Here is a picture of my friend and I riding the bus to Nashville. It usually takes about 6 1/2 hours in a car, but we rode a charter bus so it took about 9 hours. We left at about 8:30 a.m. EST and arrived at our hotel around 4:30 CT. There is a time change from North Carolina to Tennessee, so when we got to Nashville, our clocks went back one hour. I did some homework on the bus, including reading, annotating and colormarking The Tempest for English class. I also just listened to music and relaxed. We stopped a few times for bathroom breaks and for lunch at Breugger's Bagels. 

The North Carolina and Colorado schools all stayed at the Holiday Inn Nashville-Vanderbilt, which was extremely close to Vanderbilt University. My room was on the opposite side of the campus, so our view was of the park instead. You can see the Parthenon in the back left corner of this picture. It was a gorgeous view, and we also had a balcony to look out on.

Since we arrived later than expected in Nashville, we just walked around our hotel a little bit instead of going to downtown on the first night. This is a picture of my friend and I getting dressed up for dinner. We wanted to get dressed up tonight and go to a fancy dinner with the rest of our roommates.

Here is another picture with a friend getting ready!

Makeup

Concealer- Maybelline

Foundation- Body Shop

Foundation- Rimmel

Highlighter- Bobbi Brown

Highlighter- NYX

Eyeliner- Essence

Mascara- Avon

Mascara- Benefit

Eyelash Curler- Revlon

Eyebrow Powder- Estee Lauder

Lip Pencil- Nars

My Outfit

Sunglasses- Nordstrom BP

Dress- Glam

Wallet- Carolina Girls

Sandals- Franco Sarto

Of course we had to have a photoshoot in the park, while we were all dressed nicely! One of our friends took the camera and snapped a bunch of great shots of us exploring the park.

Here's a picture of us on the steps of the Parthenon. 

Here's a great picture of the Parthenon!

We had planned on going to Maggiano's for dinner, but it was a far walk. Instead, we decided to find a nice restaurant near the hotel. We ended up going to a place called J. Alexander's, which was a very fancy restaurant. My friends and I sat in a quiet booth in a corner and talked while eating. For dessert we split this chocolate fudge lava cake, which was extremely good! The four of us finished the cake in about 30 seconds! 

After dinner we went back to the park and walked around by the pretty lights. Then we went back to the hotel hotel and hung out with other kids from our school and North Carolina.

This is what I wore on the bus to Greensboro, NC, where the competition was held. My dog is behind me, looking sad that I was leaving. We stayed at a hotel that was across the street from a huge mall, so that's where we ate all of our meals and spent our free time. On the first night, we had an opening ceremony, where everyone wore things to show off their school pride. There were many different schools that came to compete! After the ceremony, everyone went to the dance hosted by DECA, which was very fun!

The next day is when the actual competing began. I was in 3 events, which were 2 Retail Merchandising role plays and 1 Financial Operations Research written event. The role plays were early in the morning and were running late on schedule. The scores of the role plays were combined with a test I had taken at school a few weeks before the competition. I had to quickly finish my role play before rushing to my next event, which is the one that I focused more of my attention on. I did this event with a partner. We wrote a 30 page paper in class prior to the competition and then created a presentation that we presented at States. Once I finished all my events, I went shopping with my friends at the mall and hung out. We ended up getting bored, so we took a Marketing Fundamentals test that they offered, as an extra way to earn an award. I ended up getting proficiency in that test, which means my score exceeded a set grade. Later, we went to an awards session for winners of the role play events and tests. Above is a picture of my friend and I with our crazy hats that our school wore. We also had light sabers and many other glow up toys to show off our spirit. 

I won this award at role play and tests award ceremony. I got to go on stage and receive it, because I was one of the top 10 performers on the Marketing Fundamentals test, which I wasn't even planning on taking! 

The next day we had another awards ceremony for the winners of the written events. There were finalists medals and then the groups that got top 5 in their event got a trophy. I ended up getting a finalist medal in the Financial Operations Research event and going on stage for the second time. My friend also got one of these medals for her Community Service project. 

I also won 3rd place in my research event and was awarded this trophy! I was really excited and happy. A lot of my other friends won trophies too. The people who won trophies have the option of competing internationally, which I decided to do! I also got proficiency pins for my role plays, as well as my research event. We left Greensboro after this ceremony and drove back on the bus for a few hours. I had such a great experience at States!