A warm welcome from Orange Lake Resort! :) I'll have actual pictures of the resort tomorrow (my camera died and I have to go back out and take phone photos until I get the charger from my grandma.) Until then, you'll just have to deal with lower resolution photos. But honestly my first day and a half here haven't been too eventful... as long as you don't count all the times I got lost in one 24 hour period. Cause I can guarantee you that it happened... a lot. lol. But I'll just start from the beginning, you know when I first got to the resort:
I pulled up, after driving for 3 and a half solid hours--non-stop from Valdosta to Orlando. You know, I was expecting an easy check-in, not too many questions asked, "here are your keys, Ms. Jacks" and then on my way. What I was met with was the friendliest staff I could ever imagine, compliments left and right from the greeters on how glad they were to have me, and how nice I looked, and questions about how far I had come from, and how long I would be staying...etc. All this even after I clarified that I was not a guest, but rather, an intern. Then Kris came. :) He was the most reassuring, welcoming, and all around wonderful person that I could have first come into contact with. After some very quick introductions, he got me checked in, whisked me around to meet everyone on staff (or so it felt like, which was nice) and asked me what I had planned. Even though I really wanted my game plan for the afternoon to be: checking into my room and beginning the arduous task of unpacking, I let him know in no uncertain terms that I didn't have a thing to do. Which of course left him with only one option: showing me anything and everything he could walk to--the pools, the lake, the kids center, the room we'd be meeting in for orientation, the check-in counter, the greeter area, the guest services section...everything! Well, not EVERYTHING, but it felt pretty close in that moment to all I would need to know. I even got my schedule through the beginning of July (because Raquel rocks) and a map to all the malls I could want to shop at (for khakis of course).
I couldn't check in until four, so I went to the mall. I didn't end up with much, but even trips that seem worthless come in handy, because now I know my way around the city--or at least I-4/ Hwy 192. I thought it was really frustrating in the moment to run from one place to another with a car full of belongings, but now I'm glad I got at least that one part of the way. And by the time I finally got to my apartment and got settled in, it was even better than I'd imagined it to be:
It's perfect, as you can plainly see.
I also, on my first day, spent way too much money on food--but haven't eaten out since I got here (I guess I should change that. Exploring the property and everything...) And went to bed relatively early after a blog post.
As for today, nothing too exciting happened. I went for a run around East Village...and got lost coming back to my apartment. I decided it would be a good idea to go to River Island (Orange Lake's small water park)--by foot!--and got lost. Then, after laying in the sun for two hours, fumbled my way back across the property, getting lost, and finally made it home. I, one of the palest girls in Memphis, got a lot of sun today and got lost about 3 times...today. Not including my circles around my neighborhood while on the phone with my grandma, trying to find where I lived. Trust me, it's not just me! It's a biiiig property; but it's beautiful and that makes up for it. So, after almost four hours of sun (both intentional and unintentional) I made it home, safe and sound, but tired and tried to keep inside for the rest of the day.
I'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm going out to the pool again--lots of sunscreen included--probably earlier than I went today; just cause it gets kind of crowded and being around all the families by myself is a little weird and kind of depressing. Plus, Taylor's coming tomorrow!!! So I have to be here to welcome her when she gets in! :) I can't wait to have someone to share my experiences with, other than you of course! ;) And I'm sure there will be plenty to do and see. I wanted to take pictures of the resort and give all of you a little history lesson and a run down of what all it offers. Then it's off to the big day (dun dun dun!!) ORIENTATION!! It's gonna be ballin'. But all right; bedtime for this little lady!
G'night till tomorrow!
Whitney
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