Monday, January 20, 2014

The lovely Chicago

Let’s visit the United States! Which cities? New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and maybe, Chicago. I thought the Windy City was just another big city: tall buildings, concrete, chaotic traffic, busy people, and pollution. Of course, these things exist there as well as any metropolis. However, Chicago is highlighted among other American cities because of many factors: History, entertainment, a range of restaurants, deep-dish pizza, and traditional music. But honestly, I have to say that even though Chicago has a very interesting history that inspired many movies and books, we cannot define a culture of a city after a short visit. Indeed, I admit that the Chicago entertainment's system is awesome. It does not lack interesting things to do. Even though I stayed in Chicago for a very short time, I already can say that I loved the city. I do not want to be rash and say that Chicago is the best city in America because I have not visited many cities in the United States; In spite of this, I would say that I can see myself living there in the future.
My experience in Chicago was amazing. I have been in some big American cities as Boston, New York City and Philadelphia, and none of those cities compare with the beautiful views of Chicago. I had known a little piece of the downtown, but it was enough to I realize that it is a city that I would live. The lake is beautiful and it gives to the city a charming view from the buildings, I have been at the Navy Pier and the view from the lake and the city impressed me, I would like to see that again, but in the summer.
The Field Museum gave me another perspective about museums. It showed me what does have behind of an exposition as a hard working form researchers. The Aquarium was really great, I have never ever in somewhere like that, so that was really new.
Other new experience were the John Hancock Observatory and the Skydeck, those buildings gave me a mixer of scare and wonder. I like so much been in Chicago, I will save the experience to be in a place that was “stage” of many famous movies for my whole life.



Chicago



Chicago is the third biggest city in United States. It is located on Illinois State. This city is commonly called The Windy City. I have spent 3 days in Chicago at Renaissance Blackstone Chicago hotel with my classmates and professors. We have visited different museums and high buildings. We have been visiting some famous places as Skydeck building, John Hancock building, Shedd aquarium, field museum and art institute of Chicago. Chicago is beautiful, big, clean, organized and there are much culture to look there. I learned more about this incredible city. I have visited New York City, so when I compare both cities, I can see how Chicago is more organized than New York. I had a good time there, but the time that we spent there was not enough to learn everything about its culture and people. I realized how people who live there, are very polite and friendly with tourists. I want visiting Chicago again with more time to spend there because I want visit places that I have never been, and also I would like to visit new clubs and restaurants. River Falls is very small, so is not possible to know many new places here. Everybody should visit Chicago once to have a good time.

How Chicago was for me.

I have never been in Chicago before the trip we took last week. Chicago was the third big city I visited here in the USA. Before it, I have been in Minneapolis and New York. For me, Chicago has a lot of similarities with Minneapolis, but I would say Chicago is more beautiful and the atmosphere of the city makes you feel better. It happens probably because Chicago is besides a great lake, what makes the famous nickname of the city: The windy city. There is a lot of interesting things to do in Chicago, and the one that I most liked was the Shedd Aquarium. There, you can see more than 32,000 fishes from almost every place in the world, and I could all different kinds of fishes, since the weirdest ones until the most wonderfully colored ones. Another interesting thing was the famous dish pizza. I don’t have enough words to describe how big the stuff  was. It was simply filled with a lot of cheese, meatballs, pepperoni, and seasonigs. That 2 fingers of stuff was incredibly good and after two slices I was feeling stuffed. Comparing with New York, I thought Chicago a better city to live. The traffic is not too heavy as NY, and the streets are not so crowded. Also I realized that the population in Chicago is more polite, so tourist can handle it easily when looking for information.

Chicago

Chicago, the city known like the wind city, one of the most beautiful city that I have seen in the U.S. I could learn a little about the culture and people there were very nice and friendly. I have been to Shedd Aquarium where I could see whales, dolphins, sharks and jellies which I had never seen before. Also, I've been to the Art Institute of Chicago where I saw many sculptures and its holdings include American art, European and American decorative arts, Asian art, modern and contemporary art, and architecture and industrial and graphic design. I've been to cloud gate too. I took a lot of pictures with my friends, and it was very fun. I did not go to John Hancock Observatory because I had no time, but my friends have been there and they told me it was wonderful. I had a great time with teachers and friends and I would like to thank for this opportunity.



Chicago trip

The windy city was really different than I thought. Mainly because I did not know that Chicago was a place of great changes as the period of alcohol prohibition, the large variety and amount of people that settled there. Chicago has an interesting history, and since then I walk around there their people it's less strange to me, they do not are "difficult to talk" or something like to become friend easily. I enjoyed visiting the museums, the aquarium, Sky Deck, take a bus, a metro and even just walk around. The hotel was really nice, very beautiful, I am happy to had been there. Therefore, I would like to visit again some day, since now, it was the only city in U.S.A. that I liked more.

Chicago!

Chicago is a beautiful city. I saw Chicago just in movies such as a big city, a lot building and a lot people. That trip offered me to look Chicago beyond that. Some movies that were recorded in Chicago such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Untouchables, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Chicago, showed me some places and famous building such as John Hancock Observatory and Sky Deck Building. Also I could see a little of the Chicago culture. Though, when I visited Chicago, I learned a lot of things about culture, because I visited The Field Museum – that museum showed me a lot of things about world culture and history – the Shedd Aquarium – that aquarium showed me many animals that I never see, for example the jellies, those I think that were interesting animals – and The Art Institute of Chicago – that museum there were a lot of famous painting, sculptures and armors. I knew some famous building like the John Hancock Observatory and Sky Deck Building, where I got to see Chicago from above. The Navy Pier, it is a place where there were a lot of ships and boats. From there I saw the light’s Chicago and the frozen Lake Michigan, it was awesome. Thus, I considered that Chicago is a fantastic city.


Watch Chicago!



Chicago - The Windy City

Chicago was an excellent city that I ever visited since I arrived in the United States. First, for being a huge city, I was surprise because I did not see a lot of traffic downtown but around the city, the traffic is horrible. Second, we stayed for four days in the city and it is not enough to visit all the interesting places that we have on there. For now, I can say that Chicago is one city that I can see myself living. 
For being a big city, I did not see any cultural differences on there. Maybe, the citizens of the city has a difference between people who lives in small cities in their day-to-day. Although, to live in that city that has a high life quality, also demands you to get a good job to sustain yourself in that city, if you do not, you will probably live in a small town.

However, for me, the most interesting thing that I was excited is was visiting the aquarium and skydeck. The first one is because I like to see animals in real and in my country; we barely have a great opportunity to see the animals that I saw on Shedd Aquarium. The second one it was great but was scary place for me because I have height phobia. Nevertheless, nothing compare to see such beautiful view of Chicago like that one in skydeck. This one was unique.
In the end of all, this trip was an excellent experience that I ever had in here.

Chicago Experience - Rafael

The Chicago trip was definitely amazing. I went there for the first time and everything was very good. First of all, I loved there because I like big cities. In a big city it is possible to do many things. Also the transportation makes everything easier, because we can go anywhere. The culture in Chicago is a little bit different than here, just because of the style of life in a big city. People use to eat faster, the transit is sometimes crazy, the way people dress is different too, but the most different thing is there is much more movement in the city. We have been there during 4 days only, and we had things to do all the time. We went to many places there, and each one was cooler than other. In the Field Museum I could see the gigantic and incredible skeleton of a T-Rex. In the Sheed Aquarium I saw the most beautiful kinds of fish and also dolphins and the cute beluga whale, that was awesome. But the most amazing place I went is, no doubts, the Sky Deck, the tallest building in Chicago. The experience of being in the 103th floor on a glass box is, at least, shocking and insane, but I felt so good there. Finally, I loved Chicago and I want to go back there.


Chicago culture - Priscila Cruz

What I could see in Chicago was a common culture of big cities around the world. People running and talking at cell phones all the time, we could see big buildings and luxury cars. This is a thing that we don’t see frequently in River Falls. We could see many tourist people and tourist places, such as The Art Institute of Chicago and the Shedd Aquarium. We saw people holding cameras and taking pictures in everywhere. We could see people from many countries, including from Brazil.That was a surprise.
We were in The Art Institute of Chicago when I heard someone speaking in Portuguese. I said to Elcio: “It is weird, I think they were talking in Portuguese”. The man answered: “We were speaking in Portuguese, you are not crazy”. At least we weren't talking nothing bad about them.
We tasted the famous deep pizza for dinner and for lunch. It was a good experience. That pizza was really tasty, so tasty that I had to eat again for lunch in the followed day.

These are some different thing that I could realized in Chicago. I loved the city and I want to go there in the summer because seems really beautiful. If someday I can, I want to live there forever.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Braveheart - Freedom speech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEOOZDbMrgE

After I looked up a lot of movies speeches, I found one from the movie “Braveheart” interesting. I liked the way the actor look at his public during the speech. Never stopping looking at them demonstrated he was interested and focused about the subject. In His speech he used a serious tone of voice, and yelled with bravery his words showing power, strength and directness in his objective. One behavior that also called my attention, was that since he was riding a horse, he didn´t stop the horse to give the speech. Actually, he was moving the horse all the time, and for me this made the speech more exciting showing that the character was prepared and convicted to fight, and this transmitted courage to the public.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Morgan Freeman

I like Morgan Freeman way of speaking, because he speaks clearly and well pronounced. He is a good narrator, his paused narrative is nice. I would like to add this style of speaking. Even if he say something fast or connected, abbreviated, It is easy to understand. Also, with his voice combinating, his speech sounds really nice. As an actor, he need to be really good as a speaker. I do not like his movies so much, but I like his speech, and even he is not a important or a historical person, just famous, to me is enough his speaking, some documentaries would be not the same without his voice.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEYL4aV8Cww

Barack Obama's speech

    The president of the United States became famous not just because he is the first black president of American history. His speeches helped him to accomplish this title. Obama’s speeches during his presidential campaign were motivated and confident. Everyone can remember the famous phrase: Yes, we can! He is confident in each word that goes out from his mouth. I would like to incorporate this confidence in my speeches. When he is speaking, everyone feels what he is trying to show. One day, I will be like him. Good speeches will be useful when I start to work as Agronomist and I need to persuade farmers to use my techniques for their crops.

The speech that made Obama president

Al Gore

A good speech come from people who can involve the listeners and get their attention. For me, Albert Gore do it very well in his speech. Al Gore is a politician, advocate and philanthropist, he served as Vice President of The United States under President Bill Clinton, and he lost to George W. Bush in 2000. In his environmental discourses he join humor and sarcasm but he does not lose the seriousness of the issue. Al Gore uses really well graphics and charts, picture and movies to explain his point of view and it turns his talks interesting. But I think that if he does not have those artifices he would also give a good speech.


Martin Luther King Jr.




Martin Luther King Junior was one of the most influential man during the American history because he was a leader in many boycotts and protests without the use of force. He was an American pastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He has fought against racism in United States of America when African - Americans could not enter in some places or eat in restaurants because of the prejudice. He inspired thousands of people and now I feel inspired by him because of the way that he express his belief. He use to do many speeches in front of thousands of American people. I like the way that he express his body because he looked as a high-pose and very confident, also I like the way that he did his speeches because he always has talked bravely and confident, so these are some reasons that prove why he always inspires motivation in people who heard him.


Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

I would like to share a Steve Jobs' speech. First of all, when I started to listen to his speech, I felt so confident because I could easily understand what he was saying, so, that shows he uses an accessible language which anyone can understand. Second, his body language shows us he is more likely to be an experienced person, he has a good tone, and the most important, he never gets lost in the speech because he knows exactly what he is going to say next. Finally, he demonstrate to attract people to his speech. Probably, because his stories are very interesting, and when he is talking people want to know what happen in the story and pay attention to him. So, this is a very nice speech.



























Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. is an American politician. He was under President Bill Clinton, in 1993 until 2001. Al Gore is currently an author and environmental activist and has received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in climate change activism. Due his job, he is a great speaker, because he get to talk about politician and environmental, actually contents too important, for American population, politics and he lectures around of the world. He was the first American to talk about American’s environmental problems, he made a documentary about that. Through his stance and his speech, he get to pass his information to population or scientists. He speak the formal language, though he get to be charismatic with his listeners and keep their attention. Therefore, Al Gore show to be a confident person, high power and spirit of leadership.  

Watch one of the Al Gore's speech such as Updated Highlights of Al Gore's Challenge.
Angelina Jolie

I chose Angelina Jolie as a very good speaker, a person who inspires me, because she can make me trust in her when she is speaking. I know that she is a very good actress, so to her is easier to speak in public and some times she can just be playing. But when she speaks she seems very honest, her speeches are very natural. Angelina can show all your feelings and thoughts using words. The video below is her discuss when she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards . In this video she looks very thrilled and nervous during her speech, but this is not a problem. She can use all her emotion to thrill who is listening.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ATgxOp31oI

Sean Penn Speech for the Oscar

All the years, the Academy Awards (The Oscar) makes a big event to award the best movies, actors and actresses in movies. Every winner must make a speech thanking for the award. Since 2000, I watched most of the cerimonies and one that I have got impressed is Sean Penn speech in 2009. As every winner, he thanked all the cast and crew but he mentioned about the porpouse of the movie (because he performed being an gay person fighting for their rights in 1979). This speech that he gave to the cerimony was very chocking but he faced all the people and told his opinion about gay marriage in USA. Since them, he inspire to not be shy to talk about things that you are and that you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HFRjamyua0

Jennifer Lawrence as a speaker - Priscila Cruz

Jennifer Lawrence is the person that inspired me as speaker. It could be strange because she is an actress, she supposed to do it well. All of her interviews are full of jokes and spontaneity, and this is what I like to do when I am speaking in front of people. It helps me when I nervous. She can be serious and when she do it, it sounds very nicely. It has a speech that she did for a TV show that someone asked her if her live was god. She answered this way: “Yeah, I just found a candy in my pocket.” It was funny and helped to break the ice of the interview. I want to talk like her someday. Below has a video of an interview with her. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3m7UHrfBEc 

Nelson Mandela

The South African leader Nelson Mandela was one of the most important political subjects acting against the process of discrimination brought by the apartheid in South Africa, and he has become an international icon in the defense of humanitarian causes. I chose him because I have seen many of his speeches and I could realize how he talked with confidence and persuasion. Once he said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart”. That sentence shows us how he was always seeking to reach and win people over with his humility and intelligence. He was also very clear and put his words with determination and it is what I would like to incorporate into my own speaking style.




Thursday, January 9, 2014

Family tree

It is interesting to know your family roots, where your parents came from, which traditions your ancestors used to do. I enjoyed doing the family tree because I remembered some facts about my ancestors. I usually do not keep thinking about old histories that my father or my mother told me, and over the years, I forgot some important or interesting facts about them. As in my mother's side,  in mine grand father side, I have forgotten that one of mine great grandparents came from Spain and also was Hebrew, Jewish.


The letter to myself.

The activity that I really liked today was the letter for myself, to be read in 2024! It is interesting doing that because is fun and at the same time I´m afraid of reading that in the future and haven’t accomplished my goals. This activity really made us think about the present, what we are wishing to achieve in the future and what we can do to achieve that. Also allowed us to think about our future, it means what we want to be and have in the next  10 years.The activity that I really liked today was the letter for myself, to be read in 2024! It is interesting doing that because is fun and at the same time I´m afraid of reading that in the future and haven’t accomplished my goals. This activity really made us think about the present, what we are wishing to achieve in the future and what we can do to achieve that. Also allowed us to think about our future, it means what we want to be and have in the next  10 years.


Family Tree

I liked the Family Tree activity because we could remmember our relatives, beyond we could draw and paint that are things much time I did not do. I have a big family and the paper did not have space enough for me to put all my uncles, my aunts and my cousins. At the my grandparents' generation people usually had a lot of sons, but in my parents' generation people used to have less sons, I think the reason is the generation of my parents studied more than the generation of the my grandparents, so my parents started thinking more about giving better conditions for their sons study, so they had less sons.



The activity that I most liked to do was to write a letter that I will read after 10 years. It was a good moment for I think about what I did in my past, what I am doing in my present and what will happen in my future. I got my letter saying that I expect to be very happy in 10 years, this is the most important thing for me. So, I asked about some things that I hope have in my future, like my kids, a comfortable house in my city (Belo Horizonte), a good job like Mechanical Engineer and if a enjoyed working in Europe for a long time. I tried to tell about this unique experience that I'm living now, I always dreamed of studying in another country, this is a time of much learning. At the end of the letter I gave me some advice about things I really believe and I can never forget.

HOPE: The hope is feeling the beholder as possible the realization of what you want, crave, trust in good, faith. For me, the figure of a dove representing peace is directly related to the fact that this word, sometimes, be necessary that hope perish so that peace becomes a force, as sometimes we have deep peace to have faith in intangibles.




SUCCESS: The word success means to succeed at anything, have a happy outcome of something;
get to the end of a contract. The figure is directly related to this word because it shows a man looking toward at a road with its end represented by an arrow and that "end" would be where he would achieve all his goals.









SERENITY: Serenity is accepting yourself, life and people as they are. Also, it is always to keep a realistic, positive and wise attitude in relation to everything. The figure of a woman on a beach with the word "breathe" is related to the word serenity because it is showing the peace, calm and balance to which the woman is at the time.



SATISFACTION: Pleasure arising from the realization of what is expected; joy, fullness, explanation, justification. The figure intertwined with this word because the picture shows a symbol of "positive", in other words, the satisfaction is the realization of something expected for some time and achieving it means that it will always be positive.


Message to me in 2024

I have some plans in my life today, so I’m sending this message from the past to remind me what want have accomplished ten years from now. I do not want a fancy life. I just want work in a good job and be happy as well, I want get marry with a simple woman and have 2 kids. But the most important thing that I am thinking now, is about living in United States. My mother does not like that idea but I am trying to convince her, and I hope she come with me.









Family tree




   Today, we did three activities very interesting, and it was tough to decide which one I liked the most. Anyway, I chose the activity about the family tree. I have a huge family and I have never written down all the names of my uncles and aunts; thus, it was very difficult to remember all names. After this activity, I realized how my family has been changing from a generation to another. My generation is more educated, and I have sure that the next generation will be even more educated and successful.

Letter To My Old Me


I chose the letter to my old me. First of all, it is always good think about what may happen and what I will doing when I become older. I wonder this all the time, I want to know if I found happiness. Second of all, I want to know about my family and friends, if they are doing well or not. If my nephews are growing healthy and handsome. If my brother found a light to his life. Third, I want to know about my professional life, such as my job, my education, and my career. 
What I liked the most was write a letter to me saying what I like to do or what I do nowadays, also I  asked  things about me and how will be my life in the future. I thought it very creative and made me think about my life and how it will be. I was thinking if I will accomplish my achievements or goals in the future or if I will be successful or satisfied with I did or how I will live. Also, I asked about my career as animal breeder, my wedding, my children and if I finally learned English. 
Today’s activities were really fun, because I had an overview about my family and about my life. Thinking about my family tree and see how big it is and how old I am. I used to be the youngest, but now I have many cousin and sibling and that make me feel old. It was a great experience to see that I am living in important moments of human history, and I could tell it to my children and say that “I was there”.



History of consoles

Timeline

Timeline: an analysis about the past

A timeline is an instrument of the history that belong to study the past to understand the present and to prevent the future. It represents facts that happened during a part of the past. Therefore it is important because you can look each important date and connect with the next fact. A timeline of ourselves is important for we remember of the past and we can look what and how we are in a situation currently. Also, a timeline can show about specific anything such as country history, world, politic, discovery etc.

Below, it is the Brazil's timeline and my life's time line with some important facts, since 1991.


Activity that I most liked in the class today!

The activity that I most like was to make a timeline. I choose this because each two years since I was born. I was remembering some important happening to Brazil and the world. Also, I was putting in the timeline some important happening in my life. This made in my mind like a movie of my life and made me remember good and bad things, happening that I ever experienced, etc.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Barbara Relvas Ilyan

Barbara Relvas Ilyan
http://prezi.com/dnmjzjwpynqy/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Brazilian Soccer Teams

http://prezi.com/wykliayhuy9x/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Prezi presentation - Tilt Shift photography

http://prezi.com/rfl5asoqqr8o/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
http://prezi.com/0epviolg4-nj/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Prezi Presentation: Amazing Places In The World

http://prezi.com/xmf3bvcvcvxb/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Prezi - How have cellphones changed?

http://prezi.com/-upnifj9lqlj/untitled-prezi/?utm_source=prezi-view&utm_medium=ending-bar&utm_content=Title-link&utm_campaign=ending-bar-tryout

Prezi World War 2

http://prezi.com/ozj1vdjqb7be/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Four images, four feelings


SATISFACTION

When we achieve something, we always want to achieve something else bigger. This is the human behavior. However, there are some people who found the satisfaction in their lives without any ambition. This image reminds my grandfather. He is an old and wise man, and when I talk to him, I can see through his eyes how he has been living a good life fully of satisfaction, even living his entire life on the farm.
SERENITY

As a said before, my grandfather is a happy man, and the environment where he lives helped him. I can’t imagine a place more serene than a farm. Even people usually associate serenity with desert beaches or mountains, a farmer is a place where people can live their entire life peacefully.


SUCCESS

The life is not a smooth river. We will find many obstacles during our lives. When we overcome those problems, we will be successful. Indeed, I will be successful in every overcoming, even this overcoming seems unimportant because every accomplishment is valid. 

HOPE

Some people often say that the world is ending, and they are waiting for God shows up and solves all human issues. Most of those people don’t move a finger to help anyone. However, there are people who still believe the humanity, and they don’t think twice to help who is needed. Those people bring me hope.