The Magic Kingdom

Today I went to math class.

My mom went to Disney World.

While I was learning about the I.C.M. and Number Theory, my mom was watching the Main Street Electrical Parade.

So jealous.

Anyway, since I can't be in Disney World right now I've decided that the next best thing is writing about it.  So today I bring you my favorite things from the Magic Kingdom.

1. Tortuga Tavern - Tortuga Tavern is a restaurant across from Pirates of the Caribbean. The entire time you get to listen to PotC music while eating delicious food. However, it closes at 2:00.  So if you try and go back for dinner, dreaming all day of the delicious burrito you're going to eat, you'll be very disappointed and have to settle for a not-very-good-and-not-at-all-remember-able dinner at the place around the corner. So go for lunch.
2. Pirate Goofy - Also by PotC is a Meet & Greet with Pirate Goofy. I can't even begin to describe the joy of meeting Pirate Goofy. But if I were going to try I would say it compared to the feeling Captain Jack Sparrow had when he escaped the gallows and got back the Pearl. Or the feeling Elizabeth had knowing she didn't have to marry Commodore Norrington. Or the way Orlando Bloom felt after he successfully flipped the perfectly balanced sword and caught it without killing himself or Jonathan Pryce.  Maybe if you mixed all three of those together, that would be the joy I felt knowing I could meet Pirate Goofy.
3. The Rope Drop Show -  Unlike the rope drop show in front of Mexico, the Magic Kingdom's Rope Drop Show is totally worth watching, even if it means you aren't at the front of the rope drop crowd. Not that you should completely abandon the area by the rope, just maybe take a few steps back so you can see what's happening. Even if you can't see, the music alone is pretty great.
4. Sweaters Around Waists - There are very few places it is acceptable to wear a sweater around your waist once you are above the age of nine.  These places include Disney Parks and... well, I'm not sure if it's socially acceptable anywhere else.  But I do know it is acceptable at Disney World. So is skipping. And smiling. And being happy to meet fictional characters from movies. I love Disney World.
5. Meeting the Fairies - Even though I am not a huge fan of the fairies, it was a lot of fun to meet them. Plus, while you wait in line you are in an air-conditioned building where they play clips from the fairy movies. And you may realize you like Tinker Bell more than you thought.
6. Fastpassing the Princesses - At Disney World you can get a Fastpass to meet the princesses. Plus the wait line is inside. And they tell you what princesses you can meet that day. It's magical. (At Disneyland there is no Fastpass, everything is outside, and they won't tell you what princesses you'll be meeting. In this one instance, Disneyland should learn from a job well done by Disney World.)
7. The Wait Line for Space Mountain - For those of you who had a short wait for Space Mountain, you probably walked through the queue unaware of the weird buttons lining the walls. Those of you who were lucky enough to have a long wait know that these are for a game they turn on to make the wait less wait-like. I don't remember much about the game except that there were spaceships... and I rocked it.
8. The Castle - The castle always looks amazing, but the best place to get a good view and picture of the castle is from the left side over by Liberty Square. Especially at night. Preferably when it's lit up in the yellow-orange color.
9. The New Fantasyland Expansion - This is my favorite thing about Disney World and my favorite conversation starter (Hey! Have you heard about the New Fantasyland Expansion?). I have been following its construction ever since I found out they were adding a restaurant designed to look like the scene 'Be Our Guest' from Beauty and the Beast.  (Belle is my favorite princess.) 

They also built Beast's castle. 

And they're going to add Prince Eric's castle.

And they're adding a Princess Fairytale Hall.
And a Little Mermaid Ride.

And they built another Dumbo ride to make the wait shorter.

And they added an air-conditioned-circus-inspired child play area while you wait for the ride. 

Previews for this magical land are happening now and it will officially open on December 6th with additional expansions next year. 

So while my mom is previewing the Beast's castle and the Be Our Guest restaurant, I'm studying for finals...

Just kidding. Finals aren't for another week and a half, but I'll be studying in a week, so... I think it counts.

It's November 5th!

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Today, people all over the world Britain are gathering around bonfires to set off fireworks and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. 

Those of us here in the United States don't really get to celebrate this holiday.  George Washington condemned it during the American Revolution because he was trying to gain the support of French-Canadian Catholics.

(Guy Fawkes Day apparently has a strong anti-Catholic sentiment.)

However, this is all very much off topic.  Back to the story of Fawkes:


In 1605 Guy Fawkes and his friends decided to blow up the House of Lords in order to kill King James I.  Some genius, though, decided to send a letter to one of his friends warning him not to go to Parliament the day they planned to blow it up.  His friend then showed it to the King, who ending up catching Fawkes guarding a whole bunch of gunpowder, right under the House of Lords.

Two lessons can be learned from this:

1) If you plan on killing someone, don't tell anyone who might warn the person you're trying to kill.

2) More people should be celebrated for failing.  This entire holiday came about to honor the failure of Fawkes and the other members of the Gunpowder Plot.  Can you imagine if every time somebody failed we got a holiday out of it?  "I'm sorry you failed this test, but in your honor no one has to come to class next Wednesday."  Or, "I'm sorry that you failed in asking her on a date, but here's some wood.  Go light things on fire."

Personally, I think this would make the world a much better place.  Well, until global warming catches up to everyone's failures and the world spontaneously blows up, but until then, a much better place.


In other news, November 5th is also the day I can enroll in classes for next semester.  At my French school!  Well, I could have if I understood how to enroll, but it turns out everything is in French.

In honor of my failing, I'm going to eat some chocolate cake.

On a more successful note I did manage to sign up for the sports program.  For a small fee you can enroll in a bunch of different classes -- fencing, horseback riding, badminton, tennis, skiing... However, I'm not sure yet if being able to speak, or at least understand, French is an important component.  Luckily, my dad sent me this text today:

"You will be speaking French no problem.  But just in case - hola (with a little gismo above the a) is how you say whoa in French."

I can just see it now:  American girl trying to ride a horse shouting, "Hola with a weird a!  Hola with a weird a!!"

I hope I get a horse that speaks Spanish.

Paperwork, Movies and Money

I don't know if you caught this from my last post, but I am really excited to go to France.  So excited that sometimes when I'm walking around campus I just randomly start smiling.  This is mostly on account of I just had to tell myself it would be inappropriate to yell out FRANCE! which makes me laugh at myself.

But despite all the excitement, there are three things that manage to bring me down from this high and back to reality.  They are (in reverse alphabetical order):

Paperwork

There is a ton of paperwork involved with studying abroad.  Well, maybe not a ton, but a lot.  Even when you think you've finished all the paperwork, more of it magically appears.  First you have to apply for the program, then the school you're going to wants you to fill out more papers, and then your school wants you to fill out more papers.  Oh, and don't forget you'll need a VISA, which also means... you guessed it!  Many more papers.

Luckily I'm off to France, which is like the paper government of the world.  Seriously, if there was a world government, France would be the people in charge of making people fill out all the paperwork.  That's how much they love it.

Movies

Good Idea: Watching movies set in France in French.  Especially musicals from the 1950s.

Bad Idea: Watching Taken 2.  Cause then you'll be reminded of Taken 1.  Which is the movie where the girl gets kidnapped and made to do, you know, bad stuff...  IN FRANCE.  Oops.  Luckily I won't be going with a stupid roommate who will tell the kidnappers we're staying in an apartment by ourselves, I'll just be there by myself.  Alone.  Which is so much better.

Money

There is almost as much money involved in studying abroad as there is paperwork.  And it's not even your money, it's borrowed money, that you're expected to pay back and stuff.  And yet some people have found a way to quit school and just spend all their time traveling the world.  Or maybe that's just my own personal dream.  Either way I need to figure out how to make that happen.