*ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN AND NOT OF THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OR YUMMY JOBS*
Hey there, pals!
For the majority of this week, I wasn't able to enjoy much of my free time because I was unwell with a migraine, which I have never ever suffered before! Luckily, a warm towel, plenty of water and rest eased the pain, but I could not leave my bed the majority of the time, which was kind of annoying. I reckon that I had been suffering from the migraine, and just generally feeling under the weather because I had been working myself up for so long about travelling 4.4 light-years to the moon of Pandora and Avatar’s Flight of Passage.
Nevertheless, this did not stop me from giving myself a break from all the training classes that I have been attending by hanging out with one of my fairy friends from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (BBB). We decided to go mini-golfing at the Fantasia Minature Golf Courses, which was so much fun! Both my friend and I were absolutely terrible and between us we lost about four balls before we'd even reached hole 9 haha! And not to mention, the penultimate hole was incredibly difficult was! However, we surprised each other and ourselves with a couple of holes in one each and we finished with a seven-point difference between the two of us! Who you think won? 😏
This week was a series of big changes for me. One of these was having brand new roommates move into the apartment. With the departure of my old roommates from the Fall 2019 programs meant that it was time for the new Spring 2020 college program participants to move in. Unfortunately, their moving in time slots were incredibly early in the day, so both myself and my other roommate got the shock of our lives when these strangers, soon to be roommates, walked into our bedrooms to find us sleeping! Fortunately, all the new roommates seem really nice, which I'm grateful for!
The beginning of my Cast Member journey started out with a series of training classes. Well, I did exactly the same for starting out as a Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI) technician as when I enrolled into my 1000 years of fairy school. Now, my schedule told me to show up as a PCI technician, which I thought was unusual. It turns out that I should have gone with my instincts of going business casual. The format was almost identical to what I had completed six months ago at Disney Springs, so I guess I should have refreshed my memory of these things.
In addition, I had to take another class that was specific to Pandora – the World of Avatar. In a nutshell, I learnt everything there is to know about the moon of Pandora, embracing the spirit of Eywa and learning about the works of the PCI – scientist group project dedicated to conserving the flora and fauna of Pandora. It was a lot of information for an earthling like me to take in. And as someone who has never seen the Avatar movie before, I was very confused and puzzled.
Alright, now you are probably wondering 'how does Avatar’s Flight of Passage, the PCI and PCI technician Hannah fit together?' Well, you're about to find out!
My very first day as a PCI technician was getting to know Pandora and Avatar’s Flight of Passage. For those you know who don’t know, Avatar’s Flight of Passage allows humans from Earth to connect to avatars, so that they can experience a Na’vi’s rite of passage: flying on the back of a mountain banshee (a dragon-like creature). This experiment from the PCI generates greater awareness of mountain banshees from studying their movements and natural habitat in the hope to encourage conservation. The following days after that were the technical components about the connections of humans to avatars, exploring the human reaction to experiencing their rite of passage and what to do in case the experiment does not go accordingly to plan.
As well as adding a Fairy Godmother in Training to my persona, I am a brand new PCI technician at Avatar’s Flight of Passage. I never thought I would be putting fairy and banshee in the same sentence.
My first week conducting the experiment independently was a series of unfortunate events… Luckily, I had a more experienced PCI technician helping me out along the way. There were a couple of times where the human to avatar connections broke about halfway through the rite of passage, resulting in evacuations. Not even Dr Ogden or Dr Stevens could figure out what went wrong with the experiment, so my area of the Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI) was closed for the rest of the day. One of the other PCI technicians has nicknamed me a troublemaker for incomplete experiments!
While I was learning a lot about life on the moon of Pandora, I was able to travel to Earth and pay two visits to fairy school. I had heard from one of my former fairy classmates that there were some fairies who were asking after me... I was able to speak to some of the fairies on the phone, as well as one of the leaders, which was a very pleasant surprise! And so, I decided to surprise them. I was elated that I was able to hug everyone and see their smiling faces again, which truly brightened my day! I got to tell all of the fairies and leaders about how I miss being at fairy school (💔) and gave them an update about how I am doing and life on the moon of Pandora. I was really struggling at first, but one of the leaders gave me a pep talk, which boosted my PCI technician confidence levels back up again. Even to this day, I still receive beautifully written words of encouragement from my former fairy classmates and it really did (and still does) warm my heart!
Well, this week I had to face some huge challenges and big changes. Some may not even overcome these changes… At times, I thought I would not be able to do it! But I am super proud of myself for dominating this new and crazy week and overcoming all the challenges that I have faced! I am honoured that I get to conduct experiments (avatar links) at one of Disney's most popular attractions and get to share my passion with the Guests from Earth. I am super excited to bring you some exciting stories from Avatar’s Flight of Passage, so I hope you guys will stick around for that!
Thank you so much for reading!
-Hannah
DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP) 2019-2020 and may not reflect everyone’s experience. Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments to their programs that may not be featured in any of my blog posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best as I possibly can 😊
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