It's been exactly three hundred and sixty five days since I wrote my first (and only) post on this blog. My life has undergone enormous change, however the fact remains that on July 10th 2012 I shall be boarding a flight to work in Florida for a year. I've lost track of the countless times I've discussed my plans with other people and experienced this overwhelming rush of excitement, to be replaced with panic, then anxiety, then relief, before ending up with a more subdued excitement.
The relationship I was in a year ago has since ceased to exist, for various reasons, however the fact that we would be separated by an ocean for a year - which has since evolved into around two years, as I plan to travel around South America and South East Asia once my time at Disney has come to an end - obviously played an enormous role in that decision. We remain totally amicable and are in fact going to Barcelona together in two days, however it was probably the single biggest change I could attribute to going to Disney. My final year at university was absolutely the best and may have been the most enjoyable, busy, productive, sociable, creative and fabulous period of my life... so far. This proved to be double-edged; it distracted me from sitting around, tapping my finger nails waiting for Florida to hurry up, but it also proved to the greatest source of doubt of whether my decision was for the best or not. It seemed that just as my roots in Manchester were growing and settling and my friendship groups were expanding yet solidifying I was jetting off to start fresh again. This has been something I've discussed many times with many people however, and I concluded that life in Manchester post-university wouldn't be the same anyway. The core members of my friendship group are doing their own thing anyway; Spain, Australia, London. I'm doing the right thing.
So... Florida it is! I have my visa appointment at the US embassy on Friday although am already terrified as I have a tiny paper cut on my little finger. Luckily my body has an excellent immune system so I'm hoping vitamin tablets and taking extra care will speed up the healing process... I can't go through the stress of arranging a new appointment again over a bloody paper cut. I just want my visa. I'm actually quite excited for the flight. It's the first time I've ever travelled totally alone on a plane, and I can imagine will prove blissful to put my feet up for eight hours with all those films and TV to get through... plus, Virgin Atlantic have always been incredible to fly with. Will definitely take advantage of the unlimited cans of Diet Coke. I've shifted a load of unwanted clothes on eBay which made space in the wardrobe, got my dad off my case and paid for a few last nights out in Manchester, while simultaneously ripping my favourite DVDs to my laptop and downloading my favourite TV shows so I don't have to take any physical media. My mum treated me to a Kindle as it doesn't make sense to be taking/buying books out there, and it will be great to just download a brand new book before a long coach trip to the beach... or Miami... or somewhere equally fabulous.
I'm getting more excited about meeting brand new people, despite as I said the amazing people I seem to have come across all of a sudden in the last few months. I adore meeting new people, and it's quite obvious that to have gone through a recruitment process such as this and to want to do something like this, most people will hopefully have a bit of 'get up and go' about them. What I'm saying is... if you wanna go travelling with me after Disney, I'm taking applications now.
