J1 Academic Program UCF, Jan - July 2008

well me neither...I'm not so excited about going out this year, but...we'll see what 2008 offers jajaja.

and of course you'll get ur visa!!! see ya soon!

 

i think as well asthe hospitality certificate thing...we should also be awarded with a form filling in diploma...since applying for disney im such a form expert!!! andddd most of these forms deserve an award after we have filled them out!!! it seems really strange to be getting stuff ready to go! bought some locks the other day...4 for £1 in poundland...woo woo! im a bit worried about the embassys entry policy with the large bag/no phone thing... its mental....!!! think i may have to find some lockers somewhere in London?!!

cant believe i will be finally meeting some of you in 5 daaayyyyyyyyss!

Hope you have all had a great christmas and didnt have to work!!

xxx

 

Hey guys do u know if we get to choose our roommates??? or at least our apartment? I know some of u have been there before, so how's first day?

Saludos a todos!!!

 

From what I've heard you tend to get placed with the people you arrive with (well your room mate will be someone from your own nationality). If you arrive with someone you want to live with then I'm sure you can request that.

I pray to God I get on with and like the guy that ends up with me. God rest his soul. Haha.

Ben

 

about room mates - you can't request who you live with (american cps can do this) and you might not be rooming with people from your own country.

When i arrived we were given an evelope with our name on it, our apartment number on it and they key was inside the envelope. It was predetermined who you lived with. on my first program i lived with people from hong kong, france and england. On both my programs i was put in the same apartment as 2 others from my flight and everyone who was in my apartment moved in on the same day.

I know a couple of people who started the UCF program in April and they were put in an apartment with people who had been there for a few months before and was the only person from the UK in the apartment. I know quite a few people on my ICPs who were put in apartments where they were the only UK person.

 

I'm quite scared about who I will live with. While I like to have a bit of a party now and again I don't want to be in one of those appartments that always hosts parties and doesn't sleep haha!

Infact the rooming thing is what I'm most nervous of coz u have to have a close relationship with that person in your room. If u dont like each other... yikes.

It's real unlikely we'll get put with americans right? Unless for some reason there is one space in an american appartment where sumone left or something I guess?

Ben

 

someone i know on the october ucf program was put in chatham and is with 7 other americans

 

Happy new year everyone !!!

Does anybody got everything sorted out? I've got my appointment on the 10th with my embassy but still haven't got the DS-2019 form...

I'm also a little bit scared about the roommate thing. Hope I don't end up with someone who doesn't clean a thing...Can you change apartment if you don't get along? Hope it will be OK. Anybody leaving from Brussels on the 20th?

See you all very soon now...only a couple of days to go

Sarah xxx

 

hello everybody,

i did not post here for a while because i was so lazy to do this....
first of all happy 2008 to everyone, i hope enjoied the new year's eve wherever you were...
about the roommate you can change it if you want. they just charge you $50 for it...
in my last programm i did it........
;D bye bye and see you soon

 

just 6 days guys!!!

 

Is everybody ready? Oh my god, only two days guys, i can't wait.

Medardo

 

nowhere near ready! i kinda just keep puttin songs on my ipod that seems to be the only thing i find important lol

 

have a good time everyone!

make sure your write back to us here and keep us updated!

 

Thought i would update you all on my exp so far!.... there has been a lot of filling in paperwork...A LOT! and sitting in classrooms...lots of that too!! its been really good though so far....everyone i have met are so friendly and all feeling the same....we have all beenso busy there is no time to stop and think and half the time i keep forgetting that im actually not on holiday!!!!!!

Its our first day of UCF tomorrow so i cant update you on that........ should be an interesting update when we do!!!

Overall so far (3 days!) im loving it! i know i will have my ups and downs but i think this is going to be an amazing experience!!!!

Speak to you all soon!!


message me if you have any questions

xxx

 

Hey Alex

Glad everything has gone well so far - can't wait to get out there now

Keep us updated if you get a chance - and any tips or general advice would be very much appreciated!!

xx

 

If you can manage to bring a duvet it might benefit you. I managed to get one so when I got here I didn't need to make a midnite trip to Wallmart. You can't imagine how knackering that first day is. Also Walmart run out of everything if a lot of people are moving in on your day. And there will be A LOT of waiting around at the airport. If you thought the visa process was over it isn't yet... haha. They check a few things at the airport and stamp something.

 

so where are you all working and living? details!!

 

All the people on this programme were put in Vista Way. Unfortunately we didn't have the choice. When we arrived at the airport we were just given an envelope with a key and it was all predetermined.

I'm going to be at Epcot in Future World. I was a bit gutted at first because I thought one of the other parks would have been more exciting but it looks like I will be 'chief pintrader' because one of the merchandise stalls I will be doing is the pin trading one in future world. Plus Epcot shuts at 9 so I'm never going to be working much later than 11. My first proper day is tomorrow. I've spent the last three days doing traditions, merchantainment and discovery day (tour of Epcot thing). The training is good tho and if u speak up they give u Disney prizes!

The UCF campus is beautiful. If u ever saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer it could be Sunnydale High. It's just amazing. And they give u free lunch and stuff. I'm doing the wine class and the 'beer and wine' lab is absolutely fantastic! Good experiences so far... except the living bit, but I think I just got unlucky there...

Ben

 

Hey guys

Hope everything is going well over there!

Just a quick question, were the rooms predetermined before you got there? I have read somewhere that you had to select what kind of apartment you wanted, i.e. wellness/non-wellness and how many bedrooms etc

xxx

 

Vicki, only people on the american college program get to have a say in what kind of apartment they might get.

Internationals get given an envelope with their name on when they arrive at the airport. The envelope contains the apartment number and your key. You only find out how many room mates you have when you get there. however if you are in vista way it tends to be like this:

Apartment Block + Apartment number. So if you are in block 35 and in apartment number 2 your apartment will be 3502.

numbers 1 to 4 are on the ground floor, 5 to 8 are on the 1st floor and 9 to 12 are on the top floor. Most ground and 1st floor apartments at Vista are 3 bedroom/2 bath and top floors are 2 bedroom/ 2 bath.

Sooo when you get your packet and it says you are in 01-08 (eg 3501-3508) most likely a 3 bed and 09-12 (3509-3512) most likely 2 bed.

hope that makes sense :-X