Personal Narrative: A Day At The Gettysburg Film
2:00 AM, I was awoken by my cousin and all I felt was excitement and exhaustion. Right away, I called my friends to wake them up. There was no “Good morning, Janie.” on the other end of the phone call. The only greeting I got was drowsy voices saying, “Yeah, I’m up.” I hopped out of bed, running on only 3 hours of sleep. My body wasn’t ready to begin this journey, the excitement in me was the only thing getting me through Monday morning.
I arrived at the middle school and immediately found my friends to make sure I wasn’t the only one that overpacked. We slowly dragged our bags to get them checked and stopped at every station before we were all gathered in the gym. As we waited to board the buses, everyone was bubbling with anxiety. My …show more content…
friends and I compared snacks, babbling about how tired and excited we were. I finally boarded Bus 2, every bone in my body aching. I sat down and leaned my seat back. Noel, who was sitting behind me, complained that he needed more leg room. We were ready to begin what would be one of the best weeks of our lives.
I tried to find a comfortable position as I fell in and out of a drowsy sleep the first half of the bus ride.
About 3 hours into the bus ride, the bus driver that would be driving us around DC arrived. Little did we know, Chris would be the best bus driver ever. My headphones covered my ears and my friends took pictures of me sleeping as we headed to Gettysburg, PA.
We arrived in Gettysburg and filed into the room where we watched the Gettysburg Film. I recalled a couple of random facts from the film as we moved on to the painting of the battle at Gettysburg. I was astonished at how realistic the painting was and I really tried to pay attention because I was very intrigued by all of the little details in the painting and the story that went with it all. The tour of downtown Gettysburg was really neat. The view on top of the hills on the battlefield was beautiful, too.
The next few hours on the bus to DC were a blur of talking about how excited we were, trying to sleep, and listening to throwback songs. I don’t think I have ever been as excited as I was when we arrived at the hotel. My friends and I rushed up to our room and started organizing our stuff, in awe that we got to stay in the hotel room all week with each
other.
Elle and Miye were already getting ready as they shouted at Mara and I to get out of bed. It was 6:20 and the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed and put on jeans. But, I rolled out of bed anyway. I was hungry, and excited to begin our first day touring DC. I got ready as fast as I could, making sure I had on my white DC shirt. We arrived at breakfast a few minutes late, but all we cared about was eating. The pancakes were really good and there was plenty of fruit to choose from for breakfast.
We boarded the buses and headed to the FDR memorial. The FDR memorial was huge and had many beautiful statues, waterfalls, and inspiring quotes. After a history lesson from Rick, we walked along the river and the cherry blossoms to the MLK memorial. The MLK memorial was really cool because it had a lot of meaning behind it and it was a very unique sculpture. “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope”. Rick quoted that many times, reminding us what the memorial standed for.
The National Cathedral was the most exquisite building I’d ever seen. We walked in and I was in such awe at all of the details in the 250 stained glass windows, and the 10,650 musical organs. We were all unable to take our focus off of the architecture of the building as Rick thoroughly explained everything.
Next stop was Arlington National Cemetery. We walked through the cemetery, paying our respect to the 400,000 amazing soldiers whose bodies laid in the cemetery. I was shocked by the number of gravestones. We all sat down in silence to watch the changing of the guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guards were so disciplined. We then watched our friends lay the wreath at the tomb and I was glad our school got to honor the Unknown Soldier that way. After that incredible ceremony, we walked up a huge hill to John F. Kennedy’s grave.
One of the most memorable moments of the trip was while we were on the hill. I had drank a huge cup of iced tea at lunch and I forgot to go to the bathroom on the bus, which made for a miserable situation. I was on the top of the hill, scared to death that I wouldn’t make it to the bathroom, and would embarrass myself in front of everyone. There wasn’t a bathroom in sight, but I forced myself to hold it for thirty minutes. I made it to the restrooms...barely. Otherwise, Arlington cemetery was incredible and I learned a lot.
The band and chorus performed on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. I play clarinet in the band, and it wasn’t our best performance of “America the Beautiful” or “Alamo”, but it was a really great experience. It was so nice out while we performed that I got a sunburn!
The Smithsonian museums were one of my favorite destinations in DC. We went into the natural history museum first, and I really enjoyed it because I love learning about animals. We saw many taxidermied animals that looked extremely real in the mammal exhibit. In the sea exhibit, I especially liked the life-size whale that was hung from the ceiling. It was awesome to see a lot of plants and animals I had never seen before.
My friends and I walked around the American history museum, trying to soak in as much as possible because we had little time. I loved the exhibit about all of the Presidents. It contained a lot of artifacts that were previously owned by the president and I learned a lot of interesting stories about past presidents. I was very impressed by the Star Spangled banner. It was so huge and so much of it had been recovered.
I was a little bit hesitant to swim in the pool at the Rec. center at first, but I ended up doing it, and I was glad I did. I had a ton of fun jumping off of the diving board and just swimming around with my friends.
We arrived back at the hotel and the teachers dropped off pizza for our pizza party. Mara, Elle, Miye and I sat on the beds playing Uno and talking about what a great day we had while we ate our pizza. We all showered and tried to get in bed as soon as possible because we were exhausted already.
Wednesday morning went about the same as Tuesday morning had gone. I got up after Elle and Miye, as we all yelled at Mara to get up. We had gotten 7 hours of sleep, which was an improvement, but I was still tired. I made sure I looked extra nice Wednesday because we would be taking the group picture. Everyday at breakfast went the same. We were late, then got our food and found a place to eat, Elle yelled at Mara for rolling onto Elle’s side of the bed, then we made our way out to the buses.
As soon I walked outside, I regretted not wearing at least 3 more layers. The teachers told us it’d be cold, so I had a hat and gloves, but I was still freezing.
We arrived at the Vietnam memorial and I was blown away, not only by the blistering wind, but by how many names were on the wall. I found the name of William Calvin Pearce, the young man I’d done research on and I laid my letter and artifact down on the ground by his name. It was really incredible to be able to find his name and lay something there for him. I will remember it forever.
Getting ready and taking the group picture took 30 cold, miserable minutes. But in the end, I was glad we took a picture. Everytime I look at it, it reminds me of how much I miss D.C. and how much I loved being in DC.
After a long time of standing outside, complaining about the cold, we finally entered the new African American Museum. There was so much to look at, so I didn’t get to see everything. I really liked looking at the sports exhibit and seeing all of the athletic achievements made. The slavery exhibit was an awesome learning experience because I became more educated on what it was like to be a slave.
I hadn’t eaten McDonald’s in 3 years so when it came time, I didn’t want to eat it. I got a chicken sandwich anyway. It didn’t taste as bad as I thought it would. The eating areas were pretty clean. I was upset though, that we didn’t have time to walk around the Air and Space museum that McDonald’s was located in.
The holocaust museum was really heartbreaking, but it also did a really good job of educating me on what it was really like to be in the Holocaust. At the beginning, each person got a booklet with a true story of someone in the Holocaust. With each floor, you read another page until you find out if your person survived. The woman in my story got liberated, but died two days after she was free, because of all the diseases she accumulated in the camps. That story is just as tragic as they all were. As we walked out, I noticed two men sitting down. They were survivors of the Holocaust, and my biggest regret is not talking to them. It was hard to believe that those two men survived something so horrific and were kind enough to share their stories.
The National Zoo definitely cheered everyone up after the Holocaust museum. I loved seeing the pandas, small animal exhibit, and elephants. All of the animals were so fascinating and adorable...except for the naked mole rats. I’m still not sure why Elle loves them so much. The last stop we made was in the gorilla building, and I regret even going in. The gorillas are amazing because they are capable of so many things. But there was one gorilla that wasn’t the brightest. He decided that he wanted to eat his throw-up, and watching him made Elle and I sick to our stomachs all throughout dinner.
The Sports Comedy Improv performance was funny to watch but it took a turn for the worst when Joey Boisture volunteered to go on stage. Then someone brought up babies, and everything escalated even more downhill from there.
The moment I will remember most about being with my friends happened Wednesday night in the hotel room. We were all in bed, and Mara was on Elle's side of the bed (shocking). Elle pulled Mara’s pillow out from under her and Mara was so tired that she just started crying. Miye and I were completely slap happy, so we couldn't stop laughing at Mara. Meanwhile, we were all running around the room chasing each other as Elle screamed at us to go to bed. It went on like that for fifteen minutes before we finally calmed down. I will remember that night forever.
I arrived at the middle school and immediately found my friends to make sure I wasn’t the only one that overpacked. We slowly dragged our bags to get them checked and stopped at every station before we were all gathered in the gym. As we waited to board the buses, everyone was bubbling with anxiety. My …show more content…
friends and I compared snacks, babbling about how tired and excited we were. I finally boarded Bus 2, every bone in my body aching. I sat down and leaned my seat back. Noel, who was sitting behind me, complained that he needed more leg room. We were ready to begin what would be one of the best weeks of our lives.
I tried to find a comfortable position as I fell in and out of a drowsy sleep the first half of the bus ride.
About 3 hours into the bus ride, the bus driver that would be driving us around DC arrived. Little did we know, Chris would be the best bus driver ever. My headphones covered my ears and my friends took pictures of me sleeping as we headed to Gettysburg, PA.
We arrived in Gettysburg and filed into the room where we watched the Gettysburg Film. I recalled a couple of random facts from the film as we moved on to the painting of the battle at Gettysburg. I was astonished at how realistic the painting was and I really tried to pay attention because I was very intrigued by all of the little details in the painting and the story that went with it all. The tour of downtown Gettysburg was really neat. The view on top of the hills on the battlefield was beautiful, too.
The next few hours on the bus to DC were a blur of talking about how excited we were, trying to sleep, and listening to throwback songs. I don’t think I have ever been as excited as I was when we arrived at the hotel. My friends and I rushed up to our room and started organizing our stuff, in awe that we got to stay in the hotel room all week with each
other.
Elle and Miye were already getting ready as they shouted at Mara and I to get out of bed. It was 6:20 and the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed and put on jeans. But, I rolled out of bed anyway. I was hungry, and excited to begin our first day touring DC. I got ready as fast as I could, making sure I had on my white DC shirt. We arrived at breakfast a few minutes late, but all we cared about was eating. The pancakes were really good and there was plenty of fruit to choose from for breakfast.
We boarded the buses and headed to the FDR memorial. The FDR memorial was huge and had many beautiful statues, waterfalls, and inspiring quotes. After a history lesson from Rick, we walked along the river and the cherry blossoms to the MLK memorial. The MLK memorial was really cool because it had a lot of meaning behind it and it was a very unique sculpture. “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope”. Rick quoted that many times, reminding us what the memorial standed for.
The National Cathedral was the most exquisite building I’d ever seen. We walked in and I was in such awe at all of the details in the 250 stained glass windows, and the 10,650 musical organs. We were all unable to take our focus off of the architecture of the building as Rick thoroughly explained everything.
Next stop was Arlington National Cemetery. We walked through the cemetery, paying our respect to the 400,000 amazing soldiers whose bodies laid in the cemetery. I was shocked by the number of gravestones. We all sat down in silence to watch the changing of the guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guards were so disciplined. We then watched our friends lay the wreath at the tomb and I was glad our school got to honor the Unknown Soldier that way. After that incredible ceremony, we walked up a huge hill to John F. Kennedy’s grave.
One of the most memorable moments of the trip was while we were on the hill. I had drank a huge cup of iced tea at lunch and I forgot to go to the bathroom on the bus, which made for a miserable situation. I was on the top of the hill, scared to death that I wouldn’t make it to the bathroom, and would embarrass myself in front of everyone. There wasn’t a bathroom in sight, but I forced myself to hold it for thirty minutes. I made it to the restrooms...barely. Otherwise, Arlington cemetery was incredible and I learned a lot.
The band and chorus performed on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. I play clarinet in the band, and it wasn’t our best performance of “America the Beautiful” or “Alamo”, but it was a really great experience. It was so nice out while we performed that I got a sunburn!
The Smithsonian museums were one of my favorite destinations in DC. We went into the natural history museum first, and I really enjoyed it because I love learning about animals. We saw many taxidermied animals that looked extremely real in the mammal exhibit. In the sea exhibit, I especially liked the life-size whale that was hung from the ceiling. It was awesome to see a lot of plants and animals I had never seen before.
My friends and I walked around the American history museum, trying to soak in as much as possible because we had little time. I loved the exhibit about all of the Presidents. It contained a lot of artifacts that were previously owned by the president and I learned a lot of interesting stories about past presidents. I was very impressed by the Star Spangled banner. It was so huge and so much of it had been recovered.
I was a little bit hesitant to swim in the pool at the Rec. center at first, but I ended up doing it, and I was glad I did. I had a ton of fun jumping off of the diving board and just swimming around with my friends.
We arrived back at the hotel and the teachers dropped off pizza for our pizza party. Mara, Elle, Miye and I sat on the beds playing Uno and talking about what a great day we had while we ate our pizza. We all showered and tried to get in bed as soon as possible because we were exhausted already.
Wednesday morning went about the same as Tuesday morning had gone. I got up after Elle and Miye, as we all yelled at Mara to get up. We had gotten 7 hours of sleep, which was an improvement, but I was still tired. I made sure I looked extra nice Wednesday because we would be taking the group picture. Everyday at breakfast went the same. We were late, then got our food and found a place to eat, Elle yelled at Mara for rolling onto Elle’s side of the bed, then we made our way out to the buses.
As soon I walked outside, I regretted not wearing at least 3 more layers. The teachers told us it’d be cold, so I had a hat and gloves, but I was still freezing.
We arrived at the Vietnam memorial and I was blown away, not only by the blistering wind, but by how many names were on the wall. I found the name of William Calvin Pearce, the young man I’d done research on and I laid my letter and artifact down on the ground by his name. It was really incredible to be able to find his name and lay something there for him. I will remember it forever.
Getting ready and taking the group picture took 30 cold, miserable minutes. But in the end, I was glad we took a picture. Everytime I look at it, it reminds me of how much I miss D.C. and how much I loved being in DC.
After a long time of standing outside, complaining about the cold, we finally entered the new African American Museum. There was so much to look at, so I didn’t get to see everything. I really liked looking at the sports exhibit and seeing all of the athletic achievements made. The slavery exhibit was an awesome learning experience because I became more educated on what it was like to be a slave.
I hadn’t eaten McDonald’s in 3 years so when it came time, I didn’t want to eat it. I got a chicken sandwich anyway. It didn’t taste as bad as I thought it would. The eating areas were pretty clean. I was upset though, that we didn’t have time to walk around the Air and Space museum that McDonald’s was located in.
The holocaust museum was really heartbreaking, but it also did a really good job of educating me on what it was really like to be in the Holocaust. At the beginning, each person got a booklet with a true story of someone in the Holocaust. With each floor, you read another page until you find out if your person survived. The woman in my story got liberated, but died two days after she was free, because of all the diseases she accumulated in the camps. That story is just as tragic as they all were. As we walked out, I noticed two men sitting down. They were survivors of the Holocaust, and my biggest regret is not talking to them. It was hard to believe that those two men survived something so horrific and were kind enough to share their stories.
The National Zoo definitely cheered everyone up after the Holocaust museum. I loved seeing the pandas, small animal exhibit, and elephants. All of the animals were so fascinating and adorable...except for the naked mole rats. I’m still not sure why Elle loves them so much. The last stop we made was in the gorilla building, and I regret even going in. The gorillas are amazing because they are capable of so many things. But there was one gorilla that wasn’t the brightest. He decided that he wanted to eat his throw-up, and watching him made Elle and I sick to our stomachs all throughout dinner.
The Sports Comedy Improv performance was funny to watch but it took a turn for the worst when Joey Boisture volunteered to go on stage. Then someone brought up babies, and everything escalated even more downhill from there.
The moment I will remember most about being with my friends happened Wednesday night in the hotel room. We were all in bed, and Mara was on Elle's side of the bed (shocking). Elle pulled Mara’s pillow out from under her and Mara was so tired that she just started crying. Miye and I were completely slap happy, so we couldn't stop laughing at Mara. Meanwhile, we were all running around the room chasing each other as Elle screamed at us to go to bed. It went on like that for fifteen minutes before we finally calmed down. I will remember that night forever.