EXPLORERS

Here I am, starting my blog about explorers late; very late. I think that since a few weeks I lack motivation about the EAP III program. However, I will do my best until the end. Well, back to business: explorers.

People explore new geographical places in order to discover new horizons, new cultures, and new standards. Explorers are curious people because they want to discover the unknown. They are also brave people because exploring other continents and other countries is taking a risk. They do not know exactly what to expect, and what they will find. They may suffer from fatigue, from hunger and from lack of sleep. Famous ancient explorers that I know are Jacques Cartier and Vasco de Gama. I remember that I had a history course in High school in Niger, and the teacher mentioned them. Moreover, there are people who explore the space.
I also think that each person who loves travelling is an explorer in a certain extent. I like travelling, discovering new cultures and new countries. I like airports, passports, planes, packing, unpacking. The perfect job for me would be an airplane pilot. I think that travelling helps people to build a very tolerant and open-minded character. Travelling also allows you to explore yourself and to know where are your limits. Moreover, exploring other countries enables you to discover your priorities and helps you figure out what you really want in your life. Exploring is definitely a rich and profound experience.

Editing experience

Last week, during the Writing class, I exchanged the first draft of my essay which the prompt was “the best way of learning a foreign language” with a classmate. I think that it was a good experience for me because the fact of examining my classmate draft helped me a lot to figure out what to avoid in an essay and what to improve. So I did a list of the positive points and the points to improve. I hope that it helped him. It was fun to be in the skin of the teacher. But I also imagine how hard it can be to decide which grade to put. I think that being an editor must be a stressful job because you have to fix everything that is wrong. It is not an easy task. What else to add? I also received a list of the weaknesses of the first draft of my essay and the positive points. It really helped me to improve the final draft because I knew what lacked and what to add. So good experience! This is all what I can say about my editing experience. Also, I think that we could make it again because it is really helpful. Personally, I was less stressed out to hand in my essay because a classmate helped me to figure out my mistakes. By the way I hope that I will get a good mark for my essay. I can’t wait to see my grade and my copy. The Writing class is always the most challenging for me. Also, I would really hate to pass the Effective Writing. I would like to start my academic courses with a fresh start, no effective writing. Tomorrow starts a new week, it is already the end of the week end. So I have to go back to my homework.

Good luck everyone for your essays!

EAP III

Well, I am enrolled in the last level of English : EAP III. For me, it is a continuation because I was in EAP II last semester. This semester, new instructors: Murray and Ilana. They are great teachers with both a captivating teaching style. There are new students and there are students from last semester. Well, what to add about EAP III? Different cultures, different nationalities. It is a real opportunity to discover new horizons, to strengthen my English skills and to develop my critical thinking. So there is a bunch of positive things. EAP III, it is also the last semester before starting serious things. I mean the academic courses. In September 2008 I will hopefully start my first year of business school. I am very excited about it. I can’t wait to pass this level and to start the academic classes.
As an aside, before coming to Calgary, I did not know that a program called EAP existed. I only knew about ESL. So discovering EAP was a great surprise. I knew that I would learn lots of things. What else? Time is going very fast. I’ve already have my first grammar quiz, my first reading exam! I have to hand in my attending lecture next week and my first essay tomorrow. So the schedule is busy. But I like studying under pressure, with lots of things to hand in. It pushes me, even beyond my limits.
Actually, I hate blogging because I never know what to write down, and it is annoying. Blogging would be fun if the student could choose his own topic, and if he had not to write at least 250 words. I think that blogging is a cool thing to do, but those academic requirements turned it into a chore.

Best wishes to everyone. Good luck for your future!

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

As I recently learned how to paraphrase and summarize, I am going to use my skills to write about an interesting passage named the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a fascinating phenomena established in the late 16^th century that emerged from the history of American slavery. It was a highly secretive and extremely well-organized network of people whom purpose was to help black slaves escape from bondage (means the state of being a slave or prisoner) to freedom. The Underground Railroad was made up of “stationmasters” and “conductors”. The first ones were people who provided food and refuge to escaped slaves, and the second ones were people who guided slaves along the difficult routes to safety. A wide variety of people worked on the Railroad, such as former slaves, farmers, preachers, and even Native Americans. The members of the Underground Railroad were all united by their hatred of the institution of slavery and their high sense of solidarity. The conditions faced by runaways were extremely difficult. They had to travel at night, and could carry only a little amount of food. Most of them had to travel on foot. Sometimes, they were forced to take residence in swamps or in mountainous areas during a long period of time. Strength and speed were critical in order to escape successfully. Furthermore, the risks faced by runaways were formidable. Recapture was unthinkable. Recaptured runaways would endure severe punishments such as harder labor, mutilation, amputation of limbs and so on. Due to the high rate of escaped slaves, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850. Professional slave-hunters were formed and paid handsomely to catch escaped slaves. They had the right to pursue them even into the free northern regions.

Finally, on December 18, 1865, the ratification of the 13^th amendment to the U.S Constitution that stated “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude….shall exist in the United States” abolished the institution of slavery.

HUMAN BEHAVIOR

I watched an interview of Tony Robbins yesterday. I did not know him before. But the interview showed me that he is truly a remarkable person. The biography at the beginning mentioned that he works in the field of leadership psychology, organizational turnaround and peak performance. He also has a non-profit foundation which aim is humanitarian. Tony Robbins thinks that everybody has a different personality, culture, value, but we have the same human needs and our nervous system functions the same way. According to him, the state of mind in which you constantly impress yourself must be triggered. Indeed, the more you make things that impress yourself, the more you will have a better self-esteem.
Another important point of the interview was depression. Why people are depressed? Tony Robbins revealed that when your life doesn’t match your expectations, you are going to be in pain. Most of people are depressed because their life condition doesn’t match with how they think it should be. For example, he worked with a women who always has believed that she would have three perfect children. In reality, she is 61 years old, she has been married twice, and she never had children. This is the real problem and the cause of her depression. Her co-expectation can’t be met. So she has to change that blueprint, that belief, because it could never be fulfilled. So the solution to the depression in this context is to change the condition of your life and to make your blueprint match with reality. In this respect, you would be able to enjoy your life again.

WEATHER AND MOOD

Do you think that the weather influences our mood? Personally, it does affect my mood. For example, I like snow. As an aside, it’s weird because I come from a very warm country, and I don’t like cold weather. However, I love snow. Today, when I realised that it was snowing, I was glad. And it was like that all the day. I had no particular reasons to be happy, but I was in a good mood all the day. I think that it is psychological, because as soon as I saw the snow, I immediately thought that it would be a good day. So maybe, the weather affects the mood, in a positive or in a negative way. Or maybe the state of mind that you have at the beginning of the day plays a role. For example, when I miss my bus to go to the University, I automatically think that this is not a good sign, and that the worst is coming. In this state of mind, it is highly possible that the day will be a bad one. Besides, some people don’t like when it is raining, and they are in a bad mood, only because they consider that rain falls are depressing. Another example is that people are more likely to be happy and nice at summertime, because the sun makes them more relaxed and less stressed out. So maybe the weather has an impact on our mood. Furthermore, I read on ABC News website that a research on the correlation between weather and mood revealed that the fact of spending some time outside on a nice day can have a positive impact on your mood. Also, sunny weather can have a positive impact on mental health.

C-TRAIN

Every day I take the C-Train to go the University. Inside, it is always a little bit awkward, because no one knows each other, and you have to spend a little time of your life with strangers. Sometimes people are friendly and smile; sometimes they are in a bad mood and have a nasty, almost scaring eye contact. Now and then, some exceptional things happen, like a fight, or a technical problem. There are two kinds of C-Trains: the old ones and the brand new ones. I like taking the brand new ones, they are more comfortable.

As an aside, did you notice that I am totally uninspired? That’s why I am writing about a so common topic. I feel quite embarrassed. So should I erase the paragraph and close the blog page, or should I keep on writing about C-Train? Besides, I don’t think that I could write 200 words about the C-Train…unless I search for information about it on the internet; yet, I think that a paragraph about the history of the C-Train will be boring for the readers, and even for me. For those who will read it until the end, the following are the points I consider noticeable in the C-train history.

v May 25, 1981: the first line of C-Train was opened

v Calgary Transit is the first public transit system in North America to use wind-generated electricity. It is a good ecological cause, because it will reduce pollution.

v The passengers of a three-car C-Train represent the passengers of 545 private vehicles

v In 2001, The Calgary Transit received the Pollution Prevention Award