January 20, 2017 will definitely be a date for the history books. Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45^th president of the United States. The day was filled with mixed emotions, anger, joy, and relief, but I want to talk about what my experience was like working up until the inauguration.

If you do not know by now, I currently work at the Lincoln Memorial bookstore in Washington D.C. Although I come across some interesting people, this year’s inauguration was pretty…well… different.

In 2013, when I was working Former (that is so weird) President Obama’s second inauguration, there was a different vibe and a whole lot more people. But for 2017, there was definitely a mix. There were altercations, fights, arguments...it was terrible.

Something else that was weird was seeing the stage being built on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which started to not even look like the memorial after a while, and all I saw were jumbo trons reading “Make America Great Again: Welcome Celebration”. Even though that annoyed me, nothing annoyed me more than seeing people walk around the National Mall with not only “Make America Great Again” signs but also, signs that disrespected and reprimanded President Obama.

And there was this...

Mind you, this guy actually came into the store.

But despite the controversy, I did come across people who were hesitant and angry of what the future entails. Seeing how visitors felt from different races, genders, etc. was interesting to me, because this demonstrated that this election and inauguration affected a variety of people - a variety of the American people.

I am going to be completely honest and reiterate that it was very awkward and annoying to see conservatives stepping into blue territory and trying to turn D.C. into something it is not. You could definitely see the divide and separation and that is the exact vibe you got.

The next four years will definitely be interesting. However, it is almost a fact that this country is now divided than ever, and I am not interested in the Republicans or the Democrats winning this fight, I want the American people to win this fight, so we can become the United States again.