As some may know, I visited the United States capital, Washington, D.C., Feb. 13-17. I did this because People to People World Leadership Forums invited me to. It was way cooler than I ever imagined it to be! Everything is way prettier than the pictures show, especially under snow!

In Washington, D.C., it was so cold that the Reflecting Pool in front of the Washington Monument was frozen and people were skating on it. The group I was touring with had a huge snowball fight in front of the Lincoln Memorial and everyone joined in, even the bus driver. I should also mention that no one has sledded down Capitol Hill for 20 years, yet this year people did, and they sure took advantage of it. It was craziness!

Since the President’s Day Parade was canceled because of the snow, we went to the Library of Congress instead, which I was all for. I say this because parades don’t teach you anything and libraries do! The best part about the Library of Congress was that the artwork was phenomenal! (Really)

The Capitol itself has a lot of sculptures in it because there is a collection with two from every state so you can imagine how big that collection is! In the Library of Congress the President’s Reading Room was open to the public because it was President’s Day. I guess that is very rare (But I don’t know because this was my first time in Washington, D.C.). I have to admit that I could live in that room, it was so beautiful, and to be surrounded by so much knowledge is kind of overwhelming.

When I was in D.C. I made tons of new friends. The kids and teachers came from all over the U.S. I met new friends from Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. It was awesome!

I learned interesting things about the monuments and memorials that I didn’t know. For example, did you know that the people who operated the Washington Monument when President Taft was in office only let men use the elevator to get to the top of the monument. The women and kids had to take the stairs because the elevator wasn’t safe enough for them! Also, if you stand in a certain spot in the Lincoln Memorial it looks like there is a face on the back of Lincoln’s head.

When we went to Arlington Cemetery, World War II Memorial and the other war memorials, I was surprised at how many people died to protect our country.

The trip was just a great experience and I enjoyed every single moment of it! Including the airports, I had a great time just looking around the Detroit airport and suggest that everyone goes through it at some point in time! My favorite part of the airport was the light tunnel that has sound effects, which was really cool!

I’m keeping up with the friends I made there through emails and stuff. By the way, just in case you were wondering, I did not see or meet the president but I did see the helicopters that he flew in.

Throughout this whole trip, I had a blast!

Thank you to my teacher, Mrs. Johnson, for nominating me and to my family for allowing me to go on this unbelievable trip.

Viveca Power, a fifth-grader at St. Matthew Grade School, was featured in the Feb. 10 issue of the Leader. She was nominated and chosen for the People to People World Leadership Forum. She kept a journal on her trip to Washington, D.C., and shares part of it here.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS