Students from the National Capital Region recently got an up-close look at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Read some of their reflections and see photos from their field trip.
A library is a store of knowledge. Also, the libraries are the heaven of researchers, students and scientists. As a member of Virginia Tech, my colleagues and I have to go to a mandatory trip. So the trip day came and the school director had chosen the Congress library. I have visited many libraries around the world, but I consider the Congress library as an architectural masterpiece.
In one the coldest days in Washington, DC my colleagues and I and the rest of Virginia Tech faculty went to the Library of Congress. WE started out journey by taking the metro. I was not prepared with a metro card, and when I arrived to the school, all my colleagues had metro cards. I started to become nervous because I was afraid I could not go with my friends because this is the first time I tried the metro. After that, we went to the station and the problem was resolved. We arrived in time: we tried to get in the library as fast as we could because the weather outside was too cold, and we were freezing.
When we entered inside the library after a long security procedures, I could not speak for a while because I was impressed by the building: it was gigantic and beautiful. Unlike most libraries, the Congress library combines arts and reading. We started our tour with Mr. Mike; he was a nice man. I was affected by the fine arts and the statues in the library. One of the most impressive pieces was the Minerva mosaic. She was the god of wisdom in Greece. I loved the colors of the mosaic and what she illustrates. She represents wisdom and knowledge.
After we finished our tour, we separated. One of us went back to school. The others took their own cars, like us (my sister, Nora, and I). While we were driving, I sat without any word. When Nora asked me, I started to talk without stopping about the library and how I was impressed with it. I never stopped talking about the arts and the books. I believe that I spoke all the way until my sister told me I must take a breath.
After this amazing trip to Congress library, I realized that the Library of congress is one of the most beautiful libraries I have visited. It is not only for books, but is contains voice recordings, maps, photographs and another 2 million items, although the books are the heart of the library. After I visited the congress library, I suggest that Virginia Tech director makes the trips mandatory because it was worth each hour we spent. Finally, I hope someday I can go to the congress library as a researcher.
Sultan Alobaidan
The Virginia Tech NVALCI staffs had a plan for their students to visit Library of Congress. In the early morning of Wednesday at 8:30 AM on Febc10, 2016 we went from the Dunn Loring Station to Capital South to visit the Library of Congress. The weather today was very cold and windy. When we arrived at the entrance, the scrutiny was tough like the airport. The purpose of this security is to protect people who visit this place and to the treasury items that the library have. Then, all the students were divided into three groups. Each group had a guide from the library. Our leader started talking about the history of the library. For instant, it was established in 1800, and the Capital Hill contains three buildings Thomas Jefferson Building (1897), John Adams Building (1938), and the James Madison (1981). It is the largest library in the world because it contains more than 162 million items. Furthermore, she showed us paintings in the roof of the dome library, explain the history of these paintings, and answer students’ questions. One of the drawings that a leader described has many symbols of names of old countries and their cultures. The purpose of visiting the Library of Congress is to see how the library contains millions of books, that are valuable and treasury. These books are in different languages. The library dose not contains only books, but also different kinds of items such as paintings, incarnates, manuscripts, rare materials etc. For example, there is incarnates of some of the president of U.S.A and some manuscripts of the Bible has more than 600 hundred years.
We went to Thomas Jefferson Building. In the entrance there is one of his well-known speeches was written on the glass. “I cannot live without books.” He said this on June 10, 1815. After we explored Thomas Jefferson Building, we went to the restaurant. Some of the students had lunch and the rest had coffee. At 1:00 PM we finished from our exploring the Library of Congress, which is a great experience to me to visit the largest library in the world.
Faisal Alkhelaiwi
My first visit to the Library of Congress was wonderful. I went with my classmate and teachers. We took the metro from Dunn Loring to Washington DC. The weather was very cold. The library was very big. The building was old and beautiful. I enjoyed my visit and I will tell my friends about it.
Hala Al-Tamimi
I want to The Library of Congress with my school. The building was a huge and wonderful. It was library designs from the inside amazing and beautiful. It contains a lot of the draws on the wall each of which tells a story. Also, there were many magnificent statues. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the USA, with millions of items. There were 45millions books with different languages. And, I saw a huge book of handwritten. In the end, it was nice and great place to visit and learn about it.
Ghassan Alsolaimi
The library that we went to, is a part of three libraries in the congress. The architect of the library is combined the Latin and American art. The majority of the library is made by marble. We saw the Jefferson's library, it was circle with space in the middle. It was fun and good to see something like this. I would thank the VTLCT for letting us have such as these experiences in our lives.
Mashael AlawadLibrary of Congress is not just a library. It is a largest library in the world. It is a huge building containing so many cultures science. We saw many books and also we took information about history of the library. The guide gave us some information on how to we can search in the library. The library containing so many books in different languages, cultures and different religions.
Tehani Aleissa
Yesterday, I had a good opportunity to visit The Library of Congress. It is the most famous library in the world. It contains more than 158 million items. I am very interested in learning about American culture and this visit helped to know more about the history of the United States of America. I am very pleased by this visit.
Chi Feng Wang
It was nice to have a guide that talked about the library. They talked quickly it was a little hard to understand some times but I recorded what the guide said so that I could go back to it later and study.
After the library my classmates and I went to go eat lunch together, we had pizza. It was very good, but I lost my water bottle at the restaurant. I forgot to take it with me when we left.
On the way home I saw George Washington’s mascot on the street, it was very funny!
Nahlah-Olayan
Fataneh Shams
The library of congress is very beautiful. That is the largest library in the word. There are decorated with nice sculptures and pretty paintings with European style. All of them have a message for us .The floors were wore nature stone such as Marmar. It has different types of book and different items for example: newspaper, music, film, map, etc. Finally, the library’s architecture design and the number of manuscripts are incredibly beautiful.
Hamza Alsharif
My last trip to DC was yesterday. I came to school at 8:00 am. After that, I went with my professor and my classmates to the metro station to go to DC. Then, we went to the library of congress, and it was an interesting place. It was like a museum, and it has five million books. Also, we saw many different statue. It was very beautiful. Moreover, we listened to the speaker to explain some things about a library and American culture. After we finished the trip, I went to M-street with my classmates to eat dinner. The trip was great, and I enjoyed it, but the weather was cold.
Nouf Abdulrahman
My last trip was in the library of congress in DC .First, the weather was not nice because it was very cold. It was so tired I didn’t like to use the train, and I had a headache. However, when I went to the library, I saw the beautiful balding, because this library is very famous in the world .Also I like the panting and the history from the library. Finally, I like to see the museum for the world because I love history and like to go on trips.
My last trip was yesterday morning in D.C to the Library of congress. First, the library was bigger than other libraries. It had a lot of books, I think 45 million books. Also, the library had different walls. It was very nice. It had a lot of history from many cities. Yesterday the weather was very windy and cold. Couldn’t walk around the library, so went shopping with my friends. Finally, when I came back home I was feeling tired because the weather very colds, and I did not wear heavy clothes. I really enjoyed my trip there.
Yasir Ajlan
My last trip to DC was yesterday. I went with my classmate to the Library of Congress. First, we went yesterday morning and we went to the metro station. Second, in The Library of Congress we saw a lot of solid about USA. Also, we saw photo of family’s. Third, In the Library of Congress the books looked very good and I like it because they are very interesting books. Then, the tour guide was a very good man. He helped us to know a lot of things about The Library of Congress. Finally, it was a very good trip. I hope to go there again.
Sara Basyouni
The library of congress was built not only the most beautiful library in the world. but also it is the most beautiful educational and beautiful building. It is considered the biggest library in the world and its located in Washington DC it was established by the third President of United States Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 and he offered his personal library as replacement and the Library of Congress has many stuff to talk about but the most beautiful thing in the library is the decoration and it contains more than 103 million items.
The first reason is the decoration. It was constructed between 1888 and 1897. And the building was decorated to honor learning , knowledge , literature. The best part of the library of congress is the art and the architecture of the library . Thomas Jefferson he discovered the best talent to design the library. There are different artist who designed the library. It has a lot of Technical drawings in the wall and in the ceiling of the library even in the floor.
The second reason is that the library contains more than 103 million items and the items is the most significant role in American history such as newspaper, books, maps ,music and music instruments.Thomas Jefferson he spent 50 years collecting variety of books in several languages in many subjects such as literature and science. There are many books and other print materials for example it has a handwritten bible and it’s written in Latin and there is a lot of books in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy the collection contains materials in some 470 different languages
In conclusion, the Library of Congress one of the best historical mark for people especially American people and it consider one of the most beautiful library in the world that contains many materials and I believe people from different cultures should visit the library of congress.
The school often plans for field trips to many interesting places such as national parks, museum and some historical sites. This time, the field trip was to The Library of Congress.
Teachers and students gathered at school on Wednesday and moved to the Metro station together. We took the Metro to Washington, DC, where the museum were located. We walked until we arrived to the Library of Congress and the building was so huge. When we went inside, we amazed by the huge collections with millions of items including books, recordings, photographs, maps, paintings, sculptures and manuscripts. The library has 4.5 million books, and it has 21 reading rooms. We saw the biggest one which was very huge and beautiful and it has all kind of books that can be used for study and research. The library also has many beautiful paintings which show stages of human's evolution and the family value. The sculptures of the children were fascinating, it represent the different races. There are four children representing the White, Asian, African, and Indian people. These were the four races recognized in America by the Library of Congress in 1897. Also, the meaning of the sculpture children representing the various work occupations in 1897 that all are welcome to the Library of Congress. When we used the stairs to go down, we were looking down and enjoying the view and the great art in the flour that was made by marble which came from different parts of the world.
At the end, we left The Library of Congress, eager for the next visit. Through this trip we got a chance to have a new and an interesting knowledge about the establishment of the Library of Congress. I will tell my friends about my experience and encourage them to visit The Library of Congress and have a great time.
