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On Thursday December 8th 2022, I left my school and went straight to the Mid Island Y. I put my bag on the bottom of the bus and said goodbye to my mom. I sat with some of my friends. I was the oldest new member and the only tenth grader there so I felt very out of place and insecure. Later I realized that these girls would become some of my best friends. An hour into the bus ride. our regional Sadranit and N’siah started playing music, especially lots of Taylor Swift. If you know me, I love Taylor Swift and I scream her songs at the top of my lungs every time I hear her. I felt so safe on that bus and not insecure to be screaming Love Story and All Too Well at the top of my lungs with all the other MITs. Once we arrived, we put our bags in a room and ate dinner. It was matzo pizza and it was awful. After dinner, we played some games with the regional Morim and some steerers. After that, we got our other roommates and went to our room, 380. I met my roommates Phoebe, Molly, and Meital. Molly and I instantly bonded over Harry Styles and I remember being so jealous that she got pit tickets for Love On Tour. We got settled in and ate my spooey that I brought with me, until there was a twist. We got a text from Eden, our regional Sadranit, telling us that there was an issue with the plumbing so we couldn’t take showers. Of course, me being very gullible, I believed her, so I put on pajamas and decided that I’ll just shower in the morning. A few minutes later, we heard loud knocking and yelling at our door. The knocking turned out to be some steerers so we had to let them in. I had my pajamas on and no makeup on so I felt nervous and insecure, but they told us it would all be okay. They brought us downstairs and we could not stop laughing. Eventually we got to a dark room with all the other MIT’s and we sat in a large circle for separates. It felt so surreal and crazy. We listened to stories from the leaders of separates. After they were done telling their stories, we made bucket lists for things we would like to accomplish while we are in BBYO. After separates, we went back to our room. It turned out that there was no issue with the plumbing, and that they did not want to walk in on us while showering. At 1:30 am, we all went to bed and thought about how amazing the rest of Winter Convention would be.

All views expressed on content written for The Shofar represent the opinions and thoughts of the individual authors. The author biography represents the author at the time in which they were in BBYO.

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