Saturday, December 5, 2009 ♥ 2:51 PM
These experiences I have cherished:
I have had the privilege of having many great experiences that I am so grateful for. One of these is Camp Don Bosco. It's a camp in Carnation, Washington at the edge of the Snoqualmie  River Valley. My family and I have been going to their "family" camp ever since I was four years old. I have had so many amazing memories there with my family and the friends I've made there. It's a place where I will always feel welcomed.
Another experience is working a class full of great kids at DeLong Middle School in Tacoma, Washington for Community Service class last year. I worked with my friend Trent and sister Sophie in an adjusted K-2 class. It was so great to see the progress we made with the class. It was the greatest feeling to see their faces light up whenever we would walk into class. I miss those kids.
I am also grateful for my experience with the International Youth Exchange Program (IYEP). This program allowed me to travel to Rome, Italy and stay with an Italian family for two weeks. I stayed with the Consolis, who had a daughter named Chiara about the same age as me. After my stay in Rome, she came to stay with my family as well. Chiara and I are still friends and talk almost once a day. We have visited each other after the program ended, and hope to do so again this coming summer.
 Last summer at the Colosseo
This summer when we went out to eat with four other Italian families  During dinner when an old man sang to me in Italian. When I didn't respond, someone said "Americana" and he understood. At the end of the song, he said, "I love you". It was really funny and everyone was laughing so hard.
 Alessandro, Francesco, me, and Paolo at about 4 in the morning (everyone goes out at night, not during the daytime because of the heat)
 Riding Chiara's vespa to the one of the largest shopping centers in Europe
I am also thankful for my experiences of Paging, both in Washington state and Washington, DC. I was a Senate Page when I was an eighth grader at St. Vincent de Paul. I stayed in Olympia at my grandparents' house and was driven to the capitol every day. My siblings and I paged for a week. It was a great experience where I met various individuals from around the state, some of whom I'm still in touch with today! Paging in Washington, DC was by far the greatest experience I have ever been a part of. I worked as a Congressional House Page for Congressman Adam Smith. I got to live in the city of our nation's capitol, surrounded by kids my age from all over the country. I met people from Arkansas, Texas, New York, North Dakota, you name it! I also got to attend school (at 6:45 a.m... yuck!) in the attic of the Library of Congress. Living, studying, and working in DC is something I will never, and I mean never, forget. I have made my best friends there and look forward to seeing them again. Some of the world's most influential people even roamed around the capitol (and we got to stalk them!). If I could, I would go back and do the Page Program all over again, 100 times over. It was truly incredible.
 The whole Page class with the Clerk of the House, Lorraine C. Miller, in front of the capitol building (I'm on the left in the last row that's sitting near the top)
Me, Kate, Manasa, and Anam in front of the White House
 Me, my mom, and sister on our way to the Page initiation ceremony
 Cameron, me, and Hayden at a restaurant called "America" in Union Station
 Anam, Olivia, me, Lennard, and Manasa at a bowling alley in Virginia
 Lennard, me, and Olivia playing SingStar at the Washington Nationals baseball game
 My roommate Ashley and me at a fundraiser basketball game: Congressmen/Senators vs. Georgetown lawmakers
 Kate, Manasa, and me at school (attic of the Library of Congress)
 Kate, Allison, Crystal, Manasa, me, Haian, and Priscilla for a cross-hall (there are two girls halls: short-hall and long-hall) sleepover
 Bianca, me, and Manasa walking to home from work in the pouring rain
 Priscilla, me, and Manasa in room 229 (Manasa and my room)
 Audrey and I on our way to an outdoor concert at the capitol
 Bianca, Cody, me, and Nick in Baltimore for a Socratic Seminar (on the bay)
 Olivia, me, Cameron, Hayden, Lennard, and Bianca at Georgetown University
 Caleb and I at Five Guys!
 My roommate Manasa and I walking around DC in front of the Washington Monument
 The Clerk of the House, Lorraine C. Miller, and I at our prom
 Some of the Pages at Lennard and Audrey's birthday bash at Buca di Beppo
 Me, Marissa, Kate, Olivia, Joe, and Lennard walking through the basement of the capitol to go home after a long day at work
 Maggie and I at our prom (on a yacht!)
 Dome tour with Anjelica, Lennard, and Olivia in front of the Washington Monument (we were on top of the capitol)
 Olivia and I at dinner
 Me, Audrey, and Kate walking home from Union Station in the rain
 Monica, Sarah, me, Sophia, Anjelica, Neiko, Olivia, Crystal, and Manasa eating lunch in one of the three buildings surrounding the capitol, Longworth
 Kate and I at La Repúpublica del Congo Embassy with a drummer
 Paddle boats with Bianca and Ben in the springtime
 Bianca and I at Shenandoah National Park in Luray, Virginia after the long trek to the top
 Brinkerhoff and me before school (we had assigned seating for morning assembly, and I got to sit by Brinkerhoff because our names were so close in the alphabet)
 Olivia and I walking up the steps to the top of dome of the capitol
 Me, Manasa, and Kate after dinner at Nick's Seafood Restaurant
 David, Sophia, Manasa, me, Olivia, and Sarah at The Cheesecake Factory for Sophia's birthday dinner
 Sami, Kate, Andre, Anjelica, me, Brinkerhoff, Manasa, Andy, Jose, Tucker, Bianca, and Neiko at an outdoor ice skating rink
.JPG) Hayden, Lennard, and me on our way home from dinner posing by a Top Chef truck
 Kate and I in front of the capitol when we went on a "city of DC" tour
 Kate, me, Anam, and Manasa waiting in the Rotunda for the Queen and King of Jordan
 Most of the Pages on the last day before departure in the Day Room (I'm near the bottom right in pink)
 Cody, Nick, Kate, Audrey, me, and Sami at our St. Patrick's Day dance
 Kate and I walking from the capitol to the Cannon building to go home from work
 My prom date Tucker Travis (from Arkansas)
 Kate, me, and Sarah at the Washington Wizards game after we got our faces painted
 My Spanish Class: Mr, Ashton, me, Bruner, Nick, Allison, Raven, and Haian
 My roommates Manasa (from Ohio), Ashley (from New York), me, and Anam (from New York)
 At the DC United game with Kate, Cody, Nick, and Sami
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