Hi! My last blog was about my anticipated cruise port ratings, so in this blog, I will give you my actual ratings. I loved the new experiences I was able to experience during this experience (lol). Before our cruise, we stayed at this mini resort near Miami and the beach there was absolutely beautiful. My family and I went for a sunrise walk and it was honestly the best thing to wake up to. We got onto our cruise ship that Monday and it felt like complete deja vu because the cruise ship we were on was very similar to the ship we were on in 2018. I quickly learnt that Princess Cruises has pretty much the same outline and structures for most of their ships. The ship we were on was called the Enchanted Princess, and she was a pretty new ship (built during COVID) so that was pretty cool! The rooms, piazza, restaurants, and Lido Deck were all the same as I remember. I kind of wish we went on a different cruise line so we could have a completely different experience, but it is something family and I will keep in mind for next time!

Port 1: Bahamas 6/10

The Bahamas went pretty much as I expected. The beach was the same as last time and since I knew how it was going to be, I was able to set my expectations accordingly. I took the longest nap, ate some burgers from the buffet, and made a little sandcastle. It was a pretty chill spot.

Port 2: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 10/10

This place was absolutely breathtaking. St. Thomas was genuinely the most beautiful out of all the islands I visited. The island itself was so high, green, and had so many boats/yatchs. I went on a catamaran to these coves and drove an underwater scooter eight feet deep. I was able to see a bunch of fish and a shipwreck so it was pretty cool!

Port 3: Antigua 7/10

In Antigua, we went on a catamaran ride to a bird island and hiking trail. I kind of did not enjoy it as much since we got onto a boat after getting off from another boat. The bird island was really really small and the hike was simply a staircase. However, the ride was really pretty as I was able to see the Caribbean and the Atlantic Oceans mix along with various historic sites. I absolutely love viewing historical sites, it reminds me of how far the world has come and how life was so different than we know. The view on top of the staircase hike was also beautiful and I got an ariel view of the island and the two oceans coming together.

Port 4: St. Lucia 8/10

St. Lucia was also beautiful. It was so mountainous and it had Pitons (which are like island peaks). I was kind of in a bad mood and tired that day but other than that, the actual island was gorgeous. We went on a bus tour which was a nice break from all the water tours we took. I loved seeing the island life. We also got to go to sulfur springs and a drive-in volcano. It was pretty cool but also very similar to the Yellowstone trip we took a few years ago. By this time of day, I was super hungry but the tour still included a botanical garden and by the time we got to go to lunch, we were received with a disappointing menu. But other than those two things, it was a pretty decent day.

Port 5: Barbados 9/10

I have a few regrets about Barbados. Some family friends and I went on a submarine which was insane. I got to see the ocean floor, corals, and some pretty cool fish. The submarine was an hour and we went back to the ship after that. My parents, however, went on a tour of Barbados on a bus. When they came back, they told me how absolutely beautiful Barbados was. I wish I had planned to go into Barbados and see more than just the submarine but I still loved the experience.

Port 6: St. Kitts 9/10 

St. Kitts was pretty fun. It was the day after Christmas so the entire island was having a festival; it was interesting to see the island coming together for their traditions. We went on the most wild bus ride ever. It was an open bus and the driver was driving like it was a race track. My hair was absolutely tangled, everyone was flying around everywhere, and not to mention that St. Kitts is a pretty rainy place, so random bursts of water would hit us inside whenever we would drive through a rainy patch. I got to see some pretty beautiful sights and walk through a rainforest!

The cruise was pretty fun, but it was also a little long. I was so stressed when I came back after because I had to take my finals. But overall, it was an experience of a lifetime!

One of the things my friends hate most about me is that I am a super nostalgic person, it is kind of bad to a fault. I love my friends, I love North, and I love the person I have grown to become the last few years of my life. People usually joke about how boring Naperville is and how they cannot wait to get out, and even though I would love nothing more than to go to college far away from home and experience a new chapter of my life that will make me more open to all this world has to offer, I personally have no complaints about Naperville. To me, it’s a place of security and love that has nurtured me throughout my entire life. With that in mind, I’m always filled with sadness when things come to an end – such as the end of the first semester of senior year. Even right now, my mind is filled with how the second semester is going to go by even faster than the first semester. Between lacrosse season, senior festivities, spring break, and work, I know that graduation is approaching faster than I would like to think so, and leaving my friends and family behind to go to college is something that absolutely instills the fear of god in me. Perhaps in a way, I should feel grateful for having such great relationships with the people in my life that make saying goodbye so difficult. I have learnt to treasure the people in my life but remain more open to new experiences and people. Leaving somewhere is hard, but once you leave, you may realize you are even happier somewhere else – but you have to take that risk first. The last six months have been dramatizing. My close friends have changed, the strictness of my parents, I got my first job, I applied to my dream college, and even heard back from a few other ones. I changed from a girl who just finished an exhausting junior year, worried about her future, to someone who accomplished the big steps in life that have always seemed like they were too far away to worry about. For this blog, I would love to travel to the two key events of these last six months that defined growth as I embarked in a new phase of my life.

Over the summer, I got my first job at Studio Movie Grill, a dine-in movie theater in Wheaton. I will admit, I am a pretty high maintenance person. I love eating out, have an eye for the more expensive things on the aisle, and overall just love having fun. Although my parents never have prohibited my spending and made very few remarks about it, over the last year, I have begun to accumulate feelings of guilt for spending money that was not mine at the levels that I was doing so. At the same time, I did not have any intention of reducing it (because you only live once you know) so I finally got a job so I can have complete control over what I spend my money on, and  I feel good about it too because it truly is mine to spend. Getting a job started a period of financial independence away from my parents for me, and made me a more responsible person. In a way, it also changed how my parents viewed me and hopefully makes them feel better about me going to college. Getting a job also played a key role in them being less strict and acknowledging my personal freedom more.

When college app season started, I realized that Michigan was my dream school and that I wanted to major in finance. This took away years of me simply not knowing what I wanted to do with my future. But with research and campus visits, I fell in love with the school and happily pressed the submit button on October 28th. Even though I genuinely do not think I am going to get in, it really helped me define the future I saw for myself career wise and solidified what I valued in a college, my likes and dislikes, which helped shape the rest of my preferences regarding colleges. No matter where I actually do end up going, Michigan played a key role in mapping out my preferences and for that I am also grateful. During college app season, being together with my friends for hours and hours in the library, even skipping school together for it, brought me closer with everyone and reminded me just how lucky I am to have such a hard working group of friends who would do anything to help each other, even though what was the hardest few months of our lives. The advice, the editing, and the simple moral support has helped me a lot this year, and it makes me happy that I have such a great support system in place.

Bonus: here are some fun pictures from Homecoming, 80s dance, and football games!! 

To the incoming seniors, I would tell them to make the most out of their last year and cherish the time they spend with the people they love, even if it’s at the library at 9 pm rushing to submit their last apps. These are the lessons I have taken away with me these past few months and I hope that I will find the same contentment in the second semester that I found in the first semester.