Week 4 - Museums, Concerts and Monuments

Saturday, June 14, 2025 - Museum

Coming back from my trip, HEP/CAMP had planned to get tickets for the National Museum of African American History. We got up and running early in the morning because we knew that there was going to be heavy traffic due to some road closures. We heard and saw in the news that there was going to be a parade with what seemed to have two intentions, both of which celebrated birthdays. As we were walking to the museum, we saw a lot of people with red hats, but we minded our own business.

When we walked into the museum, we felt the fresh, cold air conditioning. We started on the last floor and made our way down. The power of each exhibition held a story.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - CONCERT!

One thing that I haven't had the opportunity to do is attend a concert. So when the opportunity came by and another intern wanted to go, we took the spontaneous decision to go. One hour after work ended, we texted each other and bought our tickets. We got them on sale, and we got a perfect spot. Work ended, and so we left our bags with a friend and took an Uber to the stadium. The ride was an experience we had forgotten that that night we had a meeting with the HEP/CAMP Internship Coordinators, so we were both taking it on our way. When the meeting ended, we were at the stadium. We entered and immediately heard a good song, we went to see, and it was MUSTARD opening up.

June 18, 2025- Ivette Holding Kendrick and SZA Concert Ticket

It was honestly the best night!

Friday, June 20, 2025 - Miles to History

What started like a plan to the gym on a weekend afternoon turned into a 25,663 step walk around the D.C. monuments. After work on Friday afternoon, Lesley and I decided to hit the gym. We got ready and made our way to the gym, which wasn't far away. We got there and pulled on the door, and it was locked. To read the sign in front of us, IT WAS CLOSED. The one day I decided to be productive, the universe wasn't on my side. We sat down for a bit and decided to think about what are next plans were, until we got the idea to go visit the monuments around the city as our form of workout that day. We decided not to take the metro and walked there on foot so we could get our steps in.

We started off at the Lincoln Memorial and made our way towards the MLK Memorial, and then the Jefferson Memorial, where there was a cultural Concert, so we stayed for a little while and listened to their music. Then, we made our way past MLK Memorial again to the Washington Memorial. By the time we made it to the Washington Memorial, we realized that we were getting hungry, so we looked for nearby food places where we could get dinner, and later came to the decision to get Chick-fil-A. We walked 1.5 more miles, and we were exhausted by the time we reached our final destination. We sat down with our orders, and it never felt so rewarding. Once we were done eating, we could not take a single more step forward, so that's when we made the executive decision to take the metro back home.

June 20, 2025- BeReal of HEP/CAMP outside, waiting for the building to be cleared after the fire alarm went off

We got back and went to Angel's room because we were all going to watch a movie together. We were so focused on the movie when we were all startled by an ALARM. This alarm wasn't like any other. It was an alarm you would hear from a movie where a zombie apocalypse or a tsunami was going to hit. We all looked at each other in panic and worry since that week, there was a nationwide worry about the US getting involved in a war. A couple of seconds later, the announcer said that it was a fire alarm and that we all needed to evacuate. We followed the protocol, and once that situation was over, we went inside and continued watching our movie.

With Vibes from Kendrick and SZA's Concert

-Ivette Alonso Garcia