Alyssa Grant: My Extended Disney Family

When I was first interviewed for this experience at Disney I knew I wanted to come here for the amount of international people I would meet.  Being that my aim in school is to complete an international business specialization, this was the biggest plus I could ever imagine.  I am happy to say that I have met some of the most amazing friends here that also just happen to be international program participants as well.  I can honestly say that they have made this program worthwhile and without them, I would not be able to complete or even come close to finishing this program. 

Last month we had an event called Matsuri, which literally means festival, honoring the Japanese participants.  Even though it was mainly for the Japanese, there were at least 2-3 thousand people that came to this matsuri to celebrate the Japanese culture throughout the night.  At the matsuri, there was free food and drink, activities, dancing and pictures with Mickey and Minnie in their kimonos; my friend had told me this was very special because those kimonos only come out one day every year in Japan and yet they were wearing them that night. 

I was impressed that Disney would make that much of an effort to honor the Japanese culture, as were the other Japanese that I had talked to.  I was surprised by the amount of people that came out to show their support to the Japanese people and I can proudly say that there is a group of people that I now consider my “Japanese family”.  

This culture is one of the most amazing cultures to me, and I am very proud to have been given even the slightest insight into the lives and the hearts of such an amazing group of people.