Like the good second semester senior that I am, I picked up and left last Sunday to spend the first three days of classes being a drunken mess in D.C. The atmosphere in D.C. was decidedly positive and infectiously patriotic. After drinking too early on Monday, I spent the afternoon throwing shoes at a blow-up Bush in Dupont Circle, and my gay best friend (GBFF) and I toured some of the bars in town, sampling the various men the city had to offer.

I know it’s Day One — or maybe Day Two, who knows? — and we should be tapering the celebration and demanding that the Big O get rolling down that bold new course he so adamantly promised us. But I’ve been waiting for eight long years and I’ll be god-damned if I’m going to recede into soberness just hours after watching honor and dignity finally and dramatically be restored to the White House. I think a star-studded concert in the foreground of a national monument is in order!

The tasks that face our new president are daunting and the solutions to our problems are not simple. But the dawn of a new Era of Responsibility means the burden is a collective one, and does not fall on the government alone.

Offering few tangible examples of what his tenure as president will bring, Obama struck a somber tone that starkly contrasted with the optimistic underpinnings of his victory speech we saw 77 days ago. The president strayed from his trademark message of change that steered his trek to the White House, instead treading down a path emphasizing one of the most rudimentary and fundamental American values: truth.

Students across campus witnessed the momentous inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday through live broadcasts inside and outside of the classroom. Although yesterday marked the first day of class for many courses, some were cancelled or dismissed early so students could watch the first transition of power in eight years. In other cases, professors traded their PowerPoint slideshows for live streams of the ceremony.A standing "O": Students pack Bailey Hall to capacity yesterday to watch Obama's inaugural speech live.

It has been months since fireworks were set off in Collegetown to celebrate Obama’s election, but the excitement remained for some.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stepping into history, Barack Hussein Obama grasped the reins of power as America's first black president on Tuesday, declaring the nation must choose "hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

In frigid temperatures, an exuberant crowd of more than a million packed the National Mall and parade route to celebrate Obama's inauguration in a high-noon ceremony. Waving and cheering in jubilation, they stretched from the inaugural platform at the U.S. Capitol toward the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

WASHINGTON D.C. — Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds flooded D.C. this weekend, soaking up the energetic atmosphere and preparing to play a part in history.

On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration, the streets were already buzzing, despite frigid temperatures in the 20s.

“It’s hot. It’s not cold out here, it’s hot,” said Anthony Brown, a photographer for the police department. “It’s a beautiful moment, a beautiful day in history right here.”

Many changes have taken place since the first inauguration of President George Washington in 1789. With the events scheduled for today’s swearing in of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama’s inauguration stands to be not only the most watched in U.S. history, but also the most expensive. The price tag of this inauguration will likely top $150 million.

The ceremony has evolved considerably since 1789. On the bicentennial year of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth, this year’s ceremony will pay tribute to the president who ended slavery and was the first to include African-Americans in his inaugural parade. In addition to paying his respects at the Lincoln Memorial last week, Obama requested to use Lincoln’s 1861 inaugural bible as he is sworn into office.

After Barack Obama’s victory in November, many jubilant Americans who had stayed up late celebrating returned to work. This was not true in Kenya, where President Mwai Kibaki declared the Thursday after Election Day a public holiday.

James Mwaura ’10, who was born and raised in Kenya, said that although he was not in Kenya on Election Day, his Kenyan relatives told him the reaction “was even crazier” there, in the country where Obama’s father was born and raised.

Although Obama barely knew his Kenyan relatives, Mwaura said, “Lots of people feel a kinship to him.”

When Barack Obama was declared the next president of the United States, his promise of hope and change enthralled people beyond American borders.

Months later, at the eve of Obama’s inauguration, many international students at Cornell expressed their “cautious optimism” over the next president of the United States.

At the Holland International Living Center, where a crowd gathered in November to watch Election Night unfold, a resident noted that he has never met any international student at Cornell who supported the Republican candidate, John McCain. Many residents generally welcomed Obama’s presidency, but they also remarked that people’s expectations on Obama could be too high.

Today is a day for new beginnings. As the Cornell community comes back to life with the start of spring semester, an estimated 2 million people from all around the country and the world descend on our nation’s capital to celebrate another beginning — the inauguration of the 44th president, Barack Obama. Over 100 of this throng will be Cornellians, looking to take part in the making of lifetime memories and of history.