up at 545am, i take 15 minutes to put everything that i owned on. before we leave, i quickly decide to switch coats - leaving my cell phone in my front pocket. i was conscious that i could not get lost, or i'd be on my own. the earliest bus from virginia was scheduled to arrive at 6:20am. it never arrived. we walked back in the cold to nina's car, drove to another metro station where the crowds were already collecting and and all the cars were already full. after waiting 20 minutes, we decide to take the empty train in the opposite direction to the final stop on the line so that we could hopefully get on a metro heading downtown. jumping off the second to the last stop, the four of us managed to squeeze into a train - rubbing and falling against the crowded car. standing against strangers, nina decided to get off where we started because she was feeling claustrophobic. the metro stop and goes unexpectedly before each station, but spirits seemed high for all passengers that weren't sleeping standing up. about 45 minutes later we reach the first stop and decided to walk from there instead of trying to transfer and get on the red line. zo directed us, as we followed the crowds through the barricaded DC streets - the closer we approached the mall, the slower the crowds walked. i felt a little warmer with the sun now out and shining and the people around me warming up the air around me. we finally found in inlet toward the national mall on 18th street and needed to find a way to 1st street, but soon discovered that there was no direct way to the purple gate. after hitting dead end streets closed off by empty buses and cop cars, luca starts to get nervous that we won't make it on time and walks quickly ahead of us. we ask a police man where we should enter with our tickets. he laughs at us and gives us strange directions, sarcastically wishing us luck making it to the ceremony. zorina decides to part ways to meet with nish at the washington monument since she didn't have a ticket. luca looking back a me nervously, "we have to run there. we only have 30 minutes before the ceremony." we run away from the mall and head towards the capitol down independence. luca more than 500 feet away from me with my ticket, my side starts hurting and i can't keep up running in my dress shoes. ten minutes later, he's out of sight and i'm left alone on an empty street not really sure where to go. i see a few people walking in a different direction and follow them to a dead end. it's 11:15am. i'm convinced i won't make it. even if i did i wasn't sure how i was going to get in at the part of the mall with no ticket. i enter 4th street, but somehow need to find a way to the opposite side of the mall from where i was approaching it. they cattle us through a sidewalk walled by metal gates and i end up standing by the smithsonian native american building. i stop not expecting to get any closer. i can see the capitol building from where i'm standing, and convince myself that that's the best i'll get. i could hear the final notes of the opening ceremony music and slowly push my way through a crowd. i look around for a blockade to stand on to get a better view, but had no luck, when all of a sudden i hear a crowd of people yelling and running. i run with the crowd to our right and realize that the blockades into the front standing section are being knocked down by the crowd in front of me. stunned, i slow down as i enter the mall and make my way along the reflection pool in front of the capitol building. five hours after we left the house, i'm in disbelief that i am there. i freeze as i watch biden, obama, and his family walk out to the front of the capital. i smile and cry out of giddiness that i'm here. i'm here. i'm here. holy shit. i'm here!