Week 9 was sort of a sad week. Today I had to say goodbye to a couple of the international cps. Honestly, Holly, Shiho, and Weng Chen are one of the kindest people I’ve met. They have honestly been so generous and helpful. It was especially hard reading a letter Holly had written to me. Saying goodbye to people is one of the hardest things I will need to learn to get through in this program. I have met so many wonderful people that I learn from on a daily basis and having to say my goodbyes is definitely rough. The good thing about the international cps is that they’re not going home just yet, they’re only switching their work location. This is great because on any day that I am free, I could just easily go and visit them.
My classes have been going well so far, I had an essay due earlier this week where I had the task of interviewing one of my leaders. I decided to interview Stephanie because she seems to be one of the most unapproachable leaders and I wanted to better understand her. Because she has been working with the company for over 20 years, she has the tendency of sticking to the books. I learned that working in management positions tends to take a toll on people. She told me about this one time specifically when she had to deal with the murder of a cast member and the effects it had on the rest of the team. I would have never thought of someone getting murdered, it’s something you see in movies. She told me about how it’s hard to lead a team to create happiness when everyone has seen such a beloved person’s life being taken away from them much too soon. The conversation with her was enlightening. It puts into perspective how difficult leading a team really is especially when everyone becomes so close with one another. Sometimes it’s easier to close yourself off and not allow yourself to be vulnerable, other times though, the greatest things are learned from those short but meaningful interactions.
