But the conference? I would not experience that again if you paid me one million dollars. My body still hurts.

Day One: Buses were late to take us to U. of Maryland; False fire alarm; Didn't leave U. of Maryland until around 12 (two hours behind schedule), got to hotel at one, security check not done until 2, got to sleep around 3.

Day Two: Rise and shine at 6, jump in shower at 6:15, jump out of shower at 6:30...and cue fire alarm; Entire hotel evacuated again, to find out...false alarm, again, everybody suitably annoyed; Got my period; Went to the concert at the Lincoln Memorial, left an hour behind schedule because of the purplers; Dinner was so overcrowded, ate dinner on floor with friend.

Day Three: Bus was an hour late picking us up from the hotel; Waited another hour for someone who was still sleeping; Al Gore bored the living daylights out of us all; Went to the awesome-est mall I've ever seen; Ate real food for dinner (Chinese).

Day Four: Woke up at five; Got to the National Mall sometime between seven and eight; Spent an hour walking around trying to find a street that wasn't blocked so we could get to the National History Museum; Ventured out onto the Mall; Watched inauguration on Jumbotron; Spent a solid two hours walking to Nationals Ballpark, about an hour of which was spent standing in the mob at the corner of D and 7th streets; Got to Ballpark, only to find out they didn't have enough food for all of us; Waited an hour and a half until bus boarding; Went back to hotel to get ready for the "ball", which consisted of throwing all 15,000+ scholars in the National Air and Space Museum, giving us food and Chris Daughtry, and calling it a night; Spent another hour or so standing in mob waiting to leave the place; Almost gave up trying to find the bus; Got back to hotel feeling like the walking dead.

On the plus side, I made a new friend (Mika from Shanghai, she's half-American, half-Japanese, 100% cool), and I bought a couple Black Cat manga. And I wrote quite a few short stories while I was there, which I'll probably post in Quiet Desperations, the world I made for my writing. I have a lot of updating to do, and exams to study for as well, so until next time.