As a senior, I attended the annual DC trip along with half of my class. We departed for the class trip on Nov. 19 and returned Nov. 22. The first official stop of the trip, not including any rest stops, was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, we went to the Independence Mall for lunch. Students ate at various venders in the Bourse Building, which was originally America’s first material exchange market; the word bourse means a place of exchange. If we still had time after eating, we could choose to head over and look at the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin’s gravesite, Franklin Court, or the US Mint.

After sightseeing for half an hour or so, everyone met up at the National Constitution Center to watch “Freedom Rising”, which is a narrated overview of why America created the Constitution. After the multimedia show, we were allowed to explore the rest of the exhibits in the center. There were mock voting booths, interactive quizzes, statues, and articles from the Constitution time period.

Then everyone hopped back on the bus for another length of our trip. Later, we stopped to eat at an Italian restaurant That’s Amore in Maryland. After that, we visited the US Marine Corps War Memorial before heading over to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, everyone was exhausted from the long day of traveling and sightseeing.

The next morning, we departed for the Vietnam War, Lincoln, and Korean War memorials.

Then we all headed over to the MLK Jr and FDR memorials.

After walking around the memorials we went over to Capitol Hill to take our official Washington class picture. Rosa DeLauro also came to talk to us and answer any questions we had. Then we all headed over to the US Capitol Visitor Center for a tour. Before the tour started we watched a video called, “Out of Many, One”. On the tour we saw the Crypt, the Rotunda, and National Statuary Hall.  After our tour we were allowed to go explore Capitol Hill, visit the Supreme Court, or Botanical Gardens.

Later everyone headed to the 9-11 Memorial at the Pentagon and the Air Force Memorial.

After dinner on Thursday we all walked over to the White House and then visited The World War II Memorial and Jefferson Memorial.

Friday morning we went and visited Arlington National Cemetery. We saw the Kennedy gravesite, the Memorial Amphitheater, and went to see the Tomb of the Unknowns. We watched the changing of the guards ceremony and participated in the placing of a wreath to honor the unknown men.

After lunch at Union Station we were allowed to walk around The National Mall to look at the numerous sites. We were allowed to look at the Smithsonian Museums, The National Gallery of Art, The Holocaust Museum, The International Spy Museum, The Newseum, and the National Archives. Everyone also received tickets to visit the Washington Monument. The views from the top of the monument were outstanding. [Photos from the top of the Washington Monument below]

After this we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and our evening out at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. We watched “Shear Madness” which is the longest-running play in America. On our last day our final we saw Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865.