January 2020

The first month of 2020 was great. It did not feel like 2020 at all and it didn't hit me that I would be graduating high school in about 5 months. The first week of the year I went to Disneyland, in my opinion was a fantastic way to start of the year. The lights were still up from the Christmas season so the castle looked beautiful at night. I remember feeling very elated and my heart was full from past memories and the creation of new ones. The environment made me feel like I'm away from reality and that feeling of freedom. Disneyland is a place I'll always hold close to my heart, right next to Ikea.

Going back to school wasn't as bad as I thought, it was great to see all my friends and teachers again. I for sure did not miss most of the work. The third week of January from the 15-18th I went to New York which was one of my favorite experiences. I went with my mom, cousin, and aunt. The trip was kind of spontaneous, long story short my aunt wanted to go somewhere before starting her new job and it was talked about during New Years Eve but I didn't expect her to go through with it. I had to miss 2 days of school which caused a few of my friends to act like I went missing. New York was freezing, which is typically coming from someone who lived in southern California all her life. We only had 2 full days, like once we landed we had to start sight seeing right away. We did so much in those two days, we did every touristy thing. I wanted to walk more and just enjoy the city but it was way to cold for that. I didn't get to eat any authentic New York pizza sadly but that will be a goal for next time. The most stressful part was driving in the city, driving in LA is 100 percent better than driving in New York. People are literally reckless and pedestrians do not care, they would start crossing the street not matter what the light says. I was in the back seat and I felt like pulling my hairs from how stressful it was. That is why we spent most of the trip taking ubers. We had our fair share of good ubers, but we had this one uber who was very rude to my cousin. She was going to sit in the front seat and when she opened the door some of his stuff was on the seat. Instead of moving it he started at her and she had to move it herself. He was about to put some of his stuff in the back seat but then realized we were sitting there. Also there was a guy who claimed he was an uber pulled over to us because it was obvious we were waiting for one. And I was in charge of ordering all the ubers so I had the information. At first I thought he was our uber from the first part of his license plate but then I read it again and I realized it wasn't. My aunt was about to get in but my cousin and I kept saying "don't go in, it's not our uber." He kept insisting to give us a ride and that he could cancel our other one. He even claimed that his ride will be cheaper which doesn't make sense if he's also an uber. He finally left but it's insane what would of happened if we went in. There is so many other things I wanted to do in New York but I can save those for another trip, hopefully soon. Despite the negatives I wrote the positives outweighed them 100% but sadly it's always the bad things that'll become clearer in your mind. I recently participated in volunteer opportunity for Interact Club where we helped little kids pick out any pair of shoes they wanted. The first girl I helped was excited, she saw these sandals she really liked but none of them fit her. She settled for some cute black boots. I felt bad because she wasn't really happy with the boots and tried to make the best out of the situation. The next girl I helped was super shy. She was mainly focused on helping out her little cousin versus finding shoes for herself. It took awhile but she found a pair she liked which was a beautiful lavender color. Right after she tried it on she asked if she could help her cousin. It was heart warming feeling helping out these kids and I want to be able to do more things like that in the future. Nothing else really happen this month but I would call this a successful first month of 2020. So much will be happening this year, from graduating to starting college. But I'll try to make the best of it.