obama rally 2012
So guess who just came back from breathing the same air as the United States of America's next president for the next four years?
Here's the story:
Around 9:30 PM on November 6, Election Day, I was in my friend's room doing homework when he came in and declared that a few of our friends were planning on going to the Obama Rally in the city. Initially I was totally turned off by the idea; we would be leaving relatively late and returning probably super early the next morning, I figured we'd be outside since the event was supposed to be ticketed, and I'd heard about questionable transportation issues. My friend, the best, convinced me that it was a once in a life time event and I should go anyway, and since I really didn't have too much pressing work to do tomorrow, I decided I would go until midnight and call it a night.
Man, were we in for a night.
Five of us squeezed into a tiny cab and went on our way, as the center is about a ten-fifteen minute drive from our dorm, and when we arrived, we were in a sea of confusion. There was not a whole mob of people outside like we had expected; we trickled in along with the rest of the people who had arrived in cars and cabs and dressed much nicer than a bunch of shoddy college students. We had expected to be standing in a group of ticketless individuals, cheering hopelessly outside, but we were quickly moved along deeper into the building. We were content on standing outside and possibly seeing Obama when a man called out to us, asking if we had tickets. Nervously, we gave an answer, though I figured if we kept moving he couldn't stop us if we had wandered into a ticketed area - but instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out passes for us, as seen above. He did not ask for money and just gave them to us, saying it was a big event or something and went on his way.
Now there were five of us and the man had only promised four passes, so as we were excitedly waiting for security, we were shocked and amazed to find that none of us had to be left behind: in distributing the passes, like Jesus on the mount, there were miraculously five passes, one for each of us. At this time, we were already frantically ecstatic and I called my parents in a giddy joy. We got past security and practically jumped around as we entered the main rally room as people screamed ready to go, fired up around us.
The rally room was just as I'd seen in every news feature on television; dark with lots of people, large screens, music, patriotic colors, just everything was there. Since none of us had a proper camera, we used our phones, tried to capture as much as we could. We went and bought souvenirs (the pins above) and took pictures and tried to process that indeed, we were at a political rally. At this point, Obama had been declared the victor so there was not much suspense and more joy.
Eventually we ended back in the rally room and waited around, watching states turn red and blue and the first adrenaline rush (beside the screaming from the lucky tickets) came during Romney's speech. Screams and jeers and movement to be had. I had promised my friend from home to live text her as everything happened. There was a lull as we waited for Obama.
Once Obama came, all shit hit the roof as they say. My short friend and I struggled and leapt all over the place trying to see him, and in the end we only got fleeting glances and he looked pretty gray from the snippets of what I saw of him. Unfortunately, I spent too much time trying to catch a glimpse (a child in a crowd of tall people) than to really hear what Obama's speech; but the parts I caught were still processed. At this point, a little more tired, I could finally grasp that I was indeed in the same room as the president and we were breathing the same air and I was at a political convention and this was really happening to me.
The last struggle for the night was a wet and gloomy one: finding transportation back to the dorm, as cabs and buses were busily being filled by the rest of the rally goers. In the end, we solicited a ride from one of my friend's new boyfriend and ended up exhausted back at the dorm, right where we started.
I'm physically ready to sleep for the next seventeen hours, but mentally I'm still screaming. The fact that everything panned out and we got passes - which I suspect we didn't really need since no one checked - and we got in the building and actually was part of something big and historic - just wow. Probably one of the more memorably nights I've ever had; a true college experience.
Here's the story:
Around 9:30 PM on November 6, Election Day, I was in my friend's room doing homework when he came in and declared that a few of our friends were planning on going to the Obama Rally in the city. Initially I was totally turned off by the idea; we would be leaving relatively late and returning probably super early the next morning, I figured we'd be outside since the event was supposed to be ticketed, and I'd heard about questionable transportation issues. My friend, the best, convinced me that it was a once in a life time event and I should go anyway, and since I really didn't have too much pressing work to do tomorrow, I decided I would go until midnight and call it a night.
Man, were we in for a night.
Five of us squeezed into a tiny cab and went on our way, as the center is about a ten-fifteen minute drive from our dorm, and when we arrived, we were in a sea of confusion. There was not a whole mob of people outside like we had expected; we trickled in along with the rest of the people who had arrived in cars and cabs and dressed much nicer than a bunch of shoddy college students. We had expected to be standing in a group of ticketless individuals, cheering hopelessly outside, but we were quickly moved along deeper into the building. We were content on standing outside and possibly seeing Obama when a man called out to us, asking if we had tickets. Nervously, we gave an answer, though I figured if we kept moving he couldn't stop us if we had wandered into a ticketed area - but instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out passes for us, as seen above. He did not ask for money and just gave them to us, saying it was a big event or something and went on his way.
Now there were five of us and the man had only promised four passes, so as we were excitedly waiting for security, we were shocked and amazed to find that none of us had to be left behind: in distributing the passes, like Jesus on the mount, there were miraculously five passes, one for each of us. At this time, we were already frantically ecstatic and I called my parents in a giddy joy. We got past security and practically jumped around as we entered the main rally room as people screamed ready to go, fired up around us.
The rally room was just as I'd seen in every news feature on television; dark with lots of people, large screens, music, patriotic colors, just everything was there. Since none of us had a proper camera, we used our phones, tried to capture as much as we could. We went and bought souvenirs (the pins above) and took pictures and tried to process that indeed, we were at a political rally. At this point, Obama had been declared the victor so there was not much suspense and more joy.
Eventually we ended back in the rally room and waited around, watching states turn red and blue and the first adrenaline rush (beside the screaming from the lucky tickets) came during Romney's speech. Screams and jeers and movement to be had. I had promised my friend from home to live text her as everything happened. There was a lull as we waited for Obama.
Once Obama came, all shit hit the roof as they say. My short friend and I struggled and leapt all over the place trying to see him, and in the end we only got fleeting glances and he looked pretty gray from the snippets of what I saw of him. Unfortunately, I spent too much time trying to catch a glimpse (a child in a crowd of tall people) than to really hear what Obama's speech; but the parts I caught were still processed. At this point, a little more tired, I could finally grasp that I was indeed in the same room as the president and we were breathing the same air and I was at a political convention and this was really happening to me.
The last struggle for the night was a wet and gloomy one: finding transportation back to the dorm, as cabs and buses were busily being filled by the rest of the rally goers. In the end, we solicited a ride from one of my friend's new boyfriend and ended up exhausted back at the dorm, right where we started.
I'm physically ready to sleep for the next seventeen hours, but mentally I'm still screaming. The fact that everything panned out and we got passes - which I suspect we didn't really need since no one checked - and we got in the building and actually was part of something big and historic - just wow. Probably one of the more memorably nights I've ever had; a true college experience.