DC in Review

One Week! It’s been a week since the inauguration! Wow.

Well, now that I’ve gotten to formulate my thoughts (I had no clue what was going on those first couple of days back), I thought it’d be good to recap the trip and share some last minute thoughts.

So, the last time I blogged was Wednesday. Thursday was a dress-up day, as we were supposed to be going to the State Department and the Library of Congress. Well, someone decided they needed to be at the State Dept. more than we did, so the tour got cancelled and those of us not going to Shear Madness wandered around Georgetown on a great Starbucks quest. After finding our coffee-y treasure, we took the Metro over to the Library of Congress, which was incredibly cool. I could’ve spent days in there looking at the incredibly ornate decorations, and am now very jealous of the pages who get to go to school in the attic. I got quite a few awesome pictures!

After the Library of Congress tour, we walked over to Union Station for lunch. The little greek place in the food court has really good baklava! On the way there, though, we encountered an anti-abortion protest in front of the supreme court, with a pro-choice counter protest. It was pretty entertaining, as two opposing protesters were about to come to blows. Two of the kids who were in our group got “stuck” in the march, and didn’t meet up with us until later.

The Holocaust Museum came next. For anyone who doesn’t know, when you go in, they give you this card that has a profile of someone who was in the Holocaust. Not all the profiles are of survivors. You then go in on the 4th floor and work your way down. It was very moving, especially the tower of photographs of one town that was essentially wiped out. I’ve been to Dauchau and seen so much of this stuff, but the museum showed the whole picture, more than anything I’ve ever seen before.

To continue our historical experiences was a night tour of the monuments. After everyone had switched from those evil dress shoes to something more comfortable, we packed onto the bus and drove to the first of our stops, the WWII memorial. It was a little hard to see in the dark, but very cool. The next stop was the Korean War memorial, which I was very much looking forward to. It’s a very amazing monument, and I wish I’d had more time to look at all of the sandblasted pictures on the back wall.
Our next stop was the Vietnam Memorial Wall. This was probably the most important thing for me to see on the entire trip, as I’ve watched many of my parents’ friends and family suffer from the effects of all they encountered in the war. It really is an amazing tribute to the soldiers, but I did have one problem. The entire place was flooded with tweens and teens on tours who were running up and down the walkway, screaming, and leaning up against the wall to take their new MySpace default pics. Maybe it’s just me, but I was incredibly offended by the lack of respect. Why would anyone think it’s ok to act like that at a memorial?!

Anyway, we stopped at the Lincoln Monument before getting back on the bus and heading back to the hotel. It was very, very cool to see all the monuments that are on tv and in movies and everywhere else.

Friday was our last day, but before flying out, we stopped at the White House and went to the Cfor a tour. The White house was blocked by all of the parade stuff, but we still got to meet a protester who’s in Lafayette Park 24/7. And we got a group picture with him.
On to the Capitol! After a short nap during the introductory movie, we were taken to the dome, which was pretty cool, even though the tour guide totally shut our teacher down! We saw several more rooms full of statues, paintings, and even got a speech from a very long-winded security guard before getting to go down onto the floor of the House of Representatives. I was very surprised to find the the pretty blue tapestry on the wall was backed by LED lights that show how the representatives vote. How cool is that?!

So, Another short nap at lunch time and a brisk walk brought us back to the American History Museum, where we loaded onto the bus for the ride to the airport.

The week was over, and we were exhausted from all the new experiences. Despite the cold and the creepy tour guide (Who I may never recover from my encounter with), the week was AMAZING! It was the experience of a lifetime and even if the dates get a little jumbled or I forget what everything was called, I will never forget the things that I learned.

Chelsea K.

Inauguration Day, Reflections on Respect

During the inauguration when they were introducing people the crowd cheered for everybody except Presidient Bush. When they introduced President Bush the crowd booed really loud and obnoxiously. I thought that was really poor and showed a great lack of respect not only for the man but for our president and everything that he stands for. The president of the United States is the leader of our country and deserves our respect whether we agree with him or not. I think to disrespect the President is to disrespect our country and ourselves. Even if you don’t like the person, or respect him, you should at least show some manners, and be polite to the person!
I don’t think these people even realize how hard it is to run our country and make the decisons the president has to make!!
~Jifu G.

An Amazing Adventure in DC!

Note: I apologize for the long blog entry, but I haven’t blogged the whole trip, so this entry will tell you what I did on my amazing trip to DC!

I had a blast going to DC. My favorite parts where going to the capitol building, the Library of Congress, the ball, and the Alexandria ghost tour.
Our first day in Washington DC was great. We went to Alexandria, looked in some shops, and went on a ghost tour.
Our second day, we got up early. We went to the inauguration, and had a great time. It was an amazing feeling to be there to see the first African American president inaugurated. After the inauguration, we all went to eat lunch, and got back on the bus. Then, went back to the hotel, after eating dinner of course, and man, where our feet sore! We all dragged our selves to our rooms and collapsed on our beds.
The next morning, we got to sleep in, just a little bit. Next, we went upstairs to eat breakfast(my room was down stairs). After breakfast, the high school group that came with us, got on one bus, and the middle school group( my group) got on the other. Each group of students had a different schedule, so we didn’t really interact with the highschool students that much.
We went to go sightseeing Wednesday, and visit the National Museum of Natural Science. We got to see Mount Vernon, and Arlington cemetery. Then, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the inaugural ball.
The ball was a blast, I wore a long black dress, with a little bit of a white stripe across the top. I also wore black high heels, and my dress was like my other friend’s dresses, no straps. I didn’t really like it, but I had a good time. We danced the night away, we all had a lot of fun. Oh! There where cardboard cut outs of president Obama, Lincoln, and Washington, and the Lincoln and Washington cut outs, went crowd surfing and danced with everyone. Also, the floor was giving underneath us, when people bounced up and down, it felt so weird!
The next day, we went to go to the other musems in the DC area, including the Smithsonian. Then, we went to the Jefferson memorial and the FDR memorial. Next, we took a break for lunch. Then, we wandered around the museums some more. Finally came our night tour of the Korean, Vietnam, World War 2, and Lincoln memorials. All of the memorials looked so cool, but my favorite, was the WW2 memorial.
Then, January 23rd, we packed our bags, and said good bye to the hotel. We put our bags in the storage compartmant under the buses. Even though Friday was our last day in DC, we still had some work to do. We got to go to the Library of Congress. We saw the amazing architectur, and yes we did see the place where they filmed National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. But, we didn’t get to finish our tour. Since our apointment to see the capitol building had been changed. So we hurried over there for our tour. The inside of the building, was truely astounding! Then, it was time to head back home. I was so sad to be leaving, but happy to be going home at the same time. The journey back home was long, but worth it. I was so happy that I got to see my family again.

Well, that’s my adventure in DC.

~ Jifu G.

Warmer

Today was day 4 of our adventures in the District of Columbia, and this Thursday was warmer than all the rest…which put everyone in a good mood. This however was counteracted by the 4th day of sleep deprivation that we all had suffered from due to the stuffed itinerary (we’ve actually had to skip some of the stops on the timeplan because of lack of time).
Today we were supposed to go to the State Department’s Building, but it turns out that a certain jealous Democratic Nominee had booked the place…somehow. Hillary Clinton was later accompanied by the President and the rest of his Cabinent. So we went and explored Georgetown, the city, with friends instead. It was only 7 o’clock so the only things that were open were the CVS Pharmacy, which conveniently sell Barack Obama Trading Cards making myself look like even MORE of a tourist. Also Barnes and Nobles was open where I bought a Newsweek magazine on the Inauguration, and then regretted it after walking downstairs and seeing a much better cover on the Obama Time Magazine.
From there we went to eat at the Union Station, a nice store owner gave us a chicken sandwich and a free gelato with the sandwich, all of which were delicious. Then we travelled the underground travel tubes to the Holocaust Museum. The Museum speaks to you in a way that makes it almost impossible to explain what occured while you were there. It tells stories of millions, mostly of those that didn’t make it through the war. It leaves you speechless.
After that experience, we went to dinner at what was supposed to be the Hard Rock Cafe, but ended up being a half deserted old underground mall center. The food was absolutely AMAZING, it was pasta and although it looked like Chef Boyardee’s, it tasted like that of a respectable Head Chef to an expensive 5 star Italian restaurant.
The group divided from there, and went to either the Lincoln Monuement, or the play called Shear Madness. This play was hysterical, at first during the preplay warmup, I was finding a comfortable position to sleep in. Soon afterward I found myself with my knees up to my chest because I was laughing so hard my body cramped up.
Something that just skipped my mind, we went to the Library of Congress somewhere in the middle of the day, which if I could just say, was beautiful. The amount of work and detail put into a single room, or even wall, should be praised.

-PJW

That Darn Alarm Clock!

We got some really good sleep last night. In fact it was so good that we did’t realize what time it was when cassie jumped out of bed and started freaking out. It was 6:16 and we had to be at breakfast by 6:30. Having to get dressed really fast, and angry at the alarm clock (for not going off.) we were rushing this morning. I did’t even get to take a shower We did not have a good morning, it was a good thing that the bus was running late or we would have been stuck here.
-Lia Jo Butler-Ickler-

The Library of Congress and rushing through everything else

So today for the fourth day of our trip we went to the Library of Congress, The Supreme Court, The Holocaust museum, the lincoln, vietnam, and korean memorials. Then we went to the lay sheer  madness.

So i would have to say that the Library of Congress was my favorite because it is amazing all the books that they have and the exhibits they have on display currently. What was sad was that we could not take pictures of the exhibits because they did not want the paper to be ruined, so i totally understand that. I was in awe of the beauty of the D.C. white marble and all the intricate design and detail that was put into every tile and stone of this building. 

After that we went to the supreme court which was cool, but not what i expected. It was a giant white marble building with two floors and when we actually went onto the court where all the justices looked over cases, I fell asleep cause I was so tired.

The rest of the day was cool because the memorials were amazing. Then the play was awesome. It was at the Kennedy center which made me want to cry because it was such a nice preforming arts center. The actors were so good, they kept character the whole time. 

That was our day.

Stephanie Cutrell, Mullen High School

Busy Day

We started out our day like every other day. Then we went to the Library of Congress, it was so beautiful and so many details I loved it . . . Another great thing we did today was go to the Holocaust Museum.  Although it was very sad and one of the most negative things in history, it was a really well set up museum and I really enjoyed it.  Tonight we went to the World War II memorial, Korean memorial, Vietnam memorial, and the Lincoln memorial, talk about a lot of walking but it was 100% worth it , it felt great to be able to honor and respect the people who faught and died for this country. It was a great day and a lot warmer then the other days…….I’M SO EXCITED TO SEE THE WHITE HOUSE TOMORROW!
-By Desirae Tooz

Library of Congress, Supreme court, and National Monuments

I don’t even know how to describe the Library of Congress other than it took my breath away. The outside of the Library is beautiful but the inside was absolutely amazing. There were marble columns, statues, marble cherubs, mosaics and stain glass. The amazing part was that every tiny detail was not just done because it looked nice, each and every carving and mosaic was created to represent something in American history. Each detail not only added beauty but significance to the Library. One of the really interesting exhibits was the original books from Thomas Jefferson’s library. Next we went to the Supreme Court and listened to a courtroom lecture, which was about a 25 minute long overview of the functions and history of the Court. It was pretty interesting, although most of the information we already knew from school. The Supreme Court is also a very intricately decorated building, made almost completely of what we have come to call “DC white” marble. Some of us traveled to the National Monuments while the others went to see the play Sheer Madness at the Kennedy Center. The monuments were wonderful, all lit up. I think that the Korean Memorial was more spiritually moving during the night than during the day because it much more impressive and a little bit eerie. Tonight it our last night here so we have to go pack now.

D.S. and C.H.

Museums and Pro-tests

The most touching museum i have ever seen is would have to be the Holocost museum. tis museum shows what happened to Jews and other groups in the consentration camps. Little kids suffered as well did the adults. This raises the question ” how could someone be so cruel?” nobody will ever know other than Hitler him self. As we were walking to the museum we had seen a pro-test group outside the supreme court about abortions. This really touch me because of the people who had tape on their mouth to represent the children who can’t talk. I myself do not believe in abortions just because you are murdering a person. Although if someone is to be raped and got pregnant I would not want to have that baby. But when is it too much? It should not be used as a form of birth control just because a person made a mistake on not being careful. Every child should have the chance to live life. LOVE THE CHILDREN.

Padre Tomas’ Experience in Washington D.C.

Hey my name is Thomas Prewitt.  I’m a senior from Brighton High School in Brighton, Colorado.  Right now I’m sitting in a room with about seven high school kids and two teachers blogging about our experiences here so far.  It has been an absolutley amazing experience so far.  First off, for a little background information I’m six foot seve pounds with a beard, so when I first got to the airport many of the kids thought I was a chaperone.  We first got to Washington D.C. and we went to ALexandria.  It was pretty awesome, and we passed T. C Williams High School, which is the high school in the movie Remember the Titans.  I’m still trying to get a t-shirt.  We took a ghost tour and our guide was dressed like in the colonial days, except when he got out of his car…but anyways we took a tour around the town and he was playing to the stories and scared the crap out of another kid from my school…she’s still disturbed, she wouldn’t even dance tonight at the inaugural ball because she’s scarred.  So Tuesday we woke up at about four in the morning to get ready to go.  We left at five in the morning and started walking around.  Everywhere we went we got denied so we had to go even farther.  We finally got to a street where we could get in and tried to get in farther, but it didn’t work so we ended up back by the Washington Monument.  It was amazing to be a part of history and be a part of the atmosphere of everyone is so excited about a new era in American history.  Arethra Franklin sang a song of freedom and it sounded like it was straight from her cd of her glory days.  In the middle of a song an elderly black man began to cry, and it was pretty moving.  Then Obama was getting swore in and Chief Justice Roberts and Obama completely butchered one of their lines, it was hilarious.  After the inauguration ceremony I became poppa duck.  As I said I’m a fairly large man and people tend to get out of my way, so I led the pack of six students and two teachers through the crowd of people.  I was holding the hand of the girl behind me and we created a chain and I bobbed and weaved through everywhere.  It was some pretty impressive navigation if I do say so myself.  Then out of nowhere I see Tony Dungy and, oh by the way I have a broken foot, so I’m running after in a giant boot like a wounded bear. But I’m in the room now and my teacher is reading it and they say that it was nothing like bobbing and weaving it was again an angry bear charging through the throngs of crazy people, they called me Moses. But we’re going to get some Micky Ds and I just gave my teacher a minor heart attack with what I’m going to order, so check in later for some more interesting stories.