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For lunch on the way to DC, my friend Katie and I went to a ramen shop called Ichiban Ramen. I got a soy sauce-based broth with beef. It was absolutely delicious and a great start to the trip!

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Protest for Science at the National Mall

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Protest for Science at the National Mall

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I think it was very fitting that we arrived in DC in the midst of a protest (especially when you take the political climate into consideration). This moment set the tone for the rest of the trip, in which we would learn about how different groups of people in America brought about social and legal change through these exact methods. My friend and I joined in, and I really enjoyed and appreciated many of the signs that people made.

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Hair Ties and the Women's Vietnam War Memorial

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Hair Ties and the Women's Vietnam War Memorial

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Before Friday, I wasn't aware that many women leave hair ties at places honoring women as a sign of solidarity and support. As soon as I approached the statue, I could feel the weight the hair ties held, even without knowing their meaning. I think this is a beautiful thing that women do, and I wish I had a hair tie to contribute at the time. Sights like these make me so proud to be a woman. This is such a simple gesture, but it holds so much weight, especially among women.

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I always thought the MLK memorial was less grand than it deserved to be. After seeing it again this trip and taking the time to read the inscriptions like I hadn't before, I realized that the grandeur and beauty in this memorial are completely in its message and use of symbolism. MLK emerges from the "Stone of Hope", leaving behind a "Mountain of Despair". This physical representation shows how even through dealing with such hardships and discrimination, MLK and African-American people overcame through the Civil Rights Movement and were victorious in gaining the freedoms that they had always been owed. I also learned and found it honorable how the sculpture of MLK is supposed to look unfinished to represent how his life was cut short and work unfinished.

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For me, visiting the Douglass household was one of the biggest highlights of this trip. I feel completely failed by the education system as there is so much I was never taught about Frederick Douglass, his wife, family, and his work. I didn't realize just how involved he was in the Civil Rights Movement and that he was involved at all in the Women's Rights Movement. I also didn't realize just how close in time Douglass was to the present. The house was absolutely beautiful and in a gorgeous location, a sentiment to the sacrifice, hard work, and protest Frederick and Anna had given their entire lives. I also found our tour guide to be extremely educated and kind. Surely, one of the most enjoyable and informative tours I've ever had the pleasure to experience! I left feeling invigorated and inspired to stand up for the causes I believe in and to work hard in my life.

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On Saturday, I ate at Rice Bar. It was the same idea and food as Bulbox. It was delicious and super busy! They also have a brand of soda called Stubborn Soda, which, as a Dr Pepper addict, it pains me to say, but it is the best traditional cola I've ever had. Another 10/10 meal in DC!

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This is one piece of a much larger exhibit I saw at the Hirshhorn Art Museum. I think the quote speaks for itself. It made me think about the relationship between peaceful and violent protest across any movement. Of course, I hate violence just as much as any person, but I feel it is wrong to try and separate the two within history. The Civil Rights Movement, just like any and all movements, had pieces and people in support of violence, peace, and a combination of the two. With my understanding of the US, in historical and present times, I just don't see how anything can be accomplished to its full potential without a marriage of the two. It shouldn't have to be this way, and political leaders claim it isn't necessary, but it is the ignorance and discrimination of those exact leaders that bring on the need for violence in social movements.

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I went into our first reflection without expectations because I was unsure as to what we were going to do and if I would find myself genuinely reflecting and learning. Fortunately, I enjoyed the conversations my table had at every reflection and found that they really helped me to further my understanding of what I was seeing and reading each day!

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Since we ate Five Guys for dinner the night before, this was our real first DC dinner!

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I loved traveling on the Metro Train!

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This is the original rendition of the quote I had brought up in reflection the previous day. I didn't realize this was said by an early nazi supporter, which is disappointing. Aside from that, I feel this quote is extremely accessible to people who feel that they don't need to aid a movement that they aren't affected by, even if they think it's wrong. This quote shows exactly why all people need to stand up against discrimination and atrocity because, at the root, it does and will negatively affect us all.

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I got chicken and lamb on rice with salad and fries. It was so yum!

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I wanted this so badly, but it was way too expensive lol. I wish the cherry blossom trees were in bloom while we were in DC!

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For dinner on Sunday, I went to a Chinese restaurant called Wasai and Gong Cha. I ordered shrimp and pork shumai and hand-pulled noodles with beef in spicy broth. I had been to this place one time before, and it was just as delicious as I remembered! There is a restaurant in NYC called Kung Fu Kitchen and another in Durham called Asian Kitchen that both hold up to the level of this place and serve the same dishes.

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POV: Katie and I get left on the train because we were too locked in playing BlockBlast

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POV: Katie and I get left on the train because we were too locked in playing BlockBlast

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Luckily, we both had been to DC multiple times before, so we were all good.

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At this point, I've been to every DC Smithsonian museum except for 2-3, and to be completely honest, this is my least favorite. Ironically, it is one of the museums from which I had the most takeaways. Compared to the others, this museum has so few artifacts and information, and almost all the artifacts it does have are from the past two centuries (even though Native American existence and history goes back MUCH further). This "con" puts into perspective just how much Native American history and artifacts have been lost to time, colonization, discrimination, persecution, and erasure. At the end of the museum, when I made this connection, it made me feel extremely emotional because there should be so much more. So, while this museum seemed to have the least to offer visually and physically, the lessons and knowledge I gained from it were some of the most major and eye-opening from the whole trip. One last thought I have about this museum is my disappointment and confusion with its name. I have chosen in my title for this post, and language during the trip, to refer to it as the National Museum of Native American History. Yet, its actual name is the National Museum of the American Indian. It is known that many Native American people do not like the term "American Indian" as it is a completely incorrect and ignorant term coined by Christopher Columbus when he landed in the Americas thinking it was India, and therefore the people, Indians. I wonder why this term was chosen to identify the people this museum serves to honor and teach about when it would've been just as easy, and better, to refer to the "American Indians" as Native Americans.

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I ate at a Korean restaurant called Momo Chicken and Dumplings and ordered spicy pork! I think it was the best spicy pork I've ever had, and the scenery was so aesthetically pleasing!

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The National Museum of African-American History

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The National Museum of African-American History

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As a dancer, I was drawn to this exhibit specifically. I loved reading and learning about Black performers in the arts, especially ballet! One thing that has been a hot topic of conversation in the ballet world the past couple of years that this exhibit touched on is the lack of shade ranges in ballet tights and pointe shoes. The typical color of these items is "European Pink", which is meant to match the complexion of white dancers. While matching ballet tights for dancers of color have been around for a while now, they are still often less available than the tights of their white counterparts. On the other hand, it is mind-boggling to me that pointe shoe companies haven't started producing shoes in diverse shade ranges until the past couple of years. Misty Copeland even created her own pointe shoe brand to combat this issue. While they now exist, they are still extremely uncommon, and Black and Brown dancers are still expected to "pancake" their shoes the color of their skin (this is a technique when you use makeup or paint to color pointe shoes).

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Our last DC dinner (we had to pig out a little).

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A beautiful touch to the Native American History Museum were these reflective glass prisms in the windows, which cascaded rainbows across the spherical-shaped building.