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I've Finally Arrived!

HugoPosted At : January 17, 2009 9:00 PM | Posted By : Hugo Salazar
Related Categories: Inauguration

Hi Everyone,

       I started off the day really excited. Both my mom and sister saw me off at McAllen Miller International Airport this morning, and I arrived in Washington at 2:00pm (1:00pm Valley time). The city is full of people, and it's unbelievably cold! It was 19 degrees when I got here and the temperature only gets colder as the sun goes down.

     The shuttle ride to the hotel gave me just a few glimpses of the Washington and Lincoln Monuments, but I promise my future pictures will be better.  I started out the day checking in to the hotel, and registering for the program.

There were a couple of introductory seminars, but the highlight of the evening was getting to listen to our welcome speech by news correspondent Luke Russert.

His speech was very insightful and touched mainly on the importance of the youth vote, and the importance of political involvement, and he added a lot of humor.

Tomorrow, our keynote speaker will be General Colin Powell (Ret.), and we'll be shuttled to the University of Maryland to hear him. I'll also have a chance to visit some of the monuments of the National Mall in evening. Well, as much as I'd like to keep telling you all what's on schedule, I have to end my first blog right here. It's about 9:20pm right now, and I have to wake up in time to catch our breakfast at 5:15...that's right, 5:15am.

     -Hugo

Oh, and for anyone wondering, there are 5,000 of us attending the conference, and people came from all over the world. Here's what the ballroom looked like when we all heard our welcome speech:

 

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Hi Hugo. Glad you made it OK.
19 degrees - that is definitely not South Texas weather!
Enjoy the opportunity to attend this most historic occasion and to get
to see D.C. for the first time.
And thanks for blogging about your adventure for the University so we can
share in the excitement.
Stay warm!
# Posted By Gail Fagan | 1/17/09 11:20 PM
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