Today’s first program was to take one last look at the homes we were living in for this amazing past week. We said goodbye to our host’s parents and headed to Beth Tfiloh. At school we bit farewell to each other. It almost took one whole hour if memory serves me right. If anything, this proves how strong the connections and friendships have become over the past two years. After a really hard goodbye, we jumped on the iconic yellow school-bus and started our journey the DC.
We arrived at the Air and Space Museum at its opening, at 10 am. There was a pretty big line, but we got in really quickly. We spent one hour at the museum, which was very modern, interesting and inspiring.
After Air and Space, we started walking to the Capitol. On the way we jumped in the United States Botanic Garden which was truly beautiful. In the middle of this huge city, it was refreshing to be in this atmosphere. We ate our lunch in the garden, and took our way to the Capitol. We walked around the Capitol, admired it from every angle in the beautiful spring weather we had all throughout the day.
Before continuing to see all the famous monuments, we walked in to the National Gallery of Art. This also was a great experience, as we could see work of arts in person, which we maybe could never have seen in Hungary. My favorite pieces were the Monet paintings. At this point to our pleasant surprise some of the BT kids joined us for the rest of the tour.
Next was the Washington Monument. We could see it from a great distance, but it was even more impressive from looking at it closely. As we walked away from the monument, we joined a peaceful rally for the Israeli hostages.
Next, we headed to one of the most iconic places in DC that any European can think of. The White House. We took pictures again from every angle and continued our walk to the Lincoln Memorial. When we arrived at the memorial, it was already 5 pm, so we quickly climbed the stairs on which one of the most famous speeches had been told and we got some free time to look around. At 6.30 we took our last pictures of the Monument, the Memorial and most importantly with the BT kids who accompanied us for the day. We -one last time- got on the yellow school bus and started to drive in the direction of the airport. We got through security without any bigger problem, and quickly boarded the plane.
Currently I’m writing this on the plane, overfilled with ideas, emotions and memories, thinking about this amazing week and hoping we’ll meet the BT student in Hungary sometimes soon.
Illés G., Grade 11
