The summer before my freshman year in high school, a couple of my soccer teammates and I traveled to the Bahamas for vacation with one of the girls’ parents. We stayed in the popular hotel, the Atlantis. This was on of the first time I’d ever been out of the country, and it was also the first vacation I’d been on without my family.
At the beginning of the trip, we three girls weren’t very close to each other, only hanging out at soccer practices and team sleep-overs, but by the end of the trip, we formed a bond that is still strong today. Like I mentioned, none of us were very good friends in the beginning. We were also very shy, being at an age where girls just want to fit in.
Since we were together 24/7 for a whole week, almost like sisters, we learned how to be ourselves around each other for the first time. I knew I could do what I wanted to around them and not be embarrassed, which never happened at school, where I’d be worried about fitting in. We also grew confident because we knew that people liked us for who we were. When we got back to the states, it was obvious we were changed.
For the first time, none of us felt the dying need to fit in. We all knew how to be ourselves and not just do something because it was in the social mold for our age. Nowadays, we four joke saying that the Bahamas were where we ‘found ourselves’ and were able to ‘break out of our shells’.
It’s true, too.
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