goodbye dc, hello sb

As we were in the 22 passenger bus/van-thingy, driving to Dulles airport in Washington D.C., I reflected on my amazing time in D.C. Man- we got some GREAT interviews. I also realized that I really like D.C. itself- I'll DEFINITELY go back. It was just a great place- the people were super nice, and everywhere you turn there's a famous building. On our last day, we kinda just hung out and packed. And we went bowling, where we took lots of pictures. After all, we want to remember our last day in D.C. Lisa, Dah's mom, said she would try to hold a scrapbook/photo sharing party thing, which I definitely wanna do. I didn't take a camera (besides my phone) so it would be awesome to get some pics! Anyways, after bowling we went back to the church. Me and Dah watched part of a movie, and then we packed up and headed over to dinner at Martins, where we talked to and interviewed the guy who was letting us stay at the church. That was pretty cool. After that, we went back to the church, gathered our belongings, and got on the bus to go towards the airport. It was a long flight, but we made it back to SB around 3 am. Sooo tired, and still am. Well, I gotta go now. See ya!

day something- maybe 5?

This morning, we got up from our cozy sleeping bags on the floor of Richard’s hotel room to find that it was snowing outside. Well more like flurries, but still- YEAH! Then John, Austin and I found our way to the JW Marriot, where there was a luncheon that was one of the events that was part of the People’s Ball. The People’s Ball is to tomorrow night, and it’s really cool because at least 30% of the people there are going to be homeless and/or underprivileged. It’s really just all about the people. It was really cool- Martin Luther King III made a great speech, and the kids who made the You Can Vote for Whoever You Like video (the one that got like 10,000,000 hits on YouTube) performed. Oh yeah- and this AWESOME electric violinist performed. I think his name was Ken Ford…he was really cool. Okay, well I’ve gotta go to bed. Blog tomorrow!

day 3

After staying at Starbucks for about two hours, Mary, Sophia, Chuck, Austin, Charlie, Sue and Erin headed off to a restaurant called Ebbit’s that’s been around since the 1800s. Me and Sophia shared a super good crab cake there, but Chuck had the best meal. She had these AMAZING scallops covered in a batter with cocktail sauce. They were soooo good. After that we were supposed to go to this other really old restaurant, but we were too full then, so we decided to walk around and see the city. Since the restaurant was right across from the White House. We took some pictures there, and got some really cool interviews there. We did some Americans, a Nigerian guy, and some Chinese people. But I don’t think the Chinese people really understood us because when we asked them what they thought Yes We Can meant, they said that they thought Obama would be very chilly. Yeaaah. So then we headed to the second restaurant, Martin’s Bar. It had also been open for a really long time- I’m pretty sure since the 1800s also. As we were walking back from the restaurant, there were some FOX News people interviewing, and they asked to interview us. We told them who we are, so we’ll probably be on the news! Yay! And then we also interviewed them, which was cool too. After that, we figured out that Obama would be arriving on the train at 7 o’clock at Union Station, so we went over there. We were THIS close to meeting him, but we just missed him. He went a different way than everyone else, but we kinda figured that out before other people. But by the time we wanted to go outside, Richard called and said they saw the motorcade leave. SO CLOSE!!! Ahhhh. Ok, well gotta go! Bye!

day 1

First day in D.C.- and I’m already exhausted. This morning we woke up at 7:30- not too bad, except for the fact that that’s 4:30 Santa Barbara time. But still, I wasn’t too tired. Slowly, we all woke up and got ready to go out into the THIRTEEN DEGREE weather. Yeah, thirteen. However, with the help of my warm puffy jacket, mittens, scarf, and toasty Uggs, I was able to survive. And it wasn’t that bad. The only times I got really cold was when we were standing in one place for a long time. Most of the time, though, we were on the move, making sure we caught that metro train going to wherever we needed to go at the time. Austin and I did the first interview of the day with Eugene, a security guy who worked at the Falls Church Metro station. It was a really great interview- his father had been a civil rights activist and took him, when he was 16 years old, to the historic march on Washington. He had seen a bunch of inaugurations in the past, and had worked at the metro for-get this- 32 years. After an awesome tour of the capitol (Wow! That is one big building), we headed to Ben’s Chili Bowl, one of the most famous restaurants in D.C. (Obama ate there a couple days ago!). I had a chili dog and chili cheese fries- it was SO good. Afterwards, we made a conga line and danced through the entire restaurant. As we were leaving, we got everyone in the restaurant to yell “Yes we can!” We got it on camera, and that was definitely the highlight of the day. Okay, well I’m tired, so I’m gonna go! Bye!

missed posts

hey guys-
I wasn't able to get internet access for a lot of the time in D.C., so I'll be posting the days I have on my computer but haven't put on the blog yet. They'll be kinda out of order because I did post some days, but I'll try to say what day it is I'm talking about.

long day, long post

Hey!  Right now I'm sitting in a hotel room in D.C.   It was so funny- Sierra was just in the shower and she couldn't get the water to drain, so it was filling up like a bathtub.  But then we finally fixed it.  We're staying in D.C. tonight cuz Austin and I have to get up super early to go to this breakfast thing that's part of the People's Ball.  Then there's the luncheon, also part of the ball where Martin Luther King Jr.'s son is gonna be.  That would be awesome if we got to interview him.  Today was a big day-literally.  There were tons of people, I think mostly because of thet huge concert going on.  There was one group that went there early in the morning so they  get close to the stage, but the rest of us went to church to interview people there.  The church I went to was called the Greater New Hope Baptist Church- there were some really interesting people there.  Like this one guy who was 95 years old was telling us about his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  We also found out that his wife was still alive as well (she was almost 95), and that their 75 year anniversary was coming up.  That was really cool to hear about.  After that we went to the Marriot hotel to get credentials for me and Austin for the People's Ball.  It was really easy- they just typed in our names and once they came up on the computer, they gave us the media passes.  As we were walking out of the Marriot, we checked the time and saw that the concert was just starting, so we headed to the Mandarin.  There we met up with another group and walked as near to the concert as possible without getting swallowed by the crowd.  We ended up watching from one of the many big, huge, gigantic screens that was showing it live, so we got to see will.i.am, Shakira, U2, Beyonce, and, finally, Obama.  It was definitely really  , but it would've been even cooler if we could actually see the people (not on a screen).  Right before the concert ended, we started walking back towards the hotel.  On the way back, some people saw our mic and cameras and asked if we were reporters.  We told them about Teen Press and who we are, and they told us that they had a radio show.  They ended up interviewing us, and told us that we would be on the show in I think 3 different states.  It was like Rhode Island, Massachusetts and so me other place like maybe Pennsylvania.  And oh yeah- we got on the front cover of the SB News Press!!!  The cover!!!  Isn't that so cool!  It was also really awesome because I'm quoted in it twice.  Well I haven't seen it cuz we're still in D.C., but that's what someone said who I talked to.   And it's the Sunday one too, so a lot of people will be reading it!  And also we were on KEY News- the camera guy came when we were leaving from SB and interviewed some of us.  But I think I said that already.  Anyways, right now we are sitting in the hotel room at the Mandarin, just kinda chilling out and blogging.  It's nice to take a break for a little bit after a long day of interviewing. :)  Oh yeah- and did I mention that tonight we are staying at the same hotel as BEYONCE, JZ, SHAKIRA, AND VANESSA WILLIAMS???!!!  Ok, well I gotta go cuz the other group just got back and are saying they interviewed Jessica Alba, Hayden Panettiere, and a bunch of other people.  Lucky!!!!!  Ok, blog more tomorrow!  Bye!

starbucks

Right now, I’m here in D.C. at a Starbucks, drinking my chai latte and working on this blog. Cold this morning, but not as much as yesterday…I can’t believe the weather dropped 60 degrees from Santa Barbara. Today I think is another orientation-ish day. Oh- and guess what? We got credentials to the People’s Ball! So on Tuesday night me, Austin, and Charlie will put on our fancy-schmancy clothes and head over. It’s a two day event- there’s the ball Tuesday night, and then the next morning there’s a luncheon, where Martin Luther King’s son is appearing. It would be so cool if we got to interview him. It’s so weird- I just looked outside and it looks all sunny and warm, but when you go outside it’s freezing cold. It seems weird that it can be sunny and below freezing at the same time. Oh yeah, and I am also obsessed with chai lattes now. Mary got me hooked. Okay, well I’m gonna go try to connect to the internet and research for upcoming interviews. See you later