I remember being a child on New Year's Eve, pointing up at the television screen in our living room, the one playing “Dick Clark’s Rocking New Year’s Eve,” and telling my parents that I was going to go see the ball drop one day, that I was going to be on the other side of our television screen, in New York.

I remember being a young teenage girl, sitting on my bed in my room and listening to Taylor Swift, and thinking that her moving to New York City was the coolest thing, and I remember wanting to go too.

I remember my senior year of high school, no longer a child, and yet, still not old enough to be fully taken seriously — and I remember still telling my parents that I was going to be in that crowd, and in New York City when the clock struck midnight.

I remember so many points in my life where adventure, curiosity, and spontaneity have taken over my thought process, and nowhere do those thoughts stand out more prominently in my mind than do they in times when I’ve thought about New York City on New Year’s Eve.

The point is, last New Years, I did something that was a long time in the making. Last New Year's Eve, I watched the ball drop in Times Square, right there in New York City.

To some people, it may sound amazing, and then to some, not so much. For me though, it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. For me, I stood in the cold for 15 hours straight, had so much fun with my best friend, wondered if either one of us were starting to get frostbite in our feet, saw so many famous people, wondered if it was real life, and did the thing that I had been dreaming of doing literally since I was a child. For me, I had more fun than I had ever had in my entire life, and let me just say, it felt great.

This New Year's Eve, I can't help but think back on it, on how crazy and amazing it was, and how no New Year's party I could go to would ever top the experience I was having this time last year. There is just no comparison.

That being said, this year, if you've always wanted to do something a little crazy, spontaneous, and fun, then I think you should skip the parties, and you should watch the ball drop in New York City on New Year's Eve. It's worth the craziness, and the hustle and bustle. It's worth all the crazy looks you get when you tell your family that you're actually doing it. It's worth it, more worth it than any party you could go to.

So I say skip the parties. Be spontaneous, be adventurous, be brave and bold, and go do something a little different this New Year's Eve.