Goodbye Orlando!

This post was written in the ambiance of Coldplay's Parachute Album, with particular repeat on the track "Lost." I rediscovered it in iTunes recently and it was excellent plane music as well. Enjoy.

Well this is the end of the domestic chapter of my summer. Orlando has been wonderful. My roommate has been amazing and has taught me so much and I can only hope I have returned the favor. We have gone through a lot together this summer which makes saying goodbye even harder.

When I come back I will only be here for 8 hours before driving home, so it was like our final goodbye. My friend from back home in Memphis was here to drop me off too, so it was like I was saying goodbye to Memphis too in a way, ha!

Last night we did the Wishes Fireworks Dessert Party. You get the chance to enjoy a huge dessert buffet in tomorrowland before the fireworks start and have a saved spot for the show. Before the show there was a new castle show called "The Magic, The Memories, and You." Photopass photographers travel the park everyday taking great pictures to be used in this display on the castle. I think it really adds the personal touch Disney has been looking to achieve over the last few years. It was an adorable show and a great showcase of technology (at one point the castle looks as if it has been colored with a crayon or is on fire.

I was semi-unprepared, I only started packing 2 hours before I left for the airport. So after a stressful morning of packing, finalizing debit card international use and such.

As I boarded my Air Canada flight, everything began in French. And I had NO idea what anyone was saying! Fortunately an english speaking attendant came on afterwards.

Thank God.

The flight was okay. It was neat to see Lake Ontario from above, plus I made a few Canadian friends. Especially the girl next to me who happened to be wearing almost the same sweatshirt. I guess it made me realize how much we are really alike.

But then she started talking about all the holidays canadians get and couldn't understand why we start school in August, not September. I remember the days when we started in September.

Oh, those were the days.

She was a lot of fun to talk to and was also staying in Orlando for the summer. She was a hospitality major, too in school, but now working as a vet tech. I realized we were in the same situation, too. She chose hospitality because it would be fun, but didn't really have a passion for anything else.

As I've grown older, I have found passions in life.

One is travel of course.

Although I semi-regret choosing hospitality. I love the benefits and its a ton of fun. I would never regret choosing it as my primary job.

But I think I will go back to school for photography and graphic design after a couple years. Have a real job, save money, then learn to do something I found an interest in later in life well enough to get paid for it.

No one ever said I had to use my degree forever, right?

Random sidenote: Sitting in the Toronto Pearson Airport definitely makes me wish that the Memphis airport was half as nice. Heck, even the free wi-fi would be enough.

Our city is making a lot of changes I am so proud of, but that airport needs some work soon.

As I walked off the plane I wasn't able to get to my favorite part of flying, going without a phone for a couple hours and getting it back.

No phone for a month.

Another flight with the same disappointment as I climb out of the plane and wait on my baggage.

What will I check? Where will I get information? How will I know what everyone on the planet is doing, or at least as far as what they are willing to post on Facebook?

Am I addicted or what?

I'm really looking forward to the lack of technology in a way. I need the break.

This summer has been about recovery and self discovery.

And so begins the self discovery.

How "Eat, Pray, Love" of me, yeesh.

A Memphis friend noted how much I have changed this summer the other day.

In a good way I assumed - I guess I should have asked.

He feared that I would go back to Memphis and go back to my old habits.

And by habits I believe he meant a certain relationship that maybe has held me back for a while without growth.

I feel like you should grow from every relationship in life (friends, lovers, and family alike) and growth with that person, too. We all need each other.

I have been able to take and give so much to my roommate this summer. And my friends around the country and kind of the world have all given me new perspectives and insights and growing opportunities.

Shouldn't you expect the same of your lovers?

He believed that this summer was a great time to realize how stagnant I was, but so far has just been a warm up.

That, maybe, I will find myself in another way in Paris.

I've realized the destruction, time to make plans to rebuild.

I discovered so much about myself doing my internship with Disney, I can't wait to see what going across the pond for the month does.

Much love.