Sam Tsui & Nick Pitera duet – “For Good” Wicked (cover)

Sam Tsui – [MASHUP] Love The Way You Lie, Dynamite, Teenage Dream

August 22, 2010

On the same date as today, the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa, was stolen exactly 101 years ago (the year of 1911). The painting was actually taken by Napoleon while fighting against Italy during his rule in France. The thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, was actually the employee of the Louvre Museum and was an Italian patriot who wanted to return the painting back to Italy where it really belongs. For two years, no one really knew where the painting went and thought it was lost forever. When he was finally caught the painting was returned back to the Louvre Museum. However, because the Italian citizens hailed Peruggia as a true patriot, he was only in jail for 6 months.

I’m Back!

It’s been more than 2 months since I wrote the last blog. Well I am now a junior but I still feel like I am a sophomore 😀 This summer went too quickly. Since I am a junior, I have so much thing to do: AP US History, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, Physics, Spanish 3, Digital Journalism and English. But I am also looking for this year because I think it will be the best year of my high school years! Now that I am done with half of my high school, I need to work harder. I need to use my time wisely and be diligent.

My Final Blog Post…:(

Now that I finished AP and SAT, everything in the world look so lovely! The weather here in Korea is so good, all of the people look so beautiful and my life is so PERFECT! Although I still have finals and there are six days left, I cannot wait until my summer vacation start.

I think this year went quickily. I feel like as if the first day of sophomore year was just yesterday but in six days, I would graduate as a sophomore and become a junior. I came to KIS when I was in 9th grade and at first, I was so nervous since I lived in California for five years and during those years, I forgot how Korean school was. But KIS is just like any American schools and I got used to this school quickily.

My sophomore year started with meeting new friends, new teachers and new classmates. In Chemistry, we had to fill a survey about which classes we are taking this year and where we lived before coming to Korea. In English class, the first thing we had to do is to turn in all of our summer works. Also, I misread my schedule and so I went to another class instead of going to Asian Studies. Thankfully, the teacher was nice and said that he also made a mistake of thinking one of his class is something else because he was a new teacher. The first day of school was so chaotic but I realized one thing: my sophomore year has just begun.

Throughout the year, I learned so many new things: new technology, new ideas, etc. And I also did many things that were first in my life. I took my FIRST AP test, my FIRST SAT Subject Test, my FIRST blogs. I started writing blogs since last year in Ms. P’s English class. I never thought that writing blogs would be so fun. And although it says this is my final blog, what I mean is that it is my final blog as a sophomore and I will keep writing. I think I had so much fun writing the blogs, because you don’t really need to be so formal like the essays and just be myself. This experience has helped me in improving my writing skills and also to become more confident in writing.

What we are learning in Spanish…

Español. Castellano. 스페인어.

All these words pertains to “Spanish.” In Spanish class, we learn all these new words everyday. We start our class by talking about what we did over the weekend or even the day before. We would talk about what tests we have and complain about it and I think this method helped most of the Spanish students with grammar and also relieving all the stresses (:D).

After all those talks about our lives, we go straight into our lessons in grammar or the chapter itself. Throughout the year, I think I learned so much about the language. While we only learned two verb tenses, this year we learned 4 new tenses and more than hundred new vocabulary. Before going to the Spain trip, my weakest point was speaking. I knew a lot of the grammar and vocabulary, but when I start speaking, I began to panic and forget what I want to say. But after the trip I improved a lot in speaking. My family in Spain helped me with the speaking and when we have the talks every class, I would always have something to say.

I am going to miss all those talks that we had for the two years. I had so much fun and Spanish itself was fun. It was similar to English, so in some ways it was easy to learn, but in some other ways, Spanish is the hardest language in the world. 😀

Brave New World vs. Society vs. Slumdog Millionaire???

On May 20, 2010, our English class watched a movie called Slumdog Millionaire. At first I thought it was only about a guy, who is very smart, and he wins the prize in a quiz bowl. However, as I watch the movie, I found out that it was more than winning the prize. Jamal, the main character, actually answers many questions eventhough he was a street child and police suspects him of cheating and arrest him. But we find out that the way how he answered all the questions was through all the incidents that happened in his past and having all the flashbacks.

I think the society of Slumdog Millionaire is like our society in the current world because in some parts of the world there are many corruption but it is different from the society in Brave New World. The World State keeps the society of Brave New World happy and peace without any individual thoughts. Also, in Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal’s mother dies in the religious riot that happens but in Brave New World, there is no religion, so riots that happened in Jamal’s world will never happen in Brave New World.

EDUCATION…WHY DO WE NEED IT?

Why do we need education? Education is not there for students to have fun, so it is something that people cannot have positive thoughts. But it is there to help us to become successful. Many people ask this question: Why do we need to go to school? School is the place where you are given education and maybe all these tests might seem unreasonable, they definitely keep you gain knowledge about the subject. Also, many presidents of United States became lawyers by self-studying, like Abraham Lincoln, and because they did not have enough money to go to college, they had to study by themselves and eventually become presidents. I believe everyone needs education in order to be successful, whether going to school or home-school. Education is something that everyone should equally have and share.

Dracula 1931 vs. Dracula 1992

On April 9, 2010, Ms. P’s English class saw portions of the two Dracula movies: 1931 film and 1992 film. For me, 1992 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. First of all, the 1931 film’s Dracula was CREEPY! Secondly, although 1992 film also was not all true to the book, 1931 film is worse. In the beginning of the book, instead of Jonathan Harker, Mr. Renfield is the one who visits Dracula’s castle. Thirdly, I loved the introduction  of Dracula in the 1992 film. It gave a prelude and the background of Dracula which was very interesting. Also, because the 1992 film is made later, it has better CGI (Computer Graphics Imagery) and more realistic actions.

vs.

Works Cited for pictures:

1) “Catch This Tonight: Dracula.” The Frame Up. Time Out New York. Web. 11 Apr. 2010. http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/theframeup/2009/06/catch-this-tonight-dracula/.

2) “Dracula Films.” Dracula Prince of Darkness. Count Dracula. Web. 11 Apr. 2010. http://www.draculaprinceofdarkness.com/Dracula%20Films.html.

¡La Vida en España!

España…Spain…The Kingdom of Spain…There are so many words to describe this Mediterranean country located in the Iberian Peninsula in the farthest west of Eurasian continent. During the spring break, not only did I visit Spain with my Spanish class, but also experience an ultimate adventure of my life that I will not forget about. Here are the journal entries of the trip.

It is March 19, 2010. Twenty-one Students of Spanish I, II, III, AP Spanish Language and Literature are crowded in the Incheon-International Airport in South Korea, waiting for their two o’clock airplane to take off to their destination⎯SPAIN. We were all excited about our upcoming trip to Europe, especially for me, because it was my first trip to Europe! On the other hand, we were also nervous about going because of the “HOME-STAY.” But I decided not to think about it until the day comes to meet my home-stay family.

After the twelve-hours of getting stuck in that “Korean-Airline” airplane, we were finally in EUROPE!! But our trip wasn’t over yet. When I said we were in Europe, I meant to say that we were in Charles De Gaul Airport in France, not Madrid. We still had to go three-hours more so that we finally get to Spain.

For two nights and three days, we stayed at Madrid and on the second day, we toured around and looked at the beautiful scenery of Madrid. Everything was so perfect!! The people, the food, the buildings!!!

On Sunday, we left Madrid and went on a two-hour trip to a city located south of Madrid called “Valladolid.” It is the capital of the region called “Castille-León.” At noon, we arrive at the parking space where our home-stay families come to take us to their house for four days. This is the time when I panicked. I was so nervous when I first met my family. There were three sisters in my family: Henal (18), Clara (16), and Inés (13). They welcomed me with warm smile which cleared out all the worries that I had about speaking in Spanish. At first, they spoke slowly in Spanish and English. They asked questions, like ¿Qué tal? (How is it going?), and soon I became more comfortable speaking in Spanish.

During the day, I actually went to the school to experience what it is like to go to a school in Spain. For the students, instead of going from one class to another class, the teachers come to the classroom while the students stay in one classroom. Also, it is divided into Primary and Secondary School, which the former is same as Elementary and Secondary Middle and High School. So therefore, freshman in America is same as Grade 3. All students in my age learn: Chemistry, Physics, French or Latin, Spanish Literature, Math, English, and History. From Monday to Wednesday, I made many friends and learn Spanish a lot from them by talking.

When it was time for us to leave, I REALLY DID NOT WANTED TO GO!! We cried and cried until we didn’t have any more tears left in our eyes. As we go back to Madrid, I thought about this new adventure and I don’t regret that I came to Spain but rather regret the fact that I could have more fun and learn more Spanish. It was a valuable experience for me and I hope I can visit Spain DE NUEVO (AGAIN)!!!:D

Works Cited for the Spain Flag

“Spain.” Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org/web/page/678/sectionid/557/pagelevel/3/interior.aspx&gt;.