I'm Now American!

As I shared on my Instagram the other day, I have now been naturalized! That means I have been granted US citizenship after living here for a long period of time. I'm so excited, humbled, proud, honored, and all the great feels! I love this country so much, I always have. It truly is the greatest country on earth and I couldn't imagine my life anywhere else. It has been a long process and I applied for citizenship two years ago now almost. The ceremony started early in the morning, my husband and I went to the Courthouse in DC around 6:45am. First we stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a coffee, which we then couldn't bring inside haha! So we stood outside for a bit until we finished it, then walked through security and up to the floor where the ceremony was to be held. I thought there were going to be maybe 10 of us, so I was quite surprised when I saw over 100 people there waiting! We all stood in line and then got a seat number. We went through the "check in process" for about two hours where they checked our paperwork, took our green cards (eeeek!), and made sure everything was in order. Then the ceremony itself started, the judge came in and they said the famous "ALL RISE!"- I felt like I was on TV! I've never been in front of a judge before so I got real Law & Order vibes haha! When they played the national anthem I cried. It hard to explain what an emotional moment this was, there we were: over 100 people from all over the world. All with their own hopes and dreams. Some were there for practical reasons, some fleeing conflict, some were there for love. We had people from Germany, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Venezuela, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, France... And believe it or not, I wasn't the only Swede! There was one other girl also from Sweden, which I thought was pretty funny - tiny country as it is. After the national anthem, we all said the Oath of Allegiance before the judge said her closing remarks. Then we got our certificates of naturalization, showing that we are now indeed American! It was such an amazing experience, and I feel so humbled, honored, proud, and excited. This has been my home for a long time, I love this country more than anything, and I'm so happy to finally be part of the true American family.