On January 21st, the morning after President Trump’s Inauguration, I was on my way to the Metro in Washington D.C. with my mom and my two best friends to attend the Women’s March. When we arrived at the Metro station that sat about two blocks from our hotel, we realized making it to the corner of Independence Avenue and Third Street in time for the march would be slightly more difficult than we’d expected.

About 1,500 people flooded down the stairs to the subway platform. Elbow to elbow we stood in disbelief as multiple trains zoomed by us packed to the max. After about an hour of waiting, a Metro train stopped in front of us with a microscopic amount of room.

My mom, my two friends, and I jumped on the Metro with a couple hundred others. Packed like sardines, we rode over the river to Washington D.C. When we arrived at our Metro stop, we struggled to push through the crowds to make it to the escalators. Finally, we emerged from the subway station, and we could hardly contain our excitement.

The estimated 500,000 people that stood about two blocks from the Capitol exceeded our expectation of 200,000. The rally had begun, and many celebrities spoke for the massive crowd. Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Ashley Judd, Laverne Cox, as well as many others attended the march.

After the rally concluded, the march began. All 500,000 attendees assembled on the corner of Independence Avenue and Third Street. Chants were yelled in unison and signs were held; however, nobody participating in the march disturbed the peace we had all come together to create.

We marched for immigrants that fear for their well-being, African Americans that were now subject to the racism displayed by our president, environmentalists who have no support from the government, and for women.

Not only did the march go down in history as the biggest inaugural protest in history, but we successfully sent a message to our new president that women’s rights are human rights.