It’s been a month since my arrival and it honestly felt like I’ve been here for quite a while. Over the past two weeks, much to my surprise I was homesick. I missed New York City and everything that makes New York City a place like no others. Even though I miss my friends and family back home, I also enjoy my experience at Disney College Program. By now I am already used to my role as an outdoor quick service vendor. However what I am not used to is working 30+ hours per week, living on my own and taking classes online and with Disney. I realized this is all part of my poor time management and not prioritize my task accordingly.
My first day of class was creativity and innovation. My instructor Ellen Tetlow started her career at Walt Disney World company as a cast member at Animal Kingdom. She worked as a driver at Kilimanjaro Safari then got accepted to being an instructor due to her prior experience of being a professor at University of St. Louis. I find this class particularly helpful especially when it comes to not only being creativity but expand our thought process to be innovative as well. My instructor encourage us to write down our ideas and even sketch them whenever and wherever.
The second class I am taking is Human Resource Management. I was pleased to find out that our instructor is very humorous but also knowledgeable in the HR field. The reason why I took this class was to extend my knowledge on Human Resource Management and how it will pertain to my major in Hospitality. Most of my classmates are international students and majority of them are from China and Korea. Being from New York City, I really enjoy the diversity of the class. Although it is only the second week of class, I learned a lot from business morality and values to what it takes to be a successful leader in the future.
P.S. We refer to our instructor by their first name since Walt Disney is a first name company.
Great Post. Yes, being home sick at this point is usual. Like you said, there is no place like NYC and the pace of Orlando and Disney just can not match. Cherish this time because you will embrace what you are learning even more since you know you will be home sooner than you will realize.
A first name company provides a sense of equality. How do you feel about calling your superiors and teachers by their first name?
Calling my superiors by their first name was a bit strange at first. I was so used to addressing my superiors by calling them Mister, Mrs. or Professor. However I realized calling them by their first name breaks the barrier between a student and a teacher. It makes the learning environment more interactive with the instructors like it is with my peers.
Interesting. I like the culture it creates.