asking me all these questions that I didn’t understand! I was thinking, uh, how come I speak English and yet I can’t understand this other person speaking it too? Turned out they were looking for someone with the LAST name Kimberley. How weird is that? I never would have thought of it as a last name…

Then I had to line up again for this person to ask if I had food etc. After that, which was surprisingly quick, they didn’t even seem to check. It was bizarre. Anyway so then I had to follow the signs saying flight connection. I entered this area with a carousel and was thinking, this does not feel right at all! Not really sure what they were doing there but the sign at the end said “no re-entry once past this point”. Uhm, here’s to hoping I’m going the right way then, yeah? :S

I was told of how I was supposed to then walk to terminal 1. Well that seemed simple enough, I managed to ignore all annoying people trying to get my attention and walk that way. Except it was a LOT further than I was expecting! Too bad if you were in a rush, far out!

I finally found Southwest. Only to not see any check in area. What the heck? This is the most confusing thing ever (you need big signs people. BIG.). I went to a help desk and waited patiently whilst this lady was helping this other guy. She had one of those typical Cali accents which is fine when you are being helped, but generally they have a tendency to talk forever, which of course she did. When I finally managed to get her attention she was like “take the elevator to level T”
Ok, a.) who calls a level “T” ? and b.) an elevator? No one told me about this, and it’s not obvious at all!

So I went up the elevator to enter this place with people EVERYWHERE. I tried to figure out what was happening, but I didn’t want to guess wrong. Turns out I was right though, and the line going OUT THE DOOR was where I had to be. Are you –serious-. I could see so many people freaking out who had to get flights about an hour away. Fair enough too!
Man the security lady was super grumpy. These Asian people came up to her wanting help and she was so rude to them! I was like, wow, you would never get treated like that even at McDonalds!

Finally I got to the counter and they were telling me to use this machine thing. I was like, argh. Why can’t a check in person do it? I feel so out of place and clueless!!! However, turned out it wasn’t too hard to work. Labels got put on my bag, then I took them to the TSA area.

..and theeeen I had to go to security. Again. Lol. It’s a SUPER long process.

However. I made it. I survived. Man I should get a t-shirt for my awesome effort. “I survived LAX by myself” ;)

Right now I’m waiting for my connection to Texas. It’ll be good to actually try and sleep on a –bed-. I can’t wait to meet my hosts and BB. Should be awesome!

Wow this was a long day. …and a long post.
Congrats, gold star to you if you read it all.


EDIT:
I am in Texas! It's hue, and much greener than I imagined! It's lovely here and WARM outside. Crazy. Anyway, off to day one of the adventure!
See ya’ll later

xx

Byyyyyye!!!

Ok so in a few hours I'll be boarding my flight to Auckland which is the first step in the big adventure!!

I don't even know what to think (it's real?!), but I have to go - so catch ya'll later!!

Take care and send me some NZ cheese, will ya? haha.
xx

Tomorrow, tomorrow - I love ya, tomorrow...

...you're only a day awaaaaaaay!

Today I have to change my NZ phone to a prepaid plan - so please try not to txt me now so that I can keep the txts for emergencies when I'm away? I will PM you back or something.

If you are coming to the airport I'll meet you at the check-in area. Txt me if you are lost and I'll try find you... :)

Ok so now that I actually am about to leave the coutry, I want to wish everyone else well with their studies etc! I hope you have a good rest of 2010 and 2011! Please keep in touch. ...and my blog likes comments? :P

If you don't have one of the accounts required to comment - it's easy to set up. I walked mum thorugh it last night.

You just go to the google homepage here and try to sign in:



then, since you don't have an account you just make one:



After that its pretty straightforward, you just fill in the details. Then when you try comment here you just choose the Google account option in the drop down box!




So after all that awesome effort and tutorial right there, do you feel guilty enough to make comments now? :P hehe


Right I'm off to do some last minute things!
Wide Open Spaces (Dixie Chicks), I can relate to at this point of my life!!

Here's my schedule for quick ref:


EDIT:
Thanks for the farewell pressies everyone!




Catch ya'll in Texas!
xx

This is a weird feeling

Tomorrow is my last day in Wellington for probably over a year!
I just have to change my phone plan and one or two other things, and then it's all GO!
What do you think my chances are of getting sleep tomorrow night? I mean I want to be able to be rested because I'll have a alot ahead of me, but what I want and what occurs, probably won't co-incide!

I have packed up pretty much all of my room into boxes for when my Dad moves out of here. I can't say I enjoyed that. I am so worried about things being marked or damaged etc by the time I get back. I've heard some bad things about storage problems... :/

My suitcases are nicely packed (all neat!) and roomy. Yay for having room for bringing lots back! :D hehe.
I need to sort out my iPod and possibly print out more pics for my mini photo albulm I'm taking (thanks, Richard!). However, I'll have my laptop, so not too worried if I don't have time to print more!

Last night I took pics of all my expensive things - the barcodes etc, just incase something happens to them. Not sure if it'd be helpful, but I guess it's worth it incase!

Today I saw Shrek Forever After, since Toy Story 3 was denied to me at this time (so seeing it in the USA though!).
The movie was average, but not too bad for a bit of entertainment. :)

Tomorrow night we are going out to the 'condemned' dinner I mentioned before. It's changed places though which is cool, I like Chow. I wouldn't mind coktails on the last night, but do antihestimines not work if you drink alcohol?
If not I love mocktails - and I managed to have my mint manjula when Michael was here so I'm pretty content!



On a side note: I love how some people are so lovely and helpful in times of need! You guys are awesome, and you better not change!

Disney and Dancing!

Yesterday was my day of socialising, yay!

Firstly I met up with 2 other Disney girls from Wellington at a cafe. That was cool. It was nice to meet some future cast members. I didn't realise I was the baby of the group though! Usually I'm one of the [if not the] oldest, so HUH!

Then I met up with Richard for Zumba and hanging out before dinner at Strawberry fare, and then more dancing at night.

Zumba was interesting. At first I was like, you know what, this is do-able! Then as it got progressively more complicated I was like... so much for "anyone can Zumba!" Pah! More like..."anyone can attempt to do Zumba, but will probably only be able to resemble all the moves after doing the programme about 5 times..."
However, it was still interesting to try, and I'm pretty sure I burnt some calories. ...before eating lollies and orange mnm's which kind of reversed that. ;) haha.

After that we saw Slumdog Millionare. Now, I've heard a lot about this movie but hadn't gotten around to watching it. I thought it was quite interesting, and definately not what I expected.

Strawberry Fare was lovely! Awe, you're such a gentleman Richard! Keep it up! :P ...man I was full to the point of sickness after though!

There weren't that many people at the dance, but that's OK, meant we had lots of room to dance. There was bachata, salsa, cha, merengue, zouk, samba... it was fun :). Man you really realise how much you miss dancing after not doing it for ages. Most of all, you realise how much you miss BACHATA! ;)
After last night I feel really unfit. :/ I must work on that.....

Oh and randomly my sore foot was cured by dancing? How weird is that?

One thing though - it's probably not a good idea to let someone spin you for pretty much an entire 3ish minute song. Man did I feel terrible. I had to sit down and try and get back to normal. Yay for a shoulder to lean on. :D

Richard, your parents are lovely. :) I like the familyness of your family. I know that sounds weird...
We made an edible breakfast - go us! Or at least my bacon was edible...your eggs... uhm, we'll see what happens in the next few hours. hehe.
...I feel really guilty about the grace thing though. I didn't realise it wasn't just a dinner thing. :S Oops. *must become more cultured and aware*


Packing is pretty much complete. :D Now I just have to pack the rest of my room. Joy.

3 days <3

The last thursday.. ?

I woke up to grandma's cries of "Australia could have a woman PM, and she could be a RED head!" ...now that, would be cool!
Equally cool is that the USA got through in the soccer world cup, and Aussie just won their game too! Yay! NZ uhm... it's great what they've managed so far, but if they win the next game I will be shocked.

I have been reading about how awesome Toy Story 3 is from the people in the USA at the moment. So I thought it'd be a good idea to see it before I left. Except that it doesn't come out in NZ till July 1. :(
Sometimes isolation and being behind everyone suuuucks!

Last night I got some good news about my exams, so I was happy about that :)

Packing is going suprisingly well. I mean it took ages to get into it becuase I had to empty stuff out and I also had a dilemma with studylink (I am SO glad cheques are pretty much being phased out).
I do probably have to refine things more though. ...but I'm so attached to some of my clothes and I think "oh that would go with that," and "that would be good for X occassion", and "I couldn't do without that!"
I have to keep saying to myself - I need room so that I can take stuff BACK. ..but then I don't know what is happening to my things when I go since my Dad wants to move [country]. So I think I'm a little scared of what will happen to everything. If everything were going to remain the same I wouldn't be so concerned about not taking some of my fav outfits.

I thought packing jewellery would be the hardest thing. Lets just say, I have quite an extensive collection. Somehow, I did mange to choose betwen things. ..again, probably more than I need, but I got it to all fit into my jewellery travel box thing, and that's all that matters! ;)

I haven't thought about this too much, but its dawning on me all the "last" things that are occuring in NZ. Especially when Dad says "we'll go out for your last day here - like meal of the condemned." Uhhh, great analogy there. Hopefully it won't be too bad having to cook all the time...
The other day I thought wow, that's the last proper uni exam I'll have to sit in over a year! Which is amazing, but weird at the same time. I didn't ever imagine myself taking a year off before uni, let alone during. This opportunity really did throw itself at me like a random gust of wind[a Wellignton analogy right there hehe], I wasn't expecting it, and I almost ignored it!


Right, so today's task is to get everything I've got in piles into the cases, whilst *trying* to kull stuff a long the way...

xx

6 Days

Today I get to start seriously packing! Hurrah! Should be a mission. ...but I think I'll accept it. ;)

Can I just ask - does this happen to anyone else?
I am sort of fussy about what cereals/muesili bars etc that I eat (I hate raisins/saltanas for one thing, which appear to plague a lot of stuff!). When I finally find stuff that meet my criteria and I like, they suddenly stop producing them! GAH!

Also - anyone else not slept and then the next evening been sore EVERYWHERE? I don't understand why I was so sore last night just from not sleeping. Tossing and turning, sure, but how does that make you so sore? I still am all stiff and my back hurts. :/

Fun news!
I'm so excited that when I leave Wellington on tuesday that I get a send off by Chris and Richard V! :D
Then in Aucks I have my 2 aunties meeting me.

It's so lovely! You guys are awesome!

On that note - if anyone else I know wants to come too, I would love that! :)



This is just a random thing, but in INTP we were shown this show called Eurovision. I suprisingly had never heard of it before.
The funny thing is that the best singer usually doesn't even win because the voting is sort of based on friendships.
Anyway so you can let me know what you think, but I personally think
Azerbaijan should have won!

Germany won this year, but is kind of scary to me... :/ It's like she sings from the back of her throat.. I admit English is probably not her first language, but this song is not anywhere near as cool as Azerbaijan's! ...plus Azerbaijan's hand movements (at 1.09)are awesome! (not many things you can do in a dress like that(*love*) so hat's off.. -the back-up dancers do it scarier though..)

..and I admit, I couldn't place Azerbaijan on the map in my head...

Just to make this post Disney-er, I've added some pics from when I went to Disneyland on a prior trip. :)




Ok off to pack!
xx

Celebrate yooooou!

If you haven't heard that song, go listen to it! ;) [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P7eDylEJYc ]
It's so Disney and wonderful, and helps me feel happy about the fact that I'm well, happy!!!!


Last night I went to bed early, so that I could get a good sleep before my exam. Good plan. Too bad it didn't turn out to plan, at all. I tossed and turned and thought. Yes. Lots of thinking. ...and no matter how hard I tried, and tried not TO try, I could not sleep.

I thought, oh my goodness, I am doomed. I have an exam at 9.30am and I've had zero sleep! How in the world will I write a 3 hour exam on no energy?

So I had a Lift Plus (man I'm going to miss its awesomeness since it's not in the USA - petition, anyone?[good god, I actually wrote "partition" just then before I corrected it. INTP on the brain] :P ) and looked over my notes. My notes were the most comprehensive notes in the history of notes. I've never had so many for an exam before. Must have had about 70pages of them!

When I got into the exam and looked at the first section my heart plumeted. I hate it when that happens. You think you're all fine and then you look at the questions and you freak out. However, it appears that pretty much always happens to me before I really look at the questions closely. Then it's not quite as bad. Usually. ;)

Good thing the first section was a choice of about 10 (write on 5). I needed those 5 back-ups. ...mainly because most of them I didn't even recognise. :S Sometimes those examiners, they choose the most obscure things to test on, so not fair! Or if you miss one small detail, it's bound to be tested(like the date some random author came to NZ - what the heck has that got to do with European studies?!?!). Grr to that. ..anyway so I managed to answer 5 of them.

Then I had 3 essays to write. ...and this time my heart didn't plummet. They were REALLY similar to the past paper's questions. (getting a bit slack on the originality I think...) So I wrote 3 essays (with 2 pages of planning and nicely constructed paragraphs...even had 10mins to spare at the end for looking over everything!).
I was shocked. I'd never written an exam so neat and tidy before, or followed a plan so intently! Usually I just jot down important points and go from there, but I actually took time to properly plan. It definately paid off. I didn't run out of ideas or loose focus (prolly why the 20pages.... XD )

You know how the lecturers etc always tell you to plan? Well I've always heard it, but never really implemented it. Now I understand what they really were talking about! Man it works!

Once out of the lecture theatre I caught up with Klaudia and then made my way home by bus and then train. It is actually -sunny- today so it felt wonderful!

Sun + no more exams + good music + Disney in ONE week + no more stress etc + getting more independence soon and all the future FUN thoughts makes for...
HAPPINESS.

Yay!

Now all I have to do is socialise (uh, yeah. It's important :P Do you have any idea what my social life is like during Uni trimester? NON-existant!) and PACK. Yes. Pack. Lots of packing. ...not that I mind! It's all goooooood!

So right now, I'm celebrating me. Yup. Go me! I managed to write an exam on pure nervous energy and still (I think) do awesomely! :D
*dances around the room* ;)

SMILE and BE HAPPY

xx


--> my condolences to Heather Whitener though who appears to be going through a tough time. :(

Can't Be Tamed...

Ok so Miley has been in the spotlight a lot lately becuase of her new album (not that she's normally not in the spotlight...).

I thought since she's affiliated with Disney that I'd comment on her new album Can't Be Tamed. [plus, you know, I am avoiding study since it's so -boring-]

So first impression I was like...ew. So Britney-tranformed-from-innocent-disney-star-to-'woman'-with-sexy-attitude...if you know what I mean. ;)

However, after listening to the music without watching her creepy head twitches in the vid clips, I have come up with this conclusion:

Two More Lonely People
Who Owns My Heart
Can't Be Tamed

...are reasonable songs. I'm actually quite fond of the first one.

The other songs on the CD bore me. So I wouldn't buy the whole album, but I would buy the few listed above.

I'm mainly a lyrics person, but a good beat also is attractive.
I like *some* of the beats and *some* of the lyrics. Being able to 'escape' through them is what I particularly like. I can immerse myself and have fun with them.

Having said that, she's a little creepy looking, but I guess that's the point, she's trying to be all animal/savage like. ...though I have this feeling it's been done already? Ke$ha's Animal comes to mind...

Quirky, creepy but not all bad.
I think I prefer the older Miley songs like When I Look At You, but a change every now and then is good.

I personally [ignoring the pole dancing stuff] am glad songs like Party in the USA exist, because they are fun! ...and I can totally relate to that one! When I'm in L.A in 8 days I will be craving it!!



Don't hate me people who don't like Miley! It's just my opinion...

I'm basing my opinions soley on the edited manufacted CD songs - not her live (I do know she sounds different live...).
Feel free to let me know your opinion.


Ok enough distraction

xx

Get me out of here, pronto!

This post is a little bit of a whine (just a warning)...

There was a time where I never thought I'd leave home because I 'wasn't like most teenagers.'
In fact I hate a lot of stereotypes that I have been classed under. Especially this stupid 'Gen Y' thing. Honestly. I'm nothing like the stereotype, and being lumped into that 'group' just makes me mad.

Secondly, I don't know how many people who read this have separated/divorced parents but I haaaaaaate it. HATE.

..anyway I don't want to be like 'most teenagers' who want to move out and get away from their parents, but I think I have just cause. I just am at this point where I can't stand it any more and it's actually upsetting to me.

Although the USA is going to be a big shock to my system, it will be an amazing escape for me. Escape from life here, escape from feeling like I'm in CHAINS and escape from this stress and misery.

...so yes. I'm scared, excited and a bundle of other emotions... but I think the USA is going to be just what I need.


Mum descibes me as a butterfly...and I can understand that analogy.

Thank goodness for supportive people in this world. Not sure what I'd do without you.
*hugs to everyone who's been kind to me at any point in my life (I don't care if you don't like hugs :P )*

Speaking of nice people, some of the lovely ladies at my work (last day today - really didn't feel any different though...) - thank you for your kindness.

Just so ya'll know, I will be talking more about DISNEY, when I'm there. It won't just be a random blog on my feelings. hehe.


10 days!
xx

P.S.
--> I invite you all to make an account (doesn't take long) and reply to my comments, then it won't be so one sided! Comments make me happy... ;)
I'd love to know that
a.) I'm not talking to myself and
b.) ...what your opinons are. If I blab on about stupid things that bore you, let me know. Democracy = freedom of speech. ;) I disapprove of swearing though, so please write that elsewhere
gracias.

Give me some of that patriotic-ness

11 days to go - I'm -freaking- about my exam because there so much content it makes my head want to explode! Usually I don't feel this un-ready for an exam :S...

In other news - I have a leg virus(you catch it like a cold). Very random but luckily it's curable! I have to use 2 nasty smelling creams (one is fluorescent yellow!) and take 2 sets of tablets though (one of which is a steroid...makes me sound like some body builder?!). ...good news though - it should be GONE before Disney! Yaaaay!

Today is my 2nd to last shift at work. My NZ work, at least.
Isn't there a strange irony in being excited about finishing one set of work and uni, only to be going to another set?! Bizarre.

Lastly, I really wanted to share with you the awesomeness that is the 4th July t-shirt I get to wear! My Texan hosts suggested the idea - so cool! I can't wait! I've always wanted to see a 4th July! :D

Disney University Opportunities

I got another e-mail from Disney today (they are coming more often and it's so exciting! :D ).

The e-mail reminded me to look at the courses at Disney University to try and have an idea of what I want to do when I'm there (if I want to - but I'm so keen anyway!).

I had actually looked into the courses before, but htis time I looked harder.
This is what I want to do (if I'm allowed :P ) :

Collegiate Courses:
--> Creativiy and Innovation
--> Corporate Analysis

Professional Development Studies:
--> Security

Disney Exploration Series:
--> Exploring guest service
--> Exploring leadership

Now whilst I recognise most of those don't directly impact my degree, I think any learning is good learning! I'll be able to apply it somewhere!

I probab;y won't have enough time to do all those courses - but I have e-mailed them to ask. I guess if I can't I'll have to CHOOSE. Eeek!
Suggestions?!

TWO weeks!

Heya everyone :)

It's been a while becuase, well, nothing much Disney related has happened! However it's so close I felt the need to update!

The last things I really have to do are pay the assessment fee (have to wait till I'm told how to first though!) and pack!

I started chucking a few things in my bags (oh my goodness how am I doing to fit everything?) but its not just like a normal holiday! Packing for a year requires more thought.
...at least I have my handy dandy packing list! (I once forgot some crucial things when we went to Aussie and since then I've always ticked things off a list... :P)

It's also not normal because I have to clean out my ENTIRE room at the same time. Not only that but apparantly I'm supposed to pack my entire room up too because Dad and Grandma want to move when I leave. Move house makes sense, since 4 bedrooms 2 people hardly is logical, but they want to move -countries-.

Alas, this means I have to get rid of a lot of things. Although they are going to kids who prolly want/need them more than me - I feel like I'm forced to give up little parts of myself. I know how I acquired pretty much everything in my room: the person, the occasion. I know I must sound a bit like a bower bird but I hate being forced to give up my stuff. Especially with people in my ear saying "oh you don't need that," "you couldn't take that to a flat" etc...

In other news, one week till my first exam. Not entirely great news. I will be super glad when it's over though! It's the final bump in the road. Then I have dinner and dancing with a friend (and he's actually PAYING. Unusual...) and a few other social meet-ups in between packing!!

I'll try update again before I go.
Laters,

xx