Changing Perspectives

During my numerous travels to Europe, there are several things that will always stay with me as long as I live. One of these experiences was visiting Auschwitz (the German concentration camp) and the Anne Frank House.

I had read Anne Frank in 8th grade, but reading a book and visiting the actual place are two very different things. I was touched by the book for sure, but being able to walk in the footsteps of the girl who wrote it made it so much more real.

From the exterior, the house’s façade looked much like every other house in Amsterdam, but inside it held an abundance of history. When you walk into the house, the mood immediately changes from the lively streets outside to the somber thoughts of the sadness that happened within these walls.

The staircases are all narrow, and the higher you go the more narrow they become. When you get to the bookcase the opens up, that’s when it really hits you. It’s kept open for visitors, but if not for that it’s hard to tell that there was a doorway behind it.

Each of the rooms has the original wallpaper that was there when the family lived there. In Anne’s room itself, there are still posters and pictures hanging up. The furniture isn’t in the rooms anymore, so it’s hard to imagine people once lived in the tiny box rooms.

It really hit me when I was in the attic. Because it’s so narrow you aren’t actually allowed to go up to the attic but you are able to see it through a mirror placed at the top. In addition to the attic, you can also see the window where Anne would look out during the day just to see the sunlight and listen to the church bells. I thought of how much she longed to go outside and how seeing the sunlight would be the only thing that she would look forward to. It brought me to tears to think about how unbearable this must have been.

This feeling paled in comparison to the one I felt while in Poland visiting Auschwitz. We took a bus out to the beautiful countryside of Poland and arrived at the stoic brick buildings of the concentration camp. As we passed under the gate signaling “Arbeit Macht Frei”(Work will set you free), you could hear the shuffling of everyone’s footsteps on the dirt ground. I imagined that would be what it really sounded like when you were there.

As you walked through the lines of brick buildings, you saw words written on them like “Extermination Building” and “Experimentation Building.” Signs were erected every couple yards explaining what happened in each area. I read descriptions of how pregnant women would be experimented on and people would be shot upon arrival for no real reason. The fact that this was normal to anyone was sickening.

The things that bothered me the most was how calm and serene everything looked. Minus the barbed wires and the dirt ground, it eerily was nice. This was most sickening of all because of all the horrible events that took place behind the walls.

Both of these experiences really made an impact on me. Most importantly I will remember that human life is valued and that we must not take it for granted. It also made me realize that hope is a powerful thing. Most of the people that survived was because of the hope they possessed. History must not repeat itself and allow these horrible crimes against humanity to occur again. I hope that reading about these experiences helps you to realize how lucky we are to live in a world with such freedoms and to not take life for granted.

As I mentioned last week, I got the chance to go to Poland for World Youth Day. The culminating part of World Youth Day (WYD) is a 8 mile pilgrimage to a park where a vigil takes place. You then stay overnight, sleeping on the ground, and in the morning is the closing mass held by Pope Francis that closes World Youth Day. I have never been a very outdoorsy person, so this was a new kind of experience for me.

There was 2 options for the pilgrimage, you could either walk the full 8 miles, or you could take the bus for about half the way and only have to walk 3 miles. While some of the group opted for the full experience of walking 8 miles, my friends and I decided that 3 miles was sufficient enough for us, especially since we had been walking around 10 miles a day already.

Our tour guide gave us our packed lunches and directed us onto the city bus that would take us a short cut to our destination. We got off the bus a few stops later and followed the rest of the colorful WYD backpacks toward the vigil site.

We started off in good spirits, singing throwback Disney songs like High School Musical and Cheetah Girls. After walking about 2 miles in the 96 degree heat we decided to take a break at a gas station. We ate our packed lunches, loaded up on water, and off we went again.

(I also forgot to mention that this walk was uphill and we were carrying backpacks holding everything we needed for our overnight stay outside, so just keep that in mind.)

About 4 miles in, we were stopped by one of the people directing traffic and asked which section we were in. We then learned that we had been walking toward the wrong section the whole time, but we were too far in to turn back now. Turns out we had gotten off the bus too early, and would now have to walk around the whole vigil site, instead of directly to our section. After walking uphill for about 4 hours with a weight on your back, you can imagine how mad we were to find out this information.

We tried to continue our journey in the best spirits that we could, but at times it was hard. We distracted ourselves from thinking about how tired we were, by talking to people from different countries who were walking with us. Whenever we would want to give up, someone in the group would strike up a conversation to keep our minds off of the amount of miles ahead.

Finally, 7 miles and 10 hours later, we arrived at the vigil site. We were the last of our group to arrive..we had been walking longer then the people who had chosen to walk the full 8 miles. Exhausted, we collapsed on the ground. I couldn’t even move my arms from carrying my heavy backpack such a long distance. All I wanted was a cold shower, but I wouldn’t be able to take one until the next day after we hiked 4 miles back to our hotel.

This experience taught me a lot about myself and about life in general. For one I learned that I could walk 7 miles in the blazing heat with a 10 pound backpack on, which was pretty impressive. On a more serious note, I learned what is it like to sleep on the ground outside exposed to all the elements, to not have a lot of food to eat, and to appreciate those you have in company around you. We didn’t have internet connection. We didn’t have showers or running water. I slept in a thin sleeping bag and a garbage bag on the wet, lumpy ground. It was a truly humbling experience and even though it was just one night, it made me appreciate everything that I take for granted on a normal basis. I got to test my limits both mentally and physically, and I got to learn more about not only myself but the people around me. We all developed a close friendship and memories that we will never forget. It is something that I know will stay with me forever.

 

Destination: Poland

So far in my blogs, I have talked about traveling with my family, strangers, and classmates. Finally on this trip, I was able to travel with my friends.

When I first heard about World Youth Day it seemed pretty interesting, so I decided to go to the information session on it. After hearing about all the amazing experiences that would be offered, and the different parts of the country that we would travel to, I knew it was a trip that I couldn’t turn down.

Not only that, but I would also be getting to travel to Poland with two good friends of mine and my boyfriend. How cool is that ?! I was super excited.

A month before I was scheduled to leave, a series of terrorists attacks took place in Europe. Only a week before, one took place in Germany which is right next to Poland. All the websites warnings I read said to stay away from large crowds that were associated with religion. Here I was going to World Youth Day where 1 million Catholics gather to see the Pope. I was terrified that I was going to die, or lose a leg, or something bad was going to happen.

I contemplated going on the trip up until the last hour, but I didn’t want to miss the one opportunity that I had to do this, so I went for it.

The trip started off with a four hour plane delay where we had to sit on the plane for 4 hours because the AC wasn’t working properly. Yeah, they kept a packed flight of people on a plane with no air conditioning, brilliant plan. It got to the point where the door of the plane had to be opened and the only wind we had was from the 90 degree weather outside.

I began to think that maybe I had made the wrong decision to come on this trip, and maybe this was a sign that I should turn back now while I still could…

Finally, around 2am we took off.

We landed safely about 8 hours later.

There are many stories that I can tell from this trip, but for this blog post I will keep it general. Poland was a beautiful city and the natives were so welcoming. We got to travel to several towns like Krakow and Warsaw. We got to see sites such as Auschwitz, Salt Mines, and visit John Paul II’s hometown.

During World Youth Day, which is basically a gathering of 1 million Catholics from all over the world to witness the Pope say mass and participate in other religious activities together, I got to meet people from all over the world. I spoke French with a girl who took classes in the Lourve in Paris, got a tiny stuffed koala bear from a girl from Australia, traded wristbands with a couple from Wisconsin who had just survived the Nice terrorist attack, and had a chant off with a group from Italy.

The streets in Poland were always packed with people. You could hear a mixture of chants from all different countries the whole time you were walking. Flags from all over the world waved high all over the streets and made you feel like you were all a part of something so much bigger.

The stories I got to hear from each person’s perspectives was truly amazing. Even though we didn’t all speak the same language, we are all there for one reason. I think that was the coolest thing of all is that we were all so different but our religion brought us all together into one. It made me develop a stronger appreciation of my religion. I realized that I wasn’t ever alone because there are over 1 million people out there with the same values as me and that’s pretty cool to think about.

 

Destination Three: Paris, Avignon, and Versailles, France and Barcelona, Spain

Has there ever been a time where you plan your trip around one thing and don’t get to do that one thing you had been looking forward to doing? That’s how I felt about going up the Eiffel Tour.

This summer I traveled to France and Spain on a trip run by my French teacher. Along with me was my family and other French 4 classmates, there was about 15 of us in total. While I had already been to Paris the summer before, this was a completely different experience.

If you know anything about European “futbal,” you know that it is basically the equilent of American football in that people go CRAZY over it. We happened to be in Paris the night that France was playing Germany in the Eurocup. That was also the same night that we were scheduled to go up the Eiffel Tour around 10pm (Paris doesn’t get dark until around 9pm and we wanted to see the city all light up).

As we walked along the Champs Elysee, police cars started to line the sideways of the avenue in preparation of the game. Half the group decided they wanted to watch the game somewhere in the city, and we ended up watching it outside a bar that was set up by the river that the Eiffel Tour overlooks.

We got to the Eiffel Tour around 9:45pm and walked up to the security booth. Since the shootings that happened in Paris within the past year, they had put a fence up at the bottom of the Tower to prevent people from freeing walking under it without going through security. Our tour guide came back with a worried face and told us that we were unable to go up the Eiffel Tour because it was closed. The Parisians had gotten so rowdy over the Eurocup game that fights started breaking out on the Eiffel Tour and the conditions were too dangerous for anyone to go up.

In the distance, we could see smoke coming from the street next to us, the was from the tear gas that was thrown into the streets by police to control the rowdy crowd. It was actually pretty scary, and although we were all disappointed that was didn’t get to go on the Eiffel Tour, we felt safer that way.

The next day, our last day in Paris, we were determined to be able to go up the Eiffel Tour. After our day was up and we were heading back to the hotel, it was about 9:45pm, we asked our tour guide if we could make a stop at the Eiffel Tour. His response was “impossible” said in his French accent (he wasn’t a very optimistic man) and told us there would be no way we would get to go up the Eiffel Tour. We decide to take that challenge.

My mom, sister, and I, along with my friend and her mom soon found ourselves navigating the metro to try and find the best route to the Eiffel Tour. While on the metro, it was stopped for a good five minutes with the doors open and the alarm was going off. People kept running back and forth on and off the train while an announcement played overheard in French that none of us understood. Once the train started moving the announcements kept coming that different metro stops were closing. We tried to listen so we would know what stop to get off at but we had no clue what the announcements were saying. Finally I found someone that spoke French and about halfway through the doors being open we realized we were suppose to get off at the stop because the next 4 would be closed. We barely made it out of the metro in one piece as the doors closed behind us.

We somehow were able to make it up to the Eiffel Tower that night, and we were glad that we did. Seeing the view made all the stress beforehand worthwhile. Although we were only able to make to the second level because of the time of night, seeing the city skyline at night from a different perspective as I had originally saw it, was beautiful.

Moral of the story is, never be afraid to take chances because in the end, they may very well work out in your favor!

Destination 2: Netherlands, France, and Switzerland

Ever think about traveling overseas with 30 other people that you’ve never met before and spending the next three weeks with them? Neither did I, until I signed up for an international trip through a leadership group called HOBY.

I had traveled several times to Italy with my family, but this time would be a lot different. I would be exploring new countries with strangers by my side. Would you feel a bit nervous? I know I did!

Our first stop was Amsterdam. We visited the Anne Frank House, walked through the Red Light District, became refugees for a day, and visited the Peace Palace. Of course, I also took a picture on the bench by the river that Gus and Hazel sat on in “The Fault in Our Stars” (Ok so maybe it wasn’t the exact bench, but it was a similar looking one!)

One thing I especially learned how to watch where I was going since there was a bike lane, a tram lane, and several lanes for cars on the road.

Next stop was Paris which included the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and many macaroons and baguettes.

The Eiffel was amazing site to see. As we went up higher and higher. I was getting more nervous (I am slightly afraid of heights) but I made myself keep going because I knew this was a once in a lifetime experience.

The view was amazing, So much so that my friend, Hannah, and I were a half hour late to our meeting place because we had lost track of time. To top it all off, Hannah had a broken foot and had a cast on her leg, so it made going down the tower that much more interesting.

Finally, we got to Switzerland. We went to the United Nations, hiked up the Swiss Alps. and attended a Global Leadership Summit along with thousands of other high school students from all over the world.

Standing on top of the Swiss Alps made me feel like I was a character in the Sound of Music. Looking our over the snow capped hills sitting along side people I had just met but now felt like I had known for years was honestly the most amazing and peaceful feeling I ever experienced. Maybe it’s just because the air on the mountain was thinner, but that feeling is one I will never forget.

At the Global Leadership Summit, we learned about education as a human right. There were speakers from all over the world that came to talk about their perspective on education. One of them was a mentor of Malala Yousafzai, the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Hearing the speakers and how passionate they were truly inspired me to go make a difference in my own life. I hope to someday be able to provide assistance in the struggle for making education something that is available to everyone.

Looking back now, I am so grateful I didn’t let my fear of not knowing anyone stop me from going on this trip. Everyone was in the same boat, so we all had to transition together, and ended up becoming really good friends because of it. Our group me is still going strong 2 years later! It was good practice for college too, because I was being placed in a new environment with new people all trying to adapt to the new culture.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences! Next week I will talk about my journey to France and Spain!

If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be?

There are so many amazing places to go, it’s pretty hard to just choose one. Thankfully, this decision was made for me at a young age. I first started traveling before I turned 2 years old, when my mother took me to her small hometown in Calabria, Italy. Since then, I have visited back four times, learning even more about the rich culture each time I went.

Destination One: Italy

Ever wonder what it would be like to time travel? Would you believe me if I told you I have time traveled before?

Now you may think I’m crazy, but traveling to southern Italy is about as close to time traveling as you can get.

My grandparents live on a farm up in the terraced hills of a little town called Mammola. There are no animals, only acres of fruit trees and grape vines situated on the different levels of hills throughout the farm. My grandfather is 80 years old, and yet he can still navigate his way around those hills like a pro, harvesting the fruit every summer. I took a walk with him several times up and down the rocky terrain and it is certainly not an easy task, which makes it all the more worth while that he is still able to do that.

The hill leading up to my grandparents’ house is wide enough to fit a mule pulling a cart, after all, that’s what it was built for. Somehow my grandfather manages to drive a jeep up and down the hill everyday. There is no room for error. How he doesn’t fallen off yet baffles me, but I am more than thankful for that.

A couple miles down the road lies the town where my mother was born. The houses are so close that if you reached your hand out the window your neighbor could probably shake hands with you. All the streets are cobblestone, warn from thousands of feet traveling on them. I am always amazed at how my grandmother can navigate her way through these narrow houses built into the hills. To me, all the streets look the same, its like a huge maze, but to her it’s second nature.

My experiences of going back to visit my mother’s hometown have made me better understand the ideology that my grandparents come from. It also makes me to better understand why my grandparents left to come to America, but also how hard it was for them to leave. Through these trips to Italy, I have learned what sacrifice and bravery means. My grandfather left his 3 daughters, his wife, and his mother to come to America to find a job as a tailor. I have a new respect for my grandparents and also a greater appreciation for their culture. I am proud to be an Italian American, and I am proud to say that I understand what that truly means. I encourage you to learn more about your family heritage so you too can understand what it really means and be proud of what makes you who you are.

 

 

 

 

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