Obama won!!!!!

5:40 am
Oh my God…..I can’t breathe…Barack Obama won!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe it, I honestly can’t believe it. Not only did I vote for my first president ever, but I’ve voted for the first black president ever of the United States of America. Not only do Democrats have a stronghold in Washington now, but racism is also being kicked to the curb in the process as well. I honestly can’t describe what I’m feeling right now. I can feel the tears coming on.

We’ve made it so far, just in one night. As a nation, as a people…I really am in love with America right now.

X X X

6 am, about 20 minutes later
Okay, this is getting ridiculous, I need to go to sleep! I’ve been just Skyping, calling, emailing, and facebooking people ever since this victory. About a few minutes ago, my friend Ileana knocked on my door, and when I opened it we hugged and jumped up and down. We excitedly whispered (or at least tried to whispered) in the hallway about Obama’s victory and how both of us were checking the results all night long. I am still in shock!! Tomorrow at school, I plan on assaulting the only other American in school—who is also an Obama supporter—with a hug. This victory is too sweet to be conservative with love. And also, I take back my comment that Democrats have a stronghold in government…if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the past 8 years, it’s that we need to stop dividing ourselves in this nation as Democrats and Republicans. We need to stick together. With this credit crunch, the war in Iraq, and other crises on the horizon….all we really have is each other.

X X X

9:12 am, 3 hours later
A chorus of “Felicitations!!!!” greet me as soon as I walk into school. I’ve been congratulated, hugged, and kissed by nearly everyone in school. Everyone is filled with so much joy! There is a sense that all is right with the world, an energy of excitement, new beginnings, and wonder. And i think that is what was lost these last few years—the wonder in the beauty of our world and the belief that a man or a woman who wants to make a difference really can.

I cried last night, and I still can’t believe it. What I truly wish is that I could be in the States right now, even if just for a couple of hours, to celebrate with my family and with my friends at Georgetown. I’ve been reading everything I find on the election, and in Philly, my hometown, people were partying into the streets, students cheering, and everywhere, chants of “Obama! Obama!” and “Yes, we can!” rose up from the streets of what was our nation’s first capital. We did it…we won the election. But it’s just the beginning. A new chapter in history starts now.

X X X

1:00 pm, 4 hours later, in the library
I’ve just come back from being interviewed from France 3, a national television channel! Jake, the other American, seven other students, and I were asked questions about the presidential elections for a short broadcast that will be aired tonight at 7 o’clock, CET time, in the Poitou-Charentes region of France. When Jake and I were first told today that we would be appearing on TV in front of thousands of French people, we freaked out. We were given half an hour to “se calmer”, during which we rapidly searched online on BarackObama.com, translating key phrases such as “minimum wage”, “dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy”, and “health care system”. My French friend Vanessa gave us a little mini-coaching session on pronunciation and vocab, and admonished me firmly warning, “If they ask how you feel about his win, don’t say excitée!! It’s ravie!! Je suis ravie!!!”

Thankfully, though, the interrogation session wasn’t as intense as we thought it had been. I was simply asked what my first reaction was when I found out Obama had won (“ravie“) and what this victory meant for the black community in the United States. Meanwhile, Jake answered whether he thought a figure such as Obama could ascend to the presidency within a European country. The other students were asked similar questions—whether they supported McCain or Obama, how Obama’s win would affect relations between their country and the US, and so on. I watched with envy as they spoke their French with perfect fluency; I can only hope that half of what I said was coherent to the French population of Poitou-Charentes. Only about two minutes of the twenty minute interview/debate session we had today will be aired on TV though, so with hope they’ll only put in the intelligible bits of my dialogue, if any.

Sadly, I take a Chinese class at the Campus de Poitiers, another university, from 6 to 7:30 pm on Wednesdays, so I won’t be able to see the interview when it broadcasts. But, the emission will be put online later, so thankfully I’ll get to see it when I get back! I can’t wait!