Blog Reflection

This project helped me open my mind and understand more the concept of blogging and the concept of a journey. Before the blog, It was hard for me to analyze simple things like watching a movie or analyzing a book, but thanks to this blog , I have found that creating a personal blog is no a difficult task. The blog adapts to everyone and in some way reflects who that person is since most of the time it includes personal opinion of the author. A blog is an excellent way to express a message to a large audience and to simply write about things that happen in daily life. Thanks to the blog I find it easier to understand the books that I read and the movies that I write especially the ones who include a journey. That journey being preferably external since, in my opinion, internal journeys are more common than external journeys and almost every book or movie includes an internal journey whether it is to the readers or to the characters in the movie or book. I think that creating a blog is an excellent way of social networking since it helps communicate with other people about specifics. Since it is customizable, it brings to me that feeling that I got when I used to do social networking in MySpace. The feeling was that it brought back the originality that has been lost with Facebook but it also adds a more professional atmosphere and at the same time it gives me the freedom to simply express my opinion about anything in particular. This blog was a great experience and I personally would like to create more blogs related to my field of study and I believe it should be integrate more to the social networking and t the education system.

Fermat's room

I remember I once had a journey because of the movie called Fermat’s room. It tells the story of four persons that are trapped in a room and must solve riddles to survive. The riddles took me on a journey especially one that said: In the false land everybody lies, in the true land everybody tells the truth. You are on a room trapped and there are two door one leads to salvation and the other does not. One door is guarded by a guard from the false land and the other is guarded by a guard from the true land but you do not know which guard if from the false land. You are allowed to ask one question and then you must choose a door. What do you ask? This riddle was given to me in twelve grade and I could not solve it. This time I went on a mental journey imagining myself in the room until I found the solution which was ask what door the other guard would tell me to pick and then choose the other door. The one from the false land was going to lie and tell me the wrong door while the one from the true land was also going to tell me the wrong door. Every character in this movie is taken through an internal journey while solving the riddles and finding out how closed each other are related. Also it puts the audience through an internal journey if you take personal like myself and try to solve the riddles on your own. The same time happened with Einsteins zebra puzzle which only 1% of the population can solved it. It took me 2 hours to solve that puzzle but at the end, the journey was worth it.

Student Conference

On April 10, 2013, the class of INGL-3135 reunited in the amphitheater of natural science for a student conference where eight of my fellow classmates read the essays which had to do with evaluating the concept of a tourist versus the concept of a traveler as well as the concept of an internal journey versus an external journey. The essays use the books: Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald, Down on the Island by Jim Cooper, A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid and the movie A Room With a View. Most of the essays persuade the audience to explore the world, to journey into other places. They discuss the topic of a tourist versus a traveler and they advices us to be traveler’s instead of tourist. I think this is because a tourist is a person who has never gone to the place he is visiting and is going to be lost in that land. He is going to be seen as an outsider and is going to depend on other people in order to go around. If we compared it to a traveler, a traveler is a person that knows the lands he is visiting and knows more how to fit in. I believe that what they meant by saying to travel the world as a traveler instead of a tourist is that a traveler was originally a tourist which means that if a person is a traveler he or she was already a tourist and therefore has travelled and has had to experience of having a journey to a place she has is not from and has had the experience of being an outsider before. So in conclusion I agree with what they say which was that everyone should become more of a traveler and less of a tourist.

When a tourist travels to the unknown (the karate kid)

The Karate Kid is the story of Dre Parker, An American boy who moves from United States to China because of his mother’s job. His mother is a traveler and is quick in adapting to the change, but Dre is more of a tourist since he has little experience as a traveler and it is lost at China. It is made Difficult for him to adapt to China and is seen making some fools mistake like wearing the uniform on causal day and not knowing how the bathtub in China works. Throughout the story he is able to turn his life in China to more of a traveler life and begins to learn martial arts in order to defend himself from some bullies and understand more the culture in China. At the ends he becomes an outsider who has fit perfectly into Chinas lifestyle.

                12-year-old Dre Parker  and his mother, Sherry arrive in Beijing from West Detroit to start a new life since Sherry got a job at China. Dre develops a crush on a young violinist, Mei Ying , who enjoys his company, but Cheng,  a kung fu prodigy, attempts to keep them apart by beating Dre, and later bullying him. During a particularly brutal beating by Cheng and his friends, the maintenance man of Dre's building, Mr. Han, comes to Dre's aid, revealing himself as a kung fu master who adeptly dispatches Cheng and his friends.

After Han mends Dre's injuries using fire cupping, they go to Cheng's teacher, Master Li, to attempt to make peace, but the brutal Li, challenges Dre to a fight with Cheng. When Han declines, Li threatens him, saying that they will not be allowed to leave his school unless either Dre or Han himself fights. Han acquiesces, but insists the fight take place at an upcoming tournament, and that Li's students leave Dre alone until the tournament. The amused Li agrees.

Han begins training Dre, but Dre is frustrated that Han merely has Dre spend hours taking off his jacket, hanging it up, dropping it, and then putting it back on again. After days of this, Dre refuses to continue, until Han demonstrates to him that the repetitive arm movements in question were Han's method of teaching Dre defensive block and strike techniques, which Dre is now able to display instinctively when prompted by Han's mock attacks. Han emphasizes that the movements use in life are also used in martial arts, and that serenity and maturity, not punches and power, are the true keys to mastering the martial arts. During one lesson in the Mountains, Dre notices a female kung fu practitioner  apparently copying the movements of a cobra before her, but Han informs him that it was the cobra that was imitating the woman, as in a mirror reflection. Dre wants Han to teach him this technique, which includes linking Han's hand and feet to Dre's via bamboo shafts while practicing their forms, but Dre's subsequent attempt to use this reflection technique on his mother is unsuccessful.

As Dre's friendship with Mei Ying continues, she agrees to attend Dre's tournament, as does Dre her upcoming recital. Dre and Mei Ying  cut school for a day of fun, this cause her to almost arrive late fr her violin recital, her parents deemed him as bad influence, and forbid her from spending any more time with him. Later, when Dre finds Mr. Han despondent, he learns of his wife and son's deaths, which occurred years ago when he lost control of his car while arguing with his wife. Dre reminds Han that one of his lessons was in perseverance, and that Han needs to heal from his loss, and tries to help him do so. Han then assists Dre in reading a note, in Chinese, of apology to Mei Ying's father, who, impressed, allows Mei to attend the tournament.

 At the tournament, Dre is slow to achieve parity with his opponents, but soon begins to beat them, and advances to the semifinals, as does Cheng, who violently finishes off his opponents. Dre eventually comes up against Liang, another of Master Li's students, who breaks his leg although it causes him to be disqualified.

Despite Han's insistence that he has earned respect for his performance in the tournament, Dre convinces Han to use his fire cupping technique to mend his leg, in order to see the tournament to the end. Dre returns to the arena, where he confronts Cheng. Dre delivers impressive blows, but Cheng counters with a debilitating strike to Dre's already injured leg. Dre struggles to get up, and adopts the one-legged form he first learned from the woman on the mountain, attempting to use the reflection technique to manipulate Cheng's movements. Cheng charges Dre, but Dre flips, and catches Cheng with a kick to his head, winning the tournament, along with the respect of Cheng and his classmates, both for himself and Mr. Han.

Transformation

The journey of transformation of bacteria. This transformation is an amazing journey in biology. I had a journey while experimenting with a plasmid in the laboratory of class in the natural science campus called general Biology. I had to make an experiment which involved transforming the plasmid in order to find out if it gave the bacteria a resistance to antibiotics and manage to activate B-galactosidasa. In this journey I had to prove that we can use plasmid like vectors to facilitate the transmission and expression of a gen in a bacteria. This is made via heat shock procedure which consists in inducting a bacteria to a dramatic change in temperature in order to weaken the membrane. This was proven thanks to the D N A this making the whole process possible. Of course we also needed the puc which contains the gene lac Z which codifies the enzyme B galactosidasa and in turn catalyzes the degradation of lactose and its analogues in presence of an inductor. At the end the bacteria turned blue. The control group also exhibit growth in the form of colonies of bacteria’s but that means that there was an error in the handling of the control group because it was not supposed to exhibit anything at all. The experimental group was made correct because it turned the color that it was supposed to turn. The manipulation of a gene in a bacteria using a plasmid and heat shock was an amazing experience for me and an amazing journey in the process of DNA extraction which has revolutionize science. I look forward to having more experience like this in the field of Biology and in the field of medical science.

The tragedy of Daisy Miller

Daisy miller is a story of a man named Winterbourne who on a trip to Vevey, Switzerland, meets a young woman named Daisy miller. Since the moments he meets her, he feels attracted to her and is then undergoing a type of internal journey in trying to understand what type of girl Daisy Miller is. While on Switzerland, he visits a castle with Daisy Miller and they seem to be enjoying themselves until he tells her that he has to leave the next day. Daisy miller doesn’t like this but he promises that he will visit her in Rome.

                When Winterbourne goes to see Daisy Miller, He notices that she is not in love with him as he is with her. She begins to spend most of her time with another man named Giovanelli and people begin to see bad things about her, much like the ones Mrs. Costello said about her at the hotel. At the end it is that very same feeling of freedom and of being a tourist that daisy Miller felt, that kills her because she got a fever one night when she was spending some time with Giovanelli. At the end, Winterbourne feels bad because of her dead and comes to the conclusion that she simply did not want to be romantically involved with anyone, he understands that he was never going to understand her thus leave his internal journey unsolved.

                In my opinion Daisy Miller had a attitude of a free person simply enjoying life and no wanting to be engaged to anyone. An attitude which can be compare to that of a tourist. Winterbourne was more of a traveler since he travelled to other places to visit families and he had already travelled to the places before like for example the castle which he took Daisy Miller. The book really shocked me at the ending and was a very interesting story to read with a good interpretation to how life was at that era.

Written Journey's

My journal is decorated, on the cover, with pictures that have different meanings to me. Among these is a picture of the Mona Lisa, a picture of Niagara Falls and a picture of the mind and psychology. The Mona Lisa to me represent a journey because the paintings itself is a journey. The background doesn’t match and I can’t even tell if the painting is happy or sad. Niagara falls represent the longest journey I’ve ever had which took seven hours to get there from New Jersey. It was worth it since being able to go inside the Falls was a unique experience. The third picture represents the internal journey that everyone experiences which it involves psychology and it is something that is felt by one person inside of their minds.

In the journal I noticed that at first my writing was very simple but as time passed, I kept developing more ways of writing and understanding the journeys I had every day and I began to open myself more to writing and I was able to write about that one thing that I had been trying to avoid. Thanks to the journal I was able to overcome that and I finally accepted the truth and faced reality, something that I didn’t want to do when I started the journal.

The journal of the class has changed the way I look at journeys. It helped me open my mind and understand the concept of a journey whether it is an external journey or an internal journey. I know understand that a journey is practically everything to we do in life since we wake up until we go to sleep. The journal help me realized that every day we are all travelers since every  day we experience a different journey even if we don’t realized it.

Holy Cow tourist vs traveller

In ‘’Holy Cow’’ Sarah Macdonald tells us the journey that she had in India. Sarah Macdonald’s first visit is a tourist visit. She was 21 years old and didn’t like India. She and her friend Nick were not use to India, especially the food which gave Nick diarrhea. When she returns twelve years later, she still has a tourist aspect. She doesn’t understand the Indian culture and she is often surprise by things that are normal at India like the arranged weddings, the behavior of civilians in the street and even the way people dress. Since she is a tourist, she needs a driver (Abraham) because she doesn’t know the roads. As a tourist she judge India poorly because of their health system, the death toll in the country, the religion and the pollution. She compares it to Sydney which she finds more pleasant. As a tourist she gets sick and almost dies of pneumonia, which proves she was used to living in India. She is also amazed by the story of Pathmar, which she tells her that she had to leave her boyfriend because of her mother and later when her mother finds out that Pathmar has married Zarmela without her concern, she hangs herself. It is at this point that Sarah Macdonald learns that she has to find inner peace a thus begins her transition from a lost tourist in India to a traveler that knows India

As a traveler, she begins to learn to speak Hindi, which at first is embarrassing because she learns a too much formal Hindi. Her journey starts by visiting different temples of different religions, the first being a Buddhist temple which she stays for ten days. This identifies her more as a traveler since it requires more time, time which a tourist would not have. She then meets different persons of different religions like gurus, Jewish people who believe in Judaism, Indians who believe in Hinduism and even friends of here who believe in Christianity. She manages to learn positive things from each religion, but doesn’t stick with one religion. As a traveler she begins to understand more of India and feel more confident even to the point if driving and picking Jonathan from the airport. The feeling of outsider never goes since people look at her different for being white and at one point she is denied the entrance to a temple since its only for parsis people. In India she travels to meet different people like the holy mother and even gets to meet some Indian celebrities. At the end we see that she has gone from tourist to traveler when she is in a Christian camp with Matt and Emma (who at that time were tourist) and they complain and things that she finds normal. She even mentions that they remind her of when she first came to India. The events of 9/11 cause here to change her beliefs and question her learning’s of peace and mind from different religions. She starts to view the world different which marks that she is no longer a tourist but a traveler of the world. Another example of here change is when she goes to visit Jonathan in Pakistan and starts to evaluate the country with a more traveler judgment. When she returns, she meets a tourist named Rita and she helps her understand India.  At the end she returns to Sidney and admits that she learned much from India ant that in some way India made her. Sarah Macdonald in India had both experiences: that of a tourist and that of a traveler.

What is a journey? ( journey as a metaphor )

A journey in literature for me it’s just not traveling to see a place. Literature helps people visit a place even if it doesn’t exist. I’ve always like the idea of knowing how the world was before I got here. The literature that I have read has helped me visit places in a certain different way. For example, I visited St. Augustine in Florida and it gave me the feeling of being in a different era, but by reading a book that takes place in a year were the fort was use, I was able to interact more with the place. Other example is the forts in San Juan. When I visited ‘’ El Morro”. I saw where they kept the prisoners and for a moment I felt I was actually living in that Era. Other place I would like to relieve would be the renaissance era. I believe that a journey ends where the persons will to continue and imagination ends.

What has become of Antigua ( A Small Place Chap. 3 & 4)

How is it possible that there is no money to repair the library but there is money for the government to steal?  In chapter 3 of ‘’A Small Place’’, Jamaica Kincaid explains how the library was when she was a child and compares it to the current library. When she was a child, the library was in good condition and the librarian was proud of the king of library that Antigua had. When Kincaid returned, she saw that the library was in terrible conditions, had burned and was not repaired. She even mentions that the librarian was ashamed of what the library had become. I personally believe this is a big fail of the education system in Antigua. How can the government provide a good education to the people if they don’t even repaired the library?

                Now I understand why Kincaid mentions that the government is for sale. They answer to the highest bidder. They have a man who was wanted as a developer. They have a stamp system that does not benefit the people. They have a monopoly with Japanese cars, drugs and buildings all own by foreigners. The government has allowed Antigua to be ruled by other people. Things that really need attention like the education and the health care are left unsupervised. Kincaid mentions that ‘’ The hospital in Antigua is so dirty, so run-down, that even if the best doctors and nurses in the world were employed, a person from  another part of the world would not feel confident leaving a domestic animal there.’’(page 65). Sure since all of the rich government people go to other countries to get healthcare, they do not care like for example the minister that had some type of blood disease.

                The government justice system also is failing since they’ve had generals murdered and corrupt ministers steal all the money and make deal with drug dealers. Personally I believe that is the country is not fixed soon, it could lead to a revolution.

                At the end Kincaid tries to save the beauty of Antigua by describing its landscape. She also critics the Antiguan people who she thinks that went from slaves to human being kind of stuck in a small island. I found this book amazing since it showed Antigua like I have never seen it before and it exposes they beauty and horror of the island of Antigua.

48 hours as Journey in Puerto rico

Monday

-          2:20 pm -I am currently in AJBR and I need to get to a building which is name DMN. I believe it is the building in the front.

-          2:30 pm – I arrived successfully at the building for my social science. The classroom is very different from my last classroom.  I noticed that its structure seem older and it’s under construction.

-          3:50 pm - My class is finished and I need to get back to the train. I a going to use the same route which was through the food court, passing by the Lazarro library and arriving at the train. I have to check which train goes to Bayamon.

-          5:00 pm – I arrived at Bayamon. Turns out there is only one train that uses the same route back and forward.

-          6:00 pm- The bus took me home. I will now check the alarms and the schedule for tomorrow.

Tuesday

-          8:00 am - I arrived at the train which goes to the university

-          9:30 am – I noticed my class says LPM. I don’t know where that is. I asked a student and he explained to me that LPM stands for Luis Pales Matos which is a building near the theater.

-          10:00 am – I successfully arrived at my Spanish class. I don’t know why but I am the only men in this classroom. Maybe it has something to do with the culture here in Puerto Rico.

-          11:20 am – I exit the building and went to the JGD which is where biologist make their investigations. I was looking for my TA but the building was close because of unknown reasons. I went to have lunch at a place called pizzamobile.  

-          1:00 pm- I went to the natural science faculty. I had to find a physics lab. I was told it was on the third floor. The building was not what I expected.

-          3:50 pm- I finished my laboratory assignment and went to my math class which was in a room with computers.

-          4:50 pm – I am currently at the train on my way to Bayamon. Beside me is a man who works for St. James security and its crying a bicycle. At first I thought that he used it for work but he only uses it for fun. The bicycle was very strange, it had very vivid colors like light green on the wheels and yellow in the body. Must be a type of bicycle used in Puerto Rico. I also notice that the train does not have a single graffiti but a bunch of building do. Must be that the train is no so old or the make a good job keeping them safe. The train is also a sort of scenic route since it offers a great view from a place which can only be seen from the train because of the height.

-          5:50 pm – I arrived at Bayamon. The bus leaves at 6:00 pm. I went ahead and sat. After the bus left, I realized it has its own lane through the freeway.

-          6:33 – pm I arrived home. I ate some food which tastes funny. It is called alcapurria and I am told it is from Puerto Rico.

-          9:00pm – I finished my homework. I am going to watch some of the local channels to see how they are.

-          10 : 30 pm – Turns out that what they had at the local channel was a documentary of Pablo Escobar. I turned off the television and went to sleep.

Wednesday

-          11:00 pm – I woke up late, had some breakfast and went to the University.

-          12:50 pm – I arrived at my English literature class at the AJBR building.

A Room With a View

A room with a view was a great movie where we see the protagonist, Lucy; goes through both internal and external conflicts. In my opinion, Lucy wanted to be more of a tourist at first, because she went to explore Florence by herself and wanted the room with a view. She represents the very feeling of wanting to explore the world which is the feeling that tourist have. George was more of a traveler since he travel to Florence and then to England to live and wasn’t that interested in exploring.

                Besides having journeys to different places, the movie also has internal journey. Lucy at first didn’t even want to speak to George and was trying to avoid him like (for example when she tried to walk away after he save her from hitting the ground because she fainted when a guy started bleeding from a fight) and during the movie she had this journey where she explore her feelings and began to realized that she actually loved George but had been trying to avoid it. This is a good example of problems that women faced in the repressed culture of Edwardian era England.  Normally in that era, if a young man kissed a young lady, an engagement should be announced to preserve her reputation. This is why Lucy never told anyone about what happen between her and George at Italy. It is because of Lucy’s internal journey that rejects Cecil’s engagement and also to admit that she loved George which in the end led her to live a happy live. George valued Lucy while Cecil saw her more like a painting and didn’t really love her.

                In conclusion, I really like this movie and I think it has a positive meaning about the freedom to be how you want to be, about growing up and about true love.

Margarita, Journey I had

Sometimes people go on a trip to another country and are marked by the culture simply because it is different. There are also vacations in which people see things they never thought existed, or at least in their country. In 2007, I went with my family on a vacation cruise. The third island that we visited on the cruise was Isla Margarita. This island is a part of Venezuela but it is not exactly in their main territory. Just like Vieques is part of Puerto Rico. On the island we took a cab and notice that the driver was always avoiding the freeway. We first went to a place where it was like a church but of a religion that I didn’t recognize. Outside of the church there was a river and it the river there were a group of women that were washing their clothes in the river. It was the first time I had seen something like that in real life. We left the church and went to a mall. In the mall, there were two kids selling socks. My father bought from one of them and gave a dollar to the other. Then the kid who didn’t sold the socks started following us all over the mall and each time he catch us, offer the socks for a lower price. We entered a souvenir shop and the kid started crying because he couldn’t sell the socks. My mother didn’t know what to do but my father called the kid and bought him the socks.

 

 Afterward, we left the mall and went back to where the taxi was. We realized that we were late and we needed to get back to the cruise in the fastest way possible. The taxi driver took the freeway. In the freeway we were stopped by a police. It was then in that moment that I understand why he had been avoiding the freeway. He quickly explained to us that the cops in there make taxis with tourist pulled over on purpose so that the passenger had to bribe the police or else he would stall them for a very long time, causing them to be left by the cruise. We had to put money between our passports, so that when he asked for the passport, he would obtain the money and let us go, we were able to leave successfully and return to the ship on time. This trip made me realized how different the world is and how ungrateful people are. The difference in their culture and society was bigger than what I would have ever imagined.

A small place, Chapter 2

In the second chapter, Jamaica Kincaid explains her anger towards the British people because they were the ones that colonized Antigua and according to Kincaid, damaged Antigua. This anger is normal since the British came and took the land which was not theirs and used it for their own wellbeing. Kincaid mentions that in Antigua there are streets named after British people whom I believe should be changed because people in Antigua do not see them as good people. It is clear that Jamaica Kincaid has suffered racism and blames the British which I agree because they were the ones that brought slavery to Antigua and America. Antigua lost many of her culture when it was replaced with the culture from England. It is clear now why they hate tourist so much. They see them all as equal to the British and the hate they have toward England is understandable because they have suffered lot because of England.

Jamaica Kincaid explains that they even lost their language and now speak English which is why the book is in English. She mentions that she met the world through England, and if the world wanted to meet me it would have to do so through England, I believe that what she means is that she learned from the British English but she also learn to hate and suffer and this is why she criticizes England in the book, To hate is what she earned from the British people.

Her situation is similar to the current situation in Puerto Rico since we are a colony of U.S.A., the only difference is that the majority of puertoricans do not want to be an independent country. There has been hate by some people towards United States but most people like being a part of the United States while in Antigua they hated England. Also Puerto Rico didn’t lost his culture, Puerto Rico is more like a mixture of different culture which also makes it hard to blame someone in particular since for example, the native language is Spanish and that native language in United States is English. In conclusion, the situation is similar but there is very little hate toward United States because the lost we had was very small compared to Antigua.

A small place, chapter 1

I am actually amazed how Jamaica Kincaid describes Antigua because I have goned to Antigua and had almost the same thoughts that she had about the vegetation and about getting charged extremely high by a taxi driver. I also notice the diference in cars like she mentions when I went to Antigua. When I went to Antigua, it was on a cruise so I was only there for 8 hours so I didn't worry so much about the part the hospital and the library but I am sure if I were to stayed for a longer time, I would worry about the medical care in the island. I believe that it is also made clear by the author that in Antigua there are two kinds of society: the rich and the poor. I believe it is unfair that only a few  people get to live on mansions while the rest are poor.

The way she describes the tourist is as an ugly human being, which I personally do not agree. Just because a person does not have the means to become a tourist does not mean he can hate the tourist that come do their home. Especially in a place like Antigua where the economy depends on the tourism. Sure some tourist believe themselves superior to other people but not every tourist is like that, besides who doesn't want to be a tourist at some point of their lives and just escape reality. I think that she should not describe tourist like this because she would have to include herself in that description if she ever is was or becomes a tourist at some point of her life.

Opinion about chapter 8

I think that letting people cheat on the test was wrong and was not helpfull. The students could get use to cheating and they didn't actually learn anything. On the other hand, the education was not working and this was the only way they could pass the class. I believe that what students did not understand was that by letting other people copy in the exams, they were not actually helping them. Puertorricans got used to passing classes without learning anything. Like the author explained, if a teacher failed a student, the parents would think that it was because the teacher didn't like the student. The lowest grade that the teachers were used to give was C. This was very wrong because although they passed the class, the students didn't learn english which was the objective of taking the course. The helping was not really helpfull.