WASHINGTON -- Those who watched Barack Obama's inauguration on television missed freezing temperatures, four-hour lines, spotty cell phone service and communal excitement.
"It was cold," junior Rasheed Nazeri said. "It was fun. It was amazing. This was truly an American moment."
About two million people gathered on the National Mall Tuesday to watch Obama take his presidential oath. Many University of Richmond students said they traveled to Washington because they felt they had to be part of the crowd.
Nazeri, who had campaigned for Obama in Richmond during the election season, said one of the reasons he had begun to support Obama was because of the candidate's diplomatic approach to foreign policy, he said.
Obama reiterated this approach during his inaugural speech. "I liked how Obama said Americans would overcome challenges if they worked together," Nazeri said.
For senior Maxine Naawu, who could see the stage from where she was standing, hearing Obama address that an African-American was elected in a country where they would not have been served in a restaurant 60 years earlier was tremendously effective.
"It's a huge achievement to have an African-American president," she said. "In spite of all the challenges we face, the nation can still be proud."
Senior Yasmin Wazir said she saw the emotions of members in the audience, which helped her understand how hard it had been for African-Americans in the past and how much they had to overcome.
Wazir scored tickets with a view of the Capitol because her cousin is West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan.
"I've never seen this kind of turnout with people of so many different races and ethnicities," Wazir said. "People weren't rude or pushy. People were just really happy to be there."
Naawu left for Washington on Monday, and woke up at 4 a.m. to stand in line on Inauguration Day.
"There was definitely an emotional high that was present all throughout the day," she said. "There was this communal excitement ... you wouldn't have felt that on TV.
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"The crowd was huge, the crowd was excited. There was this communal spirit of joy. People had come very far just to come to this event."
Junior Max Teschke said: "There were high expectations for Obama's speech. He spoke to our generation and our era more than anything else. He was realistic about the problems we were facing now"
Teschke, who worked for Vice President Joe Biden's foreign relations committee last summer and campaigned for Obama during the fall, said the importance of being at the inauguration for him was to get the experience and feel the energy of the moment.
"There was chaos, but people were so happy," he said. "They never let the chaos of the inauguration overwhelm the positives."
Junior Morgan Walker was not able to attend the swearing-in ceremony because she couldn't get through the crowd, but she said she was standing near NBC studios, allowing her to hear the station's broadcast.
"You could just tell that everyone wanted to be there," she said. "People were responding to what he was saying, or repeating what he was saying. People wanted to listen and they trusted him."
But Walker was positioned to watch the parade. "We couldn't feel our fingers and toes," she said, "so we left right after we saw Obama."
Students concerned about finding a job after graduation said they were most looking forward to the new president tackling the economy. Others said they were looking forward to how the United States' image would be transformed abroad. Wazir said health care reform was one of the most important issues for her.
Most Richmond students traveled to Washington in small groups, but 100 students from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut took a bus to the inauguration.
Many Sacred Heart students were standing in the no-ticket general public section, but they had purchased the bus and hotel tickets in September, Sacred Heart junior Mike Fazzino said. The students missed the first day of classes to attend the event.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance," Sacred Heart sophomore Steve Pawlowski said. "He's the first black president. It's just a chance to see history."
Pawlowski, who identified as politically moderate, said he voted for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, primarily because many of his family members were in the military.
"We weren't thinking about whether McCain or Obama was going to be inaugurated when we bought the tickets," he said, "we just wanted to be down here and be part of it.
"I hope [Obama] does well. If he does well I would like to see him reelected. We are in a deep hole right now and we need someone to bail us out. I hope he is the right person to do it."
Nazeri said: "It was a historical moment. We will be talking about it for decades to come," and Naawu said she could tell people were happy to see the end of one era and the beginning of another.
"You never know whether you will be able to have the chance to do something like this again," Pawlowski said. "I'm glad I came."
Said Teschke: "I feel more patriotic now."
Contact staff writer Kimberly Leonard at kimberly.leonard@richmond.edu
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