Dream in the Land of the Elves

The alarm clock rang at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

That day was the best day of my life; it was the day that I was leaving Mexico to spend a whole year in Ireland, that was my dream since I was 12.

I was going to study the sophomore year there.

My name is Mina, Mina Velasco, and I'm 16 years old. This is the first time I'm on my own away from my family, friends and practically everything I know.

I woke up very excited and went to the bathroom to start getting ready.

After my bath, I got dressed and ready to go to my grandparents house so I could say goodbye; though I had already done a farewell party where I had said goodbye to all my family and friends.

When I went down, my mom was finishing making breakfast: pancakes, my favorite.

"Hey mom." I said.

"Hi Mina, are you ready?" she asked.

"I think so." I answered.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." she assured me.

My mother, Cora, is the mos loving and understanding person I know, that's why everybody always ask for advice and rely on her in their needs, I can always count on her. I love her very much.

"Can you tell Vania, Nicholas and your dad that breakfast's ready?" she asked.

"Yeah." I said.

When I went to my room, my sister was finishing dressing.

"Hi Vania." I said.

"Hello." she said.

"Um, breakfst's ready, so go downstairs when you're done." I told her.

"Ok, I'll go in a minute." she replied.

Vania. She's two years younger than me, she's 14. She loves to dress well and fashionably. I love her, she is one of the only people with whom I can laugh to tears; although she often drives me crazy, but that's what brothers and sisters do right?

I went to the room next door, it was my brother's, Nicholas. I knocked on the door.

"Come in!" he said.

"Hi" I said as I opened the door. "Breakfast's ready, can you go downstairs?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm coming." He answered me.

My brother, Nicholas, is one of the most coolest people I've ever met in my life, he has two tatoos on his right arm, both are designed by him; he also has an incredible taste where music is concerned, that's one of the many things I've learned from him. When I'm with him and his girlfriend, Karen, I spend a very good time.

I went to the third floor of my house, that's where the room of my parents is. When I enterde the room, my dad was lying on the bed wathcing T.V.

"Good morning dad." I said.

"Hi Mina. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm very excited." I answered. "Can you go downstairs? Breakfast's ready." I told him.

"I'll have a quick shower and then I'll go down. It takes me five minutes." he replied.

My dad, Ivan, is a very nice person and I love him very much, although sometimes he is a bit conservative and limits Vania and me in some things. But he has taught me many things, like the violin for example, he's a violinist and taught me how to play it when I was little, I really like it.

I went down to the kitchen and Vania was already waiting at the table. I sat down across from her.

"Aren't you very nervous?" she asked.

"Yes, but I'm more excited than nervous." I told her. "In addition, I will miss you all very much." I said.

"Well, you're coming to visit us, aren't you?" she asked. laughed.

At that point Nicho came into the kitchen and sat down beside me, ruffling my hair.

"We will miss you too, but it's worth it." he said.

"Yeah, I know." I replied.

"Have you told your dad to come down?" my mom asked me.

"Yes, he said he took a quick bath and then came down." I told her.

When my dad came down, we started eating the delicious breakfast that my mom had prepared specially for me.

We finished our breakfast and I helped my mom clear the table. When I went to look for my suitcase, I suddenly felt a huge lump in my throat.

I got to my room where my suitcase was, and there was Vania; when I saw her I couldn't hold myself and the tears I had tried to hide were shed. Vania ran to hug me and I began to mourn.

At that moment the door was opened, and my mom came in.

"Mina are you...Oh Mina; don't cry, you'll enjoy it very much." she said while hugging me.

"Yes, I know, but I will miss you all very much." I sobbed. "And I will miss my home, and my friends..." I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Well, yes." she said. "But we're going to be here whenever you need us. You can visit us when you want:" she consoled me.

"In addition," Vania said. "you sure are going to meet a very handsome boy there:" she said. I laughed and wiped my tears with the sleeve of my hoodie.

My mom brought me a piece of toilet paper so I could wipe my eyes and nose. I grabbed my bag and the tree of us went down.

Downstairs Nicho and my dad were waiting for us, ready to go.

"Are you ready?" he asked putting one of his arms around my shoulders.

"Yeah." I replied.

Suddenly my dog Migo came running, I loaded and embraced him, he's like a little brother for me; I love him very much.

When I finally finished arranging all my things, we went to the house's entrance, and when I opened the door I found my three best friends: Lisa, Rachel and Marina, who had also been my neighbours since I was 6 years old.

They were standing under my door with a cardboard that said: "Good luck in the land of the elves! We love you!".

"Good luck in Ireland Mina, we love you very much." Lisa said.

"Fare the well there Mina, just don't forget to visit us whenever you can ok?" Marina said.

"Yes, because we are going to miss you, and all our usual madness." Rachel said, laughing.
I also laughed, before going back to feel that knot in my throat I had felt all day, and that apparently, I was going to keep feeling until the end of it; the tears returned to my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, what was going on with me? I cried about everything. I hugged them for a long time before thanking them and telling them we would see each other again soon; I put the cardboard on the dining room table.

I hugged my friends one more time before we left the house and got in the car, they said goodbye with their arms raised and tears in their eyes until the car disappeared around the corner.

My grandparents' apartment was five minutes from my house, so we got there very fast.
When we entered, I saw my grandfather in the kitchen making breakfast, and my grandmother sitting at the dinner table, waiting.

"Hi Grandpa!" I greeted him as I walked into the kitchen to give him a hug.

"Hello darling, how are you?" he asked.

"Very excited." I laughed. "And you?"

"Also very excited and proud of you." he said. I gave him a broad smile as I hugged him.

"Hello Mina." my grandmother told me from the dining room. I ran over there and gave her a kiss and a hug.

"Hello little old woman." Nicho greeted my grandmother.

"Hi Nicho." my grandmother said.

The others entered and greeted my grandparents too. They offered some breakfast but we said no because we had already eaten our breakfast. We stayed half an hour accompanying my grandparents to breakfast; the truth is that I didn't wanted to leave because I would miss them too much. But when it was time to go, my mom said "Well, I think it's time to go, otherwise you'll miss the plane."

At that point the same knot, which I was beginning to hate, returned to my throat along with the tears that filled my eyes; I didn't want to leave without my family, but I knew I had to. I got up and went to my grandfather to give him a long hug, the tears falling from my eyes. If I went on like this I would end up tearless.

"I will miss you very much." he said.

"Me too." I sobbed.

"But it's a great chance for you, that will help you grow as a person, plus you will learn many things and you'll meet new people." my grandpa said.

"Yeah, I know, but I will miss you all anyways." I said more calmed.

"You must use this opportunity as possible." my dad said.

I said goodbye to my grandparents with a kiss and a big hug.

The road to the airport seemed very short to me. But it was really an hour and a half in the car chatting with my family, until we finally arrived.

I t was still an hour before my plane left, but as always, I had to come first. So I went chatting with my sister.

"You will also have to go visit me so you can meet my new school and all the new friends I'll have there." I told Vania. "And of course, you'll have to go so you can finally visit Ireland." I laughed.

"Sure." she replied. "I want to see all the green fields that Ireland has." she said.

"I believe you could go on the Christmas break, couldn't you?" I asked.

"Yes, I think so." she said.

"And if you can't, then I'll come!" I laughed.

"Of course we will be able." my mom said breaking into our talk. "Your dad and I are going to save as much money as we can. Even Nicho is going to help, aren't you Nicho?" my mom asked Nicho.

"Absolutely." he replied. "I will save as much as I can too, maybe I could invite Karen to come with us, I think she would love it." Nicho said.

"Yes, yes!" I cried attracting stares from some people at nearby tables. "I would love that Karen visitet me also." I said. "Also, she surely would love to visit the home of the fairies and elves, as she likes them very much."I said excitedly.

"I will do anything I can so she can go to." Nicho said.

At that time, my dad came and sat opposite me with a tray of McDonald's in his hands that was carrying several chocolate sunday's for everyone.

"Thanks dad!" I thanked my dad.

"It's nothing." he laughed.

When I was about to give my first bite to my delicious ice-cream, I heard muic coming from my cellphone, indicating a call was coming. I opened it and in the screen was the name of my aunt Vanessa.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi Mina!" replied my aunt's distortioned but happy voice.

"Hi aunt Vane, how are you?" I asked.

"I'm okay." she laughed. "And you? Well, I think I shouldn't ask that because it's obvious that you should be very excuted and very happy because at last you are able to fulfill your dream isn't it?" she said.

"Yes." I laughed. "Or course I'm very happy and excited, but also a little sad about leaving you all here." I replied.

"But don't worry about it Mina." she said in a reassuring tone. "Whenever you need us we'll be here." she consoled me.

"Yes, I know that." I laughed. "Thanks aunt." I said.

"You're welcome. Ah! By the way" said my aunt surprised. "Mario and Stephen also wanted to say goodbye, but they are still asleep." she said with a slight chuckle. "But they send you a big hug and a kiss, just like me, we love you very much don't ever forget that." she said. "And take care of yourself please." she added.

"I love you too, and of course I`ll take care of myself." I assured my aunt. "Thank you for calling." I thanked her before hanging up.

My aunt Vanessa is one of my mother's sisters, she's the ona that lives in Mexico; because my mother has another sister who lives in Atlanta, but that doesn`t matter right now. Vanessa is a very sweet and tender person. She has two children: Mario, that is 17 years old, and Stephen, that is 19. I love them very much, they are my favorite cousins because I can be myself when I'm with them; they also make me laugh a lot with their jokes. My aunt always praised my figure, she said "I love that little body of yours!" everytime she saw me.

I would miss those praises, as I would also miss all the fun going with my cousins.

I continued eating my ice-cream and chatting happily with my family the rest of the time left before I had to go. When the time came, I grabbed my bags and headed to the area where I would go alone to leave my luggage and boarding the plane.

Before entering, I said goodbye one last time to all of my wonderful family members with very long and strong hugs and kisses, doing everything possible to not shed a single tear as I did.

I went through the metal detectors and I turned to see my siblings and my parents greeting me with huge smiles on their faces and their hands up, my mom and Vania had the trail of tears that had slipped down her cheeks.

I returned the smile and waving, but before the tears fell from my eyes and they could see them, I turned around and walked to where I was to leave my luggage.

When they finished checking my bags and went to the place of storage for luggage, I asked the lady working there where was the gate where my flight was.

I went to the door no. 7 to wait for them alert all the passengers when we had to board the flight no. 1075 heading for Dublin. Fifteen minutes later, a voice echoed from the speakers that were high on the walls of the waiting room, saying that all passengers of flight 1075 in the direction of Dublin begin to address.

I walked with quick step toward the door, filled with anticipation for what would happen next.
I showed my papers to the young man at the door and walked down the long tunnel leading from the airport gate to the entrance of the airplane. When I found the seat 45B I sat down on it. It was beside the window and I liked it because I would be able to see the scenery along the whole way, and also would be able to see when we reached our destination.

A man dressed in a black suit that seemed too expensive and fine sat beside me, turned on a laptop and began typing rapidly into it.

I got my ipod from my small backpack and put on my headphones. I put the music on random. "Pretty Baby" by Vanessa Carlton began playing. That song was on my mother's phone to let her know when I called. A single tear rolled down my cheek to fall silently in the back of my hand.

At that time we were asked to fasten our seatbelts, we were ready for takeoff.

Here I go I thought to the land of the elves.