A Kid at Heart

Hi there. I have a pretty big confession to make. On the outside, I look like any other 20-year-old basic white girl. I go to school at a university, drink way too many chai tea lattes, and am a little bit more than slightly obsessed with my favorite red lipstick.

That is not even close to what I am like on the inside.

On the inside, I would probably more resemble an eight-year-old.  I color, play outside after school and sustain myself on Kraft’s macaroni and cheese.

I am not ashamed of this part of me in the slightest.

I love being a kid at heart. It makes me feel lighter and free of some of the responsibilities that plague me during harder times.

Being a kid at heart means that I dream big. One day, I see myself as the Press Secretary for the President of the United States. Think C.J. Craig a la “The West Wing,” but in a classy and stylish pencil skirt. The next day, I am sitting in a classroom surrounded by my students. I am throwing truth bombs about the real world all over the place, and my students are absolutely enthralled by what I am teaching them. Other days, I am at home. I take care of my kids and write novels that are known around the world.

Who knows if these dreams will come true or not? But that is the cool thing about dreams. They are yours and no one else’s. People can step on them, but no one can truly take away your dreams. So why not dream as big as you possibly can?

Because I am basically a kid, a huge part of my heart is carved out and dedicated to all things Disney. As I write this, Spotify is playing my fine-tuned “Dream a Dream” playlist, which is a collection of my favorite Disney songs. And, since you were wondering, it is fantastic.

Me and the Bae(max)

I have also seen “Zootopia,” Disney’s latest animated feature, twice in theaters, because I am a child.

Being a kid at heart has huge benefits. For example, I love unconditionally. Words are usually my weapon of choice, and I love using them to build people up instead of tearing them down. I love the rain and I love the sun, and I even love the snow (with the major exception of when it decides to come at the beginning of April).

I want to know how the world works and why some things happen. I want to know the motives behind actions and how those actions effect others. After all, isn’t asking a million questions better than asking none at all?

Today’s society forces kids to grow up so fast. And while this is happening, I think that people lose some of what is great about being a child: loving unconditionally, creativity, curiosity. Kindergarteners today are getting homework. When I was in kindergarten, I can remember getting off the school bus and running around outside with the rest of the neighborhood kids until the streetlights came on. That doesn’t happen as much anymore.

Being a kid at heart does not mean that I am scared to grow up, however. It just means that even though I will be an adult, I will still find time to let my inner child out.

We all have a kid inside of us. It’s the part of us that gets excited when we see puppies or cupcakes or Lizzie McGuire. It’s the part of us that looks up at the sky at night and wonders about what could be out there. It’s the part of us that sees a person and doesn’t judge them by how they look on the outside, but how they are on the inside.

I encourage each and every one of you to embrace your inner child. Watch Hercules on a rainy day instead of Saw IV. Go to a local park and fly a kite. Skip around your rooms, dancing to some of your favorite songs.

You would be surprised at how happy you feel when you let go just a little bit.

“Adults are only kids grown up anyway” {Walt Disney}

To the Friends I Don’t See Everyday

Hello.

I know that we haven’t talked in awhile. Some of you I haven’t spoken to or seen in months. But that’s okay.

How are you? I know you are probably super busy with jobs and school and everything. Trust me, I get it. I really do.

It’s okay that we haven’t spoken in awhile. It really is. Life gets in the way sometimes. But whether I see you every single day or only on super special days, please know that I still love and treasure you.

I have been friends with some of you for years and years, but different schools have pulled us apart. The cool thing about our relationship though is that we don’t need to speak to each other every single day to maintain our bond. I know that if I needed you, you would be here in a flash, and vice versa.

We clean up pretty good.

Others of you I have only known for about year, and you are now traveling the world, seeing new sites and learning new things. Please know that I relish seeing your SnapChats and Instas, because I am literally living through you. So if you are ever questioning whether you are posting too many pictures, you are not. Keep ’em coming!

What you don’t see in this picture: Me clinging to my friends for balance as I do a pretty poor attempt at ice skating.

For the rest, even though we haven’t known each other for very long, I’m pretty sure you know that you are stuck with me now, because I have flat-out told you. I cherish every moment we are in contact, because then I get a brief, fleeting moment of our time face to face and all the memories we have created when we talk.

Move over, Cinderella. It’s our castle now.

 

Just because we don’t talk everyday or see each other all the time does not mean that you are not incredibly special to me. It’s actually quite the opposite. You are so special to me, whether you are 5 minutes or 12 hours away.

And if you ever need anything, do not hesitate to ask me. When I make friendships, I invest in them. I will never be too busy for you guys.

Love you all to the moon and back.

Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are there. {Christy Evans}

Here’s to the Next 20 years

Last week, I turned 20. I know in the grand scheme of things 20 years isn’t exactly a huge deal, but it got me thinking a lot about all of the milestones of my life.

Five-year-old Carly loved to draw and listen to music. If you would have asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she probably would have said artist or singer or actress or something else in the entertainment industry. She loved her pretty pink skirts and lacy socks almost as much as her mother loved dressing her up in pretty pink skirts and lacy socks.

At 10-years-old, Carly had just written her first short story. It was called “Going to Paris,” and while it was small and rife with grammatical errors, Carly was so incredibly proud of it. It was at this time in her life that she knew she loved writing. It filled her with a sense of purpose that was new to her. But she knew that she liked it.

Me and the BFF at age 10. Please ignore my snaggletooth.

By the time she was 13 and in the throws of adolescence, Carly had her first thoughts about being a journalist. Traveling around the world and writing seemed like a pretty good deal to her, and a heck of a lot easier than writing the next Great American Novel. During this year, Carly found herself an absolutely fantastic group of girlfriends that would go with her to middle school dances, the movie theater, and a water park for her 13th birthday, making unbelievable memories along the way .

We thought we were really cool with our Charlie’s Angels pose, even though none of us had seen Charlie’s Angels. This also became a standard pose for every single group picture we took at dances.

At 16, Carly was very involved in high school. Furthering her journalistic ambitions, Carly was on the high school newspaper. She was also involved in her high school’s color guard, and in a few short months she would be named captain. This was also the time that Carly got her license, and with it, her first car, which she named Roxie. This allowed Carly more freedom to go places and to get her very first big-girl job at a frozen yogurt restaurant.

Fresh, Fabulous, Frogen! (which was neither fresh nor fabulous)

Soon enough, Carly turned 18 and was finally an adult. She had been accepted into her dream school, was editor-on-chief of her high school newspaper, and again was surrounded by friends who made her feel special. It was around this time, however, that Carly’s career goals changed. Slowly, she realized that she wanted to become a teacher and write books on the side.

*cue to graduation music*

Now, at 20, I look back at the goals and dreams I have had in the past. Some of those goals, like to win “American Idol” and become a famous singer, sadly went on the back burner when I learned what “tone deaf” meant. Others, like becoming an author, still linger in the back of my mind, latent until I have a burst of creativity that I can’t contain.

But I have done so many things that 5-year-old me never could have dreamed of accomplishing by the time I was 20. I have graduated high school. I have been published in Seventeen Magazine. I have worked for Disney World. I have made so many incredible friends during every single point in my life that I sometimes sit back and think, “How in the world could I have been so blessed?”

It’s not to say that I haven’t had hardships. Graduating high school was necessitated by the need to get a scholarship so I could afford college. My Seventeen Magazine article came to be because of my body issues. Working at Disney World came to fruition because, at the time, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I needed time to figure it out.

You take the good with the bad, the ups with the downs. The bad moments make you appreciate the good moments, and the good moments make you appreciate the truly great ones.

What highlights in my mind as I reflect, however, are the incredible relationships I have made with my parents, my little brother, my friends (Wadsworth, John Carroll, and Disney included), my neighbors, my teachers, and my coaches.

I am so excited to see what the next 20 years might bring. Be it happy, sad, angry, or loving, I cannot wait to see.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. {George Bernard Shaw}

The Final Chapter: The Disney College Program

It’s been over a month since I have left the magic and sunshine of Disney World and returned back home to Ohio. It’s been a month since I’ve been able to ride Space Mountain or see the roommates that have become my sisters. It’s been a months since I’ve been forced to say “Howdy y’all! Welcome to Pecos!” or make beef burritos.

The Disney College Program is an experience that I will never forget. Was it hard? Oh yeah. Would I do it again? 100 percent.

Disney World exists in a sort of alternate universe where everyone can be a kid. Magic is real and a mouse signs my paychecks. Time stops when you are down there.

For four months, I was away from home, away from school, away from my family, and away from my friends. I missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spent New Years Eve working past midnight. And I wouldn’t change it for anything.

The people I met are people that have changed my life. Looking back, I cannot believe that our time was so short, because our bonds grew so deep. I opened up to the people that I have met in ways that I usually wouldn’t be able to in such a short span of time.

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I learned what hard work truly is. I learned how to shop for my own meals and pay bills and rely on public transportation. I learned how to grow up.

Disney taught me that I can be an adult, that I can live away from home and rely on myself to survive. It taught me that I am outgoing and personable, something I never thought I was. It taught me that the most magical times in a persons life can sometimes come when you least expect it.

As I sit in my dorm room, watching the snow fall outside, I think about my friends from work who stayed down in Disney, and I think of what they are doing. Are they watching Wishes? Are they riding Expedition Everest? When does the Festival of Fantasy Parade start again?

All of the memories I have made will stay with me as I travel through life. I am so incredibly happy that I went down to Florida, and who knows? Mickey might just see me again someday.

Yes I will.

If you can dream it, you can do it. {Walt Disney}

Halfway Point: The Disney College Program

Hi, my name is Carly, and I have a small obsession with Disney.

(Hi Carly).

Of course, this obsession isn’t exactly cured by the fact that I willingly set myself back a semester in college in order to spend four months at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida to work at the Magic Kingdom with something called the Disney College Program (phew, that was a long sentence!)

The DCP is a program where college-aged students go to either Disney World or Disneyland for a semester to work, take classes, and feed their Disney obsessions in the happiest places on Earth.

I applied to the program on a whim, during a particularly potent bout of procrastination when I should have been studying for midterms Spring semester of my Freshman year. I had heard about the DCP on a family vacation in 2013, and I pretty much had a “what the hell?” moment and applied.

The application process is pretty intensive, and it includes a cover letter and resume, letters of recommendation, two tests, and a phone interview. After about a month had passed since I had done my phone interview, I had just about given up any hope that I had been chosen. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked when I got the email saying that I had been accepted to the program.

When I decided to accept my position, I was feeling nervous. Nervous is actually a HUGE understatement, as every single pore in my body was filled with maximum levels of stress. Disney does not tell you what job you will be doing until you are literally in Florida. They also do not tell you who or how many roommates you will have. So basically the only thing I was sure of is that I would be working for Disney for four months at a restaurant.

I checked into the Program on August 31, 2015 in what was a whirlwind of lines, forms, photographs, and meeting people. It was on this day that I found out I would be working at Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe at the Magic Kingdom (for those of you who are not as obsessed as I am, Magic Kingdom is the one with the castle and that closes ungodly late at night). It was also on this day that I met my four absolutely fantastic roommates who have had the patience to deal with me for the past two months. Seriously, these girls are saints.

My ever so fabulous roommates who are now stuck with me for life.

It kind of went downhill from here. I had assumed that I would be working out in what is called “front of house” at Pecos Bills, which is basically out with the guests. I found out a couple days after check in that I was actually assigned to work in the kitchen. This absolutely crushed me, because the thing I was most excited about was the guest interaction that I was going to get, and guest interaction is non existent in the kitchen. That, coupled with the fact that I hard core sucked at kitchen work those first few weeks, made me seriously consider going home to Ohio simply because I didn’t see the program as being worth it.

But I made myself go on. And I am so happy I did. Even in the kitchen, I met so many people that I feel extremely blessed to have gotten to know and am now able to call my friends. There are about twelve people who are in the DCP who work in the kitchen, and they have become a part of my family. The other full time workers, as well as the coordinators and leaders, have helped me so much and have starred in some truly fantastic memories that have made the program worth while.

We make rice and beans look good. #Pecosfam

I have since been trained to work Front of House, and I spend about half my time in the kitchen and half with the guests. It’s a good split and keeps things interesting, even though I much prefer working in the front with the guests.

I have gone to the parks a lot. Like A LOT a lot. As a Cast Member, I receive unlimited free entry into any of the four theme parks on property, discounts at some restaurants, and, as of October 18, forty percent off all merchandise. And since I am only doing this once, I need to do this the best I can. Sometimes I feel like I am annoying the people who follow me on social media from back home, because my Snapchat is almost 100% Cinderella’s Castle and other Disney landmarks.

The people I have met, however, have been the highlight of my experience. I have been blessed with possibly the best roommates in the DCP, and they take me as I am, weird hours and messy room and all. I have become extremely close with people from Miami, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; Hawaii, Colorado, and Texas.  I have even met people from my own home state that I never would have met if it weren’t for this program, and who I fully plan to bother nonstop once we are all home.

The DCP isn’t for everyone. The hours are bad, the pay is worse, and guests can be the horrible. I see my friends from home having fun and I want to be there. I FaceTime my family and see all of the milestones I am missing from my little brother’s Senior Year in High School.

However, I would not give up this experience for anything in the world. My roommates and I have made memories and helped each other figure out once and for all where we want to go with our lives. I getting better at my job and enjoy the people I work with. The DCP has made all of this possible.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths {Walt Disney}