Times Square

We made it!!

Fender Bender at Lincoln Tunnel

A driver was texting and scraped the blue bus. All is well. No one was hurt. We are on schedule. It's worse for all the cars in the tunnel that will get to New York several hours from now. 

Marybeth and Phil take a selfie while investigating  the scene of the crime. 

Lincoln Tunnel

Student Audio Recordings at the Holocaust Museum, "What artifact(s) touched you the most?"

Freedom Isn't Free by Delaina

     The Freedom Tour is all about freedom, and how much it has cost Americans. We have been asked questions about what freedom means to us individually. Most of us have said being away from our parents, and yes, that freedom has been very nice. Some have said other things, like freedom of speech, press, religion, and more. The answers have been spread out and diverse, yet we have all learned one true thing: freedom isn’t - and never will be - free. We take it for granted that we have democracy rather than a monarchy or communist government. We take it for granted that we can say what we want, post what we want, and be ourselves whereas elsewhere the tables are turned. I’ve learned to appreciate my writing more not as a hobby, or a possible career, but as a true freedom. I enjoy writing, and have now realized how much I am thankful that I can write on a blog like this, freely, without fearing punishment.

         Many have lost their lives to help aid our country in being free. All the memorials, from the ghost statues of Korean soldiers, the endless wall of names for Vietnam, the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and more have helped Americans living today be free, even though it meant them dying. Also, all the presidential memorials.  Lincoln, JFK, John D Roosevelt, the Clintons, and more have given empowering speeches to make sure we know we are strong, free, and can do anything we set our hearts to, as long as we do it united. Where would we be without the Civil Rights Movement? What if we had never had the Sit-Ins, or the Freedom Rides, or MLK Jr.? Where would our country stand? Free? Maybe not so much. United? Definitely not. I think I have realized that in our to have freedom, you have to be united. You have to have someone to back you up, and be there for you.

         Freedom means and symbolizes many things. To me, it makes me happy and really, empowered to know I can do anything that I want to, and that I set my heart to. Like writing, for an example. And stemming off of freedom, I can choose the people I want by my side. If anything, this trip has been great for bonding and budding friendships. All of us have been the blossoms on the tree, now starting to bloom. Is this trip going to end? Yes, sadly it will. But it will be with us forever, and I’m grateful to all the team leaders, the patient bus drivers (cough, cough, Nancy), Phil and the amazing Marybeth, and everyone else on this trip. It has been amazing, and I’m forever grateful for such an experience. Thank you, so much!

Memorials by Hannah

Today, we went to a lot of really cool memorials in Washington DC. I hung out with Hope, Faith and Charity today, as well. Those three ladies represent what women did to help during wars. Hope was looking at the sky hoping for the war to end, Faith was praying to help the men survive, and Charity was caring for the men. We also went to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and this was cool because I was Eleanor Roosevelt in something at my school called biography day. I found out a ton of information about this person and pretended to be her for a day.

We also went to the holocaust museum. This was really interesting and my favorite museum we've gone to so far. There was this one section that was about a boy who went from living a normal life to going to a ghetto and then being moved to a concentration camp. He survived the camp but his mother and sister didn't. He had written a diary but it was taken away once he entered the camp. This was extremely interesting. I really enjoyed this day and I thought it was very interesting.