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Published: April 14th 2014
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I had been waiting for them all winter. Since I had flown back here on the eve of a snow storm in January, I looked forward to the day where the snow would melt for good, and I would experience a world famous spring in Washington, D.C. After months of below freezing temperatures and a steady pounding of snowstorms, small hints of life ventured through the melting frost. Slowly the temperatures climbed. Then one day, as if overnight, beautiful bouts of color illuminated the landscape. And the cherry blossoms arrived.
Over three thousand trees were given to the city of Washington, D.C. as a gift from the mayor of Tokyo in 1912, meant to symbolize a long lasting friendship between Japan and the United States. The flowers are in shades of pink and white and bloom for a brief period during the spring. Since we had an abnormally frigid winter this year, the cherry blossoms arrived in April, reaching their peak bloom on April 10- the same day I finished my B.A. thesis last year and mailed it to Chicago from my home in California. It is incredible how quickly life changes in a year.
Bao Bao's ma
National Zoo For moments throughout the winter, life seemed as grey as the skies above and the old packed snow below. Every other week or so I asked my friends from the east coast when spring was supposed to arrive. My best friend assured me to have more patience and that spring will come. It always does.
Four months later I am proudly enjoying my shoe tan I garnered while visiting the Cherry Blossom Festival this past weekend. The National Mall was bustling with tourists from all over the world, and the subways reached a level of crowdedness I had not experienced since the traumas of taking the Paris metro. And yet it was so much fun.
As I had been reflecting earlier, the days in Washington, D.C. seem to blend together. Maybe it is because I’m at a fairly mundane point in my life at the moment, but I feel much less variety on a day-to-day basis here than I when I lived in Chicago. But every so often when I venture to the heart of the city and experience something quite extraordinary, I get an overwhelming sense of pride. D.C. has made me far closer
to the fundamental values of this country than I had ever experienced. In moments like this, moments like studying (also getting panicky lost) at the Library of Congress or entangled in a crowd of tourists admiring the nation’s capital for the first time, I feel very very proud. Proud for the city of Washington, of the impressionable youth of American history reflective in this cityscape, and of the overall diversity that America fosters. But mostly proud to be an American.
This is the first year I have spent in D.C., and from what I understand this has been one of the chilliest, snowiest winters of late. Though as long and trudging as winters can be, the cherry blossoms offer a reminder that no matter how long winter may seem to take, the beauty of spring will return, like they do every year. My best friend was right, spring came.
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Willy
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cool!
nice post! i'm going to georgetown for their global human development program starting in august. see you in DC!