April

I know it's been a while. I've been insanely busy the past few weeks trying to get all my hours in and all my reports done (which is what I should be doing right now...). I just got done having my teacher come visit from KY and see me in action. Everything went well and after much frustration, the office finally found a place where my teacher was allowed to observe me. One of my 3 mentors here used to work through EKU at the University of Louisville so he already knew my teacher from that. The three of us went out to dinner the first night she was here which was fun.

I got a new roommate at the beginning of April. She's from Portland and we have a lot in common. We get along really well but we have a hard time focusing on our work when we're in the same room so we have to separate to get anything done :P I'm sad that we only get a month to be roomies but I will be glad to be going home.

A week from today Morgan will be flying in to Orlando to help me drive home. I have one more meeting on Friday to wrap everything up and give the company my feedback and then I'm done! Saturday we might go to the beach and then ziplining. We don't really have an exact plan for driving home but as quickly as possible is good for me. I am very excited to see my family (including Grandpa :) and friends who I haven't seen all semester.

After graduation is done, we're off to Ireland and Europe and I couldn't be more excited or nervous for that! I am sure there will be plenty of pictures after that trip :)

Oh, and in case everyone didn't already think that I'm crazy, I'm looking into grad school. I can get free tuition at EKU until I'm 25 so I figured I might as well get a free education, right? I've looked into the mental health counseling program and my plan is to start out with one class in the fall and go from there if it's something I enjoy. I'm not changing career paths, I'm just looking to expand my options and opportunities.

Hollywood Studios

As promised, here are some pictures from Hollywood studios. We had a fun time and we tried to go to all the shows. The first one was the Lights Motors Action stunt show. We also went to the Indiana Jones stunt show. The pictures further down are from the parade.

This is a picture of Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars" and the other one is the evil "secret weapon" car that he was trying to chase down. That thing on the top of the car that looks like a missile actually says the words, "secret weapon," on it.

The giant wrecking ball coming down on Indiana (well technically his stunt double).

A great action shot! I had seen part of the show before so I knew some of the times when I would catch the action.

Matt with the C3PO and R2D2 square at the fake Chinese Theatre.

This was on the Toy Story 3D game ride. It came out blurry but I decided it looked cooler that way.

The giant Mickey sorcerer's hat. This is the symbol they use to represent Hollywood Studios.

The little green men from Toy Story. This was part of the Pixar and friends parade. We just ended up walking by the parade route just as it was starting.

My own personal float :)
The "UP" float, it's one of my favorites because of the balloons.

Boo! My favorite character from Monsters Inc.

Cocoa Beach

Today I went to Cocoa Beach :) I chose there because I've seen the beach on the Gulf coast but not the Atlantic side yet (except in other states). I also chose this beach because it was the

closest to where I live, only an hour and 20 minutes instead of two hours one way.

This is the first pic I took when I got there :)

There was a little place across from the beach so I ate lunch there so I wouldn't have to move my car. I got a nice spot that was freeeee... there were some lots charging up to $10 for parking and metered parking in many places so I was a lucky duck.

Me soaking up the sun :) I bought a nice beach chair at Target because the last few times I went to the beach I really wished I had one.

Another picture toward the end of the day. The tide got much further out as the day went on. I actually went out and played in the water for a while which is something I haven't done since I was a kid because I'm usually afraid that some sea creature will sting or bite me. It was so hot and there were so many other people in the water, I decided to go for it and I had a blast :) I also saw a sand crab that looked a lot like this guy (http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo180917.htm) but when I went to take his picture he scuttled into his sand hole. It scared me at first because I've never seen a crab that big in nature, it was about 6 inches across. It was a good day off and I only got a little burned :)

Spring Break- Sarasota Beach

For the first part of spring break mommy and Shea came and Matt came and we went to Magic Kingdom together. Magic Kingdom was fun, especially since I didn't have to go alone for once :) The last day mommy and Shea were here we went to Downtown Disney so they could get the souvenirs that they wanted and then we got some lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (a restaurant we used to go to in AZ but they don't have them in Kentucky) which was delicious. After that we took them to the airport which was sad because they were only here for four days.

After mom and Shea left we went to Epcot where I didn't take many pictures because I forgot my camera and I didn't feel very good because I was starting to get sick. The next two days I pretty much slept and was miserable but Matty was very nice to me. After I was done being so sick we went to the beach in Sarasota.

We decided to go to Sarasota so I could take Matt to Yoder's Amish restaurant where I went the first weekend I was here. We ended up going there on Sunday and I realized that they're not open on Sunday after we were already almost there so we ended up staying a night in a cheap hotel and then we went to Yoder's in the morning for breakfast. It was DELICIOUS :) Matt got buiscuts and gravy and eggs and I got raspberry french toast and of course we brought home some of their famous pie.

On Sunday we went to the beach and there was a rain storm was rolling in. We walked up and down the beach before the rain started and then we sat on a bench and watched everyone leave when it started sprinkling. It was pretty watching it rain on the beach but we got hungry so we went and got something to eat. After the rain stopped we went back to the beach and watched the sunset. When it was dark we decided to go bowling. I lost but it was still a fun game :)

The last day we went to Hollywood studios where I took a lot more pictures so I'll make a separate post for that one :)

The clouds started rolling in, very pretty :)

Matt wading in the water. I wouldn't go out that far because I was scared of sea creatures eating my toes. Yeah, I know there are no sea creatures that would actually eat my toes out there..


Bowling! Matt managed to sneak a picture of me when I was playing.

Matt's turn

And the final score... almost. Matt had one more turn after that because he kept getting strikes at the end but you get the point, he won.

More to come, I will post the Hollywood studios pix soon :)

Another Update

Family and Friends:
Yes, I am still alive! I'm doing well. I've been having some really fun experiences on internship. I've gotten to go to almost all of the Disney parks (the only one I haven't been to I will go to tomorrow) and SeaWorld. I have seen conferences, doctor's visits, court, theatrical, job trainings, etc. I've had some obstacles along the way but I am finally feeling like I'm in the flow of things. The schedule seems to change daily and I'm always all over the place but I don't mind running around everywhere. I have lots of work, which I should be doing right now but I know I haven't updated in a while. I have finally been getting some more hands up time and gettting some good feedback from the interpreters that I work with.
Less than two weeks from now will be my spring break and I will get to see my family and Matt :) I'm planning to take them to the Disney parks and to Universal to see Harry Potter so I'm very excited for that. When I do have some time off I sometimes go to the parks alone so it would be nice to go with family. Still don't have pictures, not much time to take pictures and when I'm alone I don't think about it as much but after spring break I'll have PLENTY!

Craziness

Well I've been busy as usual. Mostly just going out on assignments, going to the library to do my reports, and hanging out with my roommates. Luckily tomorrow is my day off! :) But my plans include laundry, hw, laundry, cleaning, and sleeping innnnnn.

Hopefully I will post more tomorrow because right now I can't think of anything else to talk about besides how busy I've been :P

New Intern

Last night a new intern moved into the condo. She'll be here for the next two months. She seems really nice and she brought tennis rackets so I told her I would play with her sometime when we have a day off.

I've still been really busy, all the stuff I have for EKU is due at the end of each month while we're on internship and it's that time now. I did have a day off on Sunday which I spent at the library catching up on homework and then I went to see a movie by myself which was still fun. On Saturday night I went to Animal Kingdom after my assignments and wandered around a little bit.

Only one month left until everyone comes to visit me for spring break! :) I'm excited for spring break and I'm ready to have a week off. Lots of pictures after that I assume but not much time to take pictures when I'm at work or by myself all the time.

And now back to my homework because I have a lot to do before the end of the day!

What is going on in Casey's life?

A LOT! Between paperwork, assignments, driving all over this crazy city, and trying to get what little sleep I can, my life is insane. Weekends? What are those again? Yeah I work at least 6 days every week and all my "spare time" is spent doing homework, catching up on phone calls to interpreters and family and Matt (usually while driving, yeah I know it's not safe but it's the only time I can call people). If I'm lucky I get to bed by midnight and I have recently been getting up before it's light out.

Interpreting wise it's been fun. I've had a few chances to do some hands up time and it's gone well so far. I can't really go into much detail sadly because of confidentiality which I'm quickly learning lots about.

A few nights ago us interns went out with some of the interpreters and we got this ice cream sundae called the "kitchen sink." Basically it's 8 scoops of ice cream, a whole can of whipped cream, and just about every topping in the world including candy bars and angel food cake and cherries and bananas, etc. It was yummy but a lot! It said it serves 4 and between the 6 1/2 of us (yes, I'm counting the cutie in this picture as a 1/2... he's the son of one of the interpreters) we barely ate more than half.

Sarasota and Yoder's

The three of us interns went to Sarasota beach over the weekend. On Saturday night we went to an Amish restaurant (http://yodersrestaurant.com/) which was featured on Man Vs. Food and was recommended by a mentor. It was DELICIOUS!


My pulled pork sandwich. My banana creme pie! Mmmmm. They have awards for their pie.


We had a fun and relaxing day on the beach. I unfortunately tried to put sunscreen on my back myself and missed a little bit of my back. Ouch! Yeah, I guess that's one lesson I will forever learn over again.

My interpreting assignments are going well. I'm having a great time observing and I did a few minutes of hands up time. The interpreters were very supportive and helped me out. I am learning a lot and keeping on top of my homework assignments (most of the time).

Today I went to Disney. I got an annual pass for the parks so I can go any time I want to. I also have a day off on Friday so I might go again. I'm trying to make the most of the short time I have here.

Any questions? I'm getting good at asking questions. I'm not sure what else to talk about so if anyone wants to know about anything, leave a comment.

FLORIDA! INTERNSHIP!

Well, I'm safe and well in Florida in the condo. There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms, kitchen, living room, small dining room area. I have a roommate who is a Deaf interpreter, Tanya (for now, she's staying here temporarily). In the other bedroom there are two girls from Minnesota. They're staying until the end of January. February and March there will be two girls here from Indiana. In April and after I leave there will be two girls from Oregon. As far as my roommate, I think I'll be getting another one after Tanya moves out. The dynamic in the condo is really nice, everyone gets along pretty well here.

Internship! 1/9/12- 4/27/12

I have a lead mentor, Tara, and a support mentor, Amy. I go out on assignments with all different interpreters including my mentors sometimes. I have had an interesting first week trying to figure out the area and the internship stuff. I have to write reports for all the assignments I go to (2-3 per day) and then send them to my mentors once a week. I also have assignments for my school. Basically, it's like a full time 40 hour per week job.

This week I've done some cool stuff. Today I went to Epcot and then I went to a culinary class. This week is observation only but next week I can start getting some "hands up" time (just a little bit at a time). I'm finally starting to get the hang of my crazy scheduling, driving the area, and staying on top of my assignments. We are also required to call the interpreters we are observing in advance to make sure we know everything we need to know about the assignment. It's a strange and exciting thought that this is the beginning of what I'm doing with the rest of my life. It's still a hybrid between the real world and school, but schedule wise, this is my world now.

Pictures?

Okay, so I'm bad about making them magically move from my camera to my computer. I will find time when I can to do so but as you can tell, my life is insane these days. I'll do my best to update once a week.

To those in colder climates, I'm sorry but it's absolutely beautiful here. Everyone says the three of us interns are crazy because we're going to the beach tomorrow and it's so "cold" but I'm pretty excited. Anyway, goodnight for now :)