American Idol Experience

On Wednesday, July 11, I got on the 8:37AM train to Chicago with my best friend, Alexis. When we got there, we walked 2 miles to the United Center where registration was being held for American Idol. I registered in less than 2 minutes and then I was done for the day. My only directions from the American Idol staff was to keep my wristband intact (showering was brutal one-handed), and to bring back a few forms they had given me to fill out and also, to be back on Thursday around 5AM. That night we stayed at my friend's house and I don't usually fall asleep early during the summer so we were up until midnight that night and we had to be up in 4 hours to get ready and get on the road. Needless to say, we were exhausted when 4AM rolled around. When we got to the United Center we had to stand outside with about 6,000 people waiting until we could go in around 8AM. Around 5:30AM the producer came out and was giving us instructions and telling us that Ryan Seacrest would be here shortly to do a little bit of filming and then we could head inside. We waited outside for Ryan for an hour and a half. That man gets paid way too much money to do what he wants, whenever he wants. When we finally got inside, auditions started around 10AM. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting your turn.

This picture clearly shows how many people were in the stadium. This was after probably waiting for 2 hours. All of those people left in their seats, were ahead of me and still had to audition before it was even my turn. 

When you walked out into the hallways there were hundreds of people practicing their songs before their audition making sure everything sounded right. As I walked through the halls watching everyone practicing I thought to myself, "Some of these people have been waiting for this their whole life. Some have been practicing since they were 3 years old for this opportunity. Some have put way too much money into voice lessons and more. I...haven't."
Yes, when I was 13 if you would have asked me what I would hoped to have accomplished before I was 20 it would be that I would have been on the stage of American Idol. Absolutely. It's always been a dream of mine. But once I was there, all of that just went away. I haven't been "practicing" all of my life. I've never had voice lessons. What I have is natural talent and for Indiana, yeah.. i'd say i'm good. but for America? Not even close. It's way out of my league. And surprisingly, i'm okay with that. I don't want that lifestyle anymore. I don't dream of being "famous" anymore. Because what i'm really passionate about now, is Psychology. And once I graduate college and begin my work with Autistic children, i'm going to "famous" in their eyes, and that's going to be enough for me.
I'm happy that I had the opportunity to experience this and i'm glad that something positive came out through this; and that's that i'm happy where my life is right now and I wouldn't change the path i'm on for anything. Even fame.

Stay Beautiful <3