As I stepped of the plane I embraced my family’s home country whilst my mind slowly adjusted to the amazement I was experiencing. When disembarking my imagination ran wild, I had continued heading towards the exit whilst my heart rapidly pounded. At last…. a known face appeared, it was my cousin. just seeing him calmed my nerves, but i soon started over thinking like who would take us home? where is his dad? and even stressed about his age, my mind clouded with thoughts. my cousin knocked some sense into me when he punched my arm, he was a tall strong young man he was quite the role model adolescent. but what he hadn’t realized is that his punch to my arm actually really hurt! my arm went dead as soon as. we departed the airport and headed towards the car park suddenly the sound of a loud roaring engine echoed the place, i turned my head and was soon blinded by the bright headlights that came towards me. i started feeling faint from too many scenarios going on in my head, i was totally incapable of controlling my body and my eyes started to blur at this moment the car seemed too close for me to do anything so i simply closed my eyes. it was a few seconds later when the sound of giggles reached my ears my eyes slowly opened and when adjusting to the brightness figured out it was my uncle driving , he made it so that he was only a few inches away, it was at this point i faked a laugh trying to hide my fear of the prank. i took a seat in what could only be described as a small uncomfortable car, yet my tiredness meant that i had to avoid this problem (which was easy as i dozed off into darkness).my eyes opened after what felt like only a few minutes to see my uncle, a smart tech guy struggling with the radio. my cousin laughed as i showed a small grin, we shortly reached their apartment garage which seemed to have only a 6ft height difference between the floor and ceiling. as we came to a halt my door was opened and i embraced the feel of being treated like a king, my legs feel like i just put them through a marathon as they mounted the stairs, each one took so much energy that i even resulted to starting psych myself up. my English psyching must sounded allot like cursing because even though assuming my born and bred french family never had a clue about English my cousin gave me a confused look and asked me a question that i never knew how to reply to, it was the mixed emotions question of ” what the hell are you doing” it was at this moment i knew i had one of three options. the more likely option of just playing it cool, the second which is acting like you didn’t hear and are confused or the third which was to simply faint and avoid the whole situation. even though number three seemed like a good choice but wasn’t the one i had opted for instead a confused face and me looking around the whole stairwell happened. my suffering had seemed to have ended as i knocked on the door and was met by my aunt a small well-educated woman my cousin a talented person and her boyfriend who was on his way to being a man. they greeted me with smiles, hugs and kisses. we entered and i placed my luggage down with a sigh of relief and the knowledge of that i was known in safe hands and even better the hands of family. my eyebrows raised as i wondered the time i had a guesstimate of it roughly being ten o’clock which is why i was in such shock when i realized it was two in the morning i gasped and it suddenly hit me that everyone was up for me they all put the effort to make this happen and arrange it. this was all going on in my head when my sense of smell finally sharpened again and my mouth watered as my nose was met by the not the smell of dinner but the smell of a feast. meals were placed on the table as my family sat themselves down. we ate an inexplicably delicious meal when finished i was enlightened and shared chatter with my cousins as the rest of the family departed and soon so did my female cousin, as she headed off i heard the words that my other cousin should’ve wished he had never asked, it was the one and only “do you want to play me at fifa”. yet i did have to admit that i wasn’t that good but luckily my tactics were, we enjoyed the first match where i unleashed the tactics where after going on an “all out attack” and then scoring, i would then “park the bus” it got on every persons nerve that i have ever played but victory didn’t come easy to me with video games and consoles.as the games went past rivalry became bigger, after games i felt like my eyes were struggling to keep up with the speed that my fingers were moving. the game had gotten us so hooked that buy the time he had to take a break from the tension between matches the sun had risen and was now glistening down upon us which was frustrating he said not because we;d not slept or that we’d have to stop but simply as the sun was adding to much glare on the television it was amusing since our hunger for the game had grown so much in only a few hours and barely without us knowing we were rapidly becoming addicted. it was time i snapped back into my sporty personality, so i dragged what felt like boulders for legs to the bathroom, as i leaned over the sink i took in deep breaths and gave myself a good hard look into what i was turning into, i took a long exhale and splashed my face with water i felt so refreshed like i had risen from dead, me being revived realized this wasn’t how i should be spending a vacation. i walked out with a spring in my step and feeling like i could take on anything which is where i got over confident and soon found myself asking something an average guy shouldn’t ask someone who works out daily! it was the challenge to an arm wrestle suddenly i found myself leaving back to the bathroom panicking trying to think of how i came to asking that and hoping i was dreaming. as i started to feel like my sweat was drowning me i knew i had to face him, i walked back into the room squaring myself up, i put my arm down on the table as i feared the worst his hands clenched over mine this was when i realized it wasn’t a war where we had equal chances of winning but it was going to be a massacre.BANG my hand slammed against the table.The shame that i then experienced was indescribable.another few hours passed and i had no insight into what this day held in store for me so i simply stayed by my cousins side like a puppy.i got frustrated with the boredom so i insisted we do something extravagant but he offered to go for a swim with his friends and i was up for anything so i tagged along. we met up with his friends at a small park and and as all of us neared to the leisure centre i could see what we’d be doing and i wasn’t exactly pleased, sure their were rides and everything but then came what seemed like a 60ft diving board which i was told by his friends was the only way you were allowed to swim. i tried playing it cool but heights were my biggest fear factor so i turned out looking at all of them with a creepy face trying to do my best to keep my cool.we still had quite a way to travel and with every step it became taller and taller my nerves were starting to become uncontrollable so i tried twisting my ankle but i guess today just wasn’t my day, it served me right for asking to do something extravagant. we entered trough a reception and when seeing the price i knew now was my final chance to back out my head told me the speak but my heart told me to fight my fear a pip of sound left my mouth but i managed to bite down on my toungue. we passed through the doors and against all my insticts my body powered on walking towards the changing room. i dressed myself and took a big inhale, a shiver went tthrough my spine as i push open my changing room door a few seconds later we were all out and ready to experience a thrill or for me to experience a near death experience. we headed towards the ladder like stairs as i looked up with fear, i mounted the first step with a big exhale and as we continued to climb my nerves reached an unsettling stage, unconcious of my sorroundings my eyes stayed hooked of not misplacing my feet i nearly walked off the edge and down into the water,lucky for me the staff had me stopped. i waited for people to jump down with a with my heart in my hands and my eyes slammed shut, it then came to where i had to jump and i shaked like never before i took what could have been the worst look down and placed my foot across the edge my arms tucked to my sides and my body as straight as ever i took the jump.SPLASH. i had hit the water my fear had been conquered but hang on it was way too easy i inhaled then questioned how i was breathing under water, at this point i leant forward to see my self in my bedroom.