My first political rally did not go the way I expected.

The opportunity to attend this rally was presented to me, and I was extremely interested in what went on there. I don’t have an opinion on Bernie Sanders or any other candidates in the upcoming campaign, I went to this rally out of sheer curiosity.

On Thursday, April 31, the streets of the South Bronx’s were hot and heavy with warm spring air and high hopes of change. The line to get into Saint Mary’s Park, where the rally was held, twisted, turned, and wrapped around the long paths on the outskirts of the park.

The expected outcome of people at this the rally was 1,500 people. It ended up being close to 3,000. Although I had to wait in line for close to three hours, I was one of the lucky ones.

I pre-registered for this event online and arrived to the venue at about 3 o’clock (despite Bernie Sanders not giving his speech until about 7 pm). The volunteer-organizers for this rally cut the line about 10 people back from where I was standing, and began weeding people out who were not pre-registered. God (or Bernie) was on my side.

The demographics of the people around me truly shocked my expectations. I figured the type of people to come were, to put bluntly: white, young, middle class teenagers. I could’ve of been more wrong. There were elder people, as far as 60-70 years of age, of all colors and types. I saw veterans, businessmen, musicians, and even married couples walking hand and hand. There were children, anywhere from 8-12, with their friends or siblings, dressed in their Bernie attire. There were even a couple kids dressed as Bernie himself. The teens and younger generation definitely gave everyone a run for their money, but there wasn’t just one demographic. There was a huge variety people all talking, laughing, and chanting for the same reason.

The security to get into the actual venue to see the speech was very extensive. Metal detectors, as in full body walk throughs, were set up at the entrance of park. Our bags were checked before we entered, and I don’t mean your standard “poking around the bag with a wooden stick”

The security guard actually went through my entire purse and took out items. My wallet was taken out and looked into, and as well as all my cards touched. He even took out my EOS chapstick and opened it, just to make sure I wasn’t hiding anything. I was thoroughly impressed the effort that went into making this event safe.

The actual speaking of the event was less than two hours, which surprised me. I figured there would be very long, boring drawn out speeches (much like other political events).

Cameras and news crew formed a large circle around the wooden podium placed on a stage. An inner circle,  but it was actually more like mosh of people, crowded excitedly around the stage, waiting to “Feel the Bern.”  I was towards the back of the crowd, but could view the podium perfectly.

Before the Big Bern came onstage, he was endorsed by filmmaker Spike Lee and actress Rosario Dawson. They shared personal stories, such as being from New York and coming from immigrant parents, and personal reasons as to why they support Sanders. It was nice to hear from common minded people like myself at a political event.

Finally, at about 7:20pm, Bernie Sanders took the stage. I didn’t know it at the time, but the reason he was late was because he went to speak to the group of people that were cut off from the line to get into event. They put the overflow people in a separate part of the park to watch the speech on a large teleprompter. Unplanned, Sanders preached to the group on an overturned speaker for a few minutes before he headed to the real event.

Sanders road in his blacked out escalate all the way to podium. He slowly emerged from the car’s tall demeanor until his own small stature touched the ground. The crowd went wild from the second we caught a glimpse of his white, thinned out hair and rimless glasses.

His speech, though, did not match his demeanor in the slightest. His powerful articulations and strong words of change appeared to keep the crowd intrigued for the entire 45 minute speech. Sanders really knew how to appeal to the people and make us understand his thoughts and the actions he was going to take if he becomes elected this November.