January 2016: I woke around 6:00 AM because that was my clock, waking me up for some reason. I went on the Disney Careers page, where I go a lot, and one of the very first results for that early January morning? Disney College Program. I shrugged it off, thinking it was a glitch, and then I went on the Fall Facebook page. People were crying out that they had applied. I once again dismissed it until the official Disney College Program page confirmed it: They had surprised us with an early application. I was hearing back from a job at the mall at the time, however, so I didn’t apply until the last week of January. I completed my phone interview mid-February. I was so confident that I was going to get in. I mean, I got in the last time and now I have a children’s activities job at a museum. Two days later I was pended. I immediately brushed it off since my interviewer said I was perfect for everything. But it is now April 15th: the final day for decisions. For weeks, I had tears and anxiety attacks over not getting into the Disney College Program this fall. Yes, I can do it in the spring. But this fall season is important to me. There’s the Halloween and Christmas special events and Moana is coming out. I want to see the movie and jam out to the soundtrack with my friends, and see the beautiful princess herself at Walt Disney World. I have friends who got in. I have to get in.
April 15th: This is it. Everything I have been waiting for comes down to this. I sighed, prayed to God and opened my email and my dashboard from time to time. Nothing all day and I was furious. This was the day I was going to get something, but didn't. The very next day, most of the people who still didn't get anything yesterday got waitlisted... except me.
That Monday, I emailed Disney for a update. After those months and weeks of waiting and crying, I learned that I didn’t get in. I cried for the rest of the morning. But thanks to God almighty, I have another chance. It is indeed heartbreaking that I didn’t get into the college program. But I still have one more chance. There is a chance I won’t apply to the spring for a couple of reasons that are unknown right now. But, until then, I gotta “shake it off” by healing from this heartbreak for a little while and get a job to save money. Until this fall, I will be like Rapunzel in her tower, wondering to myself, “When Will My Life Begin?”