My first cruise? What? I can’t believe that it was already my second semester as a freshman and I was going to go on a cruise with my soon-to-be best friend, the rest of my drill team and the rest of the Bellaire Belles.

It was a vacation we enjoyed to take right after competition season, in order to relax after all the stress we had on numerous days practicing nonstop. Finally, spring break came and I was ready to have an amazing week with my team.

It was a sunny Saturday, and before I could acknowledge it, I was on the boat. I remember feeling so excited about being on a cruise for the first time. But, before the fun could begin, my director laid out some ground rules and talked us through the important safety rules. After the boring procedure, my team and I had practiced the next day, in order to prepare for a performance on the cruise.

After the performance, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Abundant with joy, Julie, my roommate, decided to hit the arcade. But first I had to put money onto the cruise card, which allowed me to spend money on the cruise. I had decided to put $60 on the card, and add more when needed. I started spending a lot of money on games and food and didn’t realize that the total was adding up. As I thought there was still money on my card, I just kept spending and time was flying by.

Coming to the last day of the cruise, I decided to check the balance on my card. The total came out being negative 160 dollars. I was devastated, I didn’t know how in the world I was going to pay all of it. So, I decided, in desperation, to ask my director about how I was going to pay if I didn’t even have 20 dollars. Of course, my director had paid all of my excessive expenses with her kindness. I was so grateful because in order for me to leave the cruise I had to pay all of the expenses. So, she finally did and she had told me that when we get back to school I would have to pay her back. I was definitely going to pay her back, no doubt about that, but my parents at that moment didn’t have a lot of money to pay for those expenses. With that money, my parents would have paid their debts and everything they owe. I felt so bad, but those are the consequences of not thinking and not being responsible.

Once we came back to school from our Spring break, that following Monday I paid her the amount of money I owned right away. I thanked her one more time for everything she had done for me. I learned my lesson to check the balances for everything I spend and buy.