Heaven or hell… By Rachel VAZ DE AZEVEDO

Heaven

Hell

Heaven. My first photo shows one of the symbols of a city that I’m sure you have heard about: Sydney. I visited this city for a week during my exchange visit in Australia, and it was absolutely wonderful. In this photo, I’m in front of the Opera House, and it was, as you can see, a windy but really sunny day! It was taken at the end of my trip, one week before I came back to France.

To me, that city is one of the best places to live in the world: you’ve got everything around you such as: amazing beaches, many shops, a big city centre but beautiful green spaces as well. I was full of happiness and couldn’t stop smiling even if I would have liked to have been with my family at that particular moment so that we could have discovered together what I would call my favorite place in the world. I had found my little paradise and I will do everything in my power to go back there! This photo brings back a lot of memories, and makes me sad but happy at the same time because I couldn’t have imagined an experience as wonderful as it truly was. It was the most unforgettable part of my life so far. I learnt to live with another family, discover a new country but mainly a new culture, and new people I will never forget. I think it has opened my mind. I grew more than I ever had. I’m so thankful to everyone who helped me make this trip: the tears, the laughs, the good times and less good times. But my life’s not over, I’m ready for a new chapter and I’m excited about the new opportunities and experiences I will have in my future. So, I can say that this photo represents my experience and how I felt when I did it because I look happy on it, as I was most of the time during my trip. This was particularly true in Sydney where I felt at home (I cannot explain why). I think that we maybe don’t grow up necessarily in the place we belong to… Anyway, as you can see on my face, it was truly awesome!

Hell… This photo was also taken in Sydney. It doesn’t look like it, but it actually is. It’s why I took it; it looks like it wasn’t in Sydney, not even near any city. This place is called “The Gap,” it’s an ocean cliff located towards Watson Bay, where my hotel was. But these rocks have a story. In fact, when my host family and I went to The Gap for a walk, I saw a billboard with a telephone next to it, so I asked my host family what it was and they told me something I would never have thought possible. This place is actually one of the preferred places for people to commit suicide. It has been estimated about fifty people end their lives at The Gap every year. I thought I hadn’t understood, because we were talking in English, but I actually did understand. The phone is for people who don’t feel good and need to talk. And it’s really serious! I have so many other photos I took in Sydney but I chose this one to show you because I wanted to pass on a message...

There is a terrible contrast between my two photos. I felt at home in Sydney, it was like I had found a kind of “balance” because on the one hand you’ve got the freedom of the natural spaces, and on the other hand you’ve got the city. But some people don’t feel as good as I felt, some people are, as in every country, stressed and with problems. There are sad people everywhere in the world; we don’t all have the same definition of paradise, of the dream life. This city which I call a “paradise” isn’t actually paradise for everyone…