YES, WE CAN!

Wow. Well done, America. It has been a while since I have actually been proud to be associated with the US, but today I really am. People voted. People who had never voted in their lives turned out to vote because they actually felt inspired, and like their vote could make a difference. That is a dedication and a hope that we have not seen for far too long.

I moved myself into Flat 3 (one level up from me) for the duration of a very long evening. Thanks to the time difference, Obama was not announced as the victor until about 4:30am our time. By then, we were all a little loopy anyway. Add to that the success of the future PRESIDENT OBAMA, and we just sort of broke. There were tears, there was champagne*, there was somewhat hysterical laughter and hugging and more champagne.* A bunch of us called our parents (wincing slightly at the expense, but excited nonetheless)... then more tears and champagne.* This kept up for about an hour, as we admired McCain's absolutely classy, gracious concession speech, and begged the TV to show us Obama. We wanted his speech, and we wanted it immediately. Not to mention, by then we had just about run out of champagne.

At about 5:30, we finally heard Obama speak. I cannot put into words how much hope and optimism we have for the future. It will be hard, yes. It will actually be very, very, very hard-- but for the first time since I have become interested in politics, I feel like a positive change is coming, and there is nothing I have ever been more excited for.

It will be an uphill battle, but we can do it. YES, WE CAN!

Me, Dana, Liz, Katie, Marken, Rania and Melanie-- the late night/early morning crew.

*By "champagne" I actually mean "extremely cheap bottles of sparkling something," because we cannot actually afford real champagne.

~~~~~~~~~SPECIAL NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a special note to those of you who are funding my college education. Mom and Dad, I promise that I was fully awake and attentive in my classes and at the theatre today. Trust me, no one was more surprised than I that it went as well as it did, but it turns out that I function quite well on 2 1/2 hours of sleep. Even if today had been absolute misery, the elation of last night would have been 100% worth it, though. It was an experience I will probably never have the opportunity to repeat.