Helena

﻿ Hi, my name is Helena, and I turned 16 years old in December. I live in Riverdale, a town in the Bronx, around 12 minutes away from Manhattan. Growing up, I always found New York City to be my favorite place. When I was younger, I lived in Manhattan, on the upper west side, and I love that even though I don’t live there anymore, I am able to get there easily by the subway. The vibe of NYC is unique and like no other city I have ever visited. The diverse sounds, people, attractions, cuisines and languages excite me, yet give me a sense of comfort and familiarity. The upbeat rhythm to the city can always uplift and ease me. I think it's very important to love and feel that your hometown is like your own “playground”. I care a great deal for NYC because its streets are filled with so many memories and great pastimes.

My other favorite place is London, England, partially because that is where the majority of my family live. My mother and father left England around 25 years ago to move to America, and since birth, I have visited all my uncles, cousins, aunts and my grandparents yearly. All my family lives scattered around London. My grandparents and the rest of my dad’s family live in St. Johnswood, a mix of a suburban city n London, along with my mom’s mum. My grandmother works hard to maintain her beautiful abode; her apartment is adorned with fine couches and a Persian rug. Although her rug is a restricted zone, she has always gone out of her way to make me feel comfortable. When staying at her house she always makes sure that I have the special guest room, which depending on the grandchild visiting she changes the bedding to match their favorite colors, along with making sure that she has special vegetarian food for me. Her apartment shows what an amazing Grandmother she is and her fridge, boasting with pictures of me and my other cousins only proves it. The streets of London lack the excitement of my vibrant NYC, but the beautiful old-fashioned cobblestone streets and architecture compensates. Although I feel like a NYC kid at heart, London is extremely sentimental to me because of the people and the family history that resonates there. My favorite books are __The catcher in the Rye__ by J.D. Salinger, and __Unaccustomed Earth__ by Jhumpa Lahiri. The two books are very different, yet they both share common themes of love, loneliness, grieving and the importance of home. I have learnt a lot from these books and their messages have been recurring themes not only in other books but also in real life.

There are two quotes that think portray values that are very important to me. The first quote is from the famous French queen Marie Antoinette who has said (in the original French), “Courage! Je l'ai montré pendant des années; je pense que vous perdra au moment où mes souffrances sont à la fin?, which can be translated in English to, “ Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end? “. This was said before she was taken to the guillotine by the revolutionists. Her message of showing courage and bravery during even the most dreadful times is one that I truly admire and hope to resemble in the future. Marie Antoinette was stripped of all civil rights, her family was taken away from her, and she was executed in front of her people who hated her. Regardless of the periodic politics, she endured all of this with complete grace and elegance. The other one is a quote from the brilliant ex prime minister of England, Winston Churchill, “ Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Many people in life confuse standing up in what you believe in with shutting out others and their opinions. This quote has taught me a lesson which is contrary to what I thought before; to be a brave person you don’t need to be outspoken, sometimes the bravest thing to do is just listen to others.

My third favorite quote is related to one of my primary hobbies or interests, music. When I was younger I learnt the violin and I can still play piano, but for me singing is my favorite form of expression through music. [|Aldus Huxley], a famous British writer has said, “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music”. This is truly how I feel about music, to me music can express feelings and satisfy passions in a way that nothing else can. I enjoy listening to all different genres of music, singing in any location and in numerous choirs. My other interests and hobbies are art, running and reading. When I was young doodling in class was the only way I could concentrate. Through my doodles in my notebooks of almost every object in the classroom, person I knew, and flowers, I realized that I had a true love for drawing. Since then I have been drawing, painting, making collages, and even sculpting as a hobby. Using my hands and mind to create, design and execute art is relaxing, and exercises my imagination. Starting freshman year, after I did my homework I would go on a run around my neighborhood, it started off as something to do to ease my over active mind before bed, but after a couple of weeks it was too addictive and enjoyable to not do. The feeling I get when I’m jogging comes from a combination of being outside when its nighttime and there are not cars, but just serenity, the endorphins from the exercise and relieving of stress. Reading has also been a form of relaxing but even more than that it’s a form of transportation and escapism for me. The idea that you are able to escape reality and enter “another world” in a healthy way is genius. Reading has taught me so much about life, history and different cultures in a way that I couldn’t learn from anywhere else.

My basic firm beliefs are that everyone should be treated equally and that everyone should be accepted for who they are. Throughout life there will always be outcasts, and those who aren’t treated the same because of their differences. I know that on a large scale its hard for me to stop that, but on a smaller scale my goal is to make sure that whenever I see anyone being left out because he\she is different I will do my best to stop that. Nobody deserves to feel alone because they are different. We are all “weird” in our own way, so how can we decide what is normal?