St. Valentine's Long Weekend

TOPIC #1

My St' Valentines weekend was pretty fun. I didn't have my TOEFL class on Saturday, which was the best start ever. However, I had to go to the hospital with my aunt because she was really sick, I had to drive even. It was a good experience to drive here, of course different from what I'm use to in my country, but it was fun and at least I'm still alive. 

Then I went to a romantic date with my boyfriend, we went to a sushi restaurant, ate a lot and after that we went to downtown and spend a really great night together. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures; however I have to say that I was really happy and was the best St' Valentines ever. 

TOPIC #2

I didn't know too much about the Academic World List. At first, I inferred that it had to be something related with a world list specifically used for academic purposes. I was not sure if I have used it before, so I tried to investigate about that. This is what I found.

The Oxfords Learner's Dictionaries says that "The Academic Word List is a list of words that you are likely to meet if you study at an English-speaking university." Because I don't study at an English-speaking university, I have not used it before; however, I think it is an useful tool to improve vocabulary and turn the essays and writing assignments in to a more academic field. According to the University of Nottingham, "you can try learning some words from the list every day, but it is better to study the words in context, so that you understand how they are used."

I find this link of the University of Nottingham very useful because it gives suggestions and tools like AWL Highlighter and AWL Gapmaker to quickly identify words from and AWL in a text and create tests for yourself replacing words from the AWL with a gap. 

Paraphrasing and Summarizing

If you don't know when you should paraphrase and when you should summarize this link will be helpful. Each one has different uses and it depends on what is required."To paraphrase means to restate someone else's ideas in your own language. To summarize means to reduce the most essential points of someone else's work into a shorter form," wrote Jerry Plotnick, Director of The College Writing Center of The University of Toronto. 

Paraphrase is about writing in your own words, replacing phrases and using new words for some statements, without changing the main topic and the intention of the author. The main strategy is to take notes about the important points in your own words, making sure that you reference the source (page) and that it is accurate. Like Plotnick says "what matters is that you capture the original idea."

On the other hand, on this link you will find examples about paraphrasing and summarazing. According  to the publication of the Harvard College Writing Program, "when you summarize, you provide your readers with a condensed version of an author´s key points."  A summary is shorter than a paraphrase because it has to be related to the most important elements of the original text. But be careful, because it depends on the complexity and on the amount of relevant details the original passage has. The Harvard Publication wrote"When you have to decide how much summary to put in a paper, it´s a good idea to consult your instructor about whether you are supposed to assume your reader´s knowledge of the sources" i.e. it is important to know if you are supposed to include the background information as part of the summary. 

Truths and Lies

I have experienced some situations with truths and lies before.  I have told many white lies to protect my brother or my friends. For example, I have lied to my parents when my brother have had a low grade on school or has done a mischief, even though I know it has been something malicious. Furthermore I have lied to cover up my friends, but it has been difficult, because the more I lied to their parents or partners, the more I feel bad with them. 

On the other hand, I have spotted a liar many times. Sometimes it is easy to detect a liar because the more they advert the gaze, the less I can trust them. That is why, eye contact and in general the body language is very important for me and I have discovered many lies based on that. However, I have seen that some times the liar itself has told false stories that he doesn't even remember and then he is changing the story over and over again. That's why I think that the more cunning you are, the more effective is the lie. 

Besides that, I have to say that few times I confront people for lying to me. It is in their conscience what they have done, so, the more they have lied to me, the less I care about them. 

Unit 1: Dear brother

Hi bro! First of all I want you to know how important you are in my life and that you cannot imagine how much I love you. I think that you are the most beautiful gift my parents had given to me. I don't tell you this very often, however I am sure that you already know that you and my parents are the most important people in my life. 

Because I'm 7 years older than you, we used to fight a lot. Despite of this, I have loved our relationship since you were born and how for years we have trusted in each other. For that reason I can say that you have always been my partner in crime and my confident. I know that if I hadn't had you, I couldn't have gotten through the bad moments in my life, because you have always been there for me, listening and supporting me with your comprehension and love. 

I have shared with you the best moments in my life, so, without you I would not have had the opportunity to experience the trips and the everyday life how I have done so far. I just want you to know that I'm sorry because sometimes I don't express how I feel about you and because I have hurt you. 

Finally, I'll like to say that I'm very proud of you, that I love you and miss you so much and that I'm very thankful because I'm bless for having you in my life.  


With all my love


Tu hermanita. 

Self Introduction

Hello!! As all you know I`m Maria Alejandra. I was born in the beautiful city of Bogota, Colombia. I`m in my third year of business and management studies in my home country. 

I have been before in Calgary. I came on the summer of 2012 to visit my uncle, my aunt and my cousins that have been living here since 2000.

However, because of a request of my University in Colombia to reach a specific english level to continue with the final subjects of the program, I decided to came to Calgary University due to my previous experience in the city and the presence of my family. 

My principal goal is to achieve what I proposed to myself before I came here. I want to improve my english, have a wonderful experience, meet new people and gain knowledge about the different cultures. I dream to travel around the world, to have enriching experiences and to be able to share the best moments in my life with the ones I love. I want to be in the future someone my parents will be proud of. I want to continue with my studies and focus on marketing and international business area to be able to work in a big enterprise, gain experience and after that, have the oportunity to develop my own company to help others. 

The song I have chose is Safe and Sound, because of the personal meaning that the lyric has for me, the rhythm and how the instruments are played.