Day 660: Home

One of my best friends is in the middle of one of the biggest decisions of her life: college. It's a tough decision, and personally I hate how much they push such a decision at a young age. Yes, it's very important, exceedingly so, but that doesn't mean you have to know the answer to every one of their questions in second grade or even sophomore year. Gosh, a lot of times you don't even know your senior year. I think Everyday Disney was a big part of figuring out what exactly I wanted to do after leaving High School, and I'm forever thankful for that, but that's not what we're here to talk about.

I was discussing with her the reasons to choose a specific college over another one. I had it pretty easy, since I only actually applied to two colleges and made my decision fairly quickly based on the programs I wanted to go into, the close-to-home location, the campus and specifically, the people and staff who work here. I knew a lot of them previous to coming to SNC, so it sort of just felt like home. It was familiar and comfortable, and that's what's really important with a college experience. Without it you'll start to go crazy. Yeah, it won't feel perfect, and when you step onto campus for your first day you obviously have a lot to learn about where things are and where you'll study, but that comes with time.

Regardless, I couldn't help but think of Disney during our conversation, since she was upset to the point that she didn't want to even go to Disney. Sorry Mate, but this made me laugh a little bit, although the laughter had nothing to do with you. I explained that I found that odd, since when I get really upset I don't want to go to my room and curl up in a ball or go back to my dorm room and hide in the closet or something weird. No, I actually want to go to Disney.

I can't even begin to think about the number of times when people asked if I get homesick at college. I think, to some point, I really do. I miss my family and my cat and my shower and the privacy that comes with a bedroom of your own, but I love my roommates dearly and I love campus and I love SNC. It's just an odd sentence to ask me since I get homesick more at "home" than I do here. In fact, I get homesick far more often than I probably should, simply because my home isn't a half hour away. It's a couple of hours away by plane.

I can recall this one time several years ago when I was really upset about something. I honestly don't remember specifically what I was upset about, but I suppose that doesn't matter now. The point is that I do remember sitting on the staircase in my house, long after everyone else had gone to bed and just crying in the dark. Like I said, I was probably stressed out or something like that, but it was overwhelming, and I think that in that moment, I'd never felt more homesick in my entire life, despite the fact that I was literally sitting directly in the middle of my house. At first I don't think it occurred to me what that feeling was, but eventually I realized that all I needed was to go to Disney. I needed to go home, but sadly that wasn't in the cards for quite some time.

That's the thing about us Disney fans who really do see Disney as home. We spend the majority of our time missing it, and on some level that makes it all the more special. But it also is incredibly frustrating. Yes, we have our own ways of calming down because we have to, but trips are few and far between for many of us, and therefore we must find a different way to capture that magic. Everyday Disney does that, spending nights watching movies with my brother and my cat does that, Once Upon A Time parties do that and my roommates sure help do that too.

In the end, that's kind of what I said to her though. I see SNC as a home. Maybe not my only home, but a home because I'm pretty sure that by 20 years from now, I'll have about 5 or 6 of those. It's crazy, it's frustrating, it's difficult, but it's completely worth it too. After all, they do say that home is where the heart is.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 23).

Day 282: Missing Home

Remember all those times I've talked about Disney Depression? Yeah, I have it. I have it bad.

For some strange reason (and maybe it has something to do with the blog post you'll see tomorrow), I just really really really want to be at Disney right now. Ok, it's also possible that this is occurring now because I still have a wonderful 257 days until the next time I leave for Disney (and in reality you need to add a day to that because of travel time since we'll be on a bus). I really do hope that through some miracle I get to head home sooner than that, but it brings up an interesting topic, and it really does have to do with my life these days.

Most people, or at least I feel it's often times a stereotype of most people, when they come to college get homesick at some point or another. You get to this point where you really miss your parents and siblings and pets and bed and everything about your former home and you must accept that you now live at college (that place I've been living at for a month and a half now). But I honestly haven't gotten home sick. I guess not a ton of people that I know really really have. We've all pretty much gone home enough to not be homesick, but I assume that for some it will still occur within the next couple of months. And then come December we'll all just want Finals to be over so we can go home.

The truth is though, I'm always homesick, and somedays more than other. My brother and I are always sure to refer to WDW as our home. We're not going on vacation anymore. We're going home. And on the way back, we're just going on a really long boring extended vacation. So to tell the truth, I get homesick a lot more than what others might here at college.

And that goes for right now. I'm homesick. I want to go to Disney so badly. I'm listening to Tomorrowland music at the moment, which has lately been my go-to music when I'm doing any kind of homework or work on my laptop (obviously like working on my blog, which I really do need to catch up on). But I'll listen to all kinds of Disney music and it just makes me want to go more. And then I'll look at pictures and I want to go even more. I'll change my background on my phone to Disney, and grow a little sad everytime I turn on my laptop and see my picture of Spaceship Earth. I want to know everything that's going on at Disney, and I start making plans for my fake Disney vacation (and my real one too, of course!). Disney starts to seep in where I really don't need it to be, and while Once Upon a Time is also doing a great job of showing up in all my homework at the time (Did the book really need a Gregory Mendell? I don't think so), it's still there. Pinterest and Instagram and Facebook and the internet in general remind me every single day that I'm not at Disney, and to be truthful, it sucks!

I guess by tomorrow I'll probably be a bit better about it. I'll have to be because I have to write a couple of rough drafts for papers tomorrow and Friday and will need my complete focus to get that done. Looks like I'll be listening to a lot of Disney Parks music over the next few days. It's really difficult to be sick the week of/week before midterms. I tell you, it's not fun. Couldn't I have gotten sick like two weeks ago? Yeah, that would have been great.

Anyways, that's just what's on my mind on this lovely October evening, especially since I really need to get going with this blog. Being busy and being sick put a damper on this first part of October. But worry not, I'm working to make up those days I missed, and I'm planning on getting back into my nightly routine of blogging, because it does make me pretty happy, even if I'm not doing it from the Tangled Rest Area in Magic Kingdom.

Here's today's Disney History: 1919: Walt Disney, who has served as a Red Cross volunteer in France, arrives back in the United States. Aboard the SS Canada, he pulls into New York Harbor after a long slow trip. Walt will be discharged the following day and arrive back in Chicago October 11.

Have a magical day!

Day 275: 101 Reasons I Wish I was at Disney

When I get behind on my blog posts I write down all the days I'm missing and the dates they go with and then just assign topics/titles to each day. It works fairly well because then I certainly don't forget any of the days that I'm supposed to be writing about, but it also allows me a half hour (or less or more depending on how many I'm missing) to just sit and brainstorm ideas for those posts. In the end I have all my topics, but sometimes I just come up with the craziest ideas for what to write about. Hence today's topic.

Yes, I am going to attempt to come up with 101 reasons as to why I wish I was at Walt Disney World, but it probably won't ever get that long. I wonder how many crazy ridiculous things I will come up with before I finally give up. Then again, thinking this through maybe it won't be so hard. I guess we'll just have to find out, won't we?

1. I could just go to Disney...duh. It is my home afterall.
2. I could be riding Spaceship Earth. It's the best thing ever.
3. I could be watching Illuminations or Wishes and having a great time singing along.
4. It's just really hard to take funny ride pictures without the ride...or the picture.
5. As good as my food is here at college...it's not Disney food.
6. Speaking of that...Dole Whips.
7. Turkey Legs.
8. Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bars.
10. Sushi.
11. All the other food because I could go on forever and that wouldn't be fair, now would it?
12. I could be doing all of my homework at the Tangled Rest Area.
13. It would make everything I'm doing for band a lot easier.
14. Going to Disney just makes for a great break.
15. Mickey Mouse and all his friends are there.
16. The music calms me down (moreso when I'm there than listening to it on Youtube).
17. I could get some proper Haunted Mansion decorations for my dorm room.
18. Everything is better at Disney...even Midterms.
19. I would have more pictures for my Instagram.
20. I could live the movies instead of watch them.
21. There aren't any StarSpeeders in Wisconsin.
22. For that same matter...Starport 75 is really far away. Like really far.
23. We have squirrels here at college...Disney has Dug.
24. I could make more vlogs. I love doing that!
25. I don't need sleep at Disney. I need lots of sleep here.
26. For some reason I can't find any doors that lead to Monsters Inc.
27. I could freak out about Disney stuff and it would seem normal.
28. I could celebrate Spaceship Earth Sunday ON Spaceship Earth.
29. There's nothing quite like just a stroll through Magic Kingdom.
30. People watching is awesome...especially from the PeopleMover!
31. I could be practicing my Spanish on the Monorail and Tram.
32. There seems to be a strange lack of Princesses here...
33. Faster Internet
34. I could actually use the Disney apps on my phone.
35. It's a lot easier to learn about Disney with hands on experience.
36. The Haunted Mansion is obviously the best Haunted House ever.
37. I still haven't explored all of New Fantasyland.
38. The Food and Wine Festival is going on. I want to go!
39. Staying at a Disney Resort is like going on vacation at home. So wonderful.
40. The sun just shines brighter at Disney. It also seems to rain harder...but that's beside the point.
41. Being at Disney makes me happy, and I like being happy.
42. I would still be learning...so obviously it works as a break from school.
43. I would have a billion and one things to blog about.
44. I haven't been to Disney is what...like three months? SO LONG.
45. Maybe I'd see someone famous if I stay there long enough.
46. There is no better way to end a night than with the Kiss Goodnight.
47. There are such leafy bushes there (hint hint to my brother).
48. I could get a friend for my neighbors fish (who we're fish sitting at the moment).
49. I just seem to be more productive at Disney.
50. It's just plain boring here.
51. Instead of blogging about how I wish I could be at Disney...I would be at Disney.

Ok, I give up. I'm pretty sure some of those don't even count, but hey, 51 is a pretty good number, and I'm sure that if I thought about it long enough I'd be able to come up with 50 more, right? Honestly though, it's just hard to define all the reasons I want to be at Disney. I don't really know what they are, other than it's just this feeling that something is missing. I'm missing Disney, and it's terrible, so I wish I was there.

Too bad I still won't be for a really really long time.

Here's today's Disney History: 1959: Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone makes it debut on CBS-TV with an episode called "Where is Everybody?" In this episode, actor Earl Holliman plays a man who finds himself alone in a strange and seemingly deserted town. The successful series will later be the inspiration for Disney's Tower of Terror park attractions. Ironically an inspection certificate outside the tower's elevators at WDW in Florida have the number 10259 written on it.

Have a magical day!