U student interns joined hundred of thousands of Americans in celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th President, but some watched and listened in different venues then they had originally planned.
In Washington D.C., U interns with the Hinckley Institute of Politics had the chance to be among those packed into hotels, buses, sidewalks and streets to see the inauguration of the country’s first black president.
In the sub-freezing temperatures, many excited inauguration attendees were not allowed onto the National Mall due to the overwhelming number of spectators. U intern Lisa Carrier, a senior in international studies, was among those unable to get in to see the inauguration with her own eyes.
Carrier and her roommates woke up five hours before the inauguration, waited in bumper-to-bumper traffic to drive only a few miles toward the Capitol and waited for hours in the bitter cold, only to be turned away.
“We had tickets, and there were still like 3,000 to 5,000 people behind us when they closed the gates,” Carrier said Instead, she and her roommates went back to their apartment building to watch the ceremony on television.
Zach Rusk, a senior interning with the Surgeon General’s office, left his section on the grounds of the National Mall due to the massive flooding of people.
Both the Capitol grounds and the Mall had been completely and outrageously packed with Americans in heavy winter coats for the last several days, he said. However, Rusk and everyone he has met are still very excited about the steady transition in the country’s highest office.
Illness and cold weather kept intern Adil Elassali, , a senior in international studies, in his apartment room while his roommates left for the inauguration.
Despite his self-imprisonment and stuffed sinuses, Elassali was still all smiles, to match the beaming ones he’d seen around the Capitol all weekend. His sniffles and cough had given him the best seat in the house, he said.
“On the television… I could see not only (the ceremonies), but the rest of the world as well,” he said, referring to the broadcast cutting away to the millions of Americans around the country listening and reacting to the inauguration.
Elassali, who is originally from Iraq, said he is optimistic and excited about the promises Obama made to the world in his inaugural address. The President extended an open invitation to impoverished nations and said that America would be an empathetic and generous nation of service. He also sent a message to world leaders and dictators that the United States is willing to “extend a hand, if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Fellow intern Tyler Ryan, a senior in political science, barely made it into the packed mall with his wife before gates slammed behind them. Ryan, a Republican who didn’t vote for Obama, appreciated the President’s speech for being non-partisan and “pure America” in its tone.
Obama promised that the country would emerge from the “winter of our hardship,” which he said includes economic crisis, inadequate health care and an intangible loss of confidence.
Ryan, like others freezing in the National Mall, agreed with excitement at the prospect of leaving both the literal and metaphorical winter behind.