By kyuyoun0702
Washington D.C. is renowned for its amazing cherry blossoms. Whenever I searched the term cherry blossom on Google, the results that appeared on the top usually had Lincoln Memorial on its background. Accordingly, the beautiful cherry blossoms were Japan’s gift to D.C. for the friendship they would be pursuing in the future, which unfortunately didn’t last so long! (gift given in 1912, but WWII broke out in 1942 with Japan and US on the other side). Total of 3000 cheery blossom trees were given to D.C., and this creates the beautiful landscape that represents D.C.’s spring.
In Korea, cherry blossom festivals are to be enjoyed with the significant others. When I walked past any street with cherry blossom trees, the only type of people I could observe were couples, a phenomenon that wasn’t very favorable to my mental health. However, in D.C., people who came for cherry blossoms tended to be families or friends, which made me relieved and more comfortable. (I went with my parents).
I spent 11 springs in Japan where cherry blossom trees originated from. Cherry blossoms were so commonplace that I didn’t really have any special sentiments or feelings for it. However, D.C.’s cherry blossoms were a bit different. The architectural styles of the buildings in the background were different from that of Japan, which created a brand new atmosphere that I could never perceive from Japan. Both atmospheres are so distinctive that I couldn’t believe that it were the cherry blossom trees.
It was a short but relaxing weekend. Even though it is a bit cold these days, I can smell the scent of spring 🙂