16 Things I Realized While Being Part Of The Disney College Program

1. Making friends who are from all over the world will make you realize that no matter how different your cultures and backgrounds are, we really are all equal and very much alike on the inside.

2. The people from all over the world that you do meet will make you grow up so much. They will expand your mind and horizons and make you want to travel to different places without any sense of fear.

3. The roommates that you live with if you’re lucky enough, they will make the apartment feel like a real home. Like you have a family away from your home place. If you’re not that lucky, the roommates you get stuck with will end up making you miserable no matter how little you see them.

4. There’s so much more to life than partying every night. It gets old after the first two weeks or so of straight partying. You come to realize that there’s nothing better than staying home relaxing and eating ice cream sandwiches.

5. You will find out that you are much more brave and fearless than you thought you were. You’ll look back at the old you and notice how many things you’ve done here on your own and how proud you are of those things. The old you who used to be someone so sheltered and afraid of many things is now someone who is strong, has big dreams, goals, and knows what she wants out of her life.

6. But matter how strong you think you are; there will be a couple of days where you miss the scenery of your home state.

7. You will also get over the fact that you used to think guys with accents were hot. You will come to the realization that you just want someone whom you can understand completely. Being drawn to guys with accents will come to an end fast.

8. You will develop new interests like country music and learning different languages.

9. You will have to dig in deep inside of yourself to find that last ounce of patience to be able to help foreign people count their money, or give them directions with mostly hand signals only.

10. You will realize that no matter how annoying your job is, it really is the people around you that make it worthwhile. If you don’t like your co-workers, but like the job, you won’t like it much for long. If you don’t like your job, but like your co-workers, time will pass much faster and it will be a lot better for you.

11. There will be times when all you wish to do is smack someone with a turkey leg that you’re supposed to be selling.

12. You will notice that no matter how strict the policies are at a work place, there are always loop holes to do anything you want.

13. You will find out how un-American and how unfair interns are treated. College interns at Disney World don’t get paid time and a half for working holidays. And we WILL work every holiday during our program. We work like full time employees, but we are not eligible for health benefits. We are at the very bottom of the food chain at work. College interns are below full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers. We are also paid less than any of those employees.

14. If you don’t have a car here in Florida and depend strictly on the college program buses, you will miss the smallest things in life. Things that include going shopping to target, to the mall, going to the city park, and going to Chili’s.

15. You will appreciate how easy life was with a car. You will also appreciate the 40 minute drive to school when you find out that people in Florida drive about an hour to work each day in any direction from their home just because everything here in this state is so spread out.

16. You will notice how up in Disney World all the workers seem so happy and cheery because they’re working at the happiest place on Earth, but downstairs in the tunnels everyone is so crabby, rude, and everyone looks like a zombie because of all the hours they have been working.