Checking into Yellowstone

5-26 (Tues)
I was awake most of the night - I was hot and then cold plus I was anxious about today. I finally got up at 5:30. I was in the lobby by 6:15 but no one else was there. The Yellowstone people showed up at 6:45. Besides me there were two boy cousins from
Ecuador (with US citizenship) and a boy from Bulgaria. We went in one van there were two) to the Greyhound Bus Station where eleven more young people were waiting. I don’t mean this to be ugly but one girl was so fat her rolls were everywhere, Her butt looked like two basketballs in her pants. Thankfully she rode in the single seat next to the driver.
We drove 84 miles to Gardiner where we checked in. the scenery along the way was breathtaking. Check-in consisted of signing many papers and writing your name, address, date of birth and social over and over. When that was completed everyone but me went over to get their uniform. I don’t have to wear a uniform because I’m in reservations.
We hung around Gardiner until about 11:00 then we loaded all the luggage into a big us and the driver took us into the park (Mammoth.) Everyone got off to go eat lunch except me. They are all going to work in other areas of the park. The driver took me to get my room assignment. I am in Aspen dorm. I have a shower, sink, and toilet in my room instead of down the hall. The room is very small with a double and twin bed. It has two minute closets. There is a tiny bar, maybe 12 inches long to hang your clothes on, unfortunately there are NO hangers and I didn’t bring any. There are two small drawers at the bottom. I just measured the width of the “closet” and it is 26”. My roommate isn’t here yet so I moved into the bed closest to the window which is also the bigger bed. They do provide sheets and a blanket but no towels - thank goodness I brought mine. There is no maid service - you have to clean your own room and wash your own sheets! What kind of joint is this anyway?
After lunch (a grilled sandwich and some sort of Greek dish for me) we had orientation for an hour. After that the people who are working reservations went upstairs in the Mammoth Hotel (where we will be working) and saw where we will clock in and had orientation on safety. When we finished there we were free for the rest of the day. I went back to my room and tried to put away some things. There is REALLY no where to put anything - a lot of my stuff is still in my suitcase.
There are many international young people working here - kids from Europe, Asia and SA. I heard someone say that next year they aren’t going to hire internationals because od the US economy they want to give the jobs to US students.