Back to... Hogwarts?

Firstly, I have successfully uploaded my video where I review the book Paper Towns by John Green. You can check it out here. Tell me what you think!

Secondly, I have once again returned to that most noble of endeavors—school. Officially speaking, I am enrolled in my final year of Muggle school. But, as the first of September has passed, I’m going to refer to it as my seventh and final year at Hogwarts. That feeling you get before mounting a rollercoaster? The mix of terror and excitement knotting up in your chest? That was my summer; but now I’ve gotten on the rollercoaster, and there is no getting off until the ride is over. It’s quite hard to believe that at the end of next spring, I will have to say good-bye to my beloved school and enter the strange world of adulthood. Ah, yes, it is all bittersweet.

Bittersweet-ness aside, it is a year where I have the chance to accomplish the most I have in all of my years of schooling. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to save the world in what would have been their last years at Hogwarts. I probably won’t end up having to track down the Dark Lord and finish him at last or anything, but I do have many plans, plans that are actually happening.

In the same way that Hogwarts students must take O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s, us American Muggles get to take ACT or SAT (standardized tests). Or if you are crazy like me, both. One of the first steps to the college application process is having these standardized test scores. It is a facetious process to kids my age everywhere, but unfortunately necessary . The idea of anything after school is over is kind of unreal to most in my class. But nevertheless, we just go with it, like the twists and turns of the rollercoaster track.

Being of upperclassman status, there are even more opportunities than ever before. This means projects. And by projects, I mean Harry Potter Alliance (HPA for short). In a previous post, I talked about the work that the HPA does. In a phrase, activism Harry Potter-style. A group of students and I will be decreasing world suck through fundraisers, drives, and other campaigns. One of my goals is to make the world a better place, and hopefully I can really get started on that feat this year.

Besides this blog, I will be incorporating writing into my final year in another way: starting a school magazine. Not only will tons of students in my school be able to exhibit their own writing, but they will also get to learn a bit about the publishing and mass media industries.

Basically, this year is going to be a blast. It’ll go by faster than the speed of light (relatively anyway). Even though I will have to bid farewell to my school all too soon, it will always be there to welcome me home.

Who Do You Think You Are?

The other day, I spent an afternoon curled up on the couch, watching episode after episode of an intriguing show called Who Do You Think You Are? In the show, celebrities are taken on a journey to explore their family tree, and basically learn about who they are and where they came from. They begin by talking to their family, generally with questions about a certain branch of the family. Then, through the help of genealogists and historians, have their questions answered, sometimes traveling all over the globe.

I have always been fascinated with family trees. My mother is from Spain, and my father from the States. The fact that my family is scattered across the globe has probably contributed to why genealogy is something I can easily get sucked into. I have a wide mix of nationalities, including Cherokee, Norwegian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French.  Trying to imagine how those nationalities came together in the first place and how they are connected to me is almost mind-boggling.

When you think about it, the only reason you exist right now, as the way you are, is because of all of your predecessors. Your existence is literally a one in a million chance. Perhaps it is for this very reason that we often feel a need to know where we come from. Knowing the stories of our ancestors, I think, helps ourselves define who we are. For example, Zooey Deschanel was on the show of Who Do You Think You Are? She wanted to explore how far back strong female characters went in her family. As it turns out, there is a very long line of them. Deschanel considers herself a feminist, and now she knows that empowered women really do run in the family.

My immediate family, as a whole, enjoys traveling. Since my father was formerly in the military, my family has gotten to travel to all kinds of places. Each parent and every sibling, excluding one of my brothers, were born in a different state or country. We like adventure. This adventurous quality exists on both sides of my family, particularly on my father’s side. My dad’s family is scattered with army and air force personnel, with next generations carrying the torch and continuing the tradition. The military aspect of my family is one of my definers; I am a proud American and enjoy a traveler’s life.

Perhaps even more intriguing than knowing where you come from by studying your genealogy are the connections you make. Not only are you connected to your family by blood, but also by the things you do and enjoy. Come from a family that is particularly artistic? Three generations back, you might find someone who managed to win some sort of award or otherwise have their work on display somewhere. You might learn something about your family that could answer questions you have about yourself. Or maybe you’ll find a bounty of stories to pass on to the generations to come.

What Makes a Good Autobiography?

One of the graduation requirements for my school is writing an autobiography. We need at least seventy-five pages, documenting our high school career and other significant pieces of our life that we deem necessary to tell our story. Of course, since writers write what they know, this should be easy right? After all, I’m literally telling the story of my life so far. As it turns out, going back and remembering what I was like a few years back, and making a string of events all connect to tell one big story is more difficult than it seems.

Since I like taking normal things to another level (often over-complicating my life) I decided to Google what makes a good autobiography. With a mix of WikiHow, eHow, and other sites, here are three keys to writing a good autobiography.

Number one: create a timeline. You have to dive into the depths of your memory, picking out events from your life that shaped your journey. These are events that often surface immediately, and are a good place to start. For example, your first day of primary school or perhaps the death of a loved one. Compile a list of events and memories (ten seems to be a good number) that are particularly important to you; this is your life story. Sometimes looking through old pictures, or talking to friends and family, can jog your memory.

Number two: have a theme. When you think about it, writing out your life story is not too far removed from writing a fictional story. Every person has their own individual experience, and their own personality developed from it. The way you tell your story is just as important as the tale itself. My autobiography focuses on my high school experience, and will probably be comprised of flashbacks to my childhood throughout a chronological series of events from the year 2010 up until the spring of 2014. Basically, to formulate your theme, ask yourself this: what is the story I am trying to tell? Is it how you became a published author? Or about a six month journey at sea? Or becoming a grandmother? There is more to an autobiography than the physical events. The emotions you felt, what drove your decisions, all culminating into why you are the person you are today.

And finally—actually start writing. Sit down for a minimum of fifteen minutes a day, writing out the pieces. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over proper grammar. Let yourself rant. Tell your story. You’ll have time to edit later. Tap into all the sensory details, and allow the reader (or yourself) to live the memories in their mind. A good story captivates the reader in a way that transports them into your past. Bring the reader on a journey that is worthwhile, and in the end, maybe they will learn something. And maybe after all that writing, you will learn a thing or two about yourself as well.

For the Love of Reading

When was the last time you held a new story in your hands? Either a good ole paperback or the newest eBook you’ve added to your digital collection, they both count. Every time I find a new book in my hands, I treat the book almost in a regal manner. I observe the big title in print and miniscule details of the cover art. I run my fingers across the front cover, trying to find what modern texture the publisher provided for our discovery. The book feels comfortable in my hands, my mind whirring, becoming even keener on the journey this story would soon sweep me into.

Lifting the cover, I try to take in every detail: the spine creaking, two title pages, with copyright and publishing information sandwiched between. The book dedication written in italics, as it is in so many other stories. Some books even provide the reader with excerpts from poems or quotes that have something to do with the adventure lying within the pages beyond. Authors then greet us with some sort of note, or a prologue. But sometimes we are sucked right into the story, starting on chapter one.

I always turn the first few pages slowly, treading carefully. Without being entirely aware of it, the words suck me right into the story. Before I know it, my eyes are gobbling up the print, and the pages begin to go by faster and faster. The story becomes home, and comes with me everywhere; to the coffee shop, the dance studio after school, onto an airplane. I read sitting upright, curled in a ball, or upside down, hanging off of my bed, totally comfortable and caught up in the story.

Over the past year, I’d nearly forgotten what it is like to start a new book and really fall into it. While living in Spain, most of the reading I did was of books I had read previously in English. Coming back to the States, I had to retrain myself a bit in the reading department. At the time I had begun The Fellowship of the Ring and taking classes at a university. In the span of eight months, I read college textbooks and managed to read three books on my own time. In comparison to the amount of reading I used to do, this was slightly disappointing.

I have created a goal for myself, and that is to read at least one book every month. To make this undertaking even more fun, I’ll be reviewing each book I read in the form of a vlog. Ah, yes to taking on more projects!

I already have a lengthy list of books I intend on reading, but what others would you suggest? For August, I decided to read Paper Towns, a novel by John Green (and it is fabulous, if I may say so myself).

The College Debate: East versus West

After taking a road trip down and up the East coast, visiting a variety of states, and spending a week in Florida, I’ve been reminded of how much fun it is to be stuck in a car for eight or more hours. Especially when there are mini-wars over various snack foods. In the two weeks my family and I were traveling and vacationing, we traveled over 3,000 miles by car and managed to survive with minimal hotel Wi-Fi the whole time. Now that I am home and settling in for the upcoming school year, I will begin to post regularly once again.

Speaking of the upcoming school year, I have yet another post on college. I’m applying for colleges in September, and have been looking up schools all across the country. During the process, I discovered that there is a bit of an infamous debate over which U.S. coast is the best coast: East or West? For college, I would like to live in a city. In order to discern the pros and cons to each coast, I focused on cities. From the West I have Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. From the East I have Boston, New York, and Washington DC.

First of all, I’m going to start with the general view there is with each coast, or rather the characteristics of each coast’s character. The East coast is generally more conservative, formal, and crowded. The West coast is viewed as more liberal, easy-going, and open (space-wise). Let me tell you now that the closest I have lived to the West coast is Idaho, and I currently live on the East coast. I’m also the kind of person who is fascinated by places I have yet to go to. Thus, I will probably talk more about the West than the East.

My mentality is to go to a college that is near a place where I would like to live after college. For many years I have wanted to live in Seattle, mostly because of a Nickelodeon show called iCarly. So of course, I looked for colleges in the area, and found what I thought to be a perfect fit. After a few years on the East coast, it would be really nice to move somewhere a smidge more relaxed and “open-minded”. It is a different lifestyle that fascinates me. Then again, visiting my family would be difficult, what with the entire country between me and home. I then looked for colleges on the East coast. There are countless colleges in Boston that have what I want to study. New York City is nice, but a huge city with many distractions, at least for me. Then there’s Washington DC, which would certainly be an interesting place to live, being the nation’s capital.

I want to be a writer for a magazine eventually, maybe even work toward being an editor. I want to work with people to achieve a common goal by brainstorming ideas and then making them happen. I want to decrease world suck in whatever way I can. The East might have some of those things, but the West is thriving with life in comparison. For college, I might just stay near home, and then make the big move out West later on. But for now, I need to work on actually getting into college. Until then, I will continue exploring Chicago and Seattle through Google maps.

Learning a Language

As a former military brat with a Spaniard for a mother, I’ve grown a bit of an affinity for language learning. Currently on my list are German, Mandarin Chinese, French, Italian, and far too many more to continue this sentence. I am fluent in Spanish, have background in Italian (as I used to speak it fluently), and have spent two years learning Mandarin Chinese. But what is the best way to learn a language?

Let’s begin with Spanish. I love Spanish, speaking it, reading it, and even writing it. It has a certain vibe to it when it rolls off the tongue. How did I learn the language? I was raised with it, learning Spanish alongside my English. My mother would speak in mostly Spanish, and my father spoke more in English. So really I learned a form of Spanglish first. Throughout my life, there has been many a vacation to Spain, visiting family and seeing the beautiful country itself. Then I studied abroad last fall in Salamanca, Spain, and after that I was all set. These big and little immersions into the language and culture have certainly helped build confidence in not just understanding the language, but also in speaking it.

Moving on to Italian, and how I quickly picked up the language and quickly lost it as well. My family was stationed a little north of Venice, Italy. At first, my brother and I attended the American schools on the military base, just so we could settle into the new environment. After a few months, we were moved to the Italian schools (which might I add, were awesome). At first, it was all charades to understand the other kids, and to learn the language. Not only did I pick up Italian quickly, but due to the similarities of this language to Spanish, my ability to communicate in Spanish shot up. For kindergarten, first, and second grade, I was trilingual.

When I moved back to the States, I did not need to use Italian. We spoke it at home sometimes, but it often turned back to Spanish and English. Once my tongue did not have to speak the language, it became lazy, and soon enough, forgot the language altogether. After a couple of years in the States, and no trips to Spain, even my confidence with speaking Spanish was fading.

Then I moved again, to the east coast. I was beginning middle school, and began to take French and Spanish at school. Both were easy enough to ace, and after three years, I knew how to count and introduce myself in French. In Spanish, I learned some scattered vocabulary associated with classroom items. That was in three years.

When I moved to the high school, I had the option to take Mandarin Chinese. I knew that I would be wasting my time in French or Spanish, and thought it would be wicked cool to learn a language that does not take it's roots in Latin. This class was unlike any other, and I took it for two years. The entire class took place online.  You could go at your own pace and review lessons whenever you wanted. I learned so much in that class. When I transferred high schools, I continued my studies through Rosetta Stone.  I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of information I absorbed even without immersion or an actual teacher speaking in Chinese on a regular basis.

How do you learn another language best? For me, it’s actually being surrounded entirely by the language. Going to the country where the language makes its home (it’s near impossible to truly understand a language without knowing its culture) or taking classes where everything is in the language you are trying to learn are personally how I learn best. Now, back to reading Warm Bodies in Italian…

The Infamous Job Hunt

As soon as you hit age twelve, it seems like your awareness of money just triples. Money begins to be viewed as a gateway to more independence. Sometimes, it can be a way of getting what you want. So you start off with lemonade stands, babysitting, or dog walking. Getting a crispy twenty every week can make any kid feel rich. BUT THEN…you hit sixteen years old and twenty bucks a week isn’t exactly going to meet demand. Your parents tell you to find a job, the outcome can be…grievous.

At the moment, only 25% of teens are employed in the United States. I suppose this is not so bad as parts of Europe, where I learned that a teenager holding a job is nearly unheard of. But because I’ve spent the past year applying to jobs off and on, and have yet to get an interview, it does not matter that elsewhere is worse (right at this moment in time; however, once one has the resources, they will become more capable of making elsewhere better). I live in a country where there is a one in four chance for a teenager to receive a job, and that still has yet to happen in my case.

What I have learned is that you must not be discouraged every time you hit a dead end. That is to say, you fill out your application, and drop it off with your resume at a place you are interested in working at. One week later, you follow up with a call, only to find that they aren’t hiring at the moment, or worse, “We’ll call you when we need you”. After this happens countless times, do not take it as a sign to give up. Just print out some more resumes and continue the hunt.

Statistically speaking, it is actually more difficult for a teen from a low income family to get a job because they have fewer connections. When searching for a job, younger people tend to rely on connections through their parents and friends. When one of your parents is out of work, for example, you have less stepping stones toward garnering a paying job. The shrinking availability of work for teens is rather nerve-wracking, especially when someone really needs the money. I need money to pay for gas and car insurance, while someone else needs a job to have food on the table. A lot of the time, applying for jobs is almost like buying lottery tickets, hoping to get the magic numbers.

But despite the state of the economy, we have to keep our heads up. We need to keep applying, reapplying, finding new places to apply. While waiting for a job offer, build up your resume with volunteer work and internships. Or these are all the things I keep telling myself as I hunt down my first job. But one thing is for sure, job hunting is in no way simple or some easy step by step process. Anything worthwhile requires some amount of work, and that amount is certainly not appealing in some cases. The key to a successful job hunt is perseverance; that I can say for sure.