Gakusei Travels

The Air and Space Museum

I made it through my second full week of work! This week seemed to drag forever, and I’ve been so exhausted. But I only have 10 weeks in D.C. and didn’t want to spend every weekend lounging around, so today, me and another friend from work went to visit some of the museums. We started off at the Air and Space Museum.

I’ve been to this Museum before. In fact, I think the last time I came here was my senior year of high school. (Hard to believe that was nearly six years ago already.) But I came with my yearbook class. I’m not really as big of an airplane nerd as I am a space nerd. Still, the history surrounding air travel and the development of airplanes from the Wright Brothers until now is still very interesting to see. I mean, it’s been only a little over 100 years since they tested the first plane (1903) and aviation has come so far since.

In science, Astronomy was really the only thing that held my interest. It was also the only thing I understood lol. So my favorite areas were about the solar system and the moon. There were a lot of kids at the exhibits, which made me wonder if they were on some group field trip or something. There was one girl, she might have been fifth or sixth grade who just goes, “if there’s lakes on Jupiter, why don’t we just move there? Why do we focus on Mars so much?” I’m thinking to myself, did they not teach you in school that Jupiter’s a planet made from toxic gas? T^T you’d be dead before you could enter the atmosphere. I think a lot of the interactive activities and exhibits were pretty cool and fun, because they allowed you to immerse yourself in the information outside of just reading the plaques.

By far thought, my favorite part of the museum was about the moon landing. I ended up stopping to watch the History video covering major events from the 1960s, such as Muhammad Ali’s iconic match, Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have A Dream Speech, Nelson Mandela’s arrest, and so many other things I didn’t realize that only happened 50ish years ago. I’ve always loved history, but it is so crazy to me how recent a lot of history really is. Like this year will mark the 56th anniversary of the moon landing which happened only back in 1969! My parents were born 3 years later, and my grandparents were children during the Civil Rights era. I remember interviewing my granddad, and he had siblings who got arrested for protesting. History is not as far back as we realize, which is insane to think about.

Sadly, we didn’t get to see some of the exhibits. The museum is currently undergoing renovations. Well, it has been apparently since 2018. I don’t remember what is closed or if whether or not I saw the other side of museum when I last came to D.C. I think I did, but my memory can be awful lol.

Since we arrived at 10, we spent about 2 hours total at the Air and Space Museum. The Smithsonian Museums have free entry, but for Air and Space we had to book a time slot to come in. We could then stay for as long as we wanted once we were inside. After we saw everything, we did look at the gift shop, but I didn’t find anything I was willing to spend money on. All the souvenirs at Museums are so ridiculously over priced for no reason in my opinion. I’d like to get eventually something for my family, so I’ll keep looking until something catches my eye. It was only noon when we left, so we got lunch at a nearby pizza shop then decided to hit up a second museum.

The Museum of Natural History

After lunch, the next museum we went to was the Museum of Natural History. There are so many different museums and art galleries near each other, so my friend and I kind of just picked one at random to see first. I know we plan to eventually see the American History Museum, the Spy Museum, and I really want to see the Museum of African American History, which is my favorite. I think the Natural History Museum is my second favorite.

I think the last time I got to see the Museum of Natural History was even further back. I think I saw it the first time I ever came to D.C., which was when I was about 15 for spring break. So I really didn’t remember too much about it lol. The Natural History Museum is pretty cool, because it has exhibits for all things relating to of course natural history. We started upstairs in the exhibit about the tectonic plates and volcanic activity before slowly making our way around to the gemstones and minerals. Actually, geology is another niche science I really enjoy besides astronomy. When I was a kid, I actually had a rock collection and used to collect things like quartz and crystals. Strangely, I don’t actually wear a lot of jewelry. I just like to look at the pretty stones and all the intricate designs and colors they can take on. If I had to choose, my favorite gemstone would be the amethyst. Purple is my favorite color which is why I like it so much, which is ironic because it’s not my birthstone. We did get to see the famous 54 carat Hope Diamond. Apparently, there’s a legend that the Hope Diamond is cursed??

We moved along to the next exhibit on mammals and fossils. Again, huge history nerd, but seeing the evolution of mankind from primates was so fascinating! I just never realized how far humans have evolved to become the homosapien species of today. Not to bore everyone with all the details of humans progressing as a society into bipedal beings, but the history of humans expands billions of years. It’s really fascinating, and if you ever get a chance to visit D.C., I highly recommend checking out the museum to read more.

The last exhibit we walked through was the fossils. Archeology to me has always been cool. The area actually reminded me of the movie Night at the Museum as well as Jurassic Park haha. Though, it would’ve been terrifying if all the statues suddenly started coming to life. When I was a kid, my favorite dinosaur was actually the triceratops. My dino knowledge isn’t too vast, but I recognized a few.

All in all, I love learning about history of the world, our culture, and just seeing how we as a society have progressed in the last hundred, thousand, and millions of years. And as cheesy as it sounds, being in D.C. at this time now, I’m actively partaking in the next phase of history that will one day be in the books. I feel like it’s so important to learn about the past, because we can’t continue to progress without it.

I definitely learned a lot today, and I had a great time getting to know my friend more. However…my feet were killing me by the time we made it home. >.<