Wow is this all stressful!

So where were we up to? Oh yes, I had my interview and passed it :) Yay!


Next it was time to wait for our Disney Pack, which had our "You have a job!" letter in, a CRB application form and the all important DS-2019 which meant I could apply for my visa. After a lot of trouble and waiting we finally got sent our Packs, mine got sent to my Home address so Mum forwarded it on to my Uni address. It got here - very exciting!


Only then I found that my letter from Disney was missing, as was my DS-2019...Not good :P


I e-mailed Yummy Jobs and they at first didn't really believe me, so I e-mailed them again...so I got a phonecall off the person who "looks after" us, and we went through what I did have, and lo and behold, they really weren't there :P

She went and looked for it and found it in still in the office, so they sent it off to me! In this time I'd sent off my CRB form and all the other things that I DID have, so I was able to pay my SEVIS fee and book my Visa appointment soon after my second Pack arrived!

I rang up and the man was like "Oh well you can have a visa appointment tomorrow if you like!" I said that no thank you, the week after would probably be a bit better! Then there was a huge panic because Yummy Jobs said I needed a letter from my Uni saying I was a full-time student. Problem was I was at home by this point...it was the Easter holidays!! I sent an email around to pretty much every lecturer or Uni person in my Uni inbox! Most said "Oh you want Student Records, I can't help you" but one lecturer said of course she'd write me the letter and faxed it to me. THANK YOU!!

It also turned out that I probably wouldn't need it (I was also sending off panicked emails to Yummy Jobs!) but I felt better once I had it anyway. It was proof that I had a reason to return to the UK just in case they wanted that.

Me and Mum were both off to London, as I wasn't allowed my phone in the embassy (no electronic devices of any variety - including the remote key thingy for my car!), and Dad didn't want me leaving it in a station locker. The night before I filled out all the forms I needed (nothing like leaving it til the last minute :P) and collected it all together ready to leave the next morning!

We got into London around quarter past 12 and headed over to the embassy. We got off the underground at the wrong stop but it wasn't that far to walk. We stopped at a cafe to have lunch, which I ended up stuffing down to make sure I made it there in time!

Then I ran off down the street like "OMG I hope it's obvious which building it is!!" Turns out it really was, the hundreds of flags outside and the fact it was surrounded by armed police kinda gave it away :P

I started off in one queue where they checked my passport and interview confirmation letter...then I joined another queue where they checked my passport and interview confirmation letter :P Then I went into a little building where I walked through a scanner and had my bag x-rayed, then had to walk round into the main building and queue up at the reception and got given my number (1426 - I'll never forget it :p)

Then I had to go sit in a huuuge waiting room watching a load of tv screens which called people up to various windows. I sat for I don't know how long (I didn't have a watch on and there wasn't a clock anywhere!) before I went up to one window where I had my fingerprints scanned, then they checked I had everything and it was all signed then put it all in a plastic wallet, then sent me round to another window where they took the wallet off me, scanned my fingerprints again, then sent me to sit back down.

I then sat down for aaaaaaages, finished my book, carried on sitting for a looong time, then sat some more :P My number finally got called and I went to yet another window, where I stood waiting for the family already there to finish being interviewed. He then tanoy-ed to me and I was like "helloo! I'm here!"

The questions then consisted of "Hi there, how are you today?" "Where is it you'll be going?" "What do you do here in the UK?" "Oh right, what is it you study?" "You're going to Florida? Well that'll be nice and hot won't it!" "Have you been to the US before?" "OK your visa is approved!" I swear most of it was just a chat to make up for the fact I'd been there 4 hours and my interview would have taken a grand total of 2 minutes :P

I then had to go and pay £14 to have my own passport sent to me, then I was free! Fresh air never seemed so good :P I went off in the direction of a phone-box to call mum but it turned out that 15 minutes earlier she'd decided to come sit outside the embassy as she was bored of sitting in a cafe lol I grabbed my phone back, I felt lost without it!! I was terribly disappointed to find I had no texts :P Though as soon as I had it back I got a load of texts, I felt loved again :P

During my time there I didn't spot any other Disney ICP-ers, apparently one that I talk to left probably around the time I was there, another thinks she saw me but called up and then never found me again! Turns out there was a group of them sat near the refreshments, but I was sat at the other end of the room - ah well!!

Also I got back to Uni today, really excited that my ICP hoodie would finally be here ... and it's no-where to be seen :( My housemate says no parcel got delivered and we can't find a slip saying they tried to deliver it. Gutted :(

But my visa is APPROVED! Just got to wait for my passport to get back, get health insurance, make sure I have all the stuff I need and I'm READY! WOW!!!!!!

Slightly Calmer!

I realised that I haven't written anything since my squeaky outburst, so I should maybe add a slightly more sane and detailed post!

So I had my interview, I don't remember much about it anymore though, but we'll see what I can do!

I had to go to a university in a city 4 hours away, and so I was going to stay in a hotel the night before. Due to the wonders of Facebook I was chatting to a lovely Northern girl and we arranged to share a hotel. She drove there, and so I got a lift to the interview the next morning, thank yoooou :)

We got there and met a group of rather nervous interviewees! We sat around chatting for a bit, then went to watch/listen to a presentation telling us about the experience and what was involved and things. We were then given our interview times and sent off for lunch in the university canteen.

I eventually got called through, had all my documents checked by Yummy Jobs and sorted things like what name and location to have put on my Cast Member badge. I chose "Charli" and my village, since I figured no-one would know any of the cities nearby anyway!

We then waited a little longer and then me and a boy (well not boy but not man either...male human of my age! lol) got taken through by the interviewer. He was absolutely lovely! A really chatty, friendly man (the interviewer), which was unsurprising, he was American after all! Even better he was from Chicago, Illinois, which instantly endeared him to me as I've spent a lot of time in Chicago :)

We (not necessarily both) got asked questions like -

- Favourite character? (I didn't get this one and I rehearsed it for AGES! LOL)
- Why do you want to work at Disney?
- What's the difference between Disneyland Paris and Disney World? (this one totally threw me and I don't get the relevance!! lol)
- Questions about stuff on our CV, like I was asked about the American Exchange I went on, the other guy was asked about his volunteer type stuff abroad.
- What will you be doing when you leave here today? Then as I said I was hoping to get back in time for fencing I was asked how I got into fencing (I hear it's not big in America)
- He made absolutely sure we realised how hot it would be
- If you could work in ANY park which would it be and why?
-And the other guy got asked why he did Chemistry

I then waiting for my friend to finish her interview, and she gave me a lift back to the station :)

We were expecting to hear back in either two or four weeks (as Christmas and New Year was in the three weeks that most people heard back in). Then about 5 days later we got our emails through! WOW!

So I fly out on June 21st and I'm in the Custodial role. That's basically going round keeping the parks and rides clean, but mostly I wanted that one for the huge amount of guest interaction :)

I'm soooo excited! And from all the people I met on the day and then added on Facebook or have seen on WDWIP.com I haven't seen any who didn't also get through :) Which is great, they were all so amazing!

I'm really looking forward to going, I'll be working from June 21st til August 28th then I get 30 days of travel afterwards :D During the travel time I'll either be meeting Dad and Sister and going to Canada for a week or so to meet other people with our surname, or I'll just be heading over see my American Friend for the whole time!

Well, I say American Friend, he is now actually my American Boyfriend :D (see my other blog for more info on that turn of events!!)

Basically, all is great and I'm looking forward to spending my summer in America working for The Mouse! :D

xxx