Hello guys! I am João from Brazil and I’ll tell you a little bit about our day here in the nation’s capital- Washington DC. So, leaving the hotel and going through the town it is noticeable that it is very green and clean. It was raining hard before we got to the first stop, Lincoln Memorial, but it stopped for a moment, and we got to take some pictures in front of the Lincoln Monument see its awesome Greek architecture. Inside the memorial, you can see his statue and read his quotes while the tour guide told us the important facts of US History related to him. 

At the Lincoln Memorial

After the Lincoln Memorial, we walked to the Vietnam War Memorial. There, we saw the name of the 50,000 American soldiers that died fighting for the South Vietnamese government… Around the corner is the Korean War Memorial, and we could see some statues of the soldiers, nurses, drawings on the walls, and that kind of stuff (the same idea of the Vietnam Memorial). After visiting those three memorials, we caught the bus to the Thomas Jefferson memorial, a little bit smaller than Lincoln’s, where you can see the White House straight ahead, which is pretty cool. And inside the Thomas Jefferson memorial, there is Thomas Jefferson’s statue and some cool phrases that he made as one of the US founding fathers, which the tour guide tells us about. 

Mentari (Indonesia) at the Jefferson Memorial

Park of the Korean War Memorial

After that, we walked around the man-made lake and headed to the Roosevelt memorial, which is outside, and it has some representations about his lifestyle, his government issues and his achievements. The tour guide explained everything in case you had no idea who FDR was! And our last stop before lunch was on the MLK Jr. Memorial, the man that risked his life for the freedom of the African Americans who were treated terribly during and before the 1960s. If you enjoy history, you will definitely enjoy the tour, and even if you don’t, you will find at least 1 thing interesting (it could have been the architecture, engineering, or what those people who are being represented did in their lifetime). 

FDR Memorial

Now that it came at the noon time, it is my turn – Mentari from Indonesia to tell you what we were doing.As the clock showed 11.30, we waved goodbye to our DC tour guide. Hillary, and we all went straight to the mall, Pentagon Fashion Mall which is located right to Pentagon. Frankly, on this trip we cannot go to Pentagon because the security is so tight and apparently they have to give their background information to make sure that they are “safe” people for the Pentagon.Right after we saw the mall, Tici gave us details about when and where we got to meet later. We have about almost three hours to do our last shopping on this trip. (yay or nay?) I can’t really tell what people doing because we kind of separated once we enter the mall. But most of us had lunch on the food court, they have quite a lot of options; Italian, American, Chinese and of course I spotted McD (yes. ‘Mmmurica!)  Me, myself, I had Chinese food for lunch.
Finished my lunch, me and Peggy (Taiwan) went to Macy’s to met other people. But we ended up separated anyway. I haven’t been to Macy’s. We don’t have it in where I live in Jacksonville. But all I can say that Macy’s is huge! They have four floors. And they also have sale going on.Without me realizing, it almost 2.45, so I hurried myself to go to where we were earlier. I met some friends on my way there and we walked together. We were the couple first people that arrive on the bus, but no longer after that, other people started to coming and no one got left behind, and I don’t think they were in a serious deal of shopping, either. Maybe they are starting to run out of money ha….ha… (personal experience)
Our next destination is so exciting, it is Mount Vernon! For those who don’t know what Mt. Vernon is, it was the first president’s (George Washington) house. It is actually not in Washington DC, instead it is in Virginia. So guess what? We went out from Washington DC. Uhm, anyway, our hotel is also in Virginia. Anyway, it took quite some time to get there, about 40 minutes I guess, even though it wasn’t that long but it can take people to be bored and fall asleep. Which I did. Right when I was about fall into a deep sleep, I heard Tici’s voice through the speaker. The voice that I’m so sure we gonna miss, and the line is always be: “Wakie, wakie BELO! We almost here” So yeah, I delayed my nap for later.The first thing we did in Mt. Vernon was watching a video about George Washington. It was in the theater, a nice one. The movie ran about 30 minutes. After that we went to the actual house he was staying in. The interesting thing about the house is that we cannot take pictures inside the house because it’s considered as a nation’s property. We broke up into groups and each group has 10-12 people. And the way it run was we went to different room and in each room/area they have different tour guide.As we finish our tour in the house, we have free time until 6 PM (it was 5 PM) so we had approximately an hour. I was with Antoine (Belgium), Bastian (Belgium), Anna (Sweden), Rose (Thailand), and Nawa (Thailand) we were just walking to the farm, and we saw the sheep and chilling on the big yard. It really is a nice place, and it has a beautiful view.

Nawa (Thailand), Rose (Thailand), Bastian (Belgium) and
Antoine (Belgium/Thailand) at Mt. Vernon 

Right at 6 people already gathered in the gift shop, and we went to the restaurant which is just feet away. It was a fancy restaurant, we even had ordered the menu we gonna have since yesterday. I had turkey – and the feeling of thanksgiving come in my way! – and the other meal options are veggie lasagna, or ham. I was sitting with Tici this time, and I would tell you some funny conversation we had (this one is Jan’s (Germany) request)

Mentari:          Tici, where did you go to university?

Bastian:           University Of Swag

Jan:                  Majoring in YOLO

Well, appreciated you guys that think this one is funny.

Anyway, we went back at 8ish. And on the bus, we had a party going on. (I bet the bus driver annoyed) people just stand up on the isle, and we had music so loud, and put the lights on and off – you know what I mean, right? So yeah, that’s that. And right now, there is pool party going on. So, I might go there in a minute, as the story for today is almost done being written….

Getting crazy at the pool!

--- João, Brazil and Mentari, Indonesia