ANDORRA 2011

Last February, Castelló’s PIJ (punt d’informacií juvenil) organized a travel to Andorra for two days.

We left Castelló at 6 o’clock in the morning and we traveled by bus during four or five hours. In the bus I sat with my friends, because I didn’t go alone to that travel, I went with Elvira, Lydia, Oliver, Sandra, Miqui and Maria. The travel was very funny.

When we arrived to Andorra we began to get dressing with our snow clothes. By the way, I have to say that that winter every one of us wore the typical Decathlon jacket, but this year almost everybody of my group have bought new brand clothes. I have bought a Special Blend jacket and a Burton snow pants. Continuing the story, the bus left us next to the sky station and when we arrived we went directly to do our first skiing.

We spent all day skiing, we only stop for thirty minutes to have lunch. At five o’clock the sky station had to be closed so we went to the bus more or les at 4:30h.

We went to a hostel called Aina and there we choose our room and our beds. They were rooms of six beds!

That afternoon we went to walk through Andorra la Vella. We visited snow shops to bay some clothes but finally I only bought an orange snow glasses (very cools!). We came back to the hostel to sleep, but nobody slept a lot that night. Maria brought a cake but we weren’t hungry so she ate ALL the cake (incredible).

Next day we went to practice skiing another time. That was the last day of skiing ot that winter so we wanted to enjoy the day. We started the day calm and we finished it in the snowpark very exited.

Finally we came back home also by bus. Nobody wanted to leave Andorra but, the show must go on!

Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in Barcelona

Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner will open the Spanish premiere of Amanecer part 1.

On Thursday 17^th of November Pattinson and Lautner will be in Barcelona to open the Spanish premiere of Amanecer part 1. Edward and Jacob, in the film, won’t do they relax day to go to this premiere because Antena 3, the Spanish TV channel, is one of the sponsors of the film.

This day a lot of crazy teenager girls went to Barcelona only to watch the two actors for five minutes. Crepuscolo’s saga has caused an international impact, especially in teenagers, with the story of Bella, the vampire Edwuard and the wolf Jacob.

I admit loving this saga and I have watched all its films in the cinema with my friends, the last one included. BUT, I’m not enough crazy to go to Barcelona only to watch these two good-looking guys.

2nd BATXILLERAT STRESS

This year is the most difficult year in the High school. And some people who are at the university have said to me that 2^nd batxilleat is harder than their degree.

At this moment we are in de middle of the exams week, with very difficult units of all the subjects. Unfortunately, that's not the end of it. We have to give our research project on 14^th of December. It is a very long and important work and it is necessary to pass batxillerat.

If you ask any 2^nd batxillerat person, everybody will tell you they are stressed.

I know it’s normal, but we finished the week exhausted and we need the weekend to have a rest, but WE CAN’T DO IT! At the weekend we also have homework.

I agree that teachers have to put homework but they have to think that we have got ten subjects and we can’t do the homework of all the subjects, is impossible!

I dream every night with about the day we will give or research project, I need this day to arrive NOW!

But this project isn’t the only stressful thing. We will have the selectivitat exams at the end of the course and we need to pass them to go to the university and do the degree that we want. For example, maybe I will study Biotechnology, and to do that I will need a 10 or a 10’5 in selectivitat. It’s a very high level!

We’re a little bit scared because teachers are always saying this word: SELECTIVITAT. They don’t stop repeating it and it’s stressful.

Rowing

I have playing volleyball all my life, but this summer I didn’t work and I decided to try rowing. A lot of friends are in the rowing team of Empuriabrava and they said to me if I could help her because Lydia had to work and she couldn’t go to some races.

At first I was very nervous because I had never rowed but with two or three weeks of training I was ready to the races.

My first race was in Flix (South Catalonia). It was a river with a lot of current and it was difficult but finally we finished in the second position. That was very good for my first race!

The second one was in Deltebre (also in South Catalonia). This time we finished in the first position. It was very important to win because if we won, we could win the league. Winnig this race we placed ourselves in the second position of the league and the first team only had one point more than us.

THE FINAL.

Our league was very interesting because in the last race two teams could win the title. This time I was very very very nervous because to row isn’t like volleyball. In volleyball if you lose a point you can recuperate it and the matches last about two hours. But rowing is defferent. You only have five minutes to demostrate you level and if you do a mistake is difficult to overcome.

But everything finished well. We won the race and the league. It was incredible! I only had rowed for two months and I was the league’s winner!

Series

I’m a girl who loves watching TV. I don’t spend time in the computer, I prefer TV. I watch many series, sometimes in the TV and sometimes with the computer, in seriesyonkis.com.

In TV I watch series like: El Barco, Crakovia, Polonia, APM?, Castle, Bones, House...

But when a serie disapears of TV i have to watch it with the computer. For example Gossip Girl. It’s my favourite serie.

Gossip Girl is about five guys of about twenty years old. They are rich people of New York. The serie have five seasons (the five one has begun this September) and every season is interesting. It’s incredible how the scriptwriters can imagine new problems and new love stories.

My favourite acress is Blair Waldorf. She is the typical girl that NEVER would stay in the same place than a poor person. I don’t identified myself with her, but I like how she acts.

Then my favourite actor. Chuck Bass. He is arrogant, sex addict, alcoholic... His destiny is to be with Blaire but when they are together always appears a problem.

I think Gossip Girl is a typical teenager serie but, I’M A TEENAGER!

Oral presentation

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns.

Plastic surgery, as a specialty, evolved remarkably during the middle of 20th century in the United States.

Before plastic surgery only was used to reconstructive the soldiers’ hurts from the World War

High quality in Spain.

A full face and neck lift procedure costs £4,750* € 5500in Spain, which includes a luxury private room for two nights. Compare this price with the UK where the surgery can cost between £7,000 and £12,000. 13900€ Breast augmentation in the Costa Del Sol in Spain can cost as little as £2,040**.

There are many countries which offer packs to make operations in Spain. It consist in a night in the Hotel, the operation and the flight.

Specially in England a lot of travell agencies sell this tipe of trips and they have a lot of demand.

With increased media attention on beauty and perfection, celebrities and those alike are turning to plastic surgery more and more.

Cat woman spent over $83,000 for 14 surgeries.

Researchers believe that plastic surgery obsession is linked to psychological disorders

In some cases, people whose doctors refuse to perform any further surgeries, have turned to "do it yourself" plastic surgery, injecting themselves and running extreme safety risks.

SURVEY:

• Do you know what plastic surgery is?

Everybody knows what it is because it’s a current affair.

• Which part of your body you don’t like?

The most disliked parts of the body are the nose and spare tire (what means that a person is a little bit fat).

• Have you ever think about operate it?

People opinion was divided; nearly the half of them would operate these parts of the body which they don’t like. But all of them share that they only would do one operation.

• How much do you think cost a breast operation?

Nearly nobody knew it. The majority thought that it was more expensive.

• Do you think Spanish plastic surgery is good compared with the other countries surgery?

People think that Spanish surgery isn’t good because of the current crisis Spain doesn’t have a good image in any aspects (economic, health, etc.). All of them were wrong.

• In your opinion, is necessary to be operated to be famous?

People opinions were that celebrities are under pressure because there always arrive younger people to Hollywood and If they want to continue being in the business they have to look like a 20 years old girl.

That’s our oral presentation, do you have any questions?

Self evaluation:

In my opinion our oral presentation is good. First: the power point. It has got big images and it isn't full of letter. Maybe we could have included a video or something similar.

Second: I think, Lydia and I hadn't got problems to speak in English, it's easy to understand and although we were nervous our voice seemed secure. Lydia has got a better pronunciation than me but I think people hadn't got problems to understand me.

Also, we didn't read. Maybe some difficult words but in my opinion we knew our text very well.

Third: the content. I think the content was good because we tried to talk about current topic. With the examples of operated women I think we have interacted with the public and that's good!

I can't put me a mark, I think the teacher and the other students have to do it, not me.

FCBarcelona - Saragossa

FC Barcelona wins against Saragossa 4-0 in Camp Nou.

Saturday 19th FC Barcelona played against Saragossa in Camp Nou (Barcelona).

The match started very well because at minute 18 Gerard Piqué scored with his head after a corner. Barça always had the ball controlled and Saragossa hardly ever did a move. This is the typical system of FC Barcelona, to control the ball in every moment.

Before the first part finished Leo Messi scored another goal to calm Barça’s players. With this goal it was difficult that Saragossa would equal the scoreboard.

The second part of the match was similar to the first one. Barça also controlled the ball. Then Carles Puyol scored a goal also after a corner. It’s strange because Barça doesn’t do many goals after a corner or a fault and in this match it scored two. Finally, to do the scoreboard more perfect, David Villa, who this year has scored few goals, scored the last goal with his head and thanks to Isaac Cuenca.

It’s remarkable the good match that Cesc Fabregas did. He didn’t score any goal but he tried it a lot of times and thanks to him Barça had many goal occasions.

It’s a pity that Real Madrid also won against Valencia.

Spain election

Spain election: Rajoy's Popular Party predicted to win

In Spain there are two principal political parties: PP (Partido Popular) and PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español). PP is the right party and PSOE is the left one.

Last eight years PSOE has governed but today there is the general election and all the surveys predict that PP is going to win this time.

People are angry with PSOE because the Spain crisi started when they were at the government and people blame them.In my opinion, PP will governt well in the economic sector, but I’m from Catalonia and everybody knows that PP doesn’t like Catalonia because a lot of people want to be independent (me included).

From my point of view, PP has arrived to the government in a very bad situation and I’m sure that it will try to solve it but this crisi will last a lot of years. People will vote PP only because they are angry with PSOE but I’m not sure PP will solve our problem.

Is a pity that PP only wins because PSEO has act wrong. Possibly Catalonia will suffer some injustices.

But it’s only my opinion, people can think what they want.

Opinion essay

CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT HUMOUR?

As I see it, humour is very important in our lives. Jokes and smiles make the life less boring.

In my opinion, if humour didn’t exist, we would do our work worse. Being concentrated is important, but have a little time to relax and laugh at some jokes is also necessary.

I would like to say that humour is essential when you are with your friends too. Why have you got friends if we don’t have a good time with humour with them?

To sum up, I think a serious life is not a life. People have to look for the funny part of the life and live it with the biggest number of friends they can.

So, if you can, relax, take it easy, and laugh!

My dreams

DREAMS.

I hardly ever think about my future, maybe because I think that if something has to happen, it will happen. I believe in the destiny.

But don’t think about the future doesn’t mean that I don’t have dreams. If it’s possible, in a near future I would like to pass my studies and selectivitat exams. I want desperately to go to Barcelona and live there. I know I will have to study a lot because a degree is very difficult but I think I will have time to enjoy the university life.

Finally, if I have to think in a dream of my distant future it would be that I want to travel a lot and visit all the countries I can. I have visited some countries but I have never gone to an exotic one. If I had a stable job, the first country I would visit is India or I would do a trip across Africa.

Dialouge

That's the informal dialogue that Elvira, Lydia and I made about plastic surgery.

N - I want a new nose.

Dr Elviro - How do you want it?

L - Wait! Wait! Can’t you see that you don’t need it?

Dr Elviro - Chill out girl! Why do you want a new nose?

N – It’s obvious! It destroys my face. Because of it I can’t get a job, a boyfriend…

L – Shut up!

Doctor, you can see she’s obsessed, can't you?

Dr Elviro – Maybe she is, but this type of operations can change people’s lives.

N - Please, please, please… I nearly dropped out of my job as a journalist cause I am ashamed be on TV with IT in the middle of the face.

Dr Elviro – Oh! You work on TV? You must have a good image to do it. I’ve operated a lot of people who work there.

L – OMG!!! You only want her cash. You are a fucking corrupt!

N – He’s right Lydia, my nose is horrible! GET OUT! He understands me better! You aren’t my friend.

L – It’s your life and it’s your nose. But remember that he who laughs last laughs best!

Dr Elviro – She’s crazy. I can so that you can get what do you want. C’mon, go to see this nose… And your boobs…

N – Yep! Can you see it? What do you think?...

Joke

One day Mickey said to Minnie:

- Minnie, I want to divorce.

Then Minnie said:

- Mickey! Are you fucking crazy?

And he answered:

- No, I'm not fucking crazy.. is just that I'm just fucking Daisy.

My teachers

In this post I'm going to talk about my 2nd Batx teachers.

- Miquel Angel is my Maths teacher. He is very very very tall. I know his height doesn't import but it is a funny characteristic of him because when you are walking in the corridor and he is in the staff room he ALWAYS arrives to the class before you. He walks quickly because of his long legs.
He is a good teacher but sometimes he explains things too quickly and it isn't easy to understand. But the good part is that if you have a problem or if you don't understand something he explain it only to you.

- Santi is my Catalan teacher. He is very funny because for example sometimes we are in class and he is teaching us the hiatus or diphthongs and he begins to talk about computer games. Nobody says nothing and he began to talk about it, it's incredible!
I like Santi because he teaches us very well and with him you understand everything.

- Sonia is my English teacher. She is always laughing and with her jokes and videos classes become funnier. It’s important to say that EVERYBODY LOVE HER PERFUME!

I like that she always worries about whether we have so much work of other subjects and makes our lives easier.

- Mario is my Spanish teacher. He is very friendly but we always have de same problem. We only do two hours of Spanish in the week and he always says that we don’t have enough time and we have to pay attention. But, to say it he spends fifteen minutes!

But, I have to say that he prepares us very well for Selectivitat.

By the way, he always wears a plaid shirt!

Film

A Clockwork Orange

I saw this film for the first time when I was six years old aproximatelly with my brother.
The film starts with a scene where a group of boys began to hit an old beggar in the middle of the street. And then, the next scene was ina theater. Three guys where rapping an actress.
I couldn't put up with these scenes and I left my brother alone seeing the film.

Two weeks ago I decided to try to watch it again. I saw the whole film without problems. Now I see how I've matured with the years.

It's a very violent film. There are a lot of violence against old people and women. I don't recomend this film to people that don't like these type of films with a lot of violence.

Plot:
Three guys form a little gang and they always get into trubbles with innocent people or their family. One day, the leader was stealing in a rich house and his friends were guarding the place. Suddenly the police arrived and the leader's friends escaped.
Police took the leader to the prision and there some scientists prove wih him a new method to control the violence.
At the end of the film you see how the leader has rehabilitated himself, and he can't do any violent action although he wants do it.

Simon

Aiiii Simon!!

Simon is one of my classmates this year. Last year he went to another class because he studies social batxillerat and I study the scientific one, but this year the two types of batxillerat go to the same class.

I met him in Primary School but I began to talk with him in the high school. Every year of high school we have gone to the same class. I remember that I sat next to him many times.

Simon is a very nice boy. He’s always joking and laughing, I always have a good time when I’m with him.

What can I say of him..?

Simon has got a girlfriend who studies in another high school and, when I met her I saw that she’s a very nice girl too. He loves her a lot.

This was Simon’s romantic part; the other part is Simon in a party…

He drinks a lot, mostly beer. I’ve seen him drunk a lot of times!

Of course, I’m not criticizing him, I also drink and I had got my bad nights too.

I remember we went on a camping during three days with our other friends. It was incredible; I think I will always remember these days.

Simon is a good student. In first of batxillerat he failed one subject, Spanish, but he had not got problems to pass the other subjects. Always there is a subject that is very difficult and, in his case, it was Spanish.

Finally, I have to say that I love him, and I don’t want him ever to change.

Final reflection

Final evaluation of 1st Batxillerat. Answer these

questions:

• Observing your SPACE, can you see an improvement onyour level of English since September 2009? Where, forexample?

Yes, of course. Two years ago I was more immature and you can see it reading my posts. I talked about other kind of things and news. Now, I recognise I’m not very mature but I’m more mature than before.
Also, my older posts are shorter than new ones.

• Which activity best shows your level of English?

I think I’m better at readings and writings and worse at listenings and oral tasks.

• Which activities were really USEFUL for you to improve

your English? Why?

For improve my English I think I need more oral tasks (although I hate it) or listenings because people need to understand people talking in English. Know what is saying and English person is more important than know a lot of gramatic.

• Which activities did you not find useful to learn English?

Why not?

I’m sorry but I think the blog isn’t too much useful. Do writings is good but in the blogs we do too many writings. I also think that watch a film in English isn’t useful because people (me included) are reading the subtitles and, if the film doesn’t have subtitles we don’t undersnat nothing and we watch it at home and in Spanish.

• Which activities did you enjoy doing and would like to do

again next year?

For example I’ve enjoyed doing games and speaking English, or I also have liked to do the book’s exercices. I don’t know why, I like do it.

Barça has won the Champions League (again)

NEW: "Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola made only one false move before his team snatched the Champions League trophy with a dominating 3-1 victory over Manchester United on Saturday.

Guardiola’s preparation and execution for the biggest soccer game of the year were perfect, and the performance of his superstars was enough to blow away English Premier League champion United at Wembley Stadium in London."

FC Barcelona has won the Champions League again. It has won it twice in only three years, it’s incredible.

Now, Barça has its fourth Champions’ cup and I’m sure that the players want more cups and next year they will make an effort to win it again.

It isn’t the only title that they had won. They also have won the Spanish League, the BBVA’s League. And in the second position there is Real Madrid.

They celebrated these two titles with their fans in Camp Nou. I have friends that have gone to the celebration and they said it was amazing. It’s a shame that I live so far. Sometimes I’d like to live in Barcelona to go to New Camp more times to see Barça’s players. I’ve never seen Messi without a TV in the middle, it can’t be possible!

Informal letter

2, Bridge Street

Castelló d’Empúries

Girona

9th April 2011

Dear Sandra,

Thanks for you letter. Sorry I haven’t written to you for so long but I have been very busy here in Castelló. In the last few days we’ve had the final exams so I had to study a lot, but I passed all the exams (I think) so the effort was worth it. Well, this summer I’m going camping with my parents and I want to know if you would come with us.

The camping is great! I have gone there many times and I always have enjoyed it. There are two swimming pools, a football pitch and there is also a volleyball net so if we want we can play volleyball, it’s perfect for us! It’s a quiet and beautiful place and people there are very friendly and funny.

There you are surrounded by nature and all you see is green. There are a lot of mountains surrounding the camping and when you climb them you can see impressive views. You can try some adventurous activities too, like riding a horse or shoot archery. Everything is very funny there so you’ll never get bored.

One more thing – the weather is good but at nights the temperature drops a bit so you must take one jumper.

Keep in touch.

Love,

Núria

P.S. The name of the camping is ‘Camping Pardines’. You can search for some information and photos in the internet.

Opinion Essay

We have almost learnt to respect our world.

I agree with the idea that we have almost learnt to respect the world. In my opinion, society as a whole is aware and now takes more seriously the problem we have with the Earth.

It seems to me that not long ago people didn’t know anything about the pollution and its effects. They only wanted to earn money with their factories and, if the way to earn money wasn’t good for the planet, it wasn’t important. But now a lot of people are aware and they are concerned, I think they are ready to act.

I also believe that politicians have an enormous responsibility. If they don’t act, who is going to do this? People have to make the Government see that the pollution and its effects are a big problem that must be solved.

In conclusion, I would say that if we don’t do anything, we will live happily and carelessly, but the next generations won’t think like us. The next generations might die because of us. We mustn’t act for us, we have to do it for the next generations.

Oral Presentation

Arabic world: Revolution Civil war Sustained civil disorder and governmental changes Protests and governmental changes Major protests Minor protests Nothing )

REBELION IN TUNISIA

This rebellion was the first. After that a lot of countries began to do their others rebelions.

The rebelion began thanks to facebook. A boy made an event where people knew that it would be a demonstration in Tunisia. Almost everybody uses facebook so a lot of people went to the demonstrate.

They protested against the government and they wanted to dismiss their president, Ben Ali. People slept on the floor a lot of days. Anybody could remove them from the square. It was amazing! Protests lasted three weeks more or less. Then Ben Ali left Tunisia.

An important thing is that journalists couldn't leave the country and mosts of them tried to follow the Tunisia news and show them to us, but it was difficult because the government didn't allow it.

Now, the army is ruling, and Tunisia'll become a democracy.

Conclusions

These countries seem modern, but they aren’t. There are very traditional countries and they don’t accept many modern things. Young people tries to avoid this.

Friends

Sandra

I met her when I was seven or eight years old. Our brothers have the same ages and I met Sandra because our brothers were friends. Sandra and I live in the same neighborhood and in this neighborhood there is a park. I met her in that park. I went with my brother to the park and there were Sandra and her brother. Our brothers began to play football together so Sandra and I began to play with the dolls together. Since then we have been best friends.

ANDREA

I met Andrea because she was a Sandra's friend. When we were doing Primary School I didn't meet her but when we started the high school we went to the same class. We became friends but I didn't talk a lot with her. It was in the second course when our teacher said that I will sit next to Andrea. During the course I sat next to Andrea. It was a fantastic course! Andrea and I became best friends because we laughed a lot in classes and we did a lot of silly things.

Podcast

Polly: Oh, sorry I didn’t realize… Well, I’m sorry to disturb, it will be better If I go home.

Tania: (shouting to Polly) : Wait, come here! (speaking to Jamie) : what has happened with her?

Jamie: what are you saying, she is only my friend!

Polly: so, last night it didn’t seem so.

Tania: Jamie, you are a liar! I never thought that you could do a thing like this…

Polly: But, what’s going on?

Jamie: No, nothing don’t listen to her, she’s crazy.

Tania: Crazy? How can you say that to your girlfriend?

Polly: girlfriend? Jaime, you told me that you were single.

Jamie: Well, Tania and I had argued and I was angry with her. And when I saw you last night, all my problems disappeared. I wanted to forget everything for a while and you made me feel good.

Tania: (to Jamie) Okay, I have understood. And you, Polly, enjoy him, but now you know the way he is. Be careful. (Tania slapped

Jamie, and went to the door). Fuck you!

Polly: Jamie, are you OK? She is completely crazy!

A film I like.

The film is about the first generation of mutants. Charles Xavier and Magneto are still young and they form a group of mutants that fight against Sebastian Shaw (another mutant who wants to kill all the humanity because he thinks people will kill them in the future). The two groups of mutants fight in the middle of the almost Third World War in Cuba Island. Finally, Charles and Magneto’s group kill Sebastian, but the film doesn’t have a good end because Magneto leaves the group.

Opinion:

I liked a lot this film. I a little bit freak and I like all these type of films (X-men, Stars Wars, Harry Potter, The lord of the Rings…).

I went to the cinema to see it and I suppose that the special effects are better than if I had seen the film in my house, but it was great!

I have to say that it isn’t the best film of X-men saga because in my opinion, the best film is the third one.

I also have seen that the film has some mistakes, but they aren’t important.

The comming of summer

At last summer has arrived. Well, it isn’t summer now, but because of the weather it seems that it’s summer.

I only have three more weeks of high school, but in the two final ones I have an exam every day. This is a “shit” but when I’ll finish these weeks I’ll be free! Summes, summer, summer, I need it!

I don’t know what I’m going to do then, maybe I’ll watch TV the whole day, but I won’t need to study.

The bad thing is the reserch project, I have to do it on summer and if I want a good mark I’ll have to work hard, but I’ll have a lot of days to do it. Anything will destroy my summer.

I would like to work these holidays, but I know it won’t be possible. I’m only sixteen and supermarkes or shops want older people. I want money to buy new snowboard clothes, and they are very expensive so I need a lot of money.

Well, maybe I’ll work with my aunt, but it’s not sure. It’s difficult to find work in these days...

But if I don’t get a job, it won’t be the end of teh world. I will buy the clothes the next year.