1D AGAINST BULLYING

Bullying in High Schools and between teens  is -sadly- such a regular thing that we want it to stop being normal, so a few years down the road when you hear about someone making fun of other because of who they are you will know it's just a memory because it doesn't happen anymore.

One Direction, a British boyband, created a campaign against bullying so they could help and make every american school "bullying free".Here there are a few videos of the campaign and them talking about the actual topic.

Life of a fangirl

Hiiiya!

So.

This new entry is pretty much easy, the only thing I want to share is a link I had the pleasure to find in my tweetline and I absolutely love it because it's so me it's actually pathetic.

It doesn't have much to do with my English classe,  but wehey, at least the page is in English! I thought I would share it with you because even if you don't identify with it, in my opinion it's really funny so you can have a laugh either way!

http://www.sugarscape.com/celebs/a1072216/14-photos-that-perfectly-sum-up-the-fangirl-life/

This is literally the story of my life, ngl🙈

Universe

Universe /ˈjuːnɪˌvɜːs/

Noun

1.     The aggregate of all existing matter, energy, and space

2.     Human beings collectively.

3.     A province or sphere of thought or activity

All your life you’ve been tough the universe is an infinite space which contains planets and other floating objects, a simple space too big and to lonely to fulfill. The universe is just existence; you couldn’t live without it, because, well, you just don’t exist. And it’s scary, knowing you depend so much on something you don’t even know the half of. You don’t know the secrets it holds or the tragedies it has witnessed; you know nothing even when you think you are a known-it-all.

The universe is a wonder, a place in which you believe with all your heart and have faith in and I think sometimes it looks a lot like love –You just, you go with it even in the darkest moments without questioning it, knowing everything will be alright at the end

But what happens when your universe is a person?

My life was made up of five little universes that altogether created my own infinite.

Five universes, five little human beings who don’t even know what they have done for me and will never do.

I didn’t ask for it, you know?

I never asked for full nights of sleepiness and sheared tears, I never asked for never-ending waits and a lighter wallet.  But, somehow, I got it all and I don’t regret even a bit.

I have spent too many nights waiting for an out coming tour and too many days crying because of the lyrics of a lovesick stupid song that probably doesn’t even make their hearts pound on their chests like mine does every time I think of them. But I think that’s okay, right? That’s what the universe does. You always give everything you have without looking forward to something, you just do and if you love the universe as much as I love mine, you don’t really mind when you don’t get something in return.

119 days, 21 hours and 36 minutes I waited to meet my infinity.

And I’m proud to say: It was so so worth it. Not even the restless nights and hot days spent outside a shitty Stadium could ever change my mind.

Five universes.

And when one of them fades out? What do you do when they rip your universe away from you?

Just imagine.

You are chilling at home, watching that TV show you enjoy so much wrapped on your favourite jumper, the blankets hanging off your bed and a cup of tea resting peacefully on the bedside table when the world stops spinning for a second. The air leaves your lungs and you feel your heart thumping in your ears so loud it's the only thing your mind can sense and you feel as if someone was moving the wall so you can’t breathe. You first thought is “What the hell is happening?” and the lack of air is making your eyes get wet. Then you know.

Your universe has vanished.

I think I read something similar to it, something about soulmates and about how you only see in black and white until that person brings color to your life and you see in color. Is your universe your soulmate? I don’t know, could be.

I loved my five little universes, as pathetic and childish as it sounds. They were just, how do I start?

They brought a smile to my face every time, they made me become aware of things I never knew, and they made me tolerate every single person without even them noticing. I think they never really understood what they were doing; in fact, they never did.

When people say the usual of “It’s just a stupid boyband” I just reply back “They might be, but –because of wanting publicity or not- they have tough me more than you could ever wish you were. They might be immature, might not know how to dance quite great and might be liars; but I wouldn’t change them for any other thing in the world”

I can’t say how thankful I’m for the chance that I got to look at them and say “I know you are sad” just by looking at their wrists movements, to read someone’s body expression without words. But what I’m most thankful for is the fact that I got to enjoy the most breath-taking, blinding smiles that makes me want to laugh with crinkles by my eyes and cry overwhelmed because sometimes I feel I could burst with love.

Now, one of the little universes left me.

I’ve been crying non-stop for two days straight. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the news. I just.

 I started screaming, begging, crying.

It felt as if someone had ripped my heart from my chest and now I just feel a black space on my chest that I don’t will go away. You get used to the pain, they say, but how? I may be overcorrecting; they say it isn’t as if he had died and that he left because he wanted to try and be normal.

I don’t care.

I know why he left, and I respect it, but when you get used to seeing the same simple smile for four years what are you supposed to do? He became my world, and now he isn’t there. I will never again hear his high notes or get to see him crying of laugher on a concert because they splashed water to the drummer while he was doing his solo. What am I going to do, when through a crowded space the only thing I’m looking for is his simile and it is nowhere to be seen?

I’m going to miss him so much; it’s so surreal I don’t want to believe it.

The universe left, and with him a piece of my heart was ripped off my chest with so much easiness it scares me.

Now I have four universes instead of five, and my infinite feels smaller than ever.

"I'll just laugh at any man whoever laughs at me when I'm 30 years old and says: 'You were in that band' and I will say: 'Yeah. And I had a sick time mate, so keep laughing'." – Zayn Malik.

New vocabulary!!!!

Hiiiiii!

Here I have the new vocabulary I’ve learnt for the past few weeks:

Flock of birds: A group of birds.

School of fish: Group of fish (Also, funny pun on the film Finding Nemo which I just found out two days ago because I never got it)

Herd of: Group of mammals.

Portray: To make a verbal picture of something.

Hoax: Failure.

Poll: A sampling of opinions on a subject, taken from a group of people, as for analysis.

Coach potatoes: Lazy bums

Ashtray: A receptacle for tobacco ash.

***Also, some vocabulary from the novel “The Phantom of the Opera”

In return: To go or come back, as to an earlier condition or place.

Magnet: A body, as a piece of iron or steel that has the property of attracting certain substances.

Trimmed: Cropped.

NEW WORDS

Hiiiii everyone, in these past weeks I've learnt some words such as, burglar alarm or even the abbreviation ASAP. I've learnt, for example, that:
"Scrumptious" means Delicious
"Burglar alarm" is an alarm that goes off when someone breaks into your house.
"ASAP" means As Soon As Possible.

I've also learnt that trees don't listen when dogs are barking at them, but that's another whole story.

So, you really learn when you are really interested, even more when you are lucky and can count on somebody whose language is the one you want to studied. And I've thought about all the possible ways to learn English, and to learn how to love it as well and this is what I came with:


http://newspaperblackout.com/ (This thing is sick, I'm telling you)

Some books

https://lhsfreshmanforum.wikispaces.com/file/view/13+Reasons+Why.pdf
http://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/literature/books_in_PDF/1904%20Peter%20Pan.pdf
http://thedanyaal.com/library/entertainment/Twilight.pdf

Some songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU9JoFKlaZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFg_8u87zT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIm1GgfRz6M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbJtYqBYCV8


And well these are my tricks pretty much, there are more ways to learn English obviously, but I wouldn't do it in any other way (Regardless of the grammar learnt at school. This is mostly vocabulary and maybe pronunciation)

Love ya.
See ya.
Bye.
Xx.

You make me shiver

They say in life there are two kinds of people.

They say there are good people and bad people, say bad things happen for a reason and everything out there is a consequence of the kind of person you choose to be.

There are three kinds of people: there are good people, bad people and people that aren’t people. And it’s funny, knowing there are three types of people; it’s funny when you feel you know more than anyone else in the world, funny how you can tell in a crowded place which kind of person they are just by looking into their eyes. And it shouldn’t delight you knowing every single story as much as it does, but you don’t care because, well, you don’t really care about anything.

Truth is, there are a lot more “non-people” than you know. They surround you just as any other living person does and you don’t even notice. How could you? You don’t know there are three kinds of people; they’ve always taught you good people are gentle and caring people while bad people can be rough and rude. You’ve never heard about those people who apparently aren’t people at all, well, in fact you’ve had but you can’t remember. They always give you the opportunity to be bad or good, but what happens to all those people that don’t choose –can’t choose- to be bad or good? What about those people who are destined to be the third kind of person? No one has taught them how to be them; they’re too innocent, too lost to keep going. They know nothing about the world, they feel confused and they can never be good enough. They are rejects.

And you might be wondering why me, a good person, knows almost everything about a kind of person that no one has noticed before.

Easy.

Because I fell in love with one.

And you will never notice when you fall for someone, will never know how hard and fast you've fallen until you feel you've touched the bottom of a never ending waterfall. It will start with sneaky touches, the need to touch that someone constantly and feel their warm breath against your cheek will become something essential in your life and then, suddenly, it ends. (It doesn’t, it never does)

I was freezing by the time I arrived in the forest. It was starting to darken out, and the shadows formed by the enormous trees were giving me the creeps. I was walking down a thin path that seemed to come to a stop where the fading lights of the city didn’t get to shine. The more steps I took, the more scared I was, it was completely dark except for the light of the full moon and a weak gleam coming from between the trees. My mobile phone was dying and the only thing illuminating my eyes was weak gleam coming from the deep of the forest; it seemed it was an abandoned house. I couldn’t tell.

I was starting to calm down, my eyes used to the darkness and the city behind my back soon forgotten, when something got my eyes pricking with fresh tears.

A shriek was heard.

Shit

“Boys it’s not funny, I’m scared stiff over here!” I screamed trying to give myself reassurance. The high pitched squeak was heard again, this time closer. My desire of cursing was getting higher by the time. “Stop it!”

There was a dead silence, and then something started shuffling behind the leaves. I closed my eyes hard, prying for this to be a bad dream, when a loud thump brought me back to reality. I shouted at the top of my lungs, and then bit my lip so hard I could feel the blood dripping down my chin. I started crying, hugging my knees to my chest and trying to hide in the wet grass even though all I was doing was getting dirty. I couldn’t care less.

I heard some steps that I was sure weren’t made by my boots; they were getting closer while my mouth was opening and my lungs were getting filled with oxygen, ready to scream. Then, I felt a soft hand harassing my tear-stained cheek, and fluttering my eyelashes I opened my bloodshot eyes in fear.

Standing in front of me there was the most breath-taking boy I’d ever seen. His eyes were spooky red but there was something that made me feel secure, I knew deep in there his eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue that could exist, and his plump lips where bruised and dry while his eyebrows were frowned in the cutest way possible. He had gorgeous brunette hair in a fringe falling wildly in every direction that contrasted with his porcelain cheeks. He was covered in dirt and his shirt was ripped open, showing more purple bruises and cuts, and his arms and wrists were full of cuts (Some of them fresh and other almost fading)

“Are you okay?” He asked concerned, catching all my tears with his thumbs “I’m not going to hurt you, promise”

Instead of answering, I pulled his wrist to my lips and kissed gently all the scars I could see on his arm. “Don’t do that again, yeah?” I whispered softly, afraid of breaking the broken boy. He looked so fragile, so innocent and his eyes were wide and so lost. He was so tiny and I got the need to rock him in my arms and kiss him to sleep. I wasn’t scared anymore, I wasn’t a coward.

My black wings came out and they started glowing.

And in that moment, everything got back into pieces.

A fallen angel fell in love with the broken boy.

“Yeah”

Glossary

Glossary

* Olive skin: Brown skin

* Pedestrian crossing: Zebra crossing

* Living it up: Enjoying life

* Root: The part of a plant that grows underground, gets water from the ground, and holds the plant in place

* Draught: Lack of rain

* Dome: A roof or ceiling that is rounded or in the form of a part of a sphere

* Travel arrangements: The way that things are organized for a particular trip

* Itinerary: A detailed plan for a journey, especially a list of places to visit; plan of travel

* Brochure: Pamphlet

* Baggage: Luggage and carry-on luggage

* Claim: Slogan

Expressions

* That’s hecka cool: Something that’s very cool

* Yo, let’s bail: You (yo), let’s leave (bail)

* Something is so bomb: Very good

* Call someone out: Reveal another’s mistake in front of people

Would you rather…?

People always have a favorite place in the entire world: a city, a park, a monument or even the spot right in the middle of nowhere that it’s just a rocky land yet it always brings you the best memories ever. Everyone is different but so alike at the same time, because even though each one has a favorite place, they all agree on one thing: They have one, that special place that makes your heart swell with adoration and fondness is always present when someone says “Think of somewhere nice”. And I have mine.

My favorite place just happens to be a city –a big city, might I add- and if I could spend my whole live living there, I would. New York is a great city and all of that, the best one if you want to have a crazy night and pretend to fall in love with strangers for just one day, but London is my priority. I can’t even explain why I worship it so much, can’t even think of a single day when I wasn’t in love with the city, and, can anyone fall in love with such a thing as a city? I think you can, because for me, London is the most beautiful and breath-taking thing ever; it makes me feel cozy and secure. I don’t even know why anymore, I just know I love how fresh and new it seems, the green of the trees giving the city a look of comfort and quietness. Maybe it’s the way the shadows cover the streets when the sun goes down that has me enamored, or the way people live so careless, nothing giving them an actual reason to be sad because in this own styled city nothing really matters. I would love to see the sunset from the London Eye, stare at the sky while it turns orange and all of the buildings lose their bright, glassy colors, making beautiful shadows on the streets people with different stories walk through.

And I don’t know why I like London so much I would give literally everything  to be there two hours, but I just know if things worked like that, I sure would.

New school year!

Hi everybody, as you might know we are starting a new year -Our last high school year, hopefully!- and I'm so excited because each year is different and spontaneous, bringing us great surprises and showing us how to be more mature. So in this first post I'm going to talk about different cultural gestures because I think it’s important to understand other people and how they behave, so then we don’t hurt their feelings by offending them with our own traditions.

 Did you know? 

* In America a firm handshake is considerate an heterosexual act and indicates self-confidence, but if you give a limp handshake it can be interpreted as a sign of weakness or homosexuality. However, in Africa a limp handshake is the correct way to do it.

Also

* Shaking the head in an horizontal direction in most countries means “no”  while in India means “yes”.

Glossary

GLOSSARY UNIT 9 & 10

Freight: Commercial transport that is slower and cheaper than express.

Capital flows: The movement of money for the purpose of investment, trade or business production.  

Exports: Goods or services sold to a foreign country or countries.

Imports: Goods or services that are bought from foreign countries.

Balance of trade: The difference between a country's imports and its exports.

Balance of payments: A statement that summarizes an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world for a specified time period.

Retail: The sale of goods individually or in small quantities to consumers.

Wholesale: The business of selling goods to retailers in larger quantities than they are sold to final consumers but in smaller quantities than they are purchased from manufacturers.

Trade bloc: A set of countries which engage in international trade together, and are usually related through a free trade agreement or other association.

Transport network: The complete system of the routes pertaining to all means of transport available in a particular area, made up of the network particular to each means of transport.

Market: An event or occasion usually held at regular intervals, at which people meet for the purpose of buying and selling merchandise.

Infrastructure: The stock of fixed capital equipment in a country, including factories, roads, schools, etc, considered as a determinant of economic growth.

Trade: The act or an instance of buying and selling goods and services either on the domestic markets or on the international markets.

Bartering: To trade in exchange for other goods, services, etc, rather than for money.

Tourism: Tourist travel and the services connected with it, esp when regarded as an industry.

Public services: A service performed for the benefit of the public, especially by a nonprofit organization.

Private services: Intellectual or manual work performed by a service provider in serving a customer.

Cereals: Any grass that produces an edible grain, such as oat, rye, wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, and millet.

Mortgage: An agreement under which a person borrows money to buy property and the lender may take possession of the property if the borrower fails to repay the money.

Speculation: Investment involving high risk but also the possibility of high profits.

Crop: The produce of cultivated plants, vegetables, and fruit.

Agricultural landscape: An agricultural place or society is one in which agriculture is important or highly developed. 

Cultural heritage: Expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values.  

Domestic tourism: Domestic tourism is the type of tourism where people visit tourist site within their own country.  

Large-scale tourism: A big amount of tourism.

Tour operators: A person or company that provides package holidays.

High-speed rail: A type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks.

Peak season: Time of the year during which demand is highest.

Off-peak season: Not in the period of most frequent or heaviest use.

 Recession: A temporary depression in economic activity or prosperity.

Volleyball

GLOSSARY

Glossary

Mechanization: To equip (a factory, industry, etc) with machinery.

Mining: The act, process, or industry of extracting coal, ores, etc, from the earth.

Mineral: Any of a class of naturally occurring solid inorganic substances with a characteristic crystalline form and a homogeneous chemical composition.

Fossil fuels: A hydrocarbon deposit, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas, derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel.

Industry: Organized economic activity concerned with manufacture, extraction and processing of raw materials, or construction.

Irrigated farming: The artificial application of water to land to assist in the production of crops.

Energy: A source of power.

Biomass: The total number of living organisms in a given area, expressed in terms of living or dry weight per unit area.

Management: The members of the executive or administration of an organization or business.

Workforce: The total number of workers employed by a company on a specific job, project, etc.

Wind turbine: A machine that converts wind energy to mechanical energy; typically connected to a generator to produce electricity.

Solar panel: A panel exposed to radiation from the sun, used to heat water or, when mounted with solar cells, to produce electricity direct, for powering instruments in satellites.

Renewable energy: Any naturally occurring, theoretically inexhaustible source of energy, as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave, and hydroelectric power, that is not derived from fossil or nuclear fuel.

Non-renewable energy: An energy resource that is not replaced or is replaced only very slowly by natural processes.

Alternative energy: Energy, as solar, wind, or nuclear energy, that can replace or supplement traditional fossil-fuel sources, as coal, oil, and natural gas.

Dam: A barrier of concrete, earth, etc, built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply, etc.

Heavy industry: Relates to a type of business that typically carries a high capital cost (capital-intensive), high barriers to entry and low transportability.

Light industry: A section of an economy's secondary industry characterized by less capital-intensive and more labor-intensive operations.

Cutting-edge industries: Technological devices, techniques or achievements that employ the most current and high-level IT developments; in other words, technology at the frontiers of knowledge.  

Craftsperson: A person who makes beautiful objects by hand.