On 5 August, Berkeley held a lantern peace ceremony to commemorate the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings during World War II. It was my first time going to an event like this, so it was a completely new experience! It was also a completely volunteer run event, so it was pretty cool how many people got together for it.

We got to decorate our own paper lanterns, which were then made into floating lanterns that sit on top of the water.

Some of our decorated lanterns:

When they released the lanterns at night, it was quite pretty.

Participating in events like these makes me so so grateful that I’ve been able to explore the Bay Area so much more than I did before college. I’ve had so many new experiences this summer and last summer, and I appreciate where I am so much more now.