Writing in a Blog Reflection

Writing Skills

Writing well is an art that every body should master in order to be successful. Writing well means conveying thoughts, ideas, and facts in simple and clear language. The art of writing is not something that is taught seriously to us in school. But to learn it is essential in order to excel at both academic and professional levels. Writing essays involves critical thinking a purposeful and reflective analysis used to reach conclusions. Critical thinking challenges the students to scrutinize arguments and positions they may have taken for granted, getting them to develop their points more thoroughly. Also, college essay writers are often required to reference various texts; by engaging with a variety of literature and information, students gain a diversity of perspectives and points of view.

As you could already see, my conversational English is not the best, but both the journal and the blog help me a lot. I think that trying to write well, depend on how much you practice. Writing about books, essays and all the themes discussed in class in a manner increase my vocabulary and in my writing skills. In the part of the blog a think that write in a public platform like that, help connect people around the world and help with the exchange of different ideas. Also help, to keep you reading and writing about many themes. In addition the blog is very useful because people around the world and classmates can make comments in your post. Its help you a lot because their feedbacks makes you best as a writer.

Blog

I believe I have argued the case for students to participate in writing during their studies in order to increase their prospects for employment. Writing and journalism provides an outlet for personal development and displaying the knowledge and abilities required for employment in a similar fashion to work experience and internships, without the difficulty of actually finding one in a saturated student environment. To students, writing is the key to setting yourself above the rest of the pack; to employers, the commitment that students exhibit to writing on top of their studies will be proof of their abilities and value to your organization.

The Art of Decision

Ring ring ... ring ring ... ring ring ...

“Hi, can I help you?”

“Jim?” with a worried and tearful voice.

“Yes, I am”

“Sorry man, your brother passed away…”

Me in Kindergarden

It was a sunny day. Flying birds, the flowers blooming, the rooster crowing. In others words, the spring was beginning. Everything was perfect but something was left. Yes, my birth. I was born in a small island that my people name it the “Isla del Encanto”. I was the third son of four (almost, the smallest one). My big sister, the princess, my big brother, the reserved, and my little bro’, the baby of the house. Despite our age difference we got along very well.

My childhood is filled with many memories. My dad the big Jim had an obsession with me to have long hair. I do not blame him, honestly seeing my pictures it look great. But in my birthday number four, the clown hired for that day, so he had the great idea to carry me. When he lifted me, he said, "that is a cute little girl." Since that day, my father does not let me go back to long hair. I grow up in a good neighborhood. We spent all day running bicycle, playing basketball, doing some pranks and playing a game that we name it “pillo y policía” (Thief and policeman). There is no doubt that my childhood was extremely good.

My adolescence was a big step for me. Many changes came suddenly. I got my first car, my first girlfriend, and my first parties. In other words, many new things came to me. Nevertheless, I was very focused on what I wanted in the future. My family was always supporting me in every decision I took. But one day I received the call… My perfect world, all that was built during this time, was destroyed. News like that, take us by surprise and make us fall into the reality we live. That day, all my family was completely devastated, especially my mother. They were times of great sadness. It is difficult but in that moment of my life I have to make a decision. Stay in a state of sadness or continue to build my future. I decide to use that, as a step, to strength my soul and continue with my future goals. 

The next year I was accepted in the college. New beginnings, new friends and new experiences to come. My future was being written. The race to be a doctor just begins.Through college, and I learned that life is about choices. All depends on you. You want to make bad decisions? Take them, the important it is to learn from them. Right now my focus is to finish my studies. Could get a person who can spend the rest of my life and start a family. I want to be support for many people in need. I want to be an example for my little bro’. I want to fulfill my purpose in the life. My life just begins, it all depends on me.

Money Represent Happiness?

Bob Marley Quote

Reading the book, The Geography of Bliss written by Eric Weiner, I discovered that Happiness could be seen differently depending where you are and what culture you live by. Everyone has their own definition of happiness and happiness can found be found in anywhere in the world. Weiner has been to Bhutan and has found that every person he has met there is happy in their own way.  While being in this country, Weiner always had in mind “can money buy happiness”. This idea seems to be emerging very so often in the book and has capture my attention. Furthermore I feel that this idea may be true sometimes, because sometimes we need money to keep ourselves happy and to keep others happy, without money where would we be. I think money is the key to happiness, if we have money we will have more opportunities in receiving an education which will lead to open doors to a great career which will result in happiness. But money doesn’t represent the whole happiness. Weiner points out, “Maybe the secret to happiness is money. Lots of money. And if money can buy happiness, or at least rent it for a while, then surely Qatar, by some measures the wealthiest country in the world, must also be the happiest”.  I agree with Weiner’s believes because we all need money at one point to start off somewhere in order for it to lead to a happy ending. In my opinion, even if theirs a wealthy country I believe theirs still people living in that country that aren’t happy because they might be suffering from a disease or poverty. I believe that at some point money can’t always buy happiness, but there are other things besides money that can make others happy like love or trust. Weiner acknowledges, “Money sometimes buys happiness. You have to break it down, though. Money is a means to an end. The problem is when you think it is an end in itself. Happiness is relationships, and people in the west think money is needed for relationships. But it’s not. It comes down to trustworthiness. I agree if you don’t have trust in a relationship then you won’t be happy but if your relationship consists of trust and honesty you will be a happy couple. That’s all you need in a relationship, trust and honesty, if you have both those things then you will be happy and won’t need much money to make each other happy.

Things You Can't Buy

Outsiders vs Insiders

Book

“It is as if, then, the beauty—the beauty of the sea, the land, the air, the trees, the market, the people, the sounds they make—were a prison, and as if everything and everybody inside it were locked in and everything and everybody that is not inside it were locked out. And what might it do to ordinary people to live in this way every day? What might it do to them to live in such heightened, intense surroundings every day”  (Kincaid)

In this passage from the final section from Small Place, Kincaid addresses the mixed blessing of Antigua’s beauty. Once again, she does so by considering the difference between the Antiguan point of view and that of anyone not from the island. The landscape cannot make Antigua wealthy in a material sense—there is no oil, timber, or great fertile prairie to be developed. Instead, the landscape’s beauty is Antigua’s great natural resource, which means it is also one of the great determining factors of Antiguans’ lives. Tourists are drawn to the island because of this beauty, and, for them, the inhabitants are part of the scenery. In this sense, outsiders are “locked out” of understanding what the lives of the insiders are truly like. The insiders are “locked in” in a similar way—they belong to the landscape more than it can ever belong to them. The surroundings are so “heightened” and “intense” that they seem to negate some of the intensity of people’s actual existences. As Kincaid says, the beauty of the island is so perfect and unchanging that change itself seems impossible. When everything is extraordinary, making judgments about what needs to change is difficult, and the fate of becoming simply a passive observer of a beautiful cage seems unavoidable.

Tourist for a Day

The last weekend I went to Nassau, the largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. During my stay on the island, I was able to see the whole city, its culture and tourist attractions. I could also talk and interact with people there. In memory of this great experience I decided to write a little about how it feels to be a tourist for a day.

My day started when the sun enters my room, through the balcony. I took a bath and got ready for everything I expected to do. When I went down to the lobby, I went to where they were getting breakfast. When I started eating, he took me by surprise, how spicy was the food. My mouth began to catch on fire. However it was very good. When I finish I went to the surrounding area of the hotel, to do what all tourists do... take pictures. I took pictures of the beach, the pools, the aquarium, the fishes, the rays, and the sharks; also I took pictures of details of the structure of the hotel. I took about 200 photos that day. Then I went to the waterslides and pools. There I talk with many people from other countries. Everyone asked me, where I was from, they said that we were very friendly and cheerful. When we said we were from Puerto Rico, they laughed and said, "I thought so." Sometimes I was a little difficult to understand them because their English was a funny accent. When I finished my tour in the hotel I went to the downtown.

There we went to eat at a place called "Fish Fry". There we ate their typical food name it “conch”. Then we walked to see the streets, houses and shops.  When we came back to the hotel, we did it in a taxi. The unusual of the trip was that I was sitting at the front, on the left side of the car but I was not driving. This is because in the Bahamas they drive on the opposite lane as lead in Puerto Rico. They drive like in England. I finished my great day with a bath and a bed that was very comfortable.

Being a tourist for a day I learned the value of culture. Each country has their meals, their language and their way of being that is what makes this world so varied. I loved the experience of being a tourist for a day. Undoubtedly one of my best. I recommend you visit the Bahamas, it is a beautiful island.