Holocaust Memorial Day

27th of January. A day we need to remember. A day just as importance as armistice day. A day we take time to remember the victims of the Holocaust.  

On the 17th of September 2014, my friend Stacey and I were chosen from my school to take part in a project called Lessons From Auschwitz which we heard from a Holocaust survivor and had discussions about it. We then took a day trip to Auschwitz in Poland and when we came back we had to teach classes in our school about the Holocaust. 

The actual trip to Auschwitz was so surreal, just seeing the conditions men, women and children were forced to live in. Before we went to any if the camps we visited a Synagog with a man called Rabi Marcus who is one if the leading Rabi's in Britain. We taught us about the Jewish culture and what they believed in so went we visited the vamps we could see exactly what had been ripped from the Jews, not just their cloths and possession, but their identity, personalities and their culture.     

When we visited Auschwitz 1, we walked around some of the blocks that had been turned into a museum. We were told that the Jews believed they were getting taken away to live bigger and better lives so were to take their possessions, some even dressed in their best clothes. When they got to the camps, it was all stripped if them. We saw all of their pots, pans and kitchen utensils they brought with them; there was a massive display of suitcases with names on them; mountains for adults and children's shoes; clothes and possible one of the most disturbing, the hair of the Jews. The Nazis shaved the hair from all the Jews bodies and then weaved it to the likes of blankets. 

After having a look around the blocks, we want into one if the most eerie and frightening places I've ever set foot. A gas chamber. We weren't aloud to take photos because the flashes would damage the structure but believe me when I say, if you looked closely at the walls, you could pick out scratch marks on the walls from the Jews who were murdered their clawing in attempt to escape. It was totally and utterly barbaric.

  

After we left Auschwitz 1, we traveled to Auschwitz-Birkenau. When we first drew up to the gates, everyone in our bus was surprised how small it looked, however, when we went up into the Nazi watch tower, we were utterly flabbergasted by the size of the camp. It was enormous. Bigger than many people actually think. 

We were taken to the barracks, the huts that the Jews were forced to reside. The first had many 'beds' in it, they were a wooden structure, most if them being slightly smaller than a single bed now a days. These beds would hold a minimum of 3 people and could hold up to 8 or 9 people each. Many people died because of the cramped conditions. The next door barrack was literally 4 lines if holes that lead to the ground. These were their toilets and where they could get 'washed'. Again, many people died because of the disease that would spread from the unsanitary living conditions. 

We walked down the left hand side of the tracks, the side Jews walked down and never returned. It was so devastating walking down the green mile knowing thousands of people had not returned before us. 

Before we left, we had a very emotional ceremony led by Rabi Marcus with many poems, readings and a song sung by Rabi Marcus in Hebrew. At the end of the ceremony, Rabi Marcus blew a tups horn signalling the end of the ceremony as it is a traditional thing to do in the Jewish culture. We were all given a candle each to light and place on the tracks before walking out of the gates. 

As we were walking back to the bus, we saw the most beautifully devastating sight of the sun setting behind Auschwitz-Birkenau gates. 

That day was one of the hardest and challenging days of my life, physically and mentally. Saying that, I do believe everyone should visit Auschwitz because it's the most eye opening experience you'll ever have in your life. 

We learn from history, but we can only learn if we remember the events and the victims targeted. So use today as a day to remember those who died because of their faith and all the others involved such as the Polish, gypsies, homosexuals, disabled etc. Today is a day of remembrance, so please do not forget those targeted during the Holocaust.

Before I Die

There's always at least one thing that you really want to do before you die. It could be something exhilarating like sky diving or swimming with sharks, or it could be something considered as a 'normal' thing to do (whatever normal is) such as graduating from university, or learning to drive. 

Leave in the comments a list of things you want to do before you die, but for now here is a list of 10 things that are on my bucket list.

Let's start of 'normal':

1. Graduate from university with a history degree

2. Learn how to drive

3. Get married

4. Buy my own house

5. Have 3 children (hopefully 2 girls and a boy called Emily, Mali and Jacob. As you can see I've had a lot of time to think about this and when I say a lot, I mean a lot)

Now let's get into the nitty-gritty of it:

6. Travel to Australia 

7. Road trip around Europe (with the lovely Eimy)

8. Go sky diving

9. Swim with sharks

10. Climb to the top of a mountain (don't ask me why, it just really want to)

As well as doing all these relatively fun to extremely exciting activities I also really want to raise money for charities such as for autism as I know a lot of people - children and adults - with autism. I also want to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust as I think it's such a great charity that do amazing work. 

Life is what you make of it, if you're idea of an ideal life is to start a family, work for a living and just have a quite life or if you want to have a life filled with adrenaline rushes and full of adventure, go for it! It's your life, you do what you want to do to make yourself happy. 

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy." ~ Guillaume Apollinaire 

Being yourself is cool

One thing I've learnt through my now almost six years of high school is not to wear my heart on my sleeve. Not everyone you meet is going to like you and there are some mean people in this world, I was just too young and naive to see it. 

When I started high school I was 12 years old and was such a shy, quiet creature that was too scared to talk to new people because of the constant fear of being judged and unlike. As soon as someone spoke to me and included me, I instantly like them and thought they were my friend. I guess you could say I was a lost puppy trying to find a home. Me being me, let everyone walk all over me and tell me what to do because I didn't want to be disliked. 

I attempted to dress like all the other girls, when I was younger, I was a bit of a tom-boy and lived in jogging bottoms and football shirts. Probably because I have 2 brothers and just wanted to fit in with them. But when I got to high school and saw all the girls wearing skinny jeans or skirts, cardigans and floral tops, I started to think I was weird for dressing like I did. So in an attempt to fit in, I put on a disguise to hide who I really was, just to fit in. 

When I went into third year (14 years old) I realised that being liked or 'popular' is not the most important thing. I stopped wearing the clothes that made me seem 'cool' and stopped clinging to people who didn't care one bit for me. I was never in the 'popular' crowd at school because I was was in love with books and film series such as Harry Potter and Lord if the Rings, therefore considered a 'geek'. But I fitted in and was accepted by my small group of friends which made me happy with my school life. 

However, through out life you make friends and you lose friends, that's just the way the world works. The people who you thought were going to be your best friends for life slowly drift away from you and become strangers, and the people you never in a million years thought you would talk you are now your closest friends. 

You shouldn't have to change who YOU are to make people like YOU. If people don't like YOU for YOU then you're wasting your time hanging on to false hope. There is at least one person in this world who is going to like you for the real you, not a disguise of who you truly are. 

The world works in a very strange way, but let me tell you, everything happens for a reason. Life is full of the hardest decisions you'll make and, therefore, full of changes, some for the worst, some for the better. The only thing you can do is keep your head held high and be happy with who you are as a person and have a positive outlook on the story you are writing. It could be possibly the most boring story in existence to some people, but as long as you're happy with your story, who is there to try and re-write it?