An unexpected present by Grace Murtagh

           This was probably one of the most unexpected things that happened to me. I came home from school on a Wednesday, two days before my birthday. My mom asked me to come outside and talk to her for a while. She pulled out an envelope and told me “Here is an early birthday present.” I opened it and you should have seen my face. I was so shocked, but also so happy. I was going to New York City for my birthday, with my best friends. I was so excited and all I wanted to do is call them and tell them how surprised I was, but my mom said I couldn’t yet because one of my friends, Madison didn’t know about it yet. Her birthday is a day before mine so it was also her present. Luckily, my other friend, Kelsey already knew about it so it was okay to call her.

          The day finally came to go to New York City! We got out of school Thursday and then they came to pick us up around 5. We drove a couple of hours and then stayed at Kelsey’s grandparents’ house, we woke up the next day, my birthday, and drove to New York. I couldn’t wait to get there.

        We finally got to our hotel, and our parents had told us that the hotel we were staying in was nothing nice. I was expecting a really run down hotel, but, wow, it was one of the nicest hotels I had ever seen. We got settled into the hotel and headed to the bus station to go into the city for lunch.

            Man, it was crowded!  We couldn’t find a place to sit at first, but then someone finally got up so we took their spot.  Next, we walked around and went into many different shopping areas. I think I remember going into Forever 21, first and that place was as big as the whole city. My jaw dropped of disbelief. I couldn’t believe how big the store was. We made many trips into all different stores, but one of my favorites was Abercrombie and Fitch. The line to get there was wrapped around the building but I tell you what, it sure was worth it. We got to take a picture with one of the real Abercrombie models. After that we went into the store and looked around. The store was as dark as the night sky.

         The next day there we took many more trips into stores and restaurants and I think one of my favorite stores that day was the Apple store. It was crazy big and it was like the whole world was there. I could barely make it around the store. Later that day, we had to head back to the hotel because it was so late. It was sad that it was our last day in the city but I knew that I would be back soon.

          We woke up and left around 10 that morning. It was sad to leave, but I knew that the memories would always stay with me. The ride home felt like years. When we made it back home, I already started missing New York. My legs were so sore and I felt like I had been walking my whole life.