Going out of the country without any relatives , just people you see once a week is a hard thing to do. I mean it's not as bad as some cases,  but to be a 13 year old , I was pretty scared. As soon as I got on the school Bus, I cried the entire ride to O'hare Airport. "What if the plane crashes?" "I'm going to be away from my mom for 2 whole weeks in another country!" "I'm really going to miss her." Nothing but bad thoughts and scenarios went through my head. "What if something happens to my passport and I can't come back?"

Once we got to O'hare , we waited for about 2 hours. When it was time to board the plane , I told one of the Adults that I was scared. She replied saying , "why are you worrying?" "You know it's a sin to worry?" For some reason that comforted me. The last time I had gotten on a plane , I was 2 years old which means this was basically my first plane ride ever.  It finally took off, I panicked but I thought about what the lady told me and I became calm again. My plane ride to Sweden was terrible. The lady behind me pulled out her table so I couldn't pull my seat back like everyone else. I sat up for 9 hours because when I tried to put my chair back, the lady asked me to put it back up . Long story short, I was miserable the entire time.

We finally arrived to Stockholm, Sweden and I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. "Come on everyone ! Let's gather our luggage!" My choir director exclaimed. You could tell he had a good 9 hours of sleep and so did everyone else.  I wanted to cry so badly that day because they wouldn't let us sleep . He said that if we went to sleep, it will have our sleeping habits off track for the next 13 days. "Let's take a tour."  My choir director said. So we took our mini tour and I almost fell out , I was exhausted. As soon as we got checked into our hotel, I went to my room and slept for about six hours.  I didn't care about sleeping habits at that point.

I woke up still a little tired but it was tolerable enough to function. The next day , we toured a little more and went to our first performance and it was great. I heard that the ice cream was really good in Sweden, but we couldn't eat it until the end of the trip . We sang one more time in Stockholm and went on the road for another city. (I forgot the name) We finally arrived, unloaded our luggage, and checked into another hotel. We sang there a couple of times and also went to an amusement parks. It reminded me of Great America and Cedar point. One ride was three minutes long. It was the worlds longest ride also known as the Helix. It scared me so much, that I cried and sadly got dragged to go for another round. Next , we packed our bags and we went to the last hotel in a city called Gutenberg. "You guys won't have to pack again, we're staying for the rest of the trip", one of the parents said.  I was so happy and that also meant that I'd be able to eat ice cream very soon.

We did our last couple of performances until we had about two more free days. We did everything you could think of. I was so ready to go home even though we had free time. I had only eaten fast foods that I was familiar with for the last 2 weeks and the portions were very little. I missed my family, my bed, and my day to day meals.

It was finally time to go home and I was excited but I also wanted to stay. It was so peaceful, clean , and happy spirited there. We got to the airport, waited for our flight, flew to Denmark, and had to wait for our next flight back to America. I finally got back, starving to no end. My mom took me to Red Lobsters and I ate very well. As soon as I got home, I took my bags to my room and went straight to bed. Even though I had downs about my trip experience, I also had a lot of ups and I  can admit that I actually miss Sweden.