Spring 2015 - Day 96

Since the auction is finally over the alumni council has switched their focus to the alumni ball. This means that they announced when dinner seating sign ups will be (which is tomorrow) and this means that it is time to rally the troops.

I spent most of the day chasing people down and fielding the drama that comes with a huge group of girls having to decide who they want to sit with.

Frankly, I couldn't care less who sat where. I just needed to know who was going to sit with me so that I could get their information to sign them up at 9am. Alumni ball seating sign ups are not that easy. You need not only a person name but their cabin number and their order.

So I took down everyones orders whether they had decided to sit with us or not so that I would have it in case they did. Annie and Jessi had made new friends in Namibia and I could tell that they would rather sit with them and just didn't want to tell us so I made the decision for them they just didn't know it.

I knew they were going to sit with the other group so I just didn't include them. This meant that we had 8: me, Tory, Andi, Jen, Maddie, Quinn, and Jessi G. (Quinn’s roommate), and Nicki.

Then, in the piano lounge when we started talking about seating Andi told me to not include Nicki. Ok, so now we had 7.

Then, when Jessi G. came up to our dinner table and I went to get her order she said that she didn't know who she and Quinn were sitting with because she might have another group. I said ok, fine, but you need to decide right now.

She said she didn't know and couldn't decided right then. So I took her order and told her she had to decide by tonight.

Then Quinn came to my room to get paper and told me that she didn't know what was happening and she would be fine if she didn't sit with Quinn and she didn't think she was invited in the other group so I should include her but not Jessi.

So now we were at 6. That’s fine. And I had everyone’s orders by that point so it was really fine.

Then, around 10pm Quinn knocked on my door and told me that she was going with the other group so I should include Jessi with us and not her. I asked if she was sure and she said yes. I told her if anything changed to email me. So I went to bed with 6 in mind: me, Tory, Maddie, Andi, Jen, and Jessi G.

Oh something else happened today. A while ago, on day 91, it passed the three week mark for when I had my second interview in Mauritius. I was expecting to be contacted and still hadn't been so I was starting to get nervous. I read the blogs my mom had sent me on the interview process again and it said that the girl was contacted via phone. Then I really started freaking out because I didn't have access to my phone.

So I emailed my mom and she checked my voicemail for me. I had two, one from a woman wanting to set up an interview for the 31st. Whoops, missed that. And a second from a woman in the Operations department that wanted to ask me a few more questions. Bingo.

She had also left her email so I sent her one and apologized for the delayed response. She emailed back quickly and we set up a time for me to call her one one of the ship phones.

It was supposed to be at 6pm but then she moved it to 8pm. In the afternoon I went and bought 2 phone cards and at exactly 8pm I used one to call her. No answer. I tried again, no answer. I went out into the hall and emailed her to let her know I tried.

This is the struggle of living on a ship, there is no way for her to call me. I went to try a third time but the extension I had to dial didn't work. Instead it was just beeping. I started freaking. I tried a few more times but it still wasn't working. I called Jessi’s room, which did work, and asked if I could use her phone. But it didn't work either.

So then I went up to the pursers desk and asked and she said that the beeping indicated that the satellite was down.

WHAT. THAT IS NOT OK. I AM TRYING TO MAKE AN IMPORTANT CALL.

I went back and sat in the hallway to check my email. I had an email back from her saying she had gotten caught on a long call and was now done and waiting.

So I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, went back in my room and tried again.

And it worked. I got through and she picked up.

When I told her I was off the west coast of Africa she thought that was amazing and it relaxed me a bit. She then asked me basic questions like if I was able to work in US or if I was an international student on a visa.

One she was done she said that she now had the pleasure of officially offering me the position of operations manager.

Tears welled up in my eyes immediately. 

I GOT IT! I FREAKING GOT IT!!

She gave me all of the information. I will be working in Animal Kingdom but she didn't know the exact job. It started on June 10th, it was salaried.

HOLY COW! I GOT IT.

Our call ran over the 13 minutes allowed on the card so we hung up and I had to call her back on the next one. She had me verbally accept the position and then told me I would be getting a bunch of emails. Then we hung up.

I sat in that small blue chair by the desk in my small cabin at sea in the middle of the Atlantic and I cried. I cried and I cried tears of happiness.

I had done it, it was all over. The stress of the interviews and the phone calls were all worth it. I had gotten it and it was the best feeling.

I used the rest of the minutes on my card to call my mom and my dad and Josh. Then I ran around the ship like a crazy person trying to find someone to tell.

Annie, Andi, Jen, and Maddie were in the seminar but I snuck in and told them. They congratulated me as silently as possible and then I sat and waited for it to finish to get hugs from them. Then I went and found Stephanie studying in classroom 9 to tell her.

I went to bed so happy and relieved that night. I cared even less about the alumni ball drama. Nothing much else matters except for the fact that I will be working at Disney again come June 10th.