Day 3: Washington D.C. and Flight to Iceland

In the morning, Anna and I got up extra early to pack our suitcases for our flight to Iceland from Washington. After we dropped our suitcases off in the shuttle and grabbed a bite of breakfast, we were on our way to downtown Washington DC!

Our first destination was something on every American's "To Visit" list- the White House! I was literally 500 meters from the Obamas. What.

This group encompasses all the Finland US Senate Youth Exchange students and the Finland Youth Ambassador Program students (from Finland)! See if you can spot me- I'm squished between Emma and Kimberly, near the right hand side of this image.

Because we were on a tight schedule, we immediately walked to the Lincoln memorial, in front of the Reflecting Pool. This was a very poignant moment, as Martin Luther King delivered his "I have a Dream Speech" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I had to sit on the steps and contemplate for a while. 

Many apologies for the awful lighting, but hey, you can see the reflecting pool behind me!

The magnificent Abraham Lincoln

Our next stop was the National Museum of Natural History.

Michael, Emma, Elizabeth, Vincent, and I were completely geeking out at the American History museum--as American history nerds, we would stop at every other exhibit and spend several minutes discussing the significance of the item or event, and its broader implications. Some of my favorite exhibits included the African American culture and Military history exhibits. 

Later, we drove to Bethesda, Maryland, to visit the national Youth For Understanding office! I didn't take a picture, but it was full of offices and cubicles. I even visited the room where the admissions  officers decided to choose the 12 of us for this special program. Our lives had changed from the very moment these admissions officers finalized their decisions.

At 5:30 PM, the FUSYE group arrived at the Dulles airport for our flight to Iceland, checked in our bags, passed through security, and grabbed some dinner. We boarded our flight at 7:30 PM, and I guess YFU booked us all in the same region of the plane, because all 12 of us were together! 

Finally, the captain's voice crackled through the intercom system, notifying us of our soon departure. The wheels lifted up from the plane, and as we launched upwards, I admired the twinkling lights of Washington below us. 

The silence in the airplane was profound as we all realized that what we had wished for for 8 months was finally coming to fruition. We were going to FInland.