Making History
Yes we did! I made it to the 56th Inauguration. I'm actually surprised that the trip went as smoothly as it did. Myself and four other members of the Black Graduate Student Organization left Blacksburg at 10:30 pm. I had every intention of sleeping the whole way up. Some how I did not. Maybe it was because I was afraid our driver would fall asleep behind the wheel. The Young Jeezy and Jay-Z songs about Barack Obama and Busta Rhymes single "Arab Money" kept me awake as well. This in addition to the conversations about how the Boondocks is a political and social satire of our time, and my sharing my life story with everyone contributed to me not sleeping.
To our fortune there was no traffic what so ever on 66E. We made it to the Vienna metro station without a problem. We cheered as we tried to pull into a parking lot that only let visitors out and not in. We were second in line, behind a compact car whose driver decided to park and sleep until the gate open. Our car was parked behind him for about 10 minutes until we realized that since the parking lot was right off the exit we were causing cars to pile up behind us. I got out of the van when I saw cars go around us to toward the parking garage. It was 2:30 and it was decided to follow the other cars to the parking garage. Authorities wouldn't let us in until 3a.m. At 3 we puledl into the garage, parked, and ran toward the metro to get in line for our tickes. As we ran toward the line of people in the blistering cold the line seemed to get longer and longer. We finally made it to the end and stood in the cold for about 45 minutes taking pictures and video footage to pass the time.
The metro opened up at 4 am and the crowd was a mosh pit of people that had no clue how the metro worked. Police stopped people from going through the gate because the floor to the metro was so full. Our metro cards were not working and security had to let us through the gate. We finally made it on the bus and go into Metro station at 5 a.m. We found a McDonald's and were lucky enough to grab a booth. The girls ate while the other guys and I took a good power nap. I got up to go to the bathroom and I witnessed for the first time in my life women using the men's restroom while the men were in it. Think of taking a leak and turning around to see a woman washing your hands right next to your stall. A little weird huh.
We got to the mall at about 8 a.m. and pushed through the crowd toward the jumbotron on 12th street. Even with all the people, the wind was blowing like crazy. I thought my toes would have been black from frost bite. Our group got there pretty early and so the crowd closed in on us.
A few minutes before the Inauguration began, which was close to 5 hours later, my smarty pants decided to go get refreshments after being told by two people that it took them close to 2 hours to get some hot chocolate. I was confident in that I'd move through pretty quickly. Boy was I wrong. I had to fight for my life to get out of the crowd. People were shoulder to shoulder, back to chest, and they would not move. People couldn't move. This even was definitely not for the claustrophobic. I made it out of the crowd just to stand in a refreshments line for 30 minutes without moving. I tried to go back to my group. After 5 minutes of struggling to move two steps, I decided to stay where I was. I used the last bit of juice on my phone to text my group about where I was.
As I stood in the cold near hundreds of strangers, I witnessed the Inauguration. Excitement flooded the mall as we all waited to see the first black president of the U.S. assume his deserved position. The crowd cheered as the Clintons came on the screen. The crowd boooed with passion as the screen flashed shots of George Bush. All I heard from the Monument on 14th street to the jumbotron on 12th street was the chorus " Hey Hey Hey Goodbye." Normally, I would have joined in but I was really focused on the fact that the guy infront of me had such a large hat that even though I tried to move in both directions, my view was horrible. This coupled with the fear of frost bite had me praying for Obama to come out and do his thing so I could warm up. Even still, with my mind focused on myself, I almost cried because of how real the moment was. I could not believe I was in D.C. to witness the event. With toes, hands, ears, and legs frozen like hamburger meat at a fast food restaurant, I was overcome by the unity that was in the crowd. Flags were waving, the crowd was cheering, everyone was so happy to be there.
As soon as Obama's speech ended everyone dispersed. Leaving DC was even worst. There were moments when the crowd was shoulder to shoulder back to chest. The five of us did our best to stay together. It took us over two hours to walk from 12th to 23rd street because of the mosh pit of people trying to get to different directions. The crowd was worst than free before 11 at Love, but very cooperative.
I caught a quick power nap on the train to Vienna. This didn't help because I almost lost it on the drive back. I never missed out on sleep so much in my life. Well maybe I have. Definitely check out our videos entitled Hardcore for Obama! Speaking of that, my group really went in thinking they would stay in D.C. to bar hop. That got shut down after the rest of them realized how cold it was. Too funny. This is something I'll never forget.
To our fortune there was no traffic what so ever on 66E. We made it to the Vienna metro station without a problem. We cheered as we tried to pull into a parking lot that only let visitors out and not in. We were second in line, behind a compact car whose driver decided to park and sleep until the gate open. Our car was parked behind him for about 10 minutes until we realized that since the parking lot was right off the exit we were causing cars to pile up behind us. I got out of the van when I saw cars go around us to toward the parking garage. It was 2:30 and it was decided to follow the other cars to the parking garage. Authorities wouldn't let us in until 3a.m. At 3 we puledl into the garage, parked, and ran toward the metro to get in line for our tickes. As we ran toward the line of people in the blistering cold the line seemed to get longer and longer. We finally made it to the end and stood in the cold for about 45 minutes taking pictures and video footage to pass the time.
The metro opened up at 4 am and the crowd was a mosh pit of people that had no clue how the metro worked. Police stopped people from going through the gate because the floor to the metro was so full. Our metro cards were not working and security had to let us through the gate. We finally made it on the bus and go into Metro station at 5 a.m. We found a McDonald's and were lucky enough to grab a booth. The girls ate while the other guys and I took a good power nap. I got up to go to the bathroom and I witnessed for the first time in my life women using the men's restroom while the men were in it. Think of taking a leak and turning around to see a woman washing your hands right next to your stall. A little weird huh.
We got to the mall at about 8 a.m. and pushed through the crowd toward the jumbotron on 12th street. Even with all the people, the wind was blowing like crazy. I thought my toes would have been black from frost bite. Our group got there pretty early and so the crowd closed in on us.
A few minutes before the Inauguration began, which was close to 5 hours later, my smarty pants decided to go get refreshments after being told by two people that it took them close to 2 hours to get some hot chocolate. I was confident in that I'd move through pretty quickly. Boy was I wrong. I had to fight for my life to get out of the crowd. People were shoulder to shoulder, back to chest, and they would not move. People couldn't move. This even was definitely not for the claustrophobic. I made it out of the crowd just to stand in a refreshments line for 30 minutes without moving. I tried to go back to my group. After 5 minutes of struggling to move two steps, I decided to stay where I was. I used the last bit of juice on my phone to text my group about where I was.
As I stood in the cold near hundreds of strangers, I witnessed the Inauguration. Excitement flooded the mall as we all waited to see the first black president of the U.S. assume his deserved position. The crowd cheered as the Clintons came on the screen. The crowd boooed with passion as the screen flashed shots of George Bush. All I heard from the Monument on 14th street to the jumbotron on 12th street was the chorus " Hey Hey Hey Goodbye." Normally, I would have joined in but I was really focused on the fact that the guy infront of me had such a large hat that even though I tried to move in both directions, my view was horrible. This coupled with the fear of frost bite had me praying for Obama to come out and do his thing so I could warm up. Even still, with my mind focused on myself, I almost cried because of how real the moment was. I could not believe I was in D.C. to witness the event. With toes, hands, ears, and legs frozen like hamburger meat at a fast food restaurant, I was overcome by the unity that was in the crowd. Flags were waving, the crowd was cheering, everyone was so happy to be there.
As soon as Obama's speech ended everyone dispersed. Leaving DC was even worst. There were moments when the crowd was shoulder to shoulder back to chest. The five of us did our best to stay together. It took us over two hours to walk from 12th to 23rd street because of the mosh pit of people trying to get to different directions. The crowd was worst than free before 11 at Love, but very cooperative.
I caught a quick power nap on the train to Vienna. This didn't help because I almost lost it on the drive back. I never missed out on sleep so much in my life. Well maybe I have. Definitely check out our videos entitled Hardcore for Obama! Speaking of that, my group really went in thinking they would stay in D.C. to bar hop. That got shut down after the rest of them realized how cold it was. Too funny. This is something I'll never forget.
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