[KarenWDWCP]

Yay, Tessa! I am glad that you are already having fun! Just make sure to enjoy every minute - it will be the time of your life!

[WEDINDISNEY]

YAHOOOO So glad to hear that you got there safe and are having a good time.... Cant wait to hear the details.... I hope that we get to see you this weekend while we are there.....

[Maria]

Happy to hear that you have gotten there safe and sound. Waiting with the others to hear how it is going so far!!!

[cinderbella]

I guess little Tessa moved to the big city and got too cool for us...

Hahaha just kidding, I can't wait to hear about your first few days at WDW! You're probaly having SO MUCH FUN, none of us blame you for not signing on immediatly and telling us alllllllllllll about it.


But hurry up and do it okay?

[twist1980]

Can't wait annnnnny longer!! Going to go craaaaaazy!!!

At least we know she is so busy having fun that she can't sign on. Maybe she is riding EE as we are all typing away on DC!

[DisneyWorldFan]

Glad you arrived safely. Guess you're gonna have one verrrrrrry long report, since you're out enjoying yourself. Good For You!

[smee57]

I'm trying to imagine what it must be like to be you right now. It must be a feeling beyond words . . . is that why we haven't heard from you yet?????????????????

Looking forward to hearing all about the new, and very exciting, chapter in your life!

[CathysCAT]

What an experience of a lifetime you must be having! So glad you're safe and sound and getting settled in. Can't wait to hear how your first day of many exciting days went. You are Sooooooo Lucky!

[Princess Tessa]

OKAY GANG!!!

I've written everything down in a word document on my laptop but right now I'm on my friend John's laptop at his apartmen because the internet in my place is down!!! ARGH!!!

I'm telling the clubhouse/front desk people tomorrow morning so hopefully it'll be up and running in the afternoon!

But to sum up, I'm not homesick anymore at all, I love it here!!!

Thats all for now......3 hour long report tomorrow! tee hee

[Cincy]

Originally Posted by Princess Tessa

OKAY GANG!!!

I've written everything down in a word document on my laptop but right now I'm on my friend John's laptop at his apartmen because the internet in my place is down!!! ARGH!!!

I'm telling the clubhouse/front desk people tomorrow morning so hopefully it'll be up and running in the afternoon!

But to sum up, I'm not homesick anymore at all, I love it here!!!

Thats all for now......3 hour long report tomorrow! tee hee

Thanks Tessa, Glad to hear you made it down safely. When you update us on your travels, be sure to fill us in on who JOHN is.....

[A Goofy Family]

Glad you made it safe and sound and are settling into your new home!!! We're all excited for you Tessa, can't wait to hear all about it!

[Amelia's Man]

They'll fix the internet problem for you............................if they know what's good for em"!

[pumouse]

Yay! I knew you could do it!! I'm so happy for you. You are going to be a blessing for all who meet you.

[downsouthtigger]

Have fun at Wal-Mart, You will be shopping there ALOT, trust me on this!
SO get ready and don't even bother sleeping, traditions is coming up, you'll enjoy it!
Actually got done with one of my College program presentations today, so I was with ya in spirit!
See you at the end of April Tessa!

[Princess Tessa]

Departure…
So I pretty much spend all day Sunday and Monday crying my eyes out.
Sunday was my going away party and it was SO great! About 45 people ended up showing up and nearly everyone brought me walmart gift cards or cash…I ended up with over $400 US from my party alone…how much do I LOVE all my friends!!!
After the party I went out to Denny’s with my mommy just the two of us, we stayed there and cryed until 1:30am, then came home and sat in her bed looking at all the sweet cards I had gotten at my party and cryed.

When I woke up Monday (crying) I cried some more (starting to see a trend?)
I couldn’t even seem to force myself to finish packing, I was a wreck of emotions…even thinking of it now I’m tearing up. It must be so easy for those who are not close with their mothers, but I miss mine already.

Anyhoo, we picked up David (old work buddy doing the same program) and with my mom, sister, nephew, david and me all in the van we headed off for the 3 hour drive to Seattle!

At the border crossing we had to go in and get our Q-1 year long work visas, now I was expecting it to be all gruff and scary but the guys were SO nice!
They were all jokey and happy chatting with us about Disney World. One of the officers said “so you’re working in the steakhouse?” the next guy said “they have everything in WDW, even France is there” then from a back cubicle an officer stands up and shouts “well it is a small world, after all!”
yeah, that went well getting my visa.

Once at the airport my best friend Jay and her mom and dad met us there, we grabbed a bite to eat together and I sat on my mommies lap while we both sobbed uncontrollably.
We finally forced ourselves to say goodbye and David and I were off!
(After going to the gate on our tix and them saying the gate had been changed and no one told us and we had to RUN to the other end of the terminal and got to the gate just as they were closing the door! *phew*)

The flight was good, we met up with John, a guy from Victoria doing the IP, so we all got to sit together on the plane. We all (of course) were unable to sleep! hee hee, though I did get a good hour long “rest” it helped even though it wasn’t sleep.
Halfway through the flight we were all resting and a woman collapsed in the seats across from the three of us. The woman has Lupus, and was having severe heart pains, it was so scary. There were two nurses on board and they were able to get everything under control, but that sure did wake all of us up!

When we arrived at the baggage claim a very nice woman from International Recruitment met us there and help carry our bags to the bus (which arrived an hour late, but oh well, we had no where to be in a hurry!) The bus driver was SO cute. His southern accent was so strong I could hardly make out what he was saying…something about armadillos at the side of the road and my having a sweet smile…nice old man though! LOL
We checked in and I’m in a 2 bedroom apartment. There are only 2 other girls here though, Marianne who is from Norway and arrived in December and Katy who is from France and arrived in February. I share my room with Katy and she is SO sweet, and clean (yes!)

The apartment complex is so amazingly beautiful I’m in shock. I was just walking over to security (my key wasn’t working) and at 11pm you can hear tons of crickets and it’s so safe, I love it.

So after I put down all my stuff David, John and I met up with Sarah – a lovely girl from the UK and we all went out for lunch at A&W over at the outlet mall *drool*
She is really nice and has the best accent I’ve ever heard!

Then I came back to my apartment (how much so I love saying that!) and made my bed and put away most of my things and took a little hour long cat nap.

Then I got up, put away some more and then called Ginger!
Ginger, Drew and I went to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Earl of Sandwich. All I have to say abuot that place is WOW! BEST sandwich you’ll ever have in your whole life. I had such a great time with them, Drew and Ginger are SO nice and awesome, it felt like we’d been friends for ages just hanging out, it was really grand!

So then they dropped me off back at The Commons in a hurry so I could go to the Canadian Meet and Greet for all us newbies. They had hot dogs, chips, drinks etc everyone was really friendly and nice, I met all the IPers that I’ve been chatting with for months, so that was really nice, then they told all the newbies (5 of us) that we had to go back to our apartments and we’d be collected for our “throw in” initiation.
I can’t say much about it or I’ll get in trouble (in case any Canadians read this) but it was SO much fun and so rad…even the ending bit was kinda fun