Civic Engagement Blog - Inauguration

More Pictures

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:26:00 -0600

I'm sorry this is so late and long overdue, but I've been caught up with school work. If you'd like to take a look at a larger collection of pictures that I took, feel free to go to http://www.mediafire.com/hgslzr

Happy Inauguration!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:42:00 -0600

It feels like today was a holiday! I could hardly sleep last night, and I actually felt wide awake and full of energy at 2:00am. I headed over to 7th street with a friend and made it to the front of the line at 3:00am. It was amazing to see how many people were there so early, and it was even more amazing to see everyone at the Mall. The crowds were unbelievable, and the inauguration lifted the spirits of everyone there. Every time President Obama's face showed up on the big screen, the entire Mall was filled with noise and people chanting his name. I was pretty far from the main event and had to see it on a big screen, but all cared was that I stood at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. when President Obama, the first African American President of the United States, took his oath. With crowds being in the millions, I and a friend decided to warm up in (guess where...) the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History (my third time and I still didn't get to see even half of the stuff there). I then headed to the Smithsonian's Museum of American History to view our original Star Spangled Banner (the flag which inspired the poem, which was then turned to a song) and it truly is an inspiring piece of american history (sorry, no pictures were allowed). The day ended today with the Black Tie Inaugural Gala at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. While the attendees were limited to the people in the program and didn't include any officials from Washington, it was still enjoyable because the entire museum was open after hours for us, while we were entertained by a live band.

Well, I'm finally going home tomorrow after a tiring and exciting 4 days.

See you on campus,

-Hugo

Pictures of the Last Two Days

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:23:00 -0600

Ok everyone, the problem has been solved, and here are some of the pictures that I took on my second and third days at the conference:

Day 2

General Colin Powell

Political Correspondents James Carville and Mary Matalin

Day 3

Dalton Ross (Editor-at-Large, Entertainment Weekly) and Frances Beinecke (President of NRDC)

Former Vice President Al Gore

It's Almost Here...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:28:00 -0600

The city is full of people just about every minute of the day, but in spite of the crowds and lines everywhere, there is a sense of friendship just about everywhere I go. This morning started off with two seminars. My first speaker was Dalton Ross, the Editor-at-Large of Entertainment Weekly, who spoke about the impact that the media and entertainment industry has regarding politics. The second speaker of the morning was Frances Beinecke, the President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and she spoke about the many negative impacts on the environment, such as greenhouse gas emissions, and suggested alternative energy resources. The highlight of the day was listening to the insights of former Vice President Al Gore. His speech also asked that we use alternative energy sources, and focused on the idea that preserving the environment is a worldwide effort. After returning to the hotel, I took the subway back to the Smithsonian (I could spend a week there if I had the time!) and then passed by the White House one more time for a few more pictures. Now that I'm back at the hotel, I'm going to get some rest because I'm joining some friends at 3:00am to get to the National Mall early enough to stand as close as possible to the Inauguration Ceremony. Also, I'm having some trouble uploading my pictures, but once I get some help fixing the problem, I'll upload them all.

Happy Martin Luther King Day,

-Hugo

Long, exhausting, and exciting

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:10:00 -0600

As you might have read in yesterday's blog, my day started out at 5:15 in the morning today and it lasted until about 11:50pm. It was a great day, and I have lots to talk about, but I'm sorry to say that I'm going to have to upload the pictures tomorrow when I have more time. The Conference keeps me pretty busy in the morning and leaves us all free to explore the city in the afternoon. Here's a quick summary of what I did:

This morning, at the University of Maryland Field House, we heard a great and inspiring speech about leadership by General Colin Powell. When he finished, we were all shuttled back to our hotels and we broke out into groups to view two out of three seminars that we had chosen earlier this week. I was fortunate enough to hear prominant figures of the press from Washington express their thoughts and ideas, and to hear the humorous political insights of James Carville (a die hard Democrat) and his wife Mary Matalin (a conservative Republican). We were then free to explore the city after lunch. I, and a couple of friends, were able to make it to the Opening Inaugural Ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial, where we heard and saw (on jumbo-trons) U2 perform, and we briefly heard a speech made by upcoming President Barack Obama. There are absolutely no words that can capture the feeling that I had at that moment, and throughout the day. When the ceremony ended, we headed over to the Capital to familiarize ourselves with the Inauguration location, and we stopped by the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History before we headed back to the hotel. I then took a guided tour with a large group of attendees to visit the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial site, the Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.

Like I mentioned before, I'll post the pictures tomorrow because it'll take a while to load them up, and I need to get to bed for another early day tomorrow.

-Hugo

I've Finally Arrived!

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:00:00 -0600

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:

Inaugural Blog Info

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:25:00 -0600

Hi everyone, I'm Hugo Salazar, a Senior Chemistry Major at UTPA, and I'm going to attend the Presidential Inauguration next week. My trip is part of the University Presidential Inaugural Conference which will begin Saturday January 17 and end on Wednesday January 21. While I'm over there, I'll post a daily blog, which will probably be in the evenings, and I'll try to include as many pictures as I can. Feel free to post comments and questions, but please understand that the conference will keep me pretty busy, so I may not be able to reply to all of them. If you want a little more information on me and my trip you can read the UTPA article by clicking here.

Talk to you all later,

-Hugo