Rite Of Passage

My Favourite TV Series

TEEN WOLF

This Tuesday started a new season of my favourite TV series. I was very exited because this will be the last season of Teen Wolf and I’m very curious about what will happen. The last season was great and I hope this one will be better and don’t disappoint me. 

In general I watch a lot of series, in English, obviously. My favourite ones are Teen Wolf, Breaking Bad (which talks about chemistry) and Game of Thrones (I don’t know how to start to explain what is about). I also watch Quantico (about FBI and CIA) and Orphan Black (is about clonings).

Teen Wolf is about werewolves and others supernatural creatures; I started watching the series the 2013 when I was in 2nd of ESO. Actually, I’m still in love with this series.

I saw in the trailer of this season things I was no expecting to see, like Stiles’ new girlfriend or the appearance of Derek. In general all the season 6 is about Stiles, my favourite character and also the most wonderful boy I had never seen. He is very amusing and he’s also very smart at everything.

So, this season is about REMEMBER: A supernatural creature appears and takes everyone who can see it with him. Stiles is one of them and everyone who had known him will forget him completely and he will disappear forever. 

I’m very impatient about what will happen this season and I hope they don’t leave me with the intrigue.  

Technology

Paper bike helmet wins Dyson award

Isis Shiffer is the designer of the EcoHelmet: a recyclable, folding cycling helmet made of paper that has won a James Dyson Award. This project is made for people who use bikes and may not always have a helmet with them.

The idea of a bike helmet appeared when she was exploring new cities. She hadn’t a helmet with her and she didn’t want to spend money buying one.

She wants to design a cheap helmet made of recyclable materials that would cost less than $5.

The structure of the helmet is like a honeycomb (for protecting the head of the impact), it is also very solid and is coated with a material that makes it rain resistant (for between 3 or 4 hours). The plan was tasted at Imperial College because they have a test rig for helmets.

The helmet has a limited number of uses and it will deteriorate over time.

The UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents don’t approve the product because they don’t know enough about it, so they give the award to an Australian group that designed an asthma management system, and to a smart contact lens designer from Canada.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38004215

I don’t think is a good idea spending money to develop the helmet instead of using that money for doing something useful, like diseases research. I still think this helmet is breakable and it’s made of paper, this can’t be rain resistant!

Well, I’m not agree about this project because is useless, it will be hard to sell and there is no information to prove the real qualities from the product. I’m not supporting this investment. Sorry, Isis!

Some Motivation

We need to have this mentality. Just because we think we can’t do something, doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Because we can do everything we propose. As we fail and fail again, we learn more and more about ourselves. And we can use what we learn to be better at something. Untill one day, we'll be able to do the things we called “impossible”. So if you have given up on something you want more than everything, no matter what is it, try and try again. Because it will be worth it in the end and if you love what you’re doing, you’ll be successful and happy.

Port Aventura

PORT AVENTURA DAY!

Last month my friends and I went to Port Aventura in Salou. Port Aventura is the best theme park ever and we enjoyed a lot. I had already gone to Port Aventura twice with my family and my cousin, but I never went with friends till last month.

Anisa, Anna, Yasmina, Iulia and I were waiting the day anxiously and when the day came up we were very excited. We take the bus to Port Aventura and I do not know what happened during the ride because I slept over.

We arrived at 11 am so we had a whole day to get on a ride on the all attractions or, at least, that we thought.

The theme park was full and the queues were endless. So we got on in the Pirate Ship because there was no queue. After that, we went to Shambala, the tallest roller-coaster in the world, and we wait more than two hours till came our turn. But the lost of time was worth because the roller coaster was amazing.

Then we went somewhere to eat, we bought a hamburger that was delicious and we decided to get on Stampida, another roller-coaster. We wait and when our turn came up we were excited. The ride was great. After a walk, we realized that we had to get on in a water ride so we got on in the Tutuki Splash, where we remained wet.

We wanted to get on in more attractions but we had not time. So we went to buy some souvenirs: all of us bought a bracelet with the name “Shambala” on it and I also bought a T-shirt for my sister and a cup with Woody Wood Pecker.

We had taken a lot of pictures before we get in the bus. We arrived in Castelló d’Empúries at 11 pm where our parents were waiting for us.

The Port Aventura Day was a great excursion for getting away from school and we enjoyed a lot.

United States Election Special

Trump protester: I was beaten for holding a 'Republicans against Trump' sign

Austyn Crites is a republican who was holding a sign reading: “Republicans against Trump” at the gathering in Reno, Nevada. He protests about Trump’s treatment of Mexicans, Muslims and women; and he described Donald Trump as a dictator and a fascist.

Crites was holding the sign when Trump supporters wrestled him to the ground; he was kicked, punched and choked when the crowd turned on him.

Everything was a chaos when one person in the crowd shouted that the protester had a gun, what was tremendously false. All the people fled to the back of the auditorium while Trump was rushed from the stage by Secret Service agents.

Crites wanted to do all he could to prevent a Trump presidency so he canvassed with the Clinton campaign in Nevada. He wasn’t fully supportive of Clinton but she was the only one who could stop Trump.

He said “Such leaders like Trump turn normal people into animals. The people who attacked me were following Trump’s hate and the United States doesn’t deserve any of this violence”.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/06/trump-protester-i-was-beaten-for-holding-a-republicans-against-trump-sign

Honestly, I’m totally agreed with Austyn Crites. I think this situation represents Trump’s violence and all his supporters are behaving like animals.

Donald Trump is a sexist and a racist and he do not deserve be the president of the United States. The only thing I appreciate from him is the fact he knows how to influence the people and he is clear thinking, he is determined.

About Hillary Clinton I can say is better than Trump. If I could vote, I would truly vote for her because she fights for woman’s duties and she is not rude like Trump. But not everything is good on Clinton; what she wants causes a lot of money invested in wars: she wants to resolve problems between countries by military confrontations. 

Protest Song

London Calling

London calling to the faraway towns

Now war is declared and battle come down

London calling to the underworld

Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls

London calling, now don't look to us

Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

London calling, see we ain't got no swing

'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in

Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin' thin

Engines stop running, but I have no fear

Cause London is drowning, and I, live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone

Forget it, brother, you can go it alone

London calling to the zombies of death

Quit holding out and draw another breath

London calling and I don't want to shout

But when we were talking I saw you nodding out

London calling, see we ain't got no high

Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Engines stop running, the wheat is growin' thin

A nuclear error, but I have no fear

Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Engines stop running, the wheat is growin' thin

A nuclear error, but I have no fear

Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river

Now get this

London calling, yes, I was there, too

An' you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!

London calling at the top of the dial

And after all this, won't you give me a smile? (London calling)

I never felt so much a' like a'like a'like

“London Calling” was The Clash’s first single from their 3^rd album: London Calling. The title comes from the BBC World Service during The World War II. The broadcaster begins the news release with these words: “This is London calling…”

Joe Strummer puts into words the fear of nuclear disasters, inundations, the beginning of an ice age, solar explosions, wars…; a total apocalypse.

The lyrics reflect desperation, maybe to influence the public, to protest about possible ends of the world.

There is an English proverb that says: “When the Thames overflows, all of London is flooded”. Probably The Clash knew this saying because the lyrics talks about an inundated London.

My proposal of a protest song is “Teenagers” of My Chemical Romance. This song talks about how adults are worried about teenagers without reason. Talking about music, the genre rock is one of my favourites and I really like this band. I choose this song because I feel identified. I think parents may be very concerned about us, the teenagers, and I do not feel good when I go out with friends knowing they are worried about me.

bbc news

Snapchat launches sunglasses with camera

Snapchat, Inc that renamed it self to Snap, Inc has announced its first gadget: sunglasses with a built-in camera, the name of the device is called Spectacles and will be on stock next year. The price will be around 130$. 

The objective of these glasses is see your own experience again and again so you never forget.

Evan Spiegel, the creator of Snapchat, had this idea when he went on vacations to California with the photographer Karl Lagerfeld. They saw very beautiful views and when they got the pictures they did, he could see his own memory. So he had this idea of Spectacles to have an experience of the experience you had in past. 

Footage will have a circular format to view in anydirection. The battery will go on for a day. The glasses have a light on the front to indicate when the glasses are recording.

Spectacles will remind Google Glass but Spectacles doesn't make you look foolish because are like sunglasses (for help to hide the camera better).

Snap Company will go slow with this device, depending on whether people like it or not.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37460682

I think technology is going very fast because we do not need that kind of sophistication in our lives. We can live without those glasses, or without Play Station. But I’m afraid that technology will always progress and in a future, unfortunately, we’ll depend of it.

And about Speclacles, I’m curious about how works and I think it’s an original idea live an experience that you lived before, but we don’t need that. Socrates went to a market once, and said: “Look those things I don’t need”. I think world is the same, there are a lot of things we don’t need.

WHAT STAGE OF LIFE I PREFER?

The other day you asked us what stage of life we prefer and you requested to think about it a few minutes. Sincerely I didn’t know which one choose in that moment but now, after thinking about it more than a few minutes I realize that my favourite stage of life is adolescence because now, at my age of sixteen, I’m really enjoying this stage.

I think adolescence is the best stage of life because there aren’t big preoccupations like have a job to make money and pay our costs, at the age of sixteen we still under our parents responsibility, we don’t need to care about that until we arrive to the age of 18, when we start adulthood. We only have to care about study and have good marks.

Adulthood is another stage of life, but this one has a lot of responsibilities like be a good parent for your child or have a good job. I think this stage is great because you live by your own, you have your own house, maybe your family,… but sincerely, I’m scared to live be my own.

Adolescence is wonderful because in that stage mainly of us find our first love and our first real friends. I think childhood is an important stage too because is where we make our first friends but we knew nothing about life, we only care about play games and be annoying. When we are adolescents we start to see the world differently, we start to ask questions and experimenting unexpected things.

I don’t remember childhood ass I remember adolescence, maybe because when I was little I was just doing what I thought good, without question if I will regret it in a future. Now that I’m mature, I think I know what is wrong and what is not, and when I do something I think about the future, because I care.

MAIL

Hi Eli, I’m Ioana!

I hope you enjoyed your holiday because now, routine starts again...

Honestly I didn’t miss school this summer because I was very busy working and enjoying those days. But inside me I felt some curiosity about Batx. It will be hard? Can I do it? It is really what I want to do? The answer is yes, it will be more than hard; yes, I can do it; and yes, it’s what I want for my future career.

This summer I celebrated my 16teen anniversary so, according to the law, I could work. I made a lot of CV and I let them in markets and restaurants, but all was for nothing because Fatima told her boss about me and he called me immediately. Fatima’s boss was Joan Trona, from Can Trona’s Restaurant in St Pere Pescador. I worked as a waitress with Fatima and it was an amazing experience. There I made a lot of friends of all ages and mainly Romanians like me. So, I can say that my first job was an extraordinary experience and I’m glad of that. I thought to go back next summer and make some money because I need it for University.

When I finish Batx I want to go to Barcelona’s University and have a Pharmacy degree. It is why I choose the Scientific Batx, I want to work in a lab, making cures of illnesses and saving people of death. People ask me: Why do you want a Pharmacy degree to save people when you can do Medicine to save them directly? The answer is easy, I prefer Chemistry more than Anatomy.

I hope everything goes right this year because my future depends on it. 

Ioana Salajan