FINDING MY HAPPINESS ON THE MOON OF PANDORA | DAEP UPDATE #31 & #32

*ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN AND NOT OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OR YUMMY JOBS*

Hey there, pals!

Last time I left you, I was really struggling with my role as a Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI) technician at Avatar’s Flight of Passage. If this just so happens to be the first post of mine that you are reading, the PCI is a scientist group project dedicated to conserving the flora and fauna of Pandora. And, one of these group projects is an experiment of linking humans to avatars, so the humans can experience a Na’vi’s important rite of passage: flying on the back of a banshee (dragon-like creature).

Recently, I felt very disconnected from the moon of Pandora and Dr Stevens and Dr Ogden and I had the same reoccurring feelings as I did at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique after I had enrolled in fairy school. But, I realised there was one obvious problem… I had not watched the movie Avatar. The only solution was to do my research for the PCI technician in me about avatars, banshees, the Na’vi and Pandora. And let me tell you, this was a LIFESAVER! After completing my research, everything just made perfect sense!

I will admit, things are much easier on Earth than they are on the moon of Pandora. I remember creating inseparable bonds with Royal families (Guests) and Fairy Godmothers in Training (FGIT) at fairy school. Here on the moon of Pandora, it isn’t quite like that. That’s another problem I have been having; I am yet to create inseparable bonds with the travellers (Guests) from Earth and my fellow PCI technicians.

I knew I needed a break from conducting experiments on the moon of Pandora and I have really missed being in fairy school on Earth. Who said I could not be a FGIT again? Despite graduating, I was still enrolled in my 1000 years of fairy school, so I went back to fairy school for a day. And, I had kept it a complete secret to my fairy classmates. Their reactions to my surprise return to fairy school were priceless!

Surprisingly, I got so much revision done at fairy school, particularly from the accounting classes! Luckily, I still had all the key pixie-dusting notes stored in the back of my brain. And, I could tell my fairytales of life on the moon of Pandora and still do all the sweeping and the dusting because the Fairy Godmother always has to keep us hopping 🎵 I had the most fun in fairy school and I have not had that feeling for quite a while.

This week, I properly focused on balancing out my time to stay productive and maintain my happiness by doing all the enjoyable things.

I went to Universal Orlando again with the same fairy classmate from my last trip in November. We pretty much did exactly the same rides as last time, with a couple of exceptions. Instead of riding Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, we rode E.T. adventure. And, we explored the children’s ball pit in the Curious George land instead of riding Revenge of the Mummy. Also, we watched the projection show on the Hogwarts castle, which was something that we did not do last time.

I met up with another very close fairy classmate and we went out to Parkins on State Road 535 for brunch. And, it was so wonderful to have a good ol’ catch up about how the moon of Pandora is treating me. After I had finished my brunch, one of my roommates was left with a day of not knowing what to do. So, I suggested to hang out at Disney Springs for a little bit and then perhaps head off to a Disney park for the evening. My roommate and I did a bit of retail therapy, discovering a bunch of outlets that I had never come across before. My roommate and I even played a virtual reality (VR) game at the VOID, which I was sceptical about participating, I must admit. We ended up playing a Wreck-it-Ralph shooting game, which was kind of tricky to begin with, especially where you have the weight of a backpack on your back and you are carrying a game shooting gun. I certainly surprised myself at how much I had got the hang of the game and I ended up winning overall, which I have no idea how!? Nevertheless, I was thoroughly entertained and really enjoyed myself.

There were a couple of days where I just sat in my bed, in my pyjamas with a cup of British tea and had a decent binge-watching session of some of my favourite TV shows.

These were just some of the ways that I incorporated into my routine for a working week on the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP). My routine involved:

• Working 5 days in a week

• Using one day as a productive day – submitting academic assignments, going grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning up the apartment etc.

• Using one day as a ‘fun’ day – dedicated to doing whatever made me happy whether it was hanging out with friends or simply having a pyjama day.

Let me tell you, having some sort of routine boosted my overall productivity levels so much that I was ahead of my list of Spring semester assignments for Central Michigan University AND I was much more cheerful when researching and experimenting at the PCI.

My advice: having a weekly routine does help balance out time that should be spent being productive while having fun and enjoying life simultaneously!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope that my implements have helped to spark some inspiration for taking a step in the right direction when things have gone off the beaten track in your everyday life.

Have a magical day!

-Hannah

DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP) 2019-2020 and may not reflect everyone’s experience. Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments to their programs that may not be featured in any of my blog posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best as I possibly can 😊