This year, nationals was so memorable and it was such a fun experience! This was our fifth year attending, and we received a legacy award for our loyalty to DTU. We started our trip by going to the airport at 5 am. From there we had a long traveling day, traveling from Lafayette to Charlotte, and then to Orlando. We finally landed around 1 pm and ate at the airport and got Starbucks! We then went to our new house that we stayed in this year. After that, we all went to Target and got groceries for the week, which is always so fun. A new thing this year was that we had marley practice on a Thursday night instead of Friday morning. Although we took some wrong turns, we made it to practice and were able to check in to DTU.
The next day, we woke up and went and supported one of our Freshmen, Isabella, in the semifinals for solos! This was only the second year we’ve ever had anyone in semis for solos. After she performed, we ate lunch at the place and then went to practice. While at practice at Studio K, we found out that Isabella had made it to finals for her solo. So we finished practice while Isabella had to leave early in order to be ready for her performance time. We then rushed to watch her and she did amazing!! Following the long day, we went to Starbucks for an afternoon treat and made our way home for a few hours to get ready for awards later that night. Isabella got 9th place and made history for Gator Jazz by being the first solo to make it to finals! We had to get up the next two mornings very early and get ready for the competition. We performed jazz first on Saturday and then had a 4-hour break to eat lunch and practice before we did pom. We finished the day around 3 and went home to get ready for Disney Springs! That night, we ate dinner at a restaurant and shopped around a little. That night we found out that we made it straight to finals and didn’t have to compete in semis! The next morning we performed pom bright and early and then jazz not that long later. After we performed we said hi to our friends on other teams and then treated ourselves to Starbucks again! That night we got ready and went to watch the Battle and then the awards. We were the first category to be announced and learned that we received 1st in pom and 2nd in jazz, making us have 3 national titles! We were so ecstatic, and we waited to get our rings and jackets. After receiving our awards, we then had 20 minutes to use the backdrop to take pictures with everyone. Of course, after our time was over we continued to take pictures and make TikToks! That night we revisited our favorite place, WaWa, and got treats and food.
The next morning we woke up and went to Magic Kingdom and spent all day riding rides and having so much fun. It was the best way to end a great week and then we spent a long day traveling home on Tuesday. Although we were so sad to leave everyone we all were ready to get back home and enjoy the Mardi Gras break.
