First thing this morning we went to Arlington National Cemetery.  The massive gravesite has 300,000 graves and an average of 28 funerals per day.  It was built on the land that belonged to General Robert E. Lee, head of the Confederate Army.  The Union seized the house upon Lee's failure to pay taxes and buried their dead there.  You can still see his house today.  We saw the eternal flame at the gravesite of John F. Kennedy, as well as see the graves of his wife and brothers.  We saw the grave of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II and the mast of the USS Maine, which sank in Havana Harbor to start the Spanish-American War.  My favorite site was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, built to represent the unidentified soldiers of all wars.  The changing of the guard takes place every half hour and the tomb is guarded 24/7.  It was so incredible.  The whole place was beautiful in a sad, yet peaceful way.

- Maddy Clyne

Afterwards we went to the Library of Congress.  The Gutenberg Bible was on display on the first floor.  On the second floor we saw Thomas Jefferson's library.  On the ceiling of the Library of Congress there was a lot of artwork and the authors' names.  The architecture of the building was very detailed.

- Gillian Murphy

Following our visit at the Library of Congress we went to the Supreme Court.  Unfortunately, we could not enter the Court because we ran out of time.  We were scheduled for our appointment at the Capital Building.  The construction of the Supreme Court was amazing. It was tall, wide, and has all sorts of unique designs.  We were all disappointed that we couldn't make it.  We are all having fun and don't want to leave.

- Connor Costello

Today we went to the Capitol Building.  It was nice.  We saw a lot of cool paintings and sculptures.  We also go to see a movie on today's history in the Capitol Building.  We got to take a lot of great pictures.  We even got to see President Abe Lincoln outside of the Capitol.

- Naaman Azad

Then we met and took a picture with Representative Paul Tonko.  He only had five minutes to talk but in those five minutes he gave us inspiring advice and let us ask him some of the questions we had.  It was so nice of him to take the time to meet with us.

- Kitty Przybylowicz

We then went to visit the White House.  Outside the White House there were protestors.  There were snipers on top of the White House to help guard it.  There was a beautiful water fountain and a garden outside.  On the way into DC we got a chance to see the back of the White House as well.  The White House even has a helicopter pad on the roof.  Overall the trip to the White House was fascinating, but on the way back we almost missed the bus.

- Slade Feeney

We went to the Natural History Museum, and we  saw dinosaur fossils, an ocean exhibit, a gems and minerals exhibit and the Hope Diamond.  The dinosaur exhibit was really cool and there were crystals in the gems we saw.  The Hope Diamond was smaller than I expected but still really beautiful.

- Bianca Foltan

At the Iwo Jima Memorial there was a big statue of four Marines raising a flag.  The picture is well known by many Americans.  However, what people don't know is that its not the original flag raising.  There was another but the original flag was too small so they took it down and put up a bigger one and a photographer took the picture at that moment.  That is the picture that was sent to America and published.  This all took place on Mt. Sirabachi, Iwo Jima, Japan.

- Shannon Russo

The last thing we did tonight was we went to old town Alexandria, VA to go on a ghost tour.  The tour took about an hour and we heard many stories that had some of us spooked.  We learned about some of the history of the town.  I think the greatest experience was seeing the old buildings and how the town is keeping their history alive!

- Sheela Patel