Last week of classes

We'll hi there everyone, sorry I've been wicked busy as always! Looks like it's only 38 days to Disney, WAIT WHAT?!??!! Wow this semester has flown by, I'm in my last week of classes and have my finals next week. Boy I can honestly say I am not ready for finals... Time to crack down in studying.

So what is new Disney wise? I received my new hire paperwork last week, after arguing with my MacBook for days I finally signed and submitted everything earlier this week, so I guess the only thing left is to wait for DORMS to submit my housing and roommate preferences! I cannot believe I will be in Orlando in just a little over a month. As a New Englander the thought of only one more month of snow is unheard of! Guess I had better get in snow every day over break! That shouldn't be hard though I'm a PSIA and AASI certified instructor... For you southerners, in other words I am a ski and snowboard instructor, have been since I was a freshman in high school and now in my junior year of college going into my seventh season if teaching. Wow I'm a veteran instructor now... Yikes.

Anyways, couple weeks ago I saw FROZEN! Oh my gosh it was absolutely amazing! I have never had a favorite Disney Princess before, but now hands down Elsa is my absolute favorite! The girl who I will be actually sharing a room with at Disney is also a Frozen addict, but her favorite is Anna. Can you say perfect match??

Okay well I'd better get to class, only a couple more days until finals.....

Faith, trust, and pixie dust!
Ta Ta for now!

- KP

A Little More About Me

So I need a study break for a little bit, I have my second midterm for electro-magnetics tomorrow, we'll see how it goes, welcome to the life of a nerd. Anyways, I know not many people are following me on here yet, but maybe if I'm lucky that will change a little bit, I had a decent amount of followers during my internship this summer so who knows maybe some of them will see this, if so hope everything is going well at Polycom guys!

Alright, so I've posted a bit about the DCP how I've gotten accepted so far, and that i'm an electrical engineering major, but that's about it. I decided why not tell you guys a little more about myself, fair warning I am a huge geek and proud of it.

Alright so I am a 20 year old little girl at heart, 5'5, brown hair, grey (?) eyes, the usual, nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact I really don't think I could pin point the exact color of my eyes, my license says they're grey so i'm just going to go with that. Other than that, I am one of the goofiest people you will every meet, I am extremely sarcastic, but always up for a good time. I love hanging out with anyone and can be friends with most people, or at least get along with them.

I am a junior here at Penn State, being in my third year here I can definitely see how much I have grown since high school, and how i'm continuing to grow as a person. Throughout elementary and middle school I was the nerd, the one who was good at math and read books (usually Harry Potter of course). I was a four eyes brace face in the prime of my awkward stage, but you know what? Life is one huge awkward stage, I know i'm still young but that's what it appears to me. I had my friends then and was innocent and carefree. Of course then came high school, drama, drama, drama, and not mine. Again I had great friends I wouldn't have traded for the world, but that was about the time we began to grow apart, wish I stayed in better touch with some of them, too bad I realize that now when i'm 450 miles away and moving to Florida in a couple months, anyways not the point. Throughout high school I was "the tennis player," "the smart one," and "the snowboarder." That was who I was, who I still am, sort of, I wasn't in the "popular" crowd and so far I have turned out fine.

Junior year I visited Penn State and loved it right away, I was excited there was no one else from my class who was going there, (there's two other BHS kids here now I think besides myself, but we never have spoken and rarely cross paths). I was excited to start brand new and get to reinvent myself and try to be one of "the cool kids." Freshman year rolled around and it was an experience, seemed as if everyone was trying to reinvent themselves and guess I did become someone different for a little bit. Freshman year came and went, at the beginning of sophomore year I decided to rush a sorority. I was a legacy, as my mother was in a sorority at UVM. At first it was great, I had all of these new girls around me who were all going through rush. It was like an automatic connection, especially since I was not a person to have a ton of girls to hang around, I've always been more so one of the guys. Keeping this semi-short, I ended up becoming a "sister" or my mom's sorority, she had no part in my recruitment, it just ended up that way. Sophomore year was pretty fun being in a sorority, suddenly you were connected to everyone on campus, wearing Greek letters made everyone look closer at you, trying to figure out which Greek org you were in. At first the attention was great, then I began to see the other side. The time requirements, the expectations, and a lot more. I loved my sisters more than anything, but it was obvious I was different. I wasn't a girly girl. I have never willingly worn make up in my life. I can count the number of times I've worn make up on my fingers, and probably the number of times I have ever worn a skirt or a dress too. I'm a jeans and tshirt kind of girl. I grew up with my brother racing motocross, in the basement "helping" work on his bikes, helping my dad check his traps, playing competitive tennis, going out and throwing around a frisbee. Yes I did have my fair share of barbies and dolls, but I was moreso into legos and all that stuff. 

Anyways, back to college. It just wasn't me, even though I was excited about all the new experiences I was having in greek life, there was something missing. I ignored that though. I was excited to move in with my sisters in late August and get new members, maybe even get my very own little. It's sad to say this is where things went downhill. I was being dressed in clothes that weren't mine, caked with makeup, and a fake smile hat made my jaw hurt for days. I was recruiting girls who weren't at all like myself and it just didn't feel right. The sorority was trying to change me, and I was not ready to have that. There were some other issues on top of that from some adult sisters, but I do still respect a lot of the girls and don't want to get into anything on here. 

I was enthusiastic about returning to campus and living with sisters during the last week of August, excited for recruitment, and the year ahead. However, by the end of October I had fully disaffiliated from Greek life. Now I don't regret my decision to go Greek, I do not resent Greeks or anything, the lifestyle just isn't for me.

However, the issues within my first month at school is what pushed me over the edge and actually kick started me to accept my Disney role. I was afraid of leaving college for a semester and moving to Orlando for 8 months, but I believe everything happens for a reason, somewhat. And I think that everything that has happened this fall was telling me that I belong in Disney, well at least for Spring Advantage. Now I am more excited than ever to go, yes I have great friends here and a boyfriend whom I will miss like no other. But today's technology we have skype, facetime, texting, facebook, I have no doubt I will stay in contact with everyone. 8 months is a long time to a 20 year old, but in retrospect, it's not that long. I'm young, I can take 8 months out of my life to go to Disney. I am a Disney fanatic, heck the other day while it may not all be Disney, I was cleaning my room rocking out to Backstreet Boys wearing a flux capacitor tshirt with a Cinderella bow in my hair. If you didn't know me before and don't want to read the rest of this post, that one line is pretty much everything you need to know about me. 

Can't say I remember where this post was going, hah my typical writing style, just ranting until I cannot rant anymore. Well, not necessarily ranting, more so talking until I get tired of talking but in this case writing.... OKAY well 60 days until my journey begins, and 12 hours until my electromagnetics exam, I guess I better get going and finish studying. Hopefully I do alright, then it's the last Penn State home game for the season and home for Thanksgiving on Sunday! That will be a fun 9 hour right, nahhhttt.

Anyways, faith, trust, and pixie dust for my exam tomorrow.

Ta ta for now!

Kenzie

Focus...Focus.... DISNEY!

Alright here we go again. 64 days until my journey begins, meaning I get on the lane to head to Disney. Needless to say I cannot wait. This semester has been anything but easy, from classes, to the typical middle school like drama (yes I know I'm a junior in college, people don't always act like it though). Regardless, I am excited for this adventure, I know there will be many ups and downs, but it's Disney for crying out loud! I'd rather be having a bad day at Disney than a bad day getting exams back at school.

So what has happened with Disney recently? Well we were able to register for classes earlier in the week. With over 7000 CPs(?) the site obviously crashed. Watching the facebook posts was so entertaining, people were tweaking out. So we all thought that we had something wrong because we thought the sign up was 12 am EST, but we thought maybe it was 12 am PST. So what did I do? Stayed up until 3 am here on the east coast to register.

Alright 3 am rolls around aaaannnddd no luck. Site still down. At this point I said screw it and went to bed. I woke up early in the morning and lo and behold the site was magically working. I got both the classes I wanted, the Engineering Professional Development Study and Disney Heritage. The classes are much different than what I am used to, heck I'm an electrical engineering major, this semester my easiest class is quantum physics. Okay moving on.

Roommates, roommates, roommates! Everyone has been searching left and right for roommates and afraid of going random. I was in a different situation, I was fine with going in random, it has worked out for me here at State roommate wise so it didn't really bother me that much. However just for kicks I decided to put up a roommate survey, there was no harm in meeting people. What I did not expect was to actually find girls to room with. It happened like magic, miraculously four girls (including myself) found each other through facebook. Now I know it's weird to live with people that you met on facebook, but hey we're all going to Disney and want to have the best experience ever... plus we all hit it off right away, so here we are with a group me text and it seems like we all are going to be good friends, I hope! I know roommates don't always become friends, but these girls appear really nice and have the same interests when it comes to Disney. Sad enough to say, the only other major Disney fanatic I have met is my very own older sister. (Needless to say she is super jealous and is planning a couple trips to Disney herself to "visit" me).

You all may ask what I am doing at the moment, and as much as I don't like to admit it, I'm actually in an EE lab, but the prof is so smart everyone has given up on following his slides and exercises... that and the fact half of the class didn't show up today. I try in all of my classes and work myself into the ground, but when no one can follow what's going on....well my mind wanders to Disney and the adventure ahead.

Well I guess I had better get back to lab, or maybe I'll just fix the blog layout...

Anyways hope you all enjoy the randomness of my posts! I'll try to keep posting a bit more! Later I will post about the bows I got from Mickeywaffles ETSY, they're ADORABLE!

Ta-ta for now!






Follow Kenzie on Twitter @KP_callmebeepme

Busy Bee

So sorry it's taken me a while to post everyone. This semester has been super busy, I've had at least one exam every week since the beginning of September, yikes. This week alone I built a two floor elevator circuit with 6 different computer chips filling up an entire 4 bus breadboard, then this past weekend replaced 5 out of the 6 chips with a programmable logic device. While that may all be jibberish to you guys, it was a long tedious project for myself and every other student in Schiano's EE 200 class at Penn State. 

Anyways, it's about halfway through the semester, my flight to Orlando is booked, flying down with my mom Jan 18 for a Jan 20 move in. It will be interesting trying to fit things into 2 suitcases. Vacuum pack bags anybody? I'm an engineer, I'll come up with something.

I'm wicked excited to begin my Disney journey, but I know I am going to miss all my friends up here in PA and NH. As much as I love all my friends and family, 8 months may seem like a long time now, but the way I look at it is this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. I am a Disney Fanatic, I love the movies, the characters, and the magic it creates. Disney reminds me that while you may have to grow up, you never have to stop believing in fairytales. 

Anyways, I know it was a short post, but I have more work to do, the life of an electrical engineer... yikes.

See you all in January!

Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust.

- Kenzie

Follow Kenzie on twitter @k_phe19

The Journey Begins

            Well here it goes, Kenzie on another blog. If you don’t know me already, I had a small blog this past summer about my internship experience at Polycom and it went pretty well so I decided to write another about my experience at the Disney College Program in Orlando. There’s one problem though… I haven’t gone yet. The program begins in January, so I jumped the gun by a few months but that’s okay. I’ll talk about the application process and why I decided to do the DCP.

            Let me begin by introducing myself. I am currently a junior at Penn State University majoring in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. Yikes that’s a mouthful. I have had my work cut out for me since the first day I arrived here at state, and I guess that’s been a good and bad thing. College has had its ups and downs; it’s honestly been quite the roller coaster so far. I may be in my fifth semester here at state, but I’m barely halfway through considering I will be doing a fifth year at state but that’s beside the point.

            Why would an electrical engineer like myself decide to do the DCP, when I was making over triple what I would at Disney at my internship this past summer? For those of you who know me in person, you know why I chose to go in a heartbeat. However for those of you that don’t know me, I am a huge Disney fan. My bed at college is covered in Lion King stuffed animals and the walls are loaded with Disney pictures. Like most kids my age, and most other people, I grew up watching Disney movies. Every time a classic is released on Blu Ray I have already Pre ordered it, guaranteed. My sister has also been a huge fan of Disney her entire life (which has been quite a bit longer than mine). For example our conversation the other day she asked if I had “borrowed” her giant tigger while I responded no I only had Simbas on my bed. Guess it must have been my mini me aka my niece who “borrowed” it.

            Besides that fact, I want to get involved with Disney in the future. Yes I may be an electrical engineer with some idea of what I want to do in the future, but I honestly have no idea. I am doing Disney for me. I want to explore and find what I would enjoy doing day in and day out because I want a job that I will want to wake up for and love what I’m doing instead of a boring job I hate that pays a lot of money.

            I first applied to Disney my freshman year of college for the Spring 2012 Advantage program but was unable to attend because of my class schedule. I was accepted to the program, but I can honestly say I do not remember which role I was offered in the program.

            After much consideration this summer I decided to give the application another shot, it couldn’t hurt to try again right? After all now I am a junior, at 20 years old, and no clue in what direction I want to go in the future. At only 20 years of age I have the time and the opportunity to spend 8 month in the happiest place on Earth, my childhood, a dream come true. Right now I don’t see any downside to taking this opportunity. Sure it sets my graduation back another semester, but I was already planning on going 4 and a half years instead of 4, so what is 5 years honestly? I would rather take the opportunity and have the adventure than regret the decision, for a second time, for the rest of my life. I already turned down this opportunity once; I was not going to let it pass me by again.

            Applications came out on September 5^th. I believe I began and completed my application on September 11. Within an hour I had already received an invitation to do the online survey and then was asked to schedule a phone interview. Everything was happening so fast, I also was doing this around midnight, 1 am so it must have been some automated responses I’m not sure. Anyways, I set up my phone interview for the 17^th. So a few days passed and I had come up with a few questions to ask my interviewer.

            The 17^th came and went, the phone interview was fairly basic and quick; I was on the phone for about 25 minutes max. If anyone has specific questions about the phone interview feel free to ask. So anyways at the end of the interview, my interviewer said they would be in touch in about 2-3 weeks with an email regarding my status. Three days later I received an email saying Congratulations I had been accepted. Hold up. Nine days and I was already accepted? I don’t think this happens for everyone, it definitely took a lot longer the first time, maybe it’s because I applied early? Who knows?

            I had been cast for merchandise. Okay, so an electrical engineer in merchandise. What? Kind of confusing, but I am a people person, or so I think? I have always been super social and love talking to people, so hey I could sell some Disney merch. Anyways, I decided to accept my offer. I am looking towards the future and possibly opportunities to get involved in more professional internships eventually with Disney. Who knows maybe one day I’ll be able to be a Disney Imagineer! That would be a dream come true!

            As of right now I have accepted my contract; my set arrival date is January 20, 2014. Only a couple months away and I already cannot wait to see what adventures are ahead of me. Today I was looking at one-way flights to Orlando from my hometown (New Hampshire, BRRRR!). It was kind of bittersweet; booking a one-way flight is odd especially when it’s going to be your new home for 8 months. I guess we will see how it goes.

            The next step for me is to work more with my advisor and see if I can get Penn State credits somehow, I hope, it’d be nice to get a few credits. Okay that’s a long enough post for now. Ta ta for now!

Follow Kenzie on twitter @k_phe19!