MY EXPERIENCE AT AUSCHWITZ - BIRKENAU

Wednesday

Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp used in the second world war by the Nazis. It consisted of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz Birkenau (II) and Auschwitz Monowitz (III). Auschwitz I was originally used for the Polish army but in the 1940s people began to use it as a concentration camp. It was decided that this camp was not large enough for the mass extermination of not only jews but homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, gypsies, etc. As a result of this decision, the Nazi's built Auschwitz II especially for the holocaust. Here, the living conditions were significantly worse than the first camp and seeing these conditions was unforgettable. Auschwitz II was also overwhelmingly larger than Auschwitz I or III although, some of it was blown up by the Nazi's to try to hide the terrible things that they had done. It was so empty and quiet, there were no birds, just visitors.

Entrance to Auschwitz Birkenau
Birkenau watch tower at Auschwitz
Some of the exhibits in the Auschwitz museum were absolutely heart-breaking. For example, the shoes that had been taken from them were displayed; even the hair shaven from their head was displayed. The people sent to the camps had all of their belongings with them as they were lead to believe that they were travelling to some sort of resettlement, a new life for them. When they arrived at the camps they would be judged and selected but they weren't aware of this. They would either be pointed in one direction for a "shower" or another direction to work. The people who were sent to the "shower" were also told to remember where they had put all of their belongings for when they come out of the shower but the shower wasn't really a shower; they were being sent to the gas chamber. There was an exhibit of the gas chamber at the museum with empty cans of the Zyklon B gas which was used. Seeing this was a very emotional experience but it was nothing compared to what it would have been like 75 years ago.

Image exhibition at Auschwitz

Another one of the many thought-provoking exhibitions in the museums was audio clips of Nazi's exclaiming their hatred for the Jews. They likened them to vermin and said that they should be exterminated. There are so many things wrong with this. 1. The Jews and all of the other millions of people murdered in the holocaust were all PEOPLE. Just like the Nazi's were (arguably) people just like I am a person. 2. This was only 75 years ago, that is not a long time. 3. How can a political party influence the genocide of 14,000,000 people?

I have not included all of the details about the concentration camps I visited because it is something you'd need to experience yourself. I would recommend for people to visit a concentration camp if possible because seeing it for yourself is honestly unforgettable. If you can't get a chance to visit one then I would also recommend even researching facts about the holocaust and concentration, labour or death camps because it is a thing that people should be aware of to make sure that nothing like this happens again.

Thank you for reading.

APPLYING TO UNIVERSITY - PART 2

Monday

In my most recent blog post I told you all how I went about applying to university and that I had finally done it. Since then, my application for uni was sent off to my college lecturers for them to write a reference for me. Once the references were finished, the final, completed application was sent by UCAS to all of the different universities of my choice. I applied to 4 different universities in the south of England for more or less the same course of BA Media and Communication.

After my application was sent to the universities I applied to, I had to wait for them to reply which was slightly nerve-racking to say the least. Although, it turns out I had nothing to worry about because I have been accepted into all 4 of the unis that I applied for and even got an unconditional offer from one of them. If the offer is unconditional it means that they will accept you onto the course and it doesn't matter what A-level grades you get. The remainder of my offers were conditional which was on the condition that I got certain grades at A-level.

The university I would most like to go to unfortunately isn't the one which gave me an unconditional offer and want me to get the amount of UCAS points that is equivalent to getting BBB at A-level, which means I will have to work really hard in order to get those grades. But, I feel like you need to work to achieve something because then you feel more like you've earned it.

Now, I just need to keep working hard with my A-levels and we will see how I do in my June exams. Wish me luck :) thank you so much for reading!


APPLYING TO UNIVERSITY

Tuesday

I am in my final year of college and will be completing my A-levels next year so now I want to move on to bigger things; bigger things being uni. I have recently applied to 4 universities all in the south of the UK. This turned out to be quite a lengthy process as I had been visiting the universities of my choice since July and I honestly had no idea how to go about applying to university. Going to visit the universities on open days was honestly the best thing to do as they really show in detail what uni is actually like and the uni you choose might look good on paper but you may find that when you actually have a look at it that it really isn't for you. Looking at a few really helps because it shows you which ones you like best so you can order them into a sort of hierarchy.

Deciding what to study at university was also quite difficult for me as there is so much choice, maybe even too much choice, and I am the most indecisive person ever. Eventually, I decided that I was going to do a BA Media and Communication degree. This was a hard decision to come to as I also wanted to study Philosophy and Ethics but I preferred the look of the content covered at A-level and having looked at the course at different universities, it just wasn't what I was expecting. The media and communications course covers both practical and theoretical content which is good for indecisive me. Funnily enough, I also don't know what my plans are after uni and all of the people I have spoken to about the course said that it is the right one for me because it could lead you into a wide range of careers, unlike a degree in fashion journalism for example, which is more specific to a career choice.

Before choosing my top universities I had to consider the realities of it like how I'd get home, where I might look for part-time work, money and boring things like that. I didn't want to go too far from home which is why all of the universities of my choice are only an hour away from my home. There are no closer universities because I live in the middle of nowhereland, walking distance from Stonehenge. Once I had chosen my top universities, it was time to do more boring stuff like making a UCAS account in order to apply to them. UCAS the website used when applying to university where you store all of your details and write your personal statement. After completing the requirements from UCAS, the application was then sent off to my lecturers at college so they could write references for me and then send the applications to the universities. BORING.

I am now waiting to hear from all of the universities. I will either receive an unconditional offer, a conditional offer meaning that I will get in if I get the grades required, or they will decline me altogether. HOPEFULLY, I won't get declined as I have worked really hard at college to achieve the goal of going to uni and I got good grades last year so if this year goes well too then I'm all set! It's weird to think how this time last year, I had no idea what I wanted to do after college, now I have gotten to the point where I am waiting for replies from universities. Just goes to show that even me, the most indecisive person in the world decided on something. If I can do it, you can do it too.

Thank you so much for reading and I will keep you updated on the uni situation :)

20 GENDER NEUTRAL CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

Wednesday

I know it's not quite Christmas yet but it's beginning to be the time of year where people start thinking about buying their Christmas presents if they haven't already started. Buying gifts can be so hard sometimes because you might not have a clue what to get some people, or ANYONE. If that is you then hopefully this list of gender neutral gift ideas will help you in some way.

Gender neutral Christmas gifts
1. Favourite chocolates /sweets or any other food favourite
2. Books
3. Stationary
4. Novelty mugs
5. Clothes
6. Accessories
7. Jewellery
8. Hobby related items e.g.
9. Tickets e.g. concert tickets, theatre tickets
10. Socks (it's not Christmas without socks)
11. Games
12. Gift card for their favourite shop
13. Picture frame (with or without picture in it)
14. Perfume/aftershave
15. Bath & shower stuff
16. Ornaments
17. DVDs
18. CD/vinyl
19. Adult colouring book & pens
20. Art

I hope this list helped you in some way and maybe gave you some ideas. Obviously there are other gifts that you could get people that are typically tailored to just one gender but this is just an overall list of things that could suit anyone. Let me know in the comments if you have any other gift ideas. Thank you so much for reading :)