Moving Away from Home

The idea is that you go to college, get a great job and move out on your own, right? Most people like to ease into this. Maybe they go to a college in a different state to try and get used to living away from home. Or, some may move only a few towns over from their parents. All completely reasonable plans. Me? I had to be obnoxious and move not just one state, but 8 states away from all my family and friends. That's a total of 1,064 miles. And, to top it all off, I moved before I was even done with college and had no permanent job to secure me. Good plan, right?

If someone were to tell me back in high school that I would move to freakin' Orlando, FL, away from ALL my family and friends, I would have definitely laughed in your face. I am not very spontaneous or daring. I do my research before I basically do anything in life... even when it comes to trying a new shampoo. However, I decided to dive head first into adulting.

Story starts during my Disney college program. That was the first big jump for me and it was really hard. I don't come off as a very emotional person, but I am. I'll never forget the night my parents were leaving Florida to go back to New Jersey. We went to a restaurant to eat and the whole time I felt like I was going to explode with anxiety. It definitely did not help my anxiety that our waitress was being rather rude and my dad did NOT tolerate it and got a little too Italian gangster on her (if you know my dad, YOU KNOW). I ran out of the restaurant unable to catch my breath. Cue panic attack! I just couldn't believe that I decided to do an internship SO far from home. I had never been that far away!

I went to college in New Jersey and went home almost every other weekend. Stress was an understatement. What made it easier, though, was that this specific program was only 6 months long. I kept telling myself, it's not forever. I'll be home soon enough. Well, it did go fast. However, so did my growing love of Disney. Come June of 2015, I moved back home to New Jersey.

I was home for one full year before I made my permanent move back to Florida. In April of 2016, I received my offer to be a professional intern for Disney Parks and Resorts. Again, this was only a temporary position, and in no way any form of job security. Even still, I jumped on the opportunity to move and this time, I wasn't planning on coming back.

On my Disney college program, I was offered housing, similar to dorm room living, so I did not have to search for a place to live. They also offer housing for professional interns, but I was pretty over having to share a room, so I started searching for a place to live. I don't know about other places, but Orlando is super easy to find a place to live. There's about a million apartments available, even some houses you can rent out. More and more apartments are being built every year as well, so there will never be a lack of resources. But for my first big move, I was not going to try and live on my own. Another nice thing about Orlando is that there are a lot of millennials living here, so it's super easy to meet people.

The first time I moved to Florida for my college program, I knew NO ONE except my boyfriend of the time. Thankfully this time, I knew about 3 people in the Orlando area still. Not a lot, but enough to be less freaked out. However, none of these people were able to move in with me. So, I went to Facebook. There is this awesome Facebook group for Disney cast members to try and find living situations. You don't need to be a Disney cast member to join this page, but it definitely helps.

I reached out to a bunch of people and couldn't really quite find the perfect fit for me. Either the apartment was too far from where I was going to work or the rent was too expensive. Fate eventually kicked in and a guy I used to work with during my college program reached out with an open room. It was perfect! The place was already furnished, the rent was cheap and it was literally only 10 minutes from my work location. I HIGHLY recommend looking into furnished apartments for your first big move if you don't have any furniture. This was SUCH a big help. During my year lease, I was able to save up to buy a bed, dresser and other essential items I needed.

On June 5, 2016, my parents and I drove 1,064 miles, 18 hours in my tiny, beat up, red 02' Kia Sportage, back to Orlando for my final move. It was never addressed as "this is it, never coming back," but I think we all knew that this move was more serious than the other. This time was not as sad though. I was so happy to be starting a journey that I worked so hard to get, and I knew that I would fly home as often as possible. 3 years, 4 leases and 8 roommates later and I am still living in Orlando, FL. Taking a leap of faith and doing something that scares you is never easy, but you learn so much about yourself and just how strong you are when you do it. I wouldn't trade the experiences I have had thus far for anything. Moving to Orlando was the best decision for me and I could not imagine my life playing out any other way!