Language and Culture Institute students in the National Capital Region recently toured the U.S. Capitol and Botanic Garden.
Below, you can read some of their essays and see their photos from the trip.
Azura Binti Anas:On Feb 12, 2015, my school had arranged a trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden and the U.S. Capitol. I felt so happy that day because I had the opportunity to see inside the U.S. Capitol.
Before we entered the U.S. Capitol, my friends and I spent 40 minutes inside the Botanic Garden. There were beautiful flowers and a very green garden. The smell inside was very fresh and lovely with flowers around it. I felt like I was back home in Malaysia already.
After that, I went to the U.S. Capitol for about 2 hours. That was the best experience I have ever had, because I could see the panoramic views and historical information about the rooms of the U.S. Capitol as well as the objects in those rooms. I hope one day I can bring my family to visit the U.S. Capitol.
The trip was wonderful, and the building has a large and beautiful garden. For example, there are trees and flowers everywhere. Also, when I see the whole place, it is green and colorful; I feel joy and happiness. The atmosphere was beautiful inside the park, and I'm comfortable because I liked the garden more than the museum, and I love nature so much. For these reasons, I enjoyed the trip.Wedad Hussain:
Last Thursday, I went on the field trip to the U.S. Capitol. I saw many interesting things. The most interesting thing was the movie which we saw. It was a very awesome movie. The movie gave us the historical background about The U.S. Congress. In addition, I enjoyed my classmates, and I enjoyed sitting in The Congress, listening and hearing what the congressmen said and agreed upon. That is all about the field trip.
I visited the U.S. Capitol and The Botanical Gardens today with my classmates.
We saw a lot of things that were new to us, and we also learned about the U.S. Capitol.
First, we visited the Botanical Garden. We walked through the floors and the plants. The view was wonderful when we walked there, and we learned that the United States Congress is responsible for paying for this beautiful, indoor garden.
One of my classmates didn't enjoyed the trip but I and my other classmates really enjoyed the trip because we saw some amazing things that we never saw before. We also learned a lot of things at the same time. I enjoyed the Botanical Garden more than the U.S. Capitol that's why I wrote about it.
Snowing in the beginning of our trip to Capitol will not interfere with the determination to reach US Capitol. Once I reached there, I could saw from far sight that the Capitol’s dome was still under reconstruction. But when I entered the Capitol Visitor Centre, a journey of discovery about US Capitol began. I was amazed with various statue standing in the hall especially the big Statue of Freedom. The similar statue that is placed on top of the dome but smaller in size and made from bronze. No building in DC area will reach over the statue to indicate that “Nothing is above the freedom”.
The US Capitol is the home to the US Congress which are US House of Representative and US Senate. It is where Congress meets and debates regarding to the facing issues of US nation before written into laws. And also a place for presidential inauguration.
Members of House of Representative are based on population and each state is entitled to at least one representative. Meanwhile Senate has two senators from each state.
E Pluribus Unum means “Out of Many, One” was a movie shown at the theatre before the guided tour in the Capitol building begin. The movie describe the history of how this country established a new form of government, explain the role that Congress plays in daily lives of Americans, and introduces the building that houses the US Congress.
The most amazing and magnificent is the Rotunda, piece of art which is a skylight view of Capitol Dome from the inside. It is the heart and centre of the Capitol. Beside the statue of the previous president line-up in circular, the hall hanged various masterpiece portrait of national history.
From my observation and the information from the guided tour, peoples need to tolerate and co-operate in order to build a great nation. All the sacrifice and tragic events happen in the past could never be forgotten which would bring a few more step in developing future nation. And, “Laws by the people, for the people” was created in making a guided path for people in their daily life routine through ages. These laws are not a perfect and right by all time and some reconstructed and modified processes could be done. After all, human is not perfect at all.
A visit to the Capitol gave me an amazing experience and knowledge about the United States of America. Firstly, I came to know about the system of government administration through US congress. I learned about how Congress works; it is where the issues facing the nation are considered, debated, and written into law. With knowledge of the steps of forming a law, that would make me a respect for the democratic process implemented in USA.
Secondly, I can see how American history built by a famous leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and many more before. In the capitol almost every place filled with pictures and they built a replica of the statue to honor their service.
From there, I can learn how to appreciate the struggles of past leaders for the stability of the country, that it would be a guide in the future for next generation. Thirdly, I can see how this magnificent building was built, with a lot of the collection and display of American art, and it is an achievement of fantastic architecture beyond human achievement at the time.
From this, I can learn about the art that is a one of cultural heritage which indicates the identity of a nation state. This will give a strong identity to every citizen who knows how to appreciate a work of art.
To me, art is inseparable from the life of a great nation and show that the USA is a country with a very valuable and also have rich heritage of art. In conclusion, this visit had an impact on me to know the greatness of the United States of America in general and will make me appreciate the heritage and legacy of a great and very historic about USA.Azham bin Poharan
I got a lot of experience from the school trip to Washington DC. I went to two place, U.S Botanical Garden and U.S Capitol. Our first trip is at the U.S Botanical Garden. From that place, I can see a lot of plants from worldwide. There are also plants in my country, Malaysia. I really enjoy because can see the beauty of nature in this winter. We also take a lot of beautiful picture for our sweet memory. After that, we went to U.S Capitol. U.S Capitol is the one of historical building in USA. That is a beautiful building with so many art in their wall. Firstly, we watch a video that shown a history about the USA government. After that, one tour guide, explain to us about everything from that building. That is so great. The tour is about 30 minutes. Finally, I hope there will be another trip like this in the future.Haslida binti Reseli:
Last Thursday our school planned a field trip to US Capitol building. Most of the Virginia teachers and student were went there. We gathered at Virginia Tech school about 10am. After took an attendance all of us went together at Metro station to Washington DC. The journey took about 40 minutes by Metro.
At first I was quite impressed with the architectures of the buildings. It was so nice to see and the buildings was huge and tall. The Capitol was built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior.I believed every building has their own story same likes The Capitol. In theory, I’ve learned that The Capitol building symbolize the greatest democracy in this world. Now it becomes the important buildings in the world in which the Senate and the House of Representatives have met here for more than two centuries. Besides, I was dazzled with the visitor entryway to the US Capitol which is located beneath the East Plaza of Capitol. For me it’s quite unique and difference from other buildings.
The most I liked in Capitol was the ‘Classical Dome’ that was designed by Thomas Walter. It was unbelievable because it was man –made . I believed this dome was inspired by the Classical dome in Europe like a Pantheon in Paris and St. Paul in London. This dome was designed to impress the visitor of Capitol including me. The dome situated above the United States Capitol which reached upwards to 288 feet (88 m) in height and 96 feet (29 m) in diameter. I was fascinated when I knew that the Dome was constructed with nearly 9 million pounds of ironwork bolted together to create the masterpiece. Besides, The dome was not stone, but cast iron carefully painted to appear to be made of the same stone as the main capitol building. Moreover, I also was impressed with the painting Apotheosis of Washington and Frieze of American History designed by the Italian artist Constantino Brumidi who spent 25years painting this building as the last aspects finishing of the dome. It was so beautiful and full of art.I loves to see the details of every art and painting. This signaled the end of construction for the United States Capitol dome.
Ultimately, I believed many effort was contributed to make this beautiful and historical building.As new generation, we should appreciated all the effort and hardwork made by old generations in a way to respect and learned from them.
By Nur Adila Binti Mohamad Nadzir
Last Thursday on February 12th, Virginia Tech was held a field trip to Capital House and Botanical Garden which are located in Washington DC. The Capitol House is a symbolic and a symbol buildings in the nation. Capitol House was use by congress and also as a museum of America art and history. Our trip was conducted by a tourist guard and he was spent his time to bring our group around the Capital building and gave some explanation about America’s history and also about the building itself. There are a lot of presidents monuments that have been built from bronze and some of them from marbles. In addition, the arts painting around the building also have their own history lines. These made the building unique and antique and valuable. We were very impressed with the technology used on that time. After visited the Capital House, my group continued our trip to Botanical Garden which full with a lots of flora species such as wild orchids, cherry blossom, coco tree, papaya and spices trees. We were very happy joined this trip and hope there will be another fieldtrip on the future.Malak Alharbi
Yesterday we went on trip to The United States Botanic Garden and its Capitol Visitor Center. There were very interesting places and I learned many new and important things. We started our trip by going to the metro to the national mall DC. Then we walked to The United States Botanic Garden. When we finished discovering and seeing new kinds and information about the plants, we ended up our trip on Capitol Visitor Center. I did not stay till we get to the library because I have been there once.
The United States Botanic Garden is a place I would like to go again with my family. However, there are many different plants with odd names. For instance, “Alternanthera Brasiliana” in English purple knight. Even though it is not purple it is white. Also, “Theobromine Cocoa” it is a tree with green fruits and one of my friends told me that it has inside cocoa beans and look like coffee beans. There were many plants I wish if we had time to look more closely about.
When we finished the tour Garden we went to The United States Capitol Visitor Center. It was very big and there are many people were waiting on line to watch the movie about the capitol history. The movie was interesting and not very long. The most fascinating part in the trip was when we get to the main room where the painting pictures are. Each picture tells story about certain event happened in the past. There was a one picture about “Pocahontas” and that was really shocking for me. I always know her as a Disney fictional character.
Nevertheless, yesterday I learned she was real and she was a Native American princess. Eventually, we ended up our tour there. I want to the restaurant there with my friend we had lunch together. Then we walked to the Metro.
To sum up, it was very good trip rich with new information. I plan to go there again when my family visits me this summer.
