English Writing: My Most Memorable Trip

ELENA

If I have to point out a memorable trip it would be the one I made to New York City. It was the first time I took a plane and the experience was awesome but a little bit long. During a week I saw lots of things but one of the most remarkable was when I went up to The World Trade Center. I had never been in a building so high and the views were absolutely breathtaking.

Also I visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was enormous, so I had to choose what period of art I was going to see. Finally, I chose the Ancient Egypt. The masterpieces were fantastic, all of them: statues, coffins and temples were magnificent. Another day, I decided to see the famous musical “Cats” which was overrun with tourists every night. I really enjoyed the show even I couldn’t understand it very well.

In hindsight, I blew a lot of money on this trip but it was beautiful. I visited the most popular places like Central Park, Empire State building or Times Square, but if I come back again, I would like to wander off the beaten and look for unknown places.

BEGOÑA

When I was young I used to rough it in each travel I did. That's way the trip to the Riviera Maya, in Mexico, was one of the best I've taken, as we were lodged in a 5 stars beach resort, and that was completely new for me at that time.

We took a nonstop flight, from Madrid to Cancun. When we arrived to the hotel I went directly to the beach. The sightseeing over the turquoise sea was magnificent. We could dive several times during the week and see so many different multi-coloured aquatic species. It was really incredible.

We also visited several Maya archaeological sites, so we learned a lot about this culture. Some of the sites were in the middle of the jungle, hence we had also some of adventure in our trip : we passed a valley by a cord (tirolina) and we could swim inside a cenote. It was really great.

We had also time to visit some cities, as Merida and Valladolid, and shopping the autochthonous crafts.

HECTOR

My favourite travel (paradoxically) was in september 2001 (tragic date). Three friends and me traveled round Europe in 21 days in my first (and only until now) Interrail experience, and were a memorable days. We started on Switzerland, and visited Austria, Hungary, German, Czech Republic and Dennmark later. I think it´s the best way to know Europe if you are a student, don´t want blow money on and don´t care rough it. We booked one month before to start, but decided in each case how time we were in countries choosen.

Obviously, the biggest moment was when we knew what happened something terrific in New York. We were on Switzerland, near to come Zurich, and our cellular phones started to shine with sms. Nobody in Spain knew what was there, so we tried to take it easy (we were in the best country in the world to place if a war started). My friends and me were in these times seasoned traveler, and loved rough it and bum around, so we decided to go on and to see how different people faced up to something that nobody lived before.

Maybe some people think that this kind of to visit remote places is to blow money on, but to life a turbulent experience has some of adventure; you have fend for oneself because you can´t to phone a agency travel if there are some kind of difficults; and, like is not a organized trip, you don´t need to go to overrum places, where everybody knows.

DAVID

It was a weekend that my friends and I went to practice risky sports. We exit from Madrid on Friday afternoon to a remote town in Pirineos, near river Noguera-Pallaresa. We had planned to practice rafting, canyoning and riding horses, all in one day! After eight hours driving our cars we arrived al that place. As it was a dark night, we felt that we were wandering off the beaten path. The next morning we realized that it was overrun with people expecting to do the same as us.

First stage, rafting. We were excited for sailing the turbulent waters of the river. It was breathtaking when we passed through some dangerous rapids without falling off the boat. It was a very good start for the weekend. After a quick lunch, we went to our next challenge, canyoning. It seemed to be a run-of-the mill activity. But we didn´t take into account the weather factor. We started walking by the river. It wasn´t very deep. But, suddenly, a turbulent storm began to fall over us when we were at the middle of the activity. The water raised and we were trapped in a whirlpool. Our monitors tried to be cool. They began to take us out of the river and when all of us were out they told us we had been in trouble deep.

In hindsight, I would never repeat a plan like this. A lot of hours driving, a lot of activities in a day,... From this time on, we planned our trips better. We didn’t rough it anymore, and we book comfortable hotels even we have to blow our money on it. Despite of all, I think this was one of the most memorable trip I have ever had.

JOSE

This memorable travel was in 2007, it was an american west tour. I visited many cities, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. 
This travel didn´t begin good, I had my passport in order, but It wasn´t an electronic passport, when I tried to enter the airplane, They said me that I must changed my 
passport, I had to return to the police station in the airport and pay the urgency passport. I think I haven´t run more in my life. 
 
 The first city that we visited was Los Angeles, the first day I was very tired, I remember I felt the jet lag, this was not my first travel to USA but I visited the east of 
America and It was different for me. In Las Vegas We knew the casinos, the attractions, I didn´t play but I enjoyed a lot with this visit. In Las Vegas the last day my 
mother and my sister went shopping, my father and me tried to find a comic shops, we finished this search in a remote place, and when We found the shop it was 
closed, my father wanted to kill me, but I think it was like an adventure. For the next cities we chartered a funny person, he was a seasoned traveler, the sightseeing 
with this man was very good. In the Grand Canyon we hired the helicopter visit but my sister forgot to recharge the camera, the view was breathtaking. The last city 
was San Francisco, I think It is a good city but for me I think It´s a little sad. 

 In hindsight I had to know better the new conditions of travel for America, because my mother suffered a lot the first day, but I remember this travel how a great 
experience, I knew a lot of places, people. The only bad experience that I suffered was a robbery in my room of a hotel in Santa Maria , they stole me a mp3 player. 
The only thing that I couldn´t do was wath a Nba match.   

NATALIA

The best travel I had ever taken and which will be always memorable happened when I had the opportunity to accompany the Spanish National Youth Orchestra in a fifteen day musical tour across Spain. This trip was not a run-of-the mill experience but an extraordinary and special one considering that I followed the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, with its current artistic director and composer José Luis Turina and all the crew working in the musical archives of the National Auditorium, and that was the celebration of the twenty five anniversary of the constitution of this young orchestra which includes the most brilliant Spanish musicians. Besides for this unique commemoration many music teachers, musicians and composers, who belonged in the past to that orchestra, and who work now in prestigious national and international musical orchestras, were also invited in conferences and meetings during the trip. The travel was booked and was planned that I assisted in the musical proofs of the younger composers, that I was in close participation with the musical archive team and I attended the final fantastical musical performances in the diverse Auditorium of Oviedo, León, Asturias, El Escorial and Madrid.   

Moreover we passed through breathtaking landscapes and had the sightseeing experience to contemplate cathedrals and monuments, even if was summer and was overrun with tourists, we stayed not in remote places, neither we roughed it, as the hotels were very nice and comfortable. I had not in mind blowing a lot of money, because the travel and food costs were included in it. This didn’t a not stop travel, as we stayed a few days in each city. That trip was full of many surprises, as when they put me in charge of taking pictures of the young musicians during the musical proofs in the auditoriums and of the Spanish conductor’s orchestra Pablo González, also I was delighted with the conversations with other composers as Juan José Colomer and it was a real privilege to be present in all the ovations the orchestra received. It was also unforgettable, when the musicians played in the hotel rooms until midnight, when they participated in a costume night party creating original clothes of la fabada, or when in a whirlwind afternoon in front of La Catedral de Segovia, a very strong wind force us to find all round the city clothespins to grip the scores in the lecterns that the concert could take place full of enthusiastic public and didn’t transform into a desolated reception.

In hindsight, the travel was an exceptional chance not only to visit emblematic cultural and historical locations of the Spanish cities we saw but overall the experience to live close with the musicians and his way of learning music. I discovered different musical symphonies, the life and perspectives of renowned composers and the interaction between the musicians and the public in the astonishing performances in these magnificent auditoriums.  

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David - Portfolio

Winning the Lottery - Persuasive

People who win a lot of Money in the lottery usually go under a few years later

The first thing that people think about when they win the lottery is to leave their jobs. People do this without thinking. They leave their jobs and this mean that they won´t receive any money for compensation. So they start losing money. Next thing they do is going on vacation, so they have a lot of expenses. So, they won´t earn money for a job and they only spend money.

Next thing people think is buying a lot of things as if money will never ends. They splurge buying a better car, a better house, a better watch, usually than their neighbours. Most of this things are not needed, but they always desires such of those things and they couldn´t afford them. Meanwhile, the amount of money is getting smaller…

When they realize that this money won´t last forever, they think about investing it. And they try to play in the stock market, or buying several houses for selling them in a short time, or starting up some business, so they try to speculate to continue getting money but very fast. As they don´t have usually experience in those kinds of businesses, they began to lose their money. Therefore, they get nervous and they continue investing in risky business.

Finally, in a few years time, they have less money that when they won the lottery. The only solution is to get back to their former job with humility and shame.

My Teacher's Personality

The best teacher I ever had was my teacher of Chemistry at the high school. If I think about it he had most of the principal characteristics a good teacher must have, in my opinion.

He taught us the effort culture. Every day we had a little exam. We had to answer in 5 to 10 minutes short questions about chemical formulation. So you had to study every day the chemical elements table and the new lessons learnt that day. Then, when the principal exam came, you realized that you almost had studied it yet.

He taught us how to work as a team. He introduced us into the laboratory job. Every member of the team had his own tasks. Therefore, if one member not finished his duties the experiment didn´t work. It was frustrating seeing the other groups with their experiments working, so you tried hard until you succeed.

He taught us always with a great sense of humor. I still can remember his particular chemical elements table with all the names of the elements switch into jokes. When you had doubts about some elements names you always remembered one of that jokes and the correct name came to our minds.

The following teachers that I had couldn´t reach his level any more. So I can say that all knowledge of chemistry I have today I owe it to my old teacher.

How has technology changed society?

Technology is not only the research of microchips, bits and bytes. Each age in human history has his own “technology”. The prehistoric human beings learned how to sculpt rocks to use them for hunting bigger animals or to defend their families. Later, at the Iron Age, metal devices were used to improve agricultural processes, hunting methods and war techniques. So, we can say, society has been changed by technology since the ancient times.

Getting close to our times, the Industrial Revolution changed completely our lifes. The steam machine transformed the society. Lots of handmade works were transformed into industrialized processes. Cities grown up because of the exodus of rural people. Workers formed the Labor Unions to claimed for his rights and new political tendencies appeared (socialism, fascism,…) with two World Wars as a result. Industrial Revolution had the most important influence for the life style of the XXth Century.

The computer research was as important as the Industrial Revolution. Computers have changed the way we work and recently, the way we interact with other people. Besides from making easier most of calculating tasks, computers have transformed our social skills. We can now meet someone who lives in the other part of the world and everybody can access to any information he desires. Everything and everybody is closer than ever, but, at the same time, we are getting far from each other with the excuse to communicate with more “new friends”. Our way of life in the XXIst Century will be determined by the future develop of the social networks. What will be the next step, 3D communications, holograms, teletransport,…? Who knows.

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Jose D. - Portfolio

Student Profile:
What you do: Now I am looking for a job.
Where you have studied English: I studied English in my school, in a academy.
What your Hobbies are: My hobbies are going cinema, reading books and comics, playing video games. What inspires you: A good song inspires me, my family also inspire me
Something that is unique about you: Despite being a men I can do a lot of thing at the same time

My Boss' Personality 11/13/12
I have had many bosses, but I remember the first that I had. I was working in Iberia in human resources. When I knew him I think He was very serious, but when I Knew better him I noticed that He was very extrovert and funny.

Although He was a night owl and a heartbreaker He was very responsable. When We were working he tried that We worked united, He was a team player. When You had a mistake He was sincere and motivated he talked with us. He was very energetic and he encouraged us. Finally I think that although He had faults but he was the best boss that I had.


How has Techonology Changed the World 11/9/12
In the last twenty years, the tecnology has created a big change in the society, in some cases it has make better and in other it has worsened.
The use and the accessibility from this tecnology has change a lot in the last years.
  The tecnological more important has been clearly Internet. This has change the comunication and the society forever. It allow us to talk with
persons that they were too far, you could know a lot of people around the world, you can know a notice that it happens in another part of the
world far from where you live. There have been new movements of the people through internet that have created strikes, manifestation. The mail, the
social networks, the skype, they are a new ways of comunication. Other important thing is the archieve transfer, the legal and the ilegal tranfer has change
the society. In the work you can send to other partners necesary documents to work, this make better the work and the efficacy. The ilegal transfer has
worsened the culture because anybody go to cinema, buy books or cds and this in the future will change the culture. Now in Internet the possibilities
are infinite, you can watch the Tv, read a book, talk with other person, play a videogame with a person that is in another country or continent.
  The second thing that I think thas is very important is the mobile phone. Although fifteen years ago We didn´t have any mobile phone and We didn´t need
it, now We can live without a cellular. This make life easier and some moments is very neccesary. Now with your mobile phone you can make a lot of things
you can send emails, watch Tv, internet. Other tecnology things are the electric cars, the mp3 player, the ebooks, this things also are changing the society
and the story. Finally I think the tecnology has helped rather the society but it has created a great dependence that is very dangerous for the children and in
the future I think We will be more impersonal and introvert persons.

Ten Things I Can't Live without


Refrigerator: I think this is the most important appliance because It save the food and maintain in a good state.
Oven: It is very necessary to make the food
Washer: I need it to keep clean my clothes
Computer: It is very useful for me because I use it to find a job, to work, to play videogames and I download movies or series.
Mobile phone: I use it to comunicate with my family and my friends, I also use it to find a job.
Media Player: It is a hard disk portable, When I download movies or series I copy them in the Media Player and I can see them in my TV
TV: I don´t see the public o private programmes except the soccer or basketball matches because I prefer see my movies or series
Stereo: Although I listen music in my computer or in my mobile phone, I relax in my room listenig to music and reading a book or a comic
Iron: I don´t iron very often, but I think it´s important that the clothes seem arranged
Dishwasher: It is vey comfortable, but I think that is not very necessary because You can wash the dishes manually.

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