Donald Trump — for better or worse — will forever be a part of history. And I love history. Living and breathing, it is a part of my life. That is why I signed up for tickets to his Austin rally.

Some family members back in my home state of Connecticut are voting Trump for president, and others for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. I’m not writing this to tell you my support of either candidate, but rather just my experience at a Trump rally.

A blazing hot Aug. 23 rally at the Travis County Exposition Center was the location of the event. My friend asked me a week prior to go with him. I had no idea Trump was coming to Austin. I thought about it for about 30 seconds. It was a no brainer. I wanted to witness history.

We reserved three tickets, but couldn’t find a third person to come. A number of my friends were shocked that I was going. I got some strange looks when I told people.

Usually it was followed by laughter, as if I had just told them a joke. It’s no secret that Trump is doing poorly with young voters. Trump has less than 20 percent of the 35 and younger vote, according to an August USA Today poll.

Getting to the event was easy. We had no problem parking, but we had an hour wait in line. There were thousands of people there. The only concern I had ahead of the rally was safety. Over the summer the media has bombarded us with images of protesters clashing with candidate’s supporters. I worried that this rally would suffer the same fate.

However, those thoughts quickly disappeared once I saw the secret service agents spread out over the area and the Department of Homeland Security was in charge of screening. This being my first ever official political event with such a high profile and controversial candidate, I never felt I was in any danger.

In the days prior, Trump made his pitch to the African American community.

“What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump said in a speech Aug. 19. He was talking to the African American community, asking them why continue to vote with the Democratic party while there are still higher rates of poverty and unemployment in their communities.

Obviously I could not see everyone in the building, and didn’t interview anyone on how they identify, but out of thousands of people in attendance, very few were of a minority.

Numerous people were arrested and escorted out by the Secret Service agents throughout the event. But the arena shook with cheers and applause when Trump made his way out on stage.

Trump hit all the talking points. He said Mexico is paying for the wall we’re going to build along the border if he is elected. He made his pitch to the African American community, again.

After attending the rally, it was clear to me that the media hasn’t been twisting what Trump says. After going to his rally, the man really does say the exact same things we have all seen over the media.

It was quite the experience to go see this event, even after sitting in standstill traffic afterwards for 52 minutes. What’s obvious to me, is Trump’s message resonates with a large segment of the population, and this could be a closer race for president than many have predicted.