In my last year of college, I was in a creative writing class. It was definitely one of my favorite classes. (Actually, it might be my favorite.)
Anyway, the first unit of this class was *shudders in fear* poetry. I am not a poet. But one of the poems that I wrote for this class (which I will not be sharing here because it was quite bad) was called “70% Coffee.” It was about how I felt that everyone who drinks coffee talks about it like it’s some miracle liquid, and they drink it so quickly that they might as well have it injected into their veins. So they would be 70% coffee instead of 70% water.
Well.
Two years later and I am on my way to being 70% coffee. It’s been two (??) weeks since I got my espresso machine, and I don’t think a day has gone by where I haven’t had an iced latte. I used to almost die if I drank coffee, and now I might almost die if I don’t.
My, how the tables have turned.
My life revolves around coffee these days. A few people at my Starbucks location quit, so I’ve been working a lot. I practically live at the kiosk. Last week I worked eight days in a row.
I was getting flashbacks to my Disney days.
On my (rare) days off, I’ve been experimenting with my espresso machine. I can consistently pull good shots on it now (hooray) but I’m still using pre-ground beans (not hooray).
Still, I’m having fun trying new recipes and flavors. I got a lavender flavored syrup from the store that was actually disgusting, so now it’s just sitting on the counter. But I’ve got some good caramel and vanilla syrups. My favorite thing to make is an iced salted caramel latte with salted caramel cold foam:
My drinks are getting unhealthier and unhealthier as I go
I’ve also made an iced brown sugar shaken espresso:
I didn’t put cinnamon in it though because the cinnamon I found in our cabinet expired in 2023 💀
a somewhat-okay cappuccino:
I’ve made another one since this that looks a lot better–unfortunately I did not take a picture
and did I mention lots and lots of cold foam:
Delicious
On top of this, I have also been making a lot of blonde caramel lattes for my mom. She likes hot lattes, so this gives me a chance to practice my latte art (right now they just look like vaguely circular blobs). One time I tried to make a heart, and instead I think I invented a new geometric shape. My mom did say it kind of looked like a planet with a ring around it.
So there’s that.
Maybe I’ve invented a new kind of Rorschach test: “What do you see in the milk blobs?”
From an episode of Make Some Noise that features Rorschach tests (one of the best episodes)
Yesterday, I made a hot chocolate for Joanna. Which doesn’t involve espresso, but I did get to practice milk steaming.
And she liked it! There’s really not that many ways to mess up hot chocolate, thankfully.
I think my favorite thing about coffee is that it’s creative, but it’s also scientific. I like experimenting with different flavor combinations and milk-to-coffee ratios, but also if I don’t tamp the 18 grams of grounds exactly right my espresso machine will betray me. (I’ve tasted a lot of under-extracted espresso lately).
This morning, I created a “chocolate covered strawberry” latte. I am sure that this is not original, but it turned out super pretty:
🍓🍫🍓🍫🍓🍫
Overall, I love being a barista. I know I still have a lot to learn, but it’s a very fun kind of learning so I am not burnt out (yet–we’ll see how I’m doing after another straight week of closing shifts).
Actually, I do have a deadline for my learning now. My family on my mom’s side is getting together for Thanksgiving this year in Missouri (none of us live in Missouri–well, except Rachel–it just happens to be a great midpoint between Colorado and Alabama), and it has been requested that I bring my espresso machine. So hopefully I can stop under-extracting my shots by November. And maybe I’ll also be able to make some decipherable hearts on lattes.
A girl can dream.
Otherwise, there’s not much else on the update front. In a couple of weeks, some of my family is going to California for a few days. There’s some kind of court reporter/legal videographer conference that my dad is attending, so we get to come along. The downside is that we are flying, so I will not be bringing my espresso machine. Will I survive five days without coffee? I guess we’ll find out.
Also, I took a dialect quiz yesterday and got California, so I’m sure I’ll fit right in.
Here is the link to the test, in case anyone is interested:mydialect.us
My other non-coffee update this week is that I made a comment on one of Dropout’s Instagram posts, and it now has over 300 likes. So I’m famous now 😎
When will Dropout go back to small dumpling prices???
Anyway, I really haven’t had much time to write this week, so I’m not surprised that this post has turned into just a lot of stuff about coffee. (Seriously, I live at that kiosk now.)
Maybe next week I’ll have something more to write about. I just saw the trailer for the new Harry Potter series, and I’m developing Thoughts™ about that as we speak. If there’s one constant in the universe, it’s that I will have opinions about TV shows.
Well, it’s official–I’m no longer an employee of The Walt Disney Company.
Hey, who put that there?
It’s actually been official for a while now. My program ended at the beginning of June, and then I guess I decided I needed a break from blogging.
But I’m back!
I have so much to say about my program–so much, in fact, that I have a whole post planned about my full experience on the Disney College Program. I’ll be exposing everything.
Just kidding.
In reality, I just have so much to say about my time at Disney (all good things, all good things) that it’s going to have to get its own post. So, look forward to that–if I ever have enough motivation to write it.
So today, I’ve decided to just do a little life update. Since starting this blog, I’ve realized that I enjoy writing my life updates much better than putting together Instagram photodumps. This may have something to do with the fact that I never take pictures…
I guess we’ll start with May/June: the end of my program.
During the last week of May, my family came down to help me move out of my apartment.
That’s right: I’m no longer a resident of Flamingo Crossings Village.
Now that one’s there on purpose
When I met up with the rest of my family, one of the first things I realized was that despite being the oldest sister, I am now the 4th tallest (out of five).
I guess age order and height order aren’t the same thing anymore…
During my time as a cast member, I earned a bunch of complimentary Disney tickets, so my family stayed an extra week in Orlando and we got to have a 10-day family vacation. We did four days at Disney and five days at Universal. (I didn’t have tickets to Universal; we just like long vacations.)
We also had one “rest” day in the middle, except that while my family was resting, I was working my last shift.
Anyway, we had a lovely vacation. We started with Disney and did one day in each park. Then, for our Universal days, we did two days at Epic, two days at Islands of Adventure, and one day at Universal Studios.
You could say it was the Most Magical and Universally Epic trip on Earth. (I think I got all the parks in there…)
We got lots of pictures, too. I will put some below.
“But wait,” you say, “I thought you said you never take pictures!”
And to that I respond: Yes, you are correct. These are all either taken by Photopass or my mom😂
These may not be the best pictures from our trip; we have just shy of 500 pictures in our Google Photos album, and I am not about to go sorting through all that. So these are just some fun ones I found. And they are also in random order.
Anyway, after four Disney days, one last shift at Goofy’s, and then five Universal days…we missed our morning flight back to Colorado.
If there’s one place the “Disney Magic” doesn’t exist it’s the Orlando International Airport.
Luckily, we were able to get on another flight later in the day. But it was touch-and-go for a while there.
So, after like three flights (we had two transfers) we arrived in Colorado Springs. As soon as we walked off the plane, I immediately realized I couldn’t breathe.
6,000 feet is a lot after you’ve gotten used to living at sea level.
Anyway, after a couple weeks of rest, I started a new job:
I’m in my barista era ✨☕
For the past two months, I’ve been working as a Starbucks barista, and I love it. Which is surprising, because I used to be pretty coffee-averse. Those who know me know I couldn’t handle any amount of caffeine.
But, over the last few weeks, I’ve built up my tolerance, and now I drink coffee all the time, lol. Making drinks is so much fun, and I get a lot of fulfillment from it, too. I love connecting with the customers and getting to know all the regulars!
A few days ago, someone came into the shop and said, “Oh, I’m glad you’re here; you make good drinks!”
There have been some crazy days (*cough cough* unicorn frap *cough cough*) but it’s all been mostly fun. And I will say it is also really nice to work at a job where I can pull out my phone for one second and not worry about getting fired lol.
And where I can take a sick day and not get a “point.”
And where I can use the same bathrooms as the customers.
(Also–It took me like three weeks before I started saying “customers” instead of “guests” lol.)
One other fun thing that has come from this job is that I bought my own espresso machine!
Isn’t she lovely
I spent many hours in the “figuring stuff out” phase, which may or may not have included a can of coffee grounds exploding on the counter. Anyway, I’m still not perfect at it, but I did successfully make one iced salted caramel latte!
I know for sure there’s other things that I could give updates about, but if I wrote it all now I would have nothing to write about for the next few weeks! And I really want to start blogging regularly again lol.
But I can’t leave off without first showing the best part of the summer: being reunited with my cats.
If there’s one thing I do take pictures of, it’s the cats.
Ok, now I can finish this post.
I’m looking forward to a lot of things: the beginning of fall (and the fall Starbucks menu!), the holiday season, getting to celebrate my birthday at home for the first time in like four years…
And hopefully continuing to blog through it all!
If you’ve read this far, thank you! I really do appreciate my blog readers 😊 I hope to get back to my regular schedule of Blog Sundays, so stay tuned! And subscribe, if the ramblings of a 22-year-old English-major-turned-barista sounds like something you’d enjoy.
See you next week!
P.S. One more update:
My family and I all got subscriptions to the New York Times Games app.
This is probably going to be the last post for at least the next two weeks. We’re officially at the last week of my program, and my family is coming to do a couple of days at Disney and Universal before they take me back home with them, haha. Between all of the packing, last days at work, and 12-hour Disney and Universal days, something tells me I’m not going to have that much time to write. Even this post is probably going to be shorter than normal.
The title of this post is “Last Week on the DCP…” and it’s kind of a double meaning.
The first is that it’s obviously my last week on the DCP. But it’s also like those voiceovers at the beginning of two-part TV show episodes where they say, “Last week on Abbott Elementary…” and then recap the previous episode so you’re updated for part two.
So, this blog post will be talking about my last normal week on the DCP…which was also last week.
So, here we go.
Last week, on the DCP…
MONDAY
I probably should have just started with Tuesday. Not much happened on Monday, besides the fact that I worked at the Christmas store and this time I did NOT lose my name tag after my shift (the last time I worked a Christmas shift was two weeks ago when I lost my name tag). Which is good because it would have been embarrassing to lose the backup one they gave me.
Also, today on the way to work, the bus got in the right turn lane and then made a left turn instead. At some point you just have to admire the audacity.
TUESDAY
Tuesday will forever be known as the day that I took a picture with Mickey while dressed as Goofy, while also wearing a name tag that says “Chris.”
And I did it on the clock. (Because, believe it or not, this is not how I dress on my days off.)
I made the mistake of sending this picture to my family group chat, and now it’s up on my mom’s Facebook page. As she pointed out, I’m as tall as Mickey Mouse now.
Oh, also I got some cool shades:
WEDNESDAY
This was the day that I spent mostly on the phone, trying to get my family’s Disney tickets. One thing about me is that no matter how much I try to plan ahead and get things done early, somehow it always ends up becoming a time crunch situation, and everything gets done at the last minute.
In this case, I had been working a lot of hours in order to get the last set of tickets for the fam and had all the hours I needed by May 9th (like two weeks ago). But apparently whatever system counts the hours messed up and was showing that I had about 80 hours less than what was needed.
So, after one long phone call where I was redirected to about three different departments, with the last one saying they would have to email a 4th completely different department, I ended up getting an email with the tickets later that night.
Hallelujah.
THURSDAY
Today, I got to go to one of the Special Engagements that Disney Programs offers. Every once in a while, Disney Programs brings a celebrity to come and talk to us CPs. Before this one, I’d been to two others: JoJo Siwa and John Stamos.
I don’t know if I could think of two more opposite people if I tried.
Anyway, this one was with Darren Criss, who is an actor, singer, songwriter, composer, etc. He was in Glee (which I’d never seen) and also many other shows and musicals and some Broadway shows. He was also in A Very Potter Musical, which is a deep cut, but it was the only thing that I knew him from, haha. I don’t even know if I’ve seen the whole thing, but I grew up seeing the clips online.
That’s another thing about me–as a middle school kid I didn’t have any social media, but I did have full access to YouTube. And used that access to watch almost exclusively Harry Potter videos.
Anyway, this session was actually really good and Criss had a lot of interesting things to say. He talked a little about growing up in California and then doing Broadway in NYC. Whenever people talk about growing up in California or New York or anywhere on the coasts, it really fascinates me because it’s so different from my experience growing up in rural Colorado.
I only got one really bad photo from this one:
Anyway, because of this session, I went home and started watching Glee. I’m a couple episodes in, and it’s definitely…dated. I’m not sure if I’m going to end up finishing the series but there is some great music!
FRIDAY
Today I went to Gideon’s one last time. (For my non-Disney readers: Gideon’s is a bakeshop in Disney Springs.) Technically, I’ve only been there one other time, so I was really just there for the second time. I wasn’t originally planning on going either, but I was in Disney Springs because…my new name tag was ready!
I decided to grab lunch, go get Gideon’s, and then get my name tag. It was about 100 degrees outside, and the line for Gideon’s was pretty long, but I needed to build up my heat tolerance for the rope-drop-to-close days I have coming up anyway.
My family thinks they’re excited for the Florida heat. It’s been cold in Colorado lately, and it snowed pretty recently, actually. Basically, they’re switching from cold and rainy to hot and rainy. Not a great trade-off in my opinion. We’ll see if they survive.
After I got lunch and waited 30 minutes for my cookie,
Chocolate chips with a side of cookie
I finally got my nametag:
War is over
I timed it so that I would be picking up my name tag right before the bus arrived. Unfortunately, the bus was 30 minutes late, and I ended up standing outside in the insane heat for a lot longer than I had planned. For some reason, waiting outside in 95 degrees to get on the bus is less fun than waiting outside in 95 degrees to get on Tiana’s Bayou.
The bus did eventually come, and on the way back, it cut off a car in traffic. A few seconds later, the car sped past us and flipped the bus driver off.
This all happened after we were off Disney property, of course. That would never happen in the most magical place on earth…
SATURDAY
And that brings us to today. I have spent most of the day packing up my stuff. This is my last day off before my family gets here! I’m super excited to show them around the parks again, even though we just had a Disney vacation last year lol. We’re also doing some days at Universal afterwards, which will be fun.
But first, I have to pack all of my stuff, most of which are things I have acquired since being on my program. For example:
My pins. I managed to collect one complete series, and no, not one of the limited-edition ones. Just the regular open-edition princesses. Plus some other fun ones like scenes from Runaway Railway (my favorite ride), a skyliner pin from when I did my staycation at the Art of Animation resort (the pre-blog days), and a pin from my time as a FOTA cast member.
Despite having acquired a lot of stuff, I did get most of my packing done, and I rewarded myself at the end with this new drink from starbucks:
It wasn’t that great, but it’s very photogenic.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, this will probably be the last post for the next two-ish weeks. However, I already have my next few posts planned, so here’s what you can look forward to:
A post about my complete experience on the Disney College Program–the highs, the lows, and the buffalos
A post about my family’s disney/universal trip–because I’m sure interesting things will happen
A post about books, specifically about fiction–because I can only go so long without talking about writing
I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seat.
Well, that’s all for now.
See ya real soon!
So long, Disney Springs
P.S. Just as I was finishing up editing this post, I get this little notification from WordPress:
It’s officially been one month since I’ve started (consistently) blogging. And now that I have more than three posts up, I’ve begun to notice a pattern, which is basically that I write about two things: minor life updates and various media opinions.
Well, the last two weeks have been about movies and TV, so I figured today I would give everyone a break from my Star Wars takes and instead make this a life update post. And, unlike last week, I do actually have updates now.
The main thing is that my Disney College Program is almost over. I’m planning on making a post about my complete experience on the program, so look forward to that. But for now, we’ll stick to recent events.
Now that I only have three weeks left on my program (it will be two by the time I post this), I’ve started to actually think about life post-program, which includes everything from trying to find a job to trying to fit [redacted] amount of merch in the one suitcase and one carry-on I brought with me in August.
These are both equally difficult and impossible struggles. And yet, I persevere.
In the midst of my program ending, I’m still trying to squeeze as many experiences into these last few weeks as I can. And experiences I have gotten indeed, both planned and unplanned. So, here’s a list of four things that have happened to me in the past week-ish.
I earned my Master’s Mouseter’s 🐭
The Disney College Program is often described as a split between earning and learning. Basically, you are both working at Disney World (earning), but also have the opportunity to take a wide variety of classes (learning) that range from Disney Heritage to Improv. Through gaining a certain number of learning hours or taking certain classes/multi-week series, DCP participants are eligible for different “certificates” such as a Mouseter’s, a Daisy Degree, a Ducktorate, Goofy Graduate, all the way up to Sorcerer’s List for over 200 learning hours.
There are some people who do the DCP while also being a full-time college student. There are some who do the DCP and get over 200 learning hours from Disney. There are some that do both. I do not know how these people function.
I’ve taken a few Disney classes here and there (you may remember the Improv class), and they’ve all been great. As a storytelling company, Disney offered many classes that aligned with my interests, such as a class where we got to listen to a panel of show writers. I also signed up for a multi-week series called “The Magic of Storytelling,” and this was how I got my Mouseter’s.
Basically, I just showed up for each class and that was the only requirement, haha. But it was a really interesting class. There were many guest speakers with super cool jobs that were fascinating to hear about, and it really expanded my knowledge of the creative careers that are out there.
This series wasn’t really academic; it was more of an exploration of how Disney uses different storytelling methods in all of their media and parks. Something that I realized when I started my in program was that while I was very familiar with Disney’s storytelling in their films/the Pixar formula, I was less familiar with the storytelling in the Disney parks. In this class we learned a lot about how imagineers and storytellers use theming and forced perspective to immerse guests in each “land.” It was also interesting to hear how they translated many lands and attractions for the international parks.
So anyway, now I’m trying to figure out how to include a “Mouseter’s” degree on my resume…more to come.
Now, this class isn’t the only learning I’ve gotten to experience recently…
I got a backstage tour of Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safaris
The tour group; I’m in the back
Continuing on with the learning theme, another fun opportunity that the college program offers is backstage tours of almost every attraction in the parks. Sign-ups for these tours drop randomly, and they can only take 20-ish people on each one (and there’s like 10,000 DCP participants) so they’re really hard to get into. I’ve been trying since I got here in August and had basically given up on ever getting to do one, but then one day I opened the app and Kilimanajaro Safaris was open! It’s one of my favorite attractions, so I signed up immediately.
Now, this whole day was very cool but also kind of a fever dream. First of all, the bus that took us to Animal Kingdom had a barely functioning AC. Now, this was not an ideal situation for a bus ride in Florida summer, but it was really early in the morning, and the sun wasn’t at full force yet. Eventually we made it to Animal Kingdom, a little sweaty but still mostly in high spirits.
The tour was scheduled to start at 8:30 in the morning, so it was early, but not too bad. Most of these tours start at like 5:30 in the morning. Which is, like, when I go to bed sometimes.
Anyway, we showed up at 8:30am and found out that somehow, someone had messed up the times, and the tour was actually supposed to start at 7:30am. Our guide didn’t seem too concerned about it though; he ended up just giving us a more truncated version of the experience.
It was still really cool! We got to learn a lot about the history of the Africa section of Animal Kingdom and found all of the hidden Mickeys, of course. After that, we got to go on the safari trucks and get a look at the backstage areas of the safari, including a giant field where all of the food for the animals is grown. It is bigger than the entirety of the Magic Kingdom.
And of course we got to see the animals as well.
GiraffeElephantBaby Elephants
Now, once the tour was over, we all headed back to the bus stop. And lo and behold, what bus was waiting for us but the same one we had taken in the morning. Except now, it was almost noon. The sun was fully out, and it was 90-something degrees.
As the bus pulled up, a bunch of sweaty cast members piled out. One guy said something along the lines of: “I opened all the windows for you guys; it’s terrible in there.”
Sure enough, we walked onto the bus, and there was no AC at all.
The bus ride home was hot. I don’t think I’ve ever been more uncomfortable in my life. If the windows hadn’t been opened, I don’t think we would have made it back.
But we did, and as soon as I got into my apartment I collapsed onto the couch and stayed horizontal for many hours, until I left for my shift later that evening.
That night, I didn’t get back to my apartment until after midnight, and ended up sleeping until 2pm the next day.
Good times.
I got a new identity
Which is just a clickbait-y way of saying I lost my name tag. And unfortunately, I was not wise enough to listen to the advice of the seasoned cast members who told me to get more than one name tag at the beginning of my program. In my defense, my one name tag survived to almost the end of my program!
I had to go and get a loaner tag, and so now I have a new identity for the next week:
Nice to meet you everyone, I’m Chris from Orlando
The funny thing about wearing a name tag that does not have your real name on it is that most of the time, you aren’t thinking about it at all, until a guest says, “Thanks Chris!” after you check them out at the register.
And then you get to have a whole identity crisis because now there are real people walking around in the real world thinking they just interacted with someone named Chris. And you don’t feel like a Chris but that person seemed to accept that your name was Chris, no questions asked. And so you go about the rest of your day, catching glimpses of yourself in windows and mirrors with “Chris” pinned right above your heart…some people would lose their head if it wasn’t attached; I would apparently lose my identity if it wasn’t pinned to my shirt.
Anyway, my new name tag comes in a week–just in time for the end of my program–and thank goodness because any longer and I might have had to write a post about names and identity, and that just sounds like a lot of work and research.
And it would’ve probably given me flashbacks to certain EU chapels…
Everything AND the kitchen sink
As my program comes to an end, I’ve been trying to check a bunch of “bucket list” items off my list. It’s mostly different foods, and I finally got the orange milkshake I’ve been eyeing for the last few weeks:
Orange shake, hallelujah
It’s the most orangest orange thing I’ve ever had (those who know me know I can’t describe flavors). And it is perfection. My favorite milkshake in the parks used to be the chocolate shake at Auntie Gravity’s in Magic Kingdom, but this is the new #1.
This shake was part of my last visit to EPCOT’s Flower and Garden festival, which was also on my bucket list. I think out of all the festivals, it ranks 3rd. Food and Wine is 2nd, and Festival of the Arts is officially my favorite. But I’m definitely not biased from working there or anything…
Anyway, Flower and Garden is also cool. They definitely have better food than FOTA, for what it’s worth. Besides the orange shake, I also tried a mango bubble tea and poke bowl that were both delicious.
Mango Boba Poke Bowl
And, in the midst of all the resort hopping, park days, (and mostly food sampling), I also conquered one more bucket list item:
Behold: the Kitchen Sink
My roommates and I went to Beaches and Cream and got the famous “Kitchen Sink.” Eight scoops of ice cream, every topping, and a whole can of whipped cream.
Just an FYI, when you do this, they turn on siren lights in the restaurant and then the cast members loudly announce that you have decided to try to eat the entire kitchen sink.
And I am pleased to report: we did, in fact, finish the whole thing 💪
Good soup 😋
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little life update! I’ve had a lot of fun during these last weeks of my program, but it has also been very chaotic. Re: the procrastination, my time spent on this blog is starting to look like one of those vague graphs with a scary downward slope:
I would have made my own graph but I am drafting this at 3am
Maybe one day I’ll have more free time, but for now, you’ll have to make do with the ramblings of a sleep-deprived Disney College Program cast member. Lucky you 🙂
P.S. One more last-minute non-update: I saw a bunch of people posting those Spotify “party of the years” things, so I decided to check it out. Big mistake. If anyone wants to know what the first song I ever streamed was–too bad. I’m going to the grave with that information.
If you really want to know, the lowest offer I’ll accept is coincidentally the same number as the remainder of my student loans.
