Like many others, I’ve had a bucket list of things that I’ve wanted to do in my 20s. One of the biggest goals on my bucket list was taking a girls’ trip with my best friends, and for my birthday, I did that.
During this trip, my friends and I went to see BTS in Los Angeles for the last few shows of their Arirang Tour. Although my friends and I had the time of our lives on this trip, it made me realize that sometimes bonds between friends have to be strengthened away from home.
I’ve been friends with Jecel and Evelyn since I was 12 years old. The memories we’ve had from our friendship were centered around Fandom Culture and our hometown, as we were three peas in a pod. From meeting on the first day of school in our seventh-grade geometry class, going to senior prom, and crossing our high school graduation stage, we were inseparable until after high school when my friend, Jecel, left to join the Air Force. From there, while Jecel is across the world, our lives have been completely separated by the chaos of life as Evelyn and I went off to college. As five years passed, with a major effort to keep in contact, I started to fear that we were going to become strangers until we decided to go to Los Angeles for BTS. Once it was confirmed that we’d be traveling together, our excitement for the trip escalated. Once the plane from SFO took off, we, as a trio, were literally on Cloud 9.
Much of our nights were spent surrounded by laughter and the songs that defined our teenage years while also being filled with chaos. On our second day in LA, we decided to go to Universal Studios with the intention of riding every single ride. However, when we woke up that morning, we were met with a storm caused by a hurricane in Mexico. Everything that could go wrong happened to us, and by the time we came back to our Airbnb from the Theme Park, we were drenched in rain while drying our clothes with a Hair Dryer. Leading us to cancel our plans to go to a Karaoke Booth and get Korean BBQ.
But despite the chaos of that day, the irritation of chasing Uber rides, and a friend getting hangry, the night ended up being spent reflecting on our futures. We’ve discussed the fears we had of making mistakes, not being ready for life outside of university, and the positions that came with moving on to another chapter of our lives. Although our friendship started with a love for K-Pop and was divided by distance, in the end it’s our experiences in life that kept us together, followed by mutual support.
Despite distance and different time zones, we’ve still managed to come back together through communication and mutual love, and as we sat in our seats, like three peas in a pod, to get back home, we’ve all talked about two things. How we will stay friends for another decade, and our next girls’ trip.