My Millennium Park Field Trip ♥

     Allow me to tell you a fabulous story about my fabulous self in the third grade. The date is June 3rd, therefore my birthday. I was super-duper excited about this date because my classmates and I were going to go on a field trip to Millennium Park in Chicago! Honestly, what's a better birthday gift than skipping school to go to an amazing place?!
     Anyways, being my nerdy, young self, I didn't have any phone or camera to take pictures. Would you like to know what I took with me? Be prepared to cringe or laugh. I took my DSi. Yep, I was that one geeky kid. Oh well! I took some pretty amazing pictures on that thing, considering it wasn't any type of "professional" camera. Go photographer Mer! (For those wondering, I had a blue one).

     After the painfully long bus ride of anticipation, we exited towards boats, which would take us to the park. Passing by people waving definitely boosted the morale of the group, making us all even more excited to arrive at our final destination. 

     Now, I don't have that many memories of this lovely day, unfortunately, so I'm just going to describe the four that I remember.

1) Taking a Photo Under the Bean.

     For those of you that don't know what the Bean is, it's a huge statue of this metallic-silver bean at the opening of the park. My friends and I wanted to take pictures, under, not next to it. It was a truly beautiful and trippy experience, especially when I accidentally bumped my head! Oops! Clumsy, 10-year-old me. 

2) The Face Fountain

     The next amazing attraction at this park was the Face Fountain. Needless to explain, it's literally a giant screen that displays portraits of people spitting out water. Now that I think about it, it's kind of gross. But who cares when you're 10 years old? You want to play in the water with your friends! That's exactly what I did. 

3) Matching Tie-Dye T-Shirts

     The day before, all of my classmates and I skipped some classes to make tie-dyed t-shirts. My wonderful friend and I decided to make matching ones so we could always find each other and be the coolest twins ever. I still have the t-shirt to this day, and it's dyed red and yellow. 

4) Buying My Own Ice Cream

     When you're 10 years old, chances are your parents buy things for you. With just the point of a finger, you could get a  delicious candy bar or shiny, new pencil. Buying something on your own was a huge step into what we used to call "being an adult", and my mother gave me some money to buy my own ice cream cone. It was a pivotal moment in my life, seeing that I was able to order my very own cookies and cream cone.

     That's all for today, my friends! Tell me about one of your field trips!

Dear Diary ♥

     Monday, March 7th, 2016.
Dear Diary,
     Between last Friday and today, my English/literature class watched a documentary called "I'm Still Here" (creepy title, ikr), reading the diaries of Jewish Holocaust teenagers, whether they survived it or not. We were told to take a couple notes on each person, so we remember who they were, and what they were like. It was very interesting to see how each person lived their lives, and what they wrote about in comparison to others. I thought I'd talk about a couple of them, if not all (they inspired me a lot!)
     The first boy's name is Klaus. He wrote a lot about the segregation of Jews and many other people. He also gives details about Kristallnacht, the night of the broken glass. For those who don't know, on November 9th and 10th, 1938, Nazi storm troopers (no, not like Star Wars) went through towns and murdered Jews in their own homes or workplaces. They also boycotted Jewish stores by breaking the glass windows, and burned down synagogues (places of Jewish worship). Klaus finally talks about the time when his parents got arrested, and how his family departed.
     The next person who talks is Peter. He dedicated his diary to his parents, and seems to have a very hopeful tone in his writing. He mentions that he was baptized as a Catholic but still considered a Jew, so he went into hiding and wrote to his parents every day. Suddenly, his parents stopped writing. In the end, Peter escaped a tragic death.
     Now, we hear Elisabeth. For being a girl, I found that she was very defiant and courageous. She states that she's not afraid of the war and bombings. She calls the whole situation "unfair". She lost her mother when travelling, but then found her. She warns the reader of how cruel the Germans are.
     Next, Dawid's diary is read. Yes, his name is correctly spelled, for those wondering. At the beginning of his diary, he explained that watching soldiers pass through his village was fun, but he later finds out how evil they were, causing him to live in fear, along with the rest of the town. He also reports news around him, especially of people dying for no reason.
     This diary entry is getting awfully long, I'll pick up where we left off tomorrow.
~Mercedes

Erika's Quote - Daniel's Story ♥

"We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place. And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and that we can go to our deaths in dignity... I want you both to live... And to remember... You must choose love. Always choose love."

~Erika , to Daniel and Rosa, Daniel's Story (by Carol Matas)

  This powerful quote is from a historical-fiction book, that takes place during World War II, Daniel's Story. In a quick sentence, the short book tells a story about a Jewish boy, Daniel, and his family persevering on with the struggles of being a Jew, concentration camps, and many more hardships. Erika is Daniel's younger sister, and Rosa is Daniel's "girlfriend".

I decided to take this quote and break it down, piece by piece, and explain what it means to me. It may mean something else to you, and I'd love to hear ideas.
"We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place."
In my opinion, this all means that each and every one of us have a purpose in life. Everyone has a reason for being alive, and living on this planet. As life goes on, we each have an impact on the world, whether it's minuscule or immense. The best thing to do is to change the world for the better, overall.
"And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault,"
If you dedicate your life to doing good, it shouldn't be your fault if you die. The concept of good karma supports this - if you do good, you will receive just the same.
"...that we did our best, and that we can go to our deaths in dignity."
     Of course, you would've tried your best when doing amazing deeds for the world. If you made an impact on the world, wouldn't it be wonderful to leave it knowing that you did something to make a positive difference? This way, you can die with dignity and pride - you didn't waste your life.
"I want you both to live... And to remember... You must choose love. Always choose love."
     Here, Erika is speaking directly to her dear brother and friend. She doesn't want them to die, but she insists on remembering to choose love, over all. I don't necessarily agree with this, I would definitely choose love over any form of hatred, though.

     There you go! Bam! Broken down! I'd love to hear anyone's own ideas about this topic down below!