Up, Up, and Away!

Hello again, 'tis Janice, your favorite blogger here to tell you more about my adventures!

Last time we left off, it was Tuesday and we watched Human Centipede. Well the next day then was Wednesday (11/3/10) and I had high hopes of having Nasa's space shuttle Discovery launch. But alas, it was postponed again due to yet another leak and high winds. Since I had taken the day off work to go see the launch, I had nothing to do. Instead of sitting around like a lazy, I did something that I'd always wanted to: I flew in a hot air balloon. Actually, it was more like the largest tethered balloon, but still an awesome experience. Dakotah and I finally got to ride Characters in Flight at Downtown Disney, after having been told on countless occasions that the weather was too bad, etc., etc. It was lots of fun, plus Hilary got to go for free because some woman's son wanted to go and she is terrified of heights, so paid for Hilary to go with her son, so he could experience it. Up in the air, you could see 3 out of the 4 Disney parks, the only that you couldn't see was Magic Kingdom, but its all good from 400 feet up in the air you don't really care that you can't see one little castle. Its the overall experience of seeing the world from a distance that catches you off guard and reminds you how lucky we are.

Chilling with the Captain of our hot air balloon experience!

 

UP, UP, and AWAY!

Janice, Dakotah, and Hilary at Characters in Flight in Downtown Disney

After we were done with our hot air ballooning travels, we ventured off to Epcot leaving Hilary at Downtown Disney to see Night of Stars, a College Program housing talent show. At Epcot, Dakotah and I were set on doing Innoventions, so we went to the left side of the buildings first and did the Stormstruck Severe Weather replicator. Then, we made our own roller coaster while learning about all the math and engineering that goes into it at the ride Sum of All Thrills. From there, we played around with different things like the safety procedures that go into making a house weatherproof, how much waste we create a day, etc. Once we had finished up with that side of Innoventions, we went forth to the Universe of Energy Ride hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. That ride is 2 things: surprisingly long, but also really interesting. It even has Bill Nye the science guy in it helping explain to Ellen why energy is so important and where energy comes from.

Sum of All Thrills where we created our own roller coaster

 Next, we went to the other Innoventions building and played with a fire truck, then put out some common house fires, and finally rode a Segway! Riding a Segway made me feel like Job from Arrested Development the entire time, it was hilarious. Then, we met up with Kurt from work and we went to the World Showcase just as it was starting to rain. Dakotah and I quickly got some sushi from Japan and then went to Via Napoli for some sit-down Neapolitan pizza. It was delicious food. After dinner, we went to Mexico and we colored some Duffy's. After that we called it a night, played with some abandoned wheelchairs in the parking lot, and left Epcot.

Riding a Segway

When Thursday came around, it was our dear friend Alex's last day of working PAC with us. If you are an ICP (international College Program student) you have to have 2 jobs during your time, so Alex's first job was PAC, and now he has been switched over to sell turkey legs over in Frontierland. It was a very sad day. So in order to have a good night, we decided we were going to watch a movie and make him cupcakes. When we asked him if he wanted to join us, he said of course and then we set out to find a place to do this and get supplies. Originally, we were going to meet at my apartment, but since my roommates don't really like people over because they work early in the morning, they were less than pleased to see people. So we left to Chatham where Alex lives. Dakotah went to Walmart and bought another pizza kit and cookie mix, so we were set. Basically, all night we just baked pizza and cookies and chatted it up. It was a nice low-key night.

Then it was Friday (11/5/10) and after work I had plans to once again have another low-key night, just make spaghetti or something, but then more people from my work told me they were leaving to other jobs! Alexa, Scarlet, and Bob were leaving to go to different quick service food and beverage jobs. And Alexa, invited us over to her apartment for some traditional Chinese food, since she is from Shanghai, she would know how it should taste! And it was DELICIOUS! It was some of the best food that I have ever eaten. I don't even know what half of it was, but it was good. After this fine dinning, a group from work were going to see Paranormal Activity 2, but since I am not a big horror movie fan I opted out and instead watched Beauty and the Beast with Hilary.

Catharine, Alexa (our lovely hostess), and Dakotah NOM NOM NOMing Alexa's food!

The gang eating some NOM NOMS!

 When I awoke it was Saturday (11/6/10) and Brooke was just getting done with work. They had her work from 2am to 10am or something crazy like that, so she was tired and hungry and wanted to go to IHOP. Since I have never been to an IHOP before, I said let's go and Brooke, Hilary, and I were off. IHOPs are ok places they remind me of a Denny's or Baker's Square type place. Good food, bad service, it happens. After IHOP, I booked it into my costume for work and did just that, I went to work.

My first time at an IHOP

 Now I know that I'm from MN, so shouldn't be that cold when it hits 40 degrees and I am outside wearing a thin blazer, I am going to feel pretty cold. But once thing I will say that makes it better was seeing all the Christmas lights around the Magic Kingdom, it was beautiful and made me excited for the holiday season. At work, I had a 3 hour gap, so played in the park with Dakotah, Amanda, and Gina. Mostly we just bought goodies from the Confectionery and ate them while talking about the weather. Plus, I finally got to try a hot dog from Casey's Corner and it was so tasty! After the gap, it was back to work and when I got done at 1am, I went home, switched my clock back an hour, and went to sleep. ZZZZZzzzzzzz