Erica Schiller

  Visiting D.C. has never been boring for me.  I'm quite patriotic, and visiting our nation's capitol is always a treat.  It seems like there's always something I've never seen every time I go back.
   This was my fourth trip to D.C.  My most vivid memories of the memorials are from my trip in middle school, when I was given a government-sponsored opportunity.  The weather then, however, was very different from what it was yesterday.  Making the trip in the rain really changes everything, makes it feel more significant.  I had memories of sunscreen-covered tourists and color-coded tour groups to draw on, but this time everything felt more personal.
   The Lincoln Memorial was more solemn than I remember.  When I last visited, I was a good half a head shorter, so Lincoln didn't tower quite like I remembered.  But the site itself was nothing if not more significant than it had been.  I mentioned this at the memorial itself, but I never knew about the two side areas.  For some reason, I didn't even notice them the first time I visited.  I was fixated on Lincoln; that gave me some deep thoughts about the memorial itself and how it was designed, now that I know more about such things.  Reading the speeches there, with the memorial, is incredibly powerful.  It makes you feel almost like Lincoln is there with you.

   I don't think Vietnam will ever stop being significant for me.  It was smaller than I remember, as well, I think because last time I was there I spent so long standing in the corner of the monument.  I wandered ahead of the group.  I didn't want any company, not really.  The memorial feels too personal for me.  With the rain running down the granite, it looked like it was crying.  Visiting for the second time, in such somber weather, completely changed its meaning for me, especially now that my grandpa is dead.  I felt connected to the memorial in a way I didn't before. It's hard to describe. 
   The WWII memorial I remembered less of, and that didn't feel significant the same way it has to me as it did when visited previously.  Perhaps because then, I toured it with a veteran.  He was what really made the connection for me; visiting it without him made it feel empty.  It was the same way for Arlington and the Iwo Jima memorial.  They were awe-inspiring, but they didn't quite click, not the way Vietnam did. 
   I thought I had visited the Martin Luther King monument before, but I don't think I did.  It was new to me in a way the other memorials weren't, or at least it definitely felt unfamiliar.  I know some of the other students felt underwhelmed or unimpressed by the memorial, but it really made an impression on me.  The boulders at the beginning made it feel like I was entering a sacred space, and the quote on the side, "Out of a Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope" struck me.  When I rounded the monument and saw the statue jutting out of the side, the significance of the quote was immediately apparent.  MLK was the stone, who emerged in a time of crisis in the nation, a time when things seemed bleak for racial equality.  It felt like the final note on our trip for me, even though we visited Iwo Jima after that.