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Kiana F

Page history last edited by kfrederique@stgregoryschool.org 13 years, 6 months ago

                                                

 

FAR FAR AWAY

 

Kiana Frederique

 

 

April 12, 2010 

 

Today in school we had another meeting regarding our trip to Washington D.C. My history teacher told us that we would be doing a lot of walking so have either a change of shoes or have comfortable walking shoes. We also discussed expenses, we need enough money to eat for 3 days, others days will be provided, the cost of the metro card and souvenirs . W e talked about how we had to dress: fancy dresses, skirts, blouses, nice pants, shirts, and suits, outfits must not be too  revealing or too short . I'm really scared about going, I feel like I'm being torn in two directions, part of me wants to go   and another part doesn't.     I want to stay home with my family, the comfort, ease, familiarity to th e routine. My friends said that I should go and the rest of my classmates said I should go. My mom thinks that going away will be a good opportunity for me but she is afraid to let me go. That's all I thought about. Goodnight.

 

                                                                                            -Kiana

 

 

 

I put my personal journal aside and looked at what else I had to do. At 10:00 I put away my books and climbed into bed. When I got home from school my mom had a big red and black suitcase lying in the middle of the family room.  In the suitcase were 2 pairs of pajamas, my clothes for the week I was gone was lying on the couch waiting to be ironed and packed away. My mom had ironed my cloths several times, my dad gave me fifty dollars to spend and several gift cards. My mom decided to go over my outfits with me. “You will wear the beige outfit on Sunday to The National Cathedral, and the play Shear Madness, the black one on Monday to Arlington National Cemetery, the blue one to the Washington Monument, and the play Little Shop of Horrors. You have another blue one for Wednesday to the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Art, for the dinner/dance boat ride because there is a chance of rain you can wear th e colorful top with the black pants with your regular walking shoes or you can wear the black dress with the petty coat and your 2 inch heel shoes,” She told me. Three days before I left for D.C. my mom called my aunt who lives in New York and asked her if she can go to D.C to keep an eye on me. Immediately, she booked a room in the same hotel then asked her job for time off. She and her friend were in the lobby the day I arrived. She promised my mom that she would be there every morning and every evening when I got back to the hotel. The days felt like the were speeding by. Soon it was Saturday April 17,2010 at 6:00 in the morning. I was at the airport with the rest of my classmates. I checked in my bag and helped my friends check in theirs. After an hour of making sure everyone was here, we got in line for the check point. My parents walked beside me until they couldn't go any further. I looked back and saw my sister crying, I tried hard not to cry, but a tear escaped. I called my mom to tell her that I was okay and that we would be waiting for half an hour.

 

     Our chaperons came around and programmed our phone numbers into their phones in case we were separated. I took several pictures of my friends and the other students. We boarded the plane, my friends and I decided to sit at the back of the plane. I looked out the window. “Here I go, no turning back now” I said. I had a hard time falling asleep because of bad turbulence. Out excitement couldn't be contained. We kept standing up. The stewardess was so nice that she sang to us over the intercom 'Please sit down and buckle your seat belt, buckle your seat belt, buckle your seat belt, please sit down and buckle your seat belt for your safety.' We sat there for several seconds processing what she sang, then all of a sudden one of the boys jumped up and said, “Sing again, sing again,” soon all the boys joined him and even some girls, now we had a chorus clapping and chanting, “Sing again, sing again.” We stopped in Chicago and went to our next gate on time. We landed in Baltimore, Maryland. When we got of the plane and got our baggage some of the girls started singing “Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray. Some of us started to laugh and some joined in. Our bus ride to the Hampton Inn was boring because there were too many restrictions placed on us. Our hotel room was beautiful, and spacious, it had 2 king size beds, a T.V., a microwave, and a desk but it was freeeeeeeeezing. We soon figured out how to turn the heat up.

 

 

     The next morning we all took a cold shower because none of us knew which way to turn the dial for the hot water. The next morning on our bus ride to the National Cathedral, we kept talking about last night's sight seeing experience. The memorials left a permanent mark on our memory. Lincoln sat on his throne with authority. The impressive Washington Monument can be seen from anywhere. The Korean Memorial with it's 19 life-like warriors prepared for battle or walking to their doom gave me an eerie feeling. Once at the cathedral the splendor of it captivated me. My five senses perked up, my eyes beheld the colorful stain glass windows my nose inhaled the sweet smelling incense, my ears enjoyed the organ music, my hands felt the smooth carvings in the mahogany pews. The Eucharist tasted sweet. I didn't want to leave. We saw the road that has the embassies of the world, to name a few: the Embassy of Chad, Morocco, Haiti, Tokyo, North Korea, South Korea, and Bangladesh. Each embassy had it's flag to represent themselves. When we got to the Kennedy Center we saw a show called Shear Madness. The play is a murder mystery, the famous pianist who lives above a salon shop is killed. It's up to the audience to figure out who did it. I loved the show it was funny, and they incorporated some of the schools. Back at our hotel we crashed, barely able to hold our eyes open until room check, the knock from our  chaperon was welcoming. On Monday we visited Arlington National Cemetery, we walked down what seemed like a ninety degree inclination. Soon almost half of the class was lagging behind. We saw the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier (a.k.a Tomb of the Unknown). Four of my classmates participated in the laying of the wreath. We got back to our hotel in the evening so everyone get ready to got to Old Town Alexandria. I didn't go because I spent the evening with my aunt and her friend. When I got back to the hotel I spent some time in their room. When I left for my room my aunt hugged me goodbye. Her hug made me cry, I missed my mom's hugs.

 

     Tuesday morning was a little boring. When we went to the White House we only saw the Red room, the Blue room, the Green room, and the dining hall. One of the security guards told one of the boys that he liked his bow tie. The boy named Ben said the he was willing to give the guard his bow tie in exchange for a meet-and-greet with the president. The guard said that he would have to wait a couple of days because the president was away. It also rained that day, almost everyone had an umbrella. I shared mine with one of my friends. We went to Ford's theater to see a musical called Little Shop of Horrors. The musical was about a flower shop in Skid Row, that doesn't have many customers. One of the workers cross br ed two flowers. This unusual flower attracts many people. The worker who created the flower feeds it blood and flesh. The plant soon grows so big that it demands more food. It's up to the workers to stop the plant before it takes over the world. On Wednesday it drizzled all day which made it hard for me to choose which outfit I was going to wear that night. When we got to our hotel room I decided to wear my dress. The dinner/dance cruise on the Potomac river was very fun. My friends and I danced all night. When we were on the bus going back to our hotel room everyone started to fall asleep. It was Thursday our very last day in Washington D.C. We went to Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington. We saw Martha Washington and George Washington's grave. We also saw 2 baby lambs. We had lunch at the Mt. Vernon Inn, we also had a special guest “Martha Washington” came to visit us(our male music teacher dressed up like a woman). We took a bus to the airport, the flight from Maryland to Nevada was long. I slept most of the time. The trip from Nevada to Tucson was really, really, really short. When we got off the plane, we were going down the escalator to the baggage claim. The first person I saw was my sister. She ran and hugged me, next I was hugged by my dad and lastly my mom. She was crying, and so was I. We got my bags and went home. My mom hugged me, kissed me and ran her fingers through my hair. I like being on my own, but I love being with my family.

Comments (2)

descarcega@stgregoryschool.org said

at 12:30 pm on Sep 8, 2010

This is a really good story. Your story sounds so much like my trip to D.C.

Nikolas said

at 1:05 pm on Sep 17, 2010

This is a VERY good story. This is publish worthy.

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