My Experience at the Inauguration.

Though it has been a long time since I have been on the trip, Closeup has been an unforgettable and amazing experience for me that has changed the way that I look at government and the world around me. I have made so many friends along the way and got to learn a lot about government. I discovered that my role in government is bigger than I thought it was and that it is up to us to make our own mark on government. Throughout the week, we debated on current government policies, learned about the three branches, visited numerous monuments, and got to experience the inauguration-- a once in a lifetime opportunity. Here's an inside look at my experience at Close Up!

MONDAY: Welcome to DC

We are at the airport around 7:00pm and immediately started on our way to the hotel. When we reached the hotel, I immediately passed out on the bed when I went up to my hotel room. I wasn't the only one in the room though. I was paired up with a girl from my school and a pair from another school from across the country. We immediately made friends with them, as we shared our different interests and hobbies and lives where we came from. After a cool refresh, we raced to the nearby Starbucks for a quick bite. After that, we met with the groups that we would have exclusive workshops with for the duration of the week, and boarding our assigned buses Our first stop was the the Smithsonian Museum of the Native American History. We got to see a lot of artifacts and eat great food inspired by Native American culture. After that, it was a short walk to the Holocaust museum. The museum tour would start at the top using a one way elevator and it wind it's way down. After a long day of action, we wearily headed back to our hotels, ready to crash, but we didn't realize that we had more in store for us. We again met up with our bus mates for our first workshop. Through this workshop, we introduced ourselves and immediately got to know more about each other. After meeting the faces that were oh so new to us( not for long), we made our way to the ballroom for dinner. The hotel food was amazing! I had not had a decent bite since the night before, so this was rewarding me. I ate until I could eat no more. After dinner, we were introduced to our fellow program instructors and a few introductory speeches were given highlighting the upcoming week. We also had a Liberal/ Conservative Debate ; it was very interesting to hear the spectrum of people's opinions. After that, we had an hour to hang out before going to bed. I was exhausted after a long day, but I was too excited about the upcoming days to sleep early enough.

TUESDAY: LOTS of Memorials

When I woke up, I could barely get out of bed. We had an early breakfast this day, so I forced myself to get ready and make my way down to the ballroom for breakfast. After an energizing meal, we went straight to our buses that were set on the course towards the Jefferson Memorial. There's a lot of symbolism that went into the statue, which was interesting because it made me realize that these statues weren't just for looking at, they were a way of conveying the stories of the man's life. After contemplating the statue and its surrounding dome, we took a quick group photo and headed on our way to the FDR memorial. The memorial was a walk through memorial with sections for each term that he served. There were quotes throughout the memorial of what he had said throughout his presidency. It was nice to see how the president viewed the world and the government around him. After that brief visit, it was off to the Reagan Building for a quick lunch. The Reagan building had a nice cafe with a variety of food to chose from. We hopped back onto the bus later to visit the WWII memorial. When we arrived, I got notified that I would be visiting inside the U.S. Capitol instead. I was overjoyed that we would actually get to see our nation's legislative building. Inside the building, we got to see a brief movie on the history of the building, then we we took a tour of the old Senate and House of representative rooms, since there was restricted access to the new rooms since they were in use during our time there. We also were lucky enough to see the inside of the dome. The view inside the dome was breathtaking; the intricate designs that went into the paintings was almost too much to handle all at once! After doing some more touring, we headed to the metro to take us to Pentagon City Mall, where we would meet up with our Close Up group. There, we had time to have lunch with our friends and go shopping.

WEDNESDAY: Capitol Hill Day

After a quick breakfast, we rushed to the metro to take us to the Capitol. We were all jumping our seats because today we would be able to attend Capitol Hill and listen in on cabinet meetings. The first stop was the Supreme Court. We didn't really get to see the court cases in session, but we were allowed to get souvenirs. After that, we got to take pictures in front of the US Capitol. We walked down the street a short while after towards the Hart Senate Office Building. There was a huge line to get into the building, as many people wanted to listen in on the meetings. Most of us Dublin students were able to get a spot to listen in on the Health and Human confirmation hearings. The rest of us took a short trip to the National Gallery of Art. We got to a lot of portraits of famous figures in history, like Napoleon and Washington, and Van Gogh. We also made our way through a sculpture gallery, and got to see some pretty cool looking sculptures. After the sculpture gallery, it was a trip back to the Office Building to board our buses to the next stop, the Arlington Cemetery.

The Arlington Cemetery is home to the resting place of the U.S. army soldiers who gave their life to serve for our country, The 35th president of the United States and his family and the tomb of the unknown soldier. We walked quietly along the cemetery pathway, until we reached the resting place of former president JFK and his family. We were instructed to be absolutely silent, as a way to pay respects to them. There was an eternal flame ablaze to signify the memory that will live on in all of our hearts. After a brief moment of silence, we took a short hike up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. According to our Close Up instructors, there was a 24/7 guard watch on the tomb, 365 days a year, and they would change the guards every hour. We were lucky enough to see the "changing of the guards ceremony. The guards wore special shoes that clicked when they hit their heels together, and were impeccably dressed in uniform.The ceremony was conducted by a relief commander, and the to-be sentinels were the best of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the Army. The ceremony was absolutely silent, but was really exciting at the same time. After the ceremony had ended, it was time to head back to the hotels for more workshops and discussions. The moment we arrived, we had a workshop on the enduring questions of democracy. We were asked to list the current issues of government policies while debating for/against them. Then, as a hotel group, we were asked to debate on similar topics as a large group and present our case "for" and "against". It was interesting to see two sides to the discussion. After a long debate, we headed back to our rooms for the night.

THURSDAY: FairVote and a Concert

We started out the day by going to a seminar about FairVote. FairVote is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that educates people on how to remove the structural barriers to democracy that will respect every voice and vote out there. The seminar on voting was definitely an eye opener on the way voting works and the voting trends that have taken place for the past two elections. It inspired me to be more involved in making voting a more easier and fair process. After the seminar, we had a bus transfer to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. A quick lunch in the cafeteria, and we were allowed to roam free in the museum. Since this was an interactive museum, we had a lot of fun seeing all the topics of history for mammals to birds and even human history! We took a short walk to the Newseum, where we got to learn about various recent events and view some interesting pictures in a Nikon picture gallery.After that, we took a stroll to the Washington memorial for the Make America Great Again concert. The music was during the concert was fine, however, there was a major amounts of country songs that I didn't recognize. There were a few songs that I could recall to my memory though. We had a hearty pizza dinner at Bertucci's, a quick stop at the Marine Corps War Memorial, and were on our way as soon as possible, for the presidential inauguration was tomorrow.

FRIDAY: The Inauguration

I had barely slept the last night. We got up at 4:30. When I looked out the window, there was barely any cars outside. It was pitch black. I trundled my way into my clothes and went downstairs for breakfast. I didn't want to eat the packaged breakfast, so I bought myself a muffin in the lobby. I met up with my school, and we raced to the metro so we could make our way to Capitol Hill. The activity at the metro was also pretty deserted, which surprised me because our future commander-in-chief was being inaugurated today. As the subway zoomed across the city, I found myself finding the rocking of the car to be soothing. Just as I was about to doze off, the subway stopped with a jolted stop. It was time to get off at our stop. When we reached the entrance to the capitol hill, we realized that we were just in time, as there was a crowd starting to build. It took a long while, but we were eventually through security. After we reached our area on the mall, it was gonna be a few hours before the inauguration was gonna start. Thanks to our congressional representative, I tried my best to pass the time by, playing cards with my fellow Dublin friends, sleeping, and pretty much staring into space. After what seemed like forever, the inauguration was finally commenced when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the United States Marine Band started to perform. The music was cheery and exciting, and I could wait for the ceremony to start. We waited in excitement as people started to pour into the stands. There was applause and cheering. When the past presidents and their families begin to settle in, people started to roar ecstatically. Finally, it was time to start the ceremony. The ceremony went pretty smooth, however there were instances where the civilians on the mall felt the need to state their opinions to the public. The ceremony started with the peaceful transfer of power, and ended with the swearing in of the president and the vice president. Then the president delivered his inaugural address which was surprising brief. Overall, this event was one to remember. Only having experienced one another inauguration in my life so far, this was a once in a lifetime experience. I felt pride in representing my family here in D.C. as millions of others watched it from the comfort of their own homes. After the ceremony, we slowly made our long journey towards the metro. The streets were packed and chaotic, however, before we knew it, we were finally on our way to the hotel. We granted a few hours to rest, then it was time for then Closeup Inaugural ball. The night at the ball was amazing; we danced the night away with our newly made friends and sang our hearts out to karaoke. After a long, fun-filled day, it was finally time for us to go home. When we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted, as we had been awake for the last 20 hours. As I was about to sleep, I revisited all the exciting and amazing things that had happened that day....

Day 6: Free Day!

Today was the day where we could go wherever we wanted. While the seniors of my group decided to go off to the Women's March, we decided to visit Ford's theater, the Peterson house, the National Archive museum, and the National Portrait Gallery. In the National Archive Museum, we were lucky enough to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. To my surprise the writing on these treasured documents were way more faded then I had expected. However, I was able to make out a few words. After the The Peterson House was really interesting, because I go to learn a lot about John Wilkes Booth and former president's personal life and see some artifacts from his life. The National Portrait Gallery was nice to visit as well because there was a lot of famous historical figures that I recognized. This is where we met up with the rest of our Dublin group. We strolled to the metro, as we were on our way back to the hotel. At the hotel, we were allowed to dress nicely, for today was the farewell dinner. After a reflection workshop, we made our way to the dinner hall. From each workshop, our fellow Close Up friends gave a farewell speech. I took a moment to reflect all exciting things that we had experienced throughout the week. We had learned so much more about government and how we can make a mark on it. I met so many new people and made so many new friends. We ended the day by dancing our hearts out, and bid farewell to our newly made buddies.