Time for everyone to grab their Claritin and cameras, because the cherry blossoms are back! Spring has sprung in Washington, DC, and it’s that time of the year where the whole city turns pink. 

In case you’ve never been to see the cherry blossoms before, let this serve as a first time experience as you follow along with me and my friends as we go downtown to see the beauty of the Japanese trees!

On our way to the metro station, I was admiring the breeze and the warm weather, beginning to actually appreciate the coming of summer—a season I tend to hate. The admiration immediately came to a stop as soon as we entered the station, realizing that as the temperature was going up, so was the strong, funky smell of sweat…I’d love to blame the overpowering stench for us missing our stop and almost missing it a second time, but that was just us getting lost in conversation. 

Once we arrived, it was like I could actually see the word “LOVE” in the air, with couples everywhere holding hands and smacking faces. It was enough to make a single person like me feel like a third wheel in my own life. But, being the helpful person that I am, I decided to channel my inner photographer and offer my services to the lovebirds who were very much struggling to capture a perfect shot. At least the cherry blossoms didn’t have anyone to canoodle with, so I quickly turned my focus to taking photos of them instead. 

Yes, it’s true, the cherry blossoms are definitely a sight to behold. The most perfect ambience you could ever imagine: hundreds of pink trees surrounding you, with people feeding the ducks (food that I’m pretty sure wasn’t duck-friendly) in the lakes filled with soft pink petals that glimmered in the sunlight. As we walked through the park, the cherry blossoms created a dreamlike atmosphere, as if I was walking through a fairy tale…or really just a swarm of tourists. 

I would love to say we spent our dear precious time taking in this memorable moment with probably the most beautiful trees on planet earth––cause we definitely did! For like two minutes. Most of the admiration was shown through the million tries we took to make a tiktok to Lana Del Rey’s song, “Cherry Blossom.” 

Even though I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted amongst the cherry blossoms, needing to rush to submit some biomed assignment in time that somehow took me a good four hours to do, I still managed to take in their delicate beauty. I must admit, I felt like quite the main character, but maybe not as much as the lovebirds there, living their own y/n moments. 

But hey, if the cherry blossoms weren’t minding having to be a third wheel every year, I wasn’t either! That’s my way of saying that this is definitely something to visit every year, it’s a fleeting moment of magic that leaves me feeling grateful for the beauty of nature. So make some time to go downtown because this is a yearly event you won’t want to miss!