Picture this: you’ve entered Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas being an only child, ready to spend the next eight days on the boat with your parents. My first thought walking onto the boat was “I need to make some friends.”

At first I just went to the teen lounge and I figured that would be my solution, but nothing is ever that easy. The people who I met there were predominantly fresh out of fifth grade, except for two girls that I met sitting alone by the back window. We talked a little and got along pretty well, so we made plans to go to a silent disco the next day.

I walked into the silent disco looking for the girls but I could not find them. I did find some people though. They looked to be my age or a little older than me, so I walked over to where they were dancing and sorta hung around over there before I struck up a conversation with a few of the girls, and joined their dance circle.

After the dance was over, there was a group of about fifteen of us who shared contact info and decided to go in the hot tub.

Looking back at this moment as I changed into my bathing suit, I kept thinking about how I would not have had the courage to do that if I wasn't exposed to meeting new people and being in social situations like a silent disco within BBYO. If I had gone on this cruise a year ago, I would not have been able to just talk to people and I would have been anxiety ridden.

I went downstairs and met everyone in the hot tub, and as the day went on we just kept meeting new people. Every night of the cruise we would go up to the hot tub, and I met so many amazing people that I still talk to. If It hadn't been for BBYO and the people I've met within the organization, I would not have met all these people.

Being on the cruise with people from all over America, and even other countries also showed me how you will always meet someone Jewish wherever you go. Within the group of twenty five ish people I met that did not know each other before, seven were Jewish!

No matter where you are, you will always find someone Jewish, just like the song says. Looking back at the whole vacation, I have some advice for everyone reading this. Talk to people wherever you go, and don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone, you never know who you will meet.