Everything I did in my 3 months in Florida

Hi chums!

I had the best summer ever in Florida and I was so lucky that I got to do so many fun things on my days off while I was there.

I kept a diary of everything I did while I was there so that I am able to remember every single thing. I decided that I would do this blog post as a way of remembering all the things I did.


So without further ado, here is a list of everything I did...

Work
  • 3 days of life guard training
  • Work x47
  • Volunteering (food bank)
  • In-service x4
Parks
  • Disney Springs x2
  • Magic Kingdom x8
  • Epcot x9
  • Hollywood Studios x6
  • Animal Kingdom x3
  • Citywalk (dinner or shopping) x13 
  • Universal Studios/ Islands of Adventure x15
  • Character Breakfast at the Grand Floridian
  • Busch Gardens
  • Seaworld
Other
  • Cocoa Beach
  • Orlando Eye
  • Downtown Orlando
  • Pool party for my American friend
  • Wild Willy's Airboat Tours
  • Mini Golf at Universal Studios
  • Ripley's Believe It or Not
  • Clearwater Beach
  • Cinema in Citywalk to see Dunkirk
  • Just Puppies
  • Farmer's Market by Lake Eola
  • UCF Football Match
  • Kennedy Space Center
  • Wekiwa Springs
Shopping
  • Florida Mall x3
  • Premium Outlets x3
  • Walmart x2
  • Publix x6
  • Mall at Millenia x2
Restaurants
  • Cheesecake Factory x2
  • Wendy's
  • Alehouse x9
  • Peach Valley for breakfast
  • Longhorn Steakhouse
  • Hard Rock
  • Olive Garden
  • Bahama Breeze
I learnt so much from my summer abroad and I really appreciate being able to spend so much time in a country I have always loved spending time in.

I would really recommend going abroad for a summer if you get the chance. No matter what you end up doing you'll learnt so much! 

A lot of people of the program I did didn't make the most of their time in Florida. I would recommend really utilising the time you have abroad to do everything you can and want to do!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx



Photography in Jurassic Park

Hi chums!

I was so lucky that while I was working for Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando that I got free entry to Universal Studios seeing as the hotel was one of the 5 properties connected to Universal.


Seeing as I got to spend to much time in the parks I decided I would go a couple of times just to take photos and so the following are some of my favourites from the Jurassic Park area of Islands of Adventure.







As a huge fan of both the original Jurassic Park movies and Jurassic World, I really love this area of the park and I really enjoyed wandering around taking photos.

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

Visiting the Kennedy Space Center

Hi chums!

A couple of weeks ago we decided to make a trip towards the East Coast of Florida and visit the Kennedy Space Center. I had been to there when I was younger but my memories of the place had faded and so I was excited to experience it all again!


With a voucher which got us $7 off a ticket, we paid around $44 for a ticket which isn't the cheapest day out I've ever had but in my opinion it was well worth it!



As soon as you enter you can see the Rocket Garden (below). You can also sit inside some model air crafts and see how cramped astronauts really are in the rockets.


There is a bus available which takes you around some of the main launch pads. We even saw the launch pad which was preparing to be used on Thursday 7th September which was really cool!


One highlight we weren't expecting was when the bus driver stopped to let an alligator walk across the road and into the bushes. I have never seen an alligator out of water in the wild so I was snapping away like mad!





One of the things I loved the most about the Space Center was how they put everything you saw into perspective. For example, there are a few videos you can watch before seeing different rockets so that you really understand where they've been and their purpose for being launched.





One of the parts of the Space Center that I found particularly interesting was the Space Race between the US and Russia in the Cold War. The rocket in the pictures below is the first rocket to land on the moon and it was absolutely massive. Two thirds of the rocket was just fuel.




Being a language nerd I also loved seeing all the foreign newspapers with the headline of the moon landing!







We were told that the astronauts have to sit in their rocket like in the photo below for two whole hours before they take off.







Below is a picture of an astronaut suit which was worn on the moon and we learnt that the grey dust on it was actually moon dust.









One of the last things we did whilst leaving was to go on the slide (and by we I mean just me because the others didn't want to go on it).


Going to the Kennedy Space Center was on our list from day 1 so I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go there. I found it so interesting and would definitely recommend going if you have the chance!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

My New-Found Love of Audio Books

Hi chums!

I have never been the best listener. Honestly, in uni lectures I seem to go in this trance as soon as the lecturer starts speaking (no offence to my lecturers). Even if I find something interesting I still find it difficult to listen carefully for a large amount of time.


For this reason I was surprised to find that I actually enjoy listening to audiobooks. When I signed up for a 1 month free trial of Amazon prime, I was also offered 4 credits to use on Audible, an audio books app. With my credits I bought Lauren Graham's autobiographical book Talking as fast as I can and her fictional book Someday, Someday, Maybe because she is one of my favourite actresses. Each book was two credits.

I can honestly say that I listened to 4 hours of Talking as fast as I can in one go. I love it because I was able to wander around with my headphones in and do other things whilst I listened to it. On the day I listened to 4 hours of it I actually went around Universal Studios's Islands of Adventure park taking photos whilst my friends were all at work.

I thought I would be lonely going around the park by myself, so I decided I wouldn't go by myself - Lauren Graham would chat to me!

At university I often have times where I feel quite lonely, so this is something I'm going to use to combat that this year.

I would really recommend getting the Audible trial if you want to try it out for free before you go ahead and spend money on an audio book and decide it's not for you!

Love as always

Emma
xxx


A Morning at Wekiwa Springs

Hi chums!

On one of our last days out my friends and I decided to go to one of the famous Florida Springs. Although we heard so many good reviews about other springs, like Blue springs, we chose to go to Wekiwa Springs which was about 30/40 minutes from where we were staying.


It costs $6 to enter and that was per car so as there were 4 of us it was only $1.50 each. 


The first thing we did was to go to the part of the springs that you could swim in. Although we knew no alligators could get into this area because it was fenced off under a bridge, we were still a bit nervous to swim around! Luckily, as proved by this blog post, we survived!



The water was freezing which made it hard to get it. Also, parts of it were really deep so I couldn't stand anywhere (I'm around 5 foot 7) so that freaked me out just a little bit!




The springs were so beautiful so after taking a load of photos we headed to the canoe rental shop. To rent a two person canoe for 2 hours was $20 so we got two canoes and each paid $10.


Unfortunately the canoe experience was a bit of a disaster! Not even 10 minutes into canoeing my friends started freaking out about alligators and spiders to we did a quick turn around and headed back to shore.


Although the canoe trip didn't quite go to plan, we still had a really good time and I for one would definitely try canoeing again but I'm not sure I could ever convince them to do it again!

Love as always,

Emma
xxx

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