It was 5:50 a.m. on Thursday, November 13, 2014 and I was preparing to leave my family for four days to go on a dance trip with my school to New York City. I am pretty emotional and cry every time I go somewhere without my family so you could imagine how I was feeling about going on an airplane without them. They followed me the farthest they could go until security cut them off. I could just picture them all waving as my sister and I were crying to leave each other.
“We love and miss you already!”, yelled my family.
“I love you guys!” I yelled back.
     I was kind of embarrassed to be crying like I was but I really couldn’t help it. Another girl said, “Awww. My family told me to have a nice time and get them something. I wish they had been as nice as your family was.” I just smiled and laughed as best as I could. I was worried about getting on the plane with my bags because even though it seemed like I overpacked, I had everything I needed and a few extra things for other girls who had forgotten something important. It was going to be really cold so I had a bunch of shirts, both long sleeve and short sleeve,many pairs of leggings, socks, dance clothes, legwarmers, gloves, hats, hand heaters, feet heaters, and so much more to just keep layering.
Once I was on the plane and I texted my mom good-bye and that I loved and missed her so much already, we were going to take off. I was holding Ryn and Sarah’s hands because it was the first time in awhile that I was in an airplane. It was also going to be my first time in New York.
     When we finally landed, I texted my mom that we had safely gotten to New York. “We’re here!! I love and miss you so much already” I couldn’t believe I was really there. I was kind of upset though because I had always wished that my first time in New York would have been with my family. We got off the plane and heard our chaperones telling us to follow them to get to the baggage claim. After we got our luggage, we headed for the bus to take us to our hotel. I was a little nervous to be in New York because of it being a big city and so different to Florida but I was also excited to see the cool things that I had always heard about. I felt really squished on the bus because my backpack was big from my blanket and little pillow and my duffel bag had all of my dance stuff for that night in it. We had been told to pack our things for our first workshop that night because we probably weren’t going to get the chance to go to our rooms and change there. However, I made sure that I had easy access to my phone to take pictures of everything along the bus ride. It was really cool!
     Towards the end of our second day, we went to the Muse. It’s pretty much a really small trapeze warehouse on the side of the road. First, we sat and watched our teachers perform some different types of trapeze. After that, we were split up into a bunch of groups and were shown how to maneuver our first trick. I felt my hands on the smooth gymnastics like bar. After learning how to circle, hang under, on, and stand on the bar I began to feel my hands blistering, sweating, and tightening. I felt the squishy mat that was under my feet in case we fell. We were given the same advice every time we performed a trick. “Don’t turtle you neck and shoulders!” Trapeze was so much fun, and I loved every minute!!! Although we did many different types of things we learned how to safely conduct ourselves on the bar. We took videos of each other to always have and to share with our families when we got home. I couldn’t wait to show them!
     On the third day of our trip, we went to STEPS on Broadway where we had two dance classes. The first one was jazz and the second one was ballet. Our planned breakfast for that morning was a banana, yogurt, and breakfast bar. Not much but it was enough for the two minutes we had to eat it! I tasted the chunks of strawberry in my yogurt as I was grabbing my bags to run upstairs and start class. As I entered the dance room I smelled feet. Obviously, there had been a lot of dance classes there. The jazz class was very fun because it was a Bob Fosse dance. My friend, Alexia, and I looked at each other and said, “Yessss!” because our jazz teacher at school had just taught us about Bob Fosse and we knew all about him. We already were able to perform some of the interesting little things he had in his choreography. Like the top hat finger holding position on your head. Then our ballet class was great because it was so realistic to how dancing is as a profession in New York City. During both classes, I felt sort of hunched over because my leotard was smaller than I had thought. Also, my legs were kind of cold because I just had tights on. I couldn’t worry about that thought because I had to really think about how I was keeping my body and feet pointed. I watched my teacher, Lani, demonstrate how to do the exercises at the barre. Then, we tried.
“Point your foot. Keep your back upright and your pelvis squared off.”
     I was afraid to mess up but that was good thing because I magically remembered everything I had previously learned and tried to be as perfect as possible.  I don’t think I will ever forget my first professional jazz and ballet classes in New York City.
For the last the last day of our great trip, we went to the Statue of Liberty. We walked to the dock of the boat to take us there and climbed the stairs to ride to Liberty Island on the top of the boat. Once we realized that it was way too cold for that we sat on the next floor down (inside the boat). I watched the water as we sailed by and tasted my sugary cotton candy. It was delicious.
     When we got there, we were split up into groups and either went to the gift shop or went into the Statue of Liberty. I just stood and stared at the green, 305 foot sculpture. It is only green because it was originally made out of copper, so over time it has aged and oxidized. My group went into the Statue of Liberty. After walking the stairs just up to pedestal my legs were burning and I was already exhausted. I could only imagine the pain other people who were walking all the way up to the crown were in. My chaperone and the older girls in my group were all saying, “Let’s go guys. If we can walk up these stairs, then so can you.” I was so happy when we finally got all the way up and were able to look out from the pedestal. The view was gorgeous. We all took so many pictures of the colorful, fall trees and skyline out beyond the serene water. Our chaperone wanted a picture with all of the middle school girls in our group. She said, “Guys, come get in the picture!”
Once we climbed down all stairs, we took more pictures of the statue from a different view and some of us even took a selfies with Lady Liberty, herself. My nose is pink in the selfie because it was about to get frostbite, turn blue, dry up, and crackle off of my face. I had only worn one layer for my bottoms on our last day and I was FREEZING because of it. I had such a great experience seeing the Statue of Liberty in person.
     What I learned from this experience was to appreciate life everyday. I got the opportunity to go on this once in a lifetime trip, and not many kids get to go out and do things like that. I also learned that you have to walk really fast when travelling by foot in New York. I can’t wait to take a trip there with my family.