FORMAL LETTER

MY GAP YEAR

I FEEL SO LITTLE IN THIS BIG WORLD

I’m on that point in life that I don’t know what to do anymore. I got tired of everything and what is worst: I don’t know what I should do to change it.

I feel sad, lost and little in this big world and all this makes me feel useless and the result are tears in my eyes. Weep makes me feel better, is the way I get something out my chest and when I stop crying I clean my eyes and I force a smile in my face only because I need to accept reality.

I never talk about this, only one person knows about that depression I feel sometimes but I don’t want to tell details because no one understands my mind and I don’t want to scary them. Well, this may sound as if I want to kill people or something like that but what I feel is not that heavy.  

We can say that my thoughts are quite philosophical. They are about universe, reality, truth, existence, liberty and other things that worry me. I always had lots of questions and I tried many times to solve them but the answers scare me a lot.

This year in batxillerat we started learning philosophy and I realize my questions were questioned by many others philosophers. One of them was Descartes and I felt very identified with this personage. Well, I don’t really like philosophy and my grades are not so good but is a subject that interests me.

You may think this is nonsense but I don’t care. I have lots of thoughts and I don’t know how to organize them, which one is good and which one is bad. After all, no one knows what’s right and what’s wrong.

'BLUE WHALE' GAME

Are teenagers killing themselves in Russia as part of a social media game?

There is a game played online across Russia that instructs people to commit suicide.

The game involves teen completing daily tasks for 50 days and on the 50^th day, they have to kill themselves to win the game.

The problem with the game came up after a high rate of suicides in Russia.

The game is called Blue Whale as a reference to the way some blue whales commit suicide getting into the beach.

Yulia Konstantinova, 15, and Veronika Volkova, 16, fell from the roof of a block of flats in Irkutsk and one of them had posted a picture of a blue whale on her social media account the same day of her death.

Another girl, Ekaterina, 13, was critically injured after falling from a fifth-floor flat in Krasnoyarsk.

Authorities have opened criminal cases looking into the influence of the game, but it wasn’t mentioned.

A Russian media has linked 130 suicides to the game, in fact, there aren’t official data that links any one death to the Blue Whale Game.

Nevertheless, the Blue Whale Game exists and is popular in Vkontakte, a social networking site popular among Russians.

The game includes self-harming, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours. Reporters crated a fake profile and one of the administrators asked to cut “F58” into their arm. The conversation finished after the reporter sent a photoshopped image.

References to the game are now appearing on other sites more popular like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

It seems unreal, how people can commit suicide only because a game. Is not the first time I heard about how teens kill themselves only because a reference. There appear a very popular series called 13 Reasons Why that’s about a teenager who commits suicide and after then, there are cases of suicide between teens.

I read somewhere that the proposal of this game is “clean the society”. The creator of the Blue Whale Game said once that the game’s goal is to makes people who “don’t deserve to life” commit suicide. He said that only mad people will take his life over and those people do not deserve life. This seems to me a very tragically phenomenon. 

THE MOST SPECTACULAR PLACES OF THE WORLD

Our world is full of beauty and I found all those places I think are awesome. I will start with the best ones for me:

Fly Geyser, Nevada

It isn’t a natural geyser but is a rainbow geologic wonder. In 1964, after a searching on geothermal energy, the place didn’t closed and the liquefied minerals got accumulated creating forms with many colours.

Great Blue Hole, Belize

It’s a large underwater sinkhole. The hole is circular and is 125 meters deep. The Great Blue Hole is the best place to do underwater activities and it’s said that the deeper you go, the water become clearer.

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

These lakes are located in the biggest National Park of Croatia. The most beautiful thing of these lakes is that form waterfalls between them, making a paradise. There are 16 lakes can be explored by boat or by feet, crossing the walkway witch connects the path of the park.

The Door to Hell of Darvaza, Turkmenistan

In 1970, soviet geologists were searching gas there and the floor sank leaving a hole of 20 meters deep. For not to let the harmful gases evaporate, the scientists set fire to this gas-filled cave. 40 years later, the crater is still burning like a real door to hell, hence the name.

Bryce Canyon, Utah, United States

The Bryce Canyon is situated between 2.400 and 2.700 meters up. The formation has a pyramidal shape and receives the name of “Hoodoos”.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

The Salar de Uyuni is the biggest salt desert of the world, with a surface of 10.000 m^2­. It was part of the prehistoric salt lake (Lago Minchín) witch once covered most of the southwest of Bolivia.

Pamukkale Thermal Pools, Turkey

“Pamukkale” in Turkey means “Cotton Castle”. Thousand years ago, lots of earthquakes were hitting Asia Minor and, as result, the rocks were moved and broken so the underground waters were released on the surface. Over two million of tourists come to this place annually. Pamukkale is the second most visited attraction in Turkey.

Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand

Some look like eggs from dinosaurs, others are hollow inside and some measure up to 2 meters. Scientists explain the boulders were formed about 65 million years ago and according a Maori legend, the boulders are rests of the fishing, pumpkins and potatoes that arrived at the coast after the shipwreck of the Araiteuru canoe.

Reed Flute Cave, Guangxi, China

This is a natural cave of limestone with multicolored lighting. It’s over 180 million years old and was forgotten during miles of years until 1.940, by a group of Japanese refugees.

BREAST CANCER

Julian Rios Cantu, a 18th Mexican teenager, has invented a bra to detect breast cancer.

The Eva bra is only a prototype made by him and three friends but they raised enough money to start the tests, on one hand, thank to Higia Technologies, the company which develop their idea.

Could this bra detect breast cancer?

How would it work?

The biosensors in the bra would measure temperatures and log them and alert the user to any considerable changes. Women would need to wear the bra during 60-90 minutes a week to get precise measurements.

Will it work?

There would need to be medical trials before recommending it as a way to find cancer. In fact, the sensors measure the increase of the blood flow and it isn’t necessarily a marker of cancer.

Is very important a rigorous testing, to make sure innovations will benefit patients and not the opposite.

First signs of breast cancer:

- Lumps in the chest or armpit area

- A change in the size, shape or feel of a breast

- Fluid leaking from the nipple

- Pain in the chest

Julian invented this bra because her mother nearly died after her breast cancer was not detected early.

This prototype of bra would be effective because finding breast cancer early can make a real difference to the way of surviving the disease. The breast cancer is very common in women and this will probably get a descent of the harmed.

"MENTAL SUPERPOWERS"

The most promising route to "mental superpowers"

We always try different strategies for dealing with our feelings and emotions, and those strategies often work.

The new technique known as “real-time fMRI” is for see in real time what is happening inside our brain when we experience sensations as pain, anxiety, depression, fear and pleasure.

The technique consists of receiving stimulus about our brain activity and we can learn to consciously control our emotions, with that, we can learn to strengthen control over the mind.

The first demonstration of the successful tool came in 2005, where researchers taught people how to control pain. Eight people were subjected to a painful hot sensation on their skin. The researchers showed them a virtual flame to active the brain region involved in pain processing and the participants swiftly learned to control the size of the flame. They reduced their pain over 50%.

A recent study showed that the training could fight obesity. Overweight mans learned to control areas involved in executive functioning and improved self-control and led to healthier food.

Another study published this year found how adolescents could decrease ADHD symptoms and improve sustained attention. Other recent studies have found that the training can be use to treat PTSD in war veterans, depression, anxiety, cigarette addiction.

And a study at the University of Texas showed how to regulate levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which could be used to treat Parkinson.

This is a clearly demonstration of the many uses of technology, but how effective can it be in long term? So, all this technique requires expensive equipment at the moment, but, over time the equipment will become cheaper, smaller and more accessible. And, who knows, it can be more useful than we think. 

LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE

There are many ways to love. And I truly think love is something hard to get but when you get it is the most beautiful thing you can feel. So, if you had the chance, keep it in your heart and strive yourself not to lose it. Love is sacrifice. It’s a desire to take care of another person, putting their needs before yours, is accept the imperfections and deal with the problems that will come up.

If you had asked my opinion about love three months before I’m sure I would not have answered the same as now. Today, I can say I’m plenty in love with my boyfriend, who’s called Oriol. I knew him thank a friend of both and we met for first time on 15^th January of this year. And you may think this is so hasty but I’m so sure I want him for many time ahead. I had never loved someone as much as I love him, besides, he is my first true love.

I don’t know if love makes people be better or what. What I realised is that my grades are better than before and I feel more happy than ever. Love is something great if you find the correct person.

In my opinion, the most important thing in a relationship is respect. When the couple respects each other the relation can be longer. To me, love is accepting the other person as they are, who the other person really is, without trying to change it.

Nowadays relationships are so complicated but ours is perfect. Our relationship is simple, it’s light. I don’t need more but him. I would never be able of hurt him. I will always respect him, support him and miss him. And, above all, I will be there for him both in good and in bad. I just need to complement who I am with him. 

"The paradox of love is to be oneself, without ceasing to be two."