It started off with this speech that I missed. He came to our school last Winter to make a speech, but I didn't know who he was, and so I did not bother to stay back to listen to him while I see supporters waiting outside our lecture hall for our Econ 402 lecture to be over so that it would be their turn to use it.

And then the news came that he beat Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic Party nominee for presidency.

Quoting my friend, it didn't really matter who won because finally, America has a non-white and a non-male running for presidency. I was really impressed by this. And so I began waiting for Nov 4, because I would be in the United States to witness some history if history was to be made.

And then people start emerging on the Diag, the Dennison Archway.. holding cardboard, and asking "have you registered to vote?" everytime anyone passes by them. Everytime I was asked I could only smile and shook my head and pretend I was in a hurry. When I was in the mood I would actually tell them I am not legal to vote. It was really cool to see them standing there for the whole day and asking the same questions to everyone. I guess that just showed how much they love their politics, and wanted everyone to make change to the country.

I wished I can vote too, for the first time in my life.

I then heard about the three presidential debates. People were commenting that Obama obviously won the three debates because of his cool temperament and his firm stands on the issues at hand. I thought these debates are only for not-so-young people until I actually saw a guy listening to the debate at the library. Then I searched for the third debate and listened for the first 15 minutes. It was interesting, really.

As the big day drew nearer, news and articles were all about the two men, the two parties. Even the Time magazine ran several issues on the election. TV commercials from both parties poped up many times during show.

Then people began pasting posters of Obama or McCain on the busstands, the buildings, the posts, everywhere... and messages were written in color chalk on the ground so you can read while you walk by, pictures of Obama were painted on the floor with the message "barack the vote"... I did not know college students were this into politics.

On Nov 3rd, the night before the big day, the governor of Michigan state actually came to our school to ask the students to vote for democracy.

Then Nov 4 came. I wish I could have more time to look at the people and the surroundings. But I was stuck in the Fishbowl all day studying for the stupid MFE exam, which I will still fail anyway. But while on the way to the exam hall, I passed by Diag which was all noise and fun where people where giving out free cotton candy and free stickers about voting. And I saw people around with their "I voted" stickers sticking proudly on their shirts while they walk by. And I was students wearing their election T-shirts, never more proud of who they support. For the first time I really wished I was an American to join in them in this big change.

And that night, I kept refreshing the page on my Yahoo website to see the electoral votes accumulate. And when the votes for Obama changed suddenly from about 200 to more than 300, I knew that I had witness the change that everyone has been waiting for so long. That I was there when the history had just been made.

To quote the speech the winner made at Chicago after the victory:
"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do."

After 223 years of independence, we can finally congratulate the first black President of the United States.

Even Americans felt they are proud to be Americans after all.

But dear Mr President, if you were to come to my school again, I would definitely stay and listen to your speech.