First day in Washington, D.C.!

Today was the long awaited day. We finally made our way to Washington DC after more than two months of planning and preparing for it. The feelings and emotions are overwhelming and vary from person to person but over all we can all say that so far this trip has definitely been worth all the hard work.

The entire group of about 35 students left from the front steps of Alisal high school at three thirty in the morning. Most of us still half asleep but still full of excitement. We left from the airport of San Francisco to make a stop in Phoenix and from there continue to Baltimore. Needless to say that the airplane ride was not the most pleasant thing about our trip. it was tiring and tedious especially since we were all anxious to get here.

After about five or six hours we arrived to the airport in Baltimore where we waited some minutes for the bus to pick us up and take us to dinner. We were starving! We went to eat to a place named Old Country Buffet in Maryland. It was great because we all ate until we could no more. Furthermore, our bus driver and tour guide is a great guy; he's very funny and easy to get along with. Not to mention he is very educated about many things around this great city.

After dinner we went to have a walk. We were hoping to see the Lincoln Memorial but unfortunately we were unable to do so. We did however get a chance to see the Capitol Building though not from very close. It was then that it really hit us that we were really in Washington DC! After that we also saw several memorial sites such as the Korean memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and we also got a chance to be at the location where President-elect Barack Obama will attend a concert in his honor.

The cold was the biggest change that we immediately noticed. It was overwhelming because we could hardly feel our hands and legs! After a while however we didn't mind the cold as much because it was so incredible to be in this city.

Tomorrow holds a very busy day for us and we hope the weather will be less harsh than it was today. I look forward to blogging tomorrow to share all of our adventures.

Araceli Aguirre, 17, Alisal High School