Gabriella Mendonca: Summary of Adulting by Myself in Orlando, Florida

Walt Disney, Orlando, Florida 

It has been quite the journey so far. Time moves by extremely quickly, yet slow at the same time. Now that I am settled, it’s very much a routine of working, chores, and spending time with friends. When I first arrived, there was a lot to adjust to. I had to go to Walmart and buy almost everything (like bedding and food) as nothing was provided. That was an overwhelming experience. There was a lot of orientations and meetings within the first week, both with the housing complex as well as the Walt Disney company. I had to learn the bus schedule and routes. The job itself follows the same process of any new job, I had a couple days of training and manual reading. We also had a day of assessment, and then we were able to work individually. My job in particular is very task oriented, and so it was easy to fall into the rhythm of the job overall. I was able to explore the Disney parks more in the first couple weeks of reaching Orlando, as we had more free time on our hands. 

Now on my days off I catch up on chores such as cooking or laundry/cleaning. It has been a very exciting time thus far, and the first 2.5 months have passed in a blur. I’m sure the next 4 months will as well. In fact, I am almost at the end of my 3 months in my attractions role, before moving onto merchandise. I currently am not nervous about anything, after the first 2 weeks at Orlando, I felt settled and adjusted, and it has only gotten more comfortable since then. I look forward to exploring the other Disney parks more, as well as seeing some popular sites in the surrounding cities. I can honestly say that I love my job and meeting new people every hour of every day. My coworkers are a lot of fun as well, and we are all in the same age group generally, which makes it easier to relate to everyone. I’m so glad that I took this opportunity. I also have a personal blog that I’m writing (which is much more casual and spread out) which can be found at: https://gabriellammendonca.wordpress.com/ .

Gabriella Mendonca is a tourism student at Capilano University. Kerrigan studied abroad at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida.