A TASTE OF THE AMERICAN CULTURE 🇺🇸 | DAEP UPDATE #21 & #22

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

Hey there, pals!

As it is my first post of 2020, I shall start off by saying that I hope everyone had a wonderful festive season! Mine was certainly something different, but I was so happy that I was able to spend it with my family and close friends that I have made since I arrived in the United States. I took a much-needed extended break from writing blog posts to get used to my brand new rotation in Attraction Operations and come to terms with my role transition, which has certainly been more challenging than I had expected. These updates will come in the next few weeks or so. But for now, let us conclude the rest of my stories from 2019.

Towards the end of last year was the busiest period I had witnessed at fairy school! At times, it did get very overwhelming with a lot of fairy classes happening and little times for breaks to catch your breath. To put it into perspective, my phone has calculated that I do roughly the same number of steps during an 8hr day at fairy school as a theme park play day! Nonetheless, despite the stress and organised fairy school chaos, I could really see how all the Fairy Godmothers in Training (FGIT) worked together to shape the fairy school team that I was a part of.

This week was a pretty big week for my American cultural education of food and traditions. I had my very first Pop Tart - a sweet pastry snack that can be toasted! It seems like something so little, but I never got to try them when I first visited the United States. Even my friends from the UK have said to me that I must try them. It was at fairy school where one of my leaders gave me a piece to try. At first, I did not get any flavour. But then, the sweetness of the chocolate fudge flavour came through, which took me by surprise! And I'm not going to lie, they actually taste pretty good haha!

Annnd, I got to celebrate my very first American holiday: Thanksgiving! This was one of my most anticipated American celebrations. I spent Thanksgiving with my fairy classmates at fairy school, who were telling me all about their family Thanksgiving traditions and the Fairy Godmother had gifted the class with a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so I could well and truly embrace the American culture that was Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, I did not get many photos from Thanksgiving because I was immersing and educating myself on a tradition that is not celebrated in the UK.

Also, I finally rebelled against Disney and visited Universal for the first time this trip! Yes, I had saved long and hard to invest in a Universal Orlando Annual Pass, and the wait had certainly paid off. A bonus about holding off on the annual pass purchase was the fact that Universal had annual pass holiday savings and was considered a Florida resident doing a Disney International Program!

My advice: if you are going to invest in a Universal Orlando Annual Pass, pay a visit to your housing complex’s service centre and say to them that you need a proof of residence. They will ask you for your reasoning and company that requires your proof of residence. Do not be embarrassed about saying that you want to get a Universal Orlando Annual Pass because the Cast Members completely understand! They will print off the proof of residence and you can take this along with your housing ID to Universal to get a Florida resident annual pass. Despite being an international and not having a Florida state ID, the proof of residence from Disney management enabled me to access the cheaper annual pass price. 10/10 would recommend!

My first Universal trip was with a classmate from fairy school, who I also went to the Halloween party with. So, it was great to spend even more time hanging out with my fairy friends. I got to try out more of the attractions that I did not get to do on my last family vacation to Florida. These included:

• The Cat in the Hat

• Revenge of the Mummy

• The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman

• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and

• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

I got to try Butterbeer for the very first time from Hogsmeade. It was like drinking fizzy butterscotch toffee, delicious!

As my fairy friend and I walked down Diagon Alley, and Knockturn Alley, we stopped by a few stores to see what merchandise there was. One of the stores had a mirror that spoke back to you either with a nice compliment or responded in disgust! My fairy friend got a compliment about her shoes, whereas I got a boisterous response saying "Tuck your shirt in, scruffy!". We made a pitstop to Ollivander’s (the wand store in the Harry Potter films) and I had to do a photoshoot in a Ravenclaw robe (my Hogwarts house) with a wand that my fairy friend picked out for me. Plus, I bought myself a matching style jumper to my fairy friend, displaying Ravenclaw loud and proud across my chest!

A dream is a wish your wand makes! 😆

My advice: if you do not have the pleasure of being able to drive in the United States or are unable to rideshare with your United States friends, board the ‘H’ bus route to the Walmart bus stop and order an Uber or Lyft ride from there for a cheaper taxi fare!

This week, I received a package from home unexpectedly! When I got an email from the housing service centre notifying me that I had a package waiting for me, I was very confused as to who it would be from. But, as soon as the package was handed to me, I instantly recognised the handwriting to be that of my own Mother's! It turns out she had sent me a British chocolate advent calendar, so I had a little taste of home throughout the entire month of December until my family arrived. I gave a piece to my roommate for her to try and cultured her on a British brand of chocolate that we all rave about. Let us just say her mind was blown when I said how good Cadbury's chocolate was!

Thank you so much for your patience and sticking around while I am trying to release more content for you pals to read. If you have not already, make sure you are caught up on all the updates I have released so far because the last few months have certainly been crazy!

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 😊