Welcome to DC YFU!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

We are here and LOVING IT!

Meet Ron, our Belo Trip Coordinator

Learning about the Library of Congress

The Nation's Capitol

Supreme Court

The ladies...

...pose at the top of the...

...Supreme Court building.

We can't take enough pictures!

Rick, Sherry, Ron, Rick, and Eric

Ron with our wonderful chaperones

We had a QUACK of a time!

Yes! Our awesome East Coast adventure trip finally started. Everybody was so excited about this full-planned first day. After waking up early and a good breakfast in the Hilton Hotel, we stepped in the bus and were ready to explore Washington DC!

 We visited the Library of Congress, the Capital building and we got to go all the way to the top of the stairs at the Supreme Court building, which normally people are not allowed to. As fast as we could we ran up and took our group picture! It was fun to see all the pretty buildings that have been so important in the US History…Everything looked familiar to us from the movies. Memorials that really impressed us were the Vietnam memorial and the Korean war memorial. There was a very long wall with thousands of names of soldiers that passed away during the war. There was a big book with all the names, so if you knew someone that died you could look it up and find the name on the wall. Washington DC has many memorials, designed by art students. We also met Lincoln and Jefferson! As statues. ;-) We saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well, which was very official.

After this all we went to the cute city named Georgetown, where we had delicious pizza. We had some free time for shopping but unfortunately many shops were closed. But we have a good shopping place to look forward to: New York City! But first we are going to explore and enjoy Washington DC.

Love,
Eva Straver from The Netherlands <3
Columbus, Ohio!

We visited the Korean War Memorial

No matter where you stand at the memorial, a soldier is looking at you.

Dawn, trip monitor, with a Korean War Veteran at the Korean War Memorial

Learning from our tour guide at the Lincoln Memorial

This is where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech!

My favorite part today was making friends from other countries. We took a lot of pictures it was really fun.
-Gayeun Lim from South Korea-

The Arlington National Cemetery was our personal highlight of the day. We have never seen anything like that. There were hundreds of rows full of white grave stones underneath pink and white cherry blossoms. It was beautiful.

We loved the changes of the guards ceremony because it was something totally different and new from what we are used to. All of us could feel the essence of patriotism related to the ceremony. There was this moment when all of us got up and silence filled the air.

 Anastasia Weissbecker from Germany

Dominika Olejnakova from Slovakia
Oscar Hong from Germany
GO SYRACUSE!!!

Welcome to Arlington National Cemetery.

Honor, Remember, Explore

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Guards of Honor at the Tomb of the Unknowns are highly motivated and are proud to honor all American service members who are "Known But to God."     

It was such a beautiful day.

Kennedy's Eternal Flame

In 1912, an incredible gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees was bestowed on Washington, DC by Tokyo, Japan.

Rooted strongly and surviving outside elements, the trees have withstood the test of time – and nearly a century later, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is preparing for an unprecedented and once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

The epic 5-week spectacular, from March 20 – April 27, 2012, will unify and electrify the city, the nation, and the world.

...and we were able to see it!

Jump for...

...JOY at...

...Jefferson Memorial

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is a presidential memorial dedicated to the memory of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and to the era he represents. For the memorial's designer, landscape architect, the memorial site represents the capstone of a distinguished career, partly because the landscape architect had fond memories of Roosevelt, and partly because of the sheer difficulty of the task.

Dinner at Uno's Pizzeria in Georgetown