Blog Project

At first, I found this project pretty awesome, until I realized that only the Anderson people (mostly) would reply.  It's really funny, though, to see how people from different places use a whole different vocabulary then we do.  That was kinda cool.  Replying would also become a hard thing to do, too, because people would never post their blogs or post them a few days after it was due, and I usually couldn't find the time to log on and read their blogs with all the other responsibilities I have.  

It was a relatively easy project, although some of the topics really made me think.  I'm pretty sure my blogs got repetitive, which kind of made my blogs boring.  During the last six weeks, it was really hard to remember when a blog was due (but that's partly because I'm not very organized.  Thats going to be my New Years Resolution, though) with reviews for finals and major cramming of information in the brain to make up for Thanksgiving break. 

Overall, it was a pretty darn creative project that I wouldn't mind doing again next semester (but it would be pretty sweet if there were more than two people from a different country to communicate).  I liked seeing other's opinions on things like immigration and terrorism, and how people from different places opinion's differed. 

Diversity in the U.S. of A.

In the United States, diversity is not only present in the culture, but also things like food, sports, music, etc.  In Texas especially, there is a large Hispanic impact on our food (breakfast tacos, anyone?), religion (like Catholicism), and music (Selena).  These influences have made places like Austin special in its own way, and without these influences, the people of Austin wouldn't be who they are today. 

Every single place in the United States has their own influences on their culture, which makes almost every place in the United States different from one another.  But, even though these places differ, things like food can be found common.  For example, pizza is one of the most loved american dishes even though it actually originated from Italy.  Also, chinese food, Mexican food, and many other types of food from different countries have blended with the american culture to form many of the favorite dishes that America has today.   

When it comes to music, it is easy to tell that it has a large impact on American society.  Genres range from bluegrass to rap, and from classical to rock.   Some of these genres have actually blended to for new types of music that americans grow to love.   

Religion is also a large part of american society, along with politics.  Sometimes, both religion and politics go hand in hand with each other, which makes many issues debatable.  Things like abortion in the U.S. is something that many americans have been very opinionated about, along with things like deciding who the next president is.  Both religion and politics have molded the United States into the very differently opinionated society that it is today. 

Overall, america wouldn't be the "melting pot" it is today if it weren't for the vast variety of influences from other countries that lets the citizens of America chose what type of lifestyle they live. 

Favorite Places in the U.S.

Growing up, I have always been dragged from state to state every Christmas and/or Thanksgiving.  Both my parents are from the south, so pretty much that's all I know of America.  I have grown to love the northern sticks of Mississippi, and also Huntsville, Alabama (where [part of] NASA is located, and also where the first McDonald's sit down restaurant is), although my grandparents only lived there a short time of my childhood. 

 One of the greatest things I love about the quaint little towns in the sticks of Mississippi is that it's basically made up of about ten different fairly large families, with the whole distant cousins and fifth aunts twice removed stuff.  To be honest, I don't really think anyone knows how they're related, they just know that they are related.  Because everyone knows each other, it's quite amusing to see how much of the stereotypical "family drama" is true (ex: an uncle on his fifth wife, a cousin running off with some random guy, multiple divorces, a specific family member having to clean up all the messes repeatedly, you get the picture [note: none of these pertain to any of my family members :D]). 

Another place that I absolutely love that is not in the south is Colorado.  As I have said before in a previous blog,  the Rockies are absolutely beautiful.  They are so shockingly amazing that the first time I saw them, all I could do was just stare at them with my mouth open  for about ten minutes ( I was getting a cramp in my neck).  If any of y'all ever get a chance to go to Colorado, you have to go to Crested Butte.  Crested Butte is a pretty famous town, what my father would refer to as a "tourist trap", but hey, it's pretty dang amazing.  Crested Butte is located at the bottom of this HUGE mountain, and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is to look around and all of a sudden see this ginormous beautiful thing looking down at you.

So yeah...the Rockies rock my world. (haha. bad pun)

So for all y'all Australian  and Korean people, if you ever get to come to America, go to the Rockies or the sticks (also the Appalachians, but you might get carsick because it's so windy).  Personally, I would go to the Rockies because you kinda have to have a family in the sticks to fully understand the whole "family affairs" thing :).  So...yea.  Those are my favorite places in the U.S....and this is the end of my blog.  Until next time.... 

Terrorist Attacks in the United States

There have been multiple terrorist attacks in the United States in the past years, one of the most devastating and well known being September 11, 2001.  So many people died that day, but so many more have died from terrorist attacks in general.  One of the saddest parts though, is that our nation seems to be able to unite under major circumstances like terrorist attacks while we aren't able to unite when nothing is wrong.  As a citizen of this nation,  I think we should have the ability to be united no matter what, and not just because something bad has happened. 

Terrorism has also caused trust issues with our border countries.  After September 11th, an anti-drug  organization formed by American citizens and Mexican citizens stopped meeting at the border like they usually did and had to start meeting in different cities, alternating countries each year.  I think that it's sad that America can't even trust it's own neighbors, and it's amazing to see how much fear we have for ourselves because of terrorists.  We lock ourselves in our country, trying to keep out the bad people and possible nightmares, but that just makes things like legal border crossing and transcontinental flights harder for Americans.  Americans are even afraid of ourselves, with all the new high-tech security that was  not needed fifty years ago.  

Terrorism, overall has both improved technology and created trust issues for the United States.  Personally, I'd rather try to keep those trust bonds between other countries then have to improve and create new technology just to defend myself from my own kind. 

Anderson

So...Anderson is a pretty awesome school. The students and the teachers are all pretty different from each other, especially the students. Proof of this diversity is shown in my friends. All my friends come from different cultural backgrounds, and also different religion groups. If you look at the classes, it's easy to see how diversity takes hold of Anderson. I've really learned a lot about different cultures and religions just from talking to my friends and classmates. Honestly, it's crazy to see how these different morals blend in with the present society.
I'm currently in choir at Anderson, and it's absolutely HUGE. There are a lot of very exciting people in it, and it's really easy to make friends with all of them. The different clubs and societies at Anderson are like ginormous families that easily grow on you. A lot of the students start with maybe one or two clubs at first, and build up to more, which gives them a wide variety of friends and skills.
Well...theres my blog. :D

Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration is one of the big problems that the United States faces every year.  Most illegal immigrants come from Mexico across the Rio Grande River, which leads into Texas, or across other borders from Mexico into the United States.  As a result,  southwest Texas is home to many of these immigrants, and overtime, has contributed to Texas' diverse community as a whole.  

In many ways, illegal immigration has changed immigration to the U. S. in general, such as how immigrants can get their green cards, which has caused a lot of problems for legal immigrants.  A lady that I know immigrated from Mexico a few years back, and she has now settled a home in Austin with a loving family and a good job.  She has filled out the required papers multiple times for a green card and has sent them in multiple times for the U.S. government to approve.  The United States government has gotten so caught up with stopping illegal immigrants that they forget about the legal ones.  This lady so far has not been able to get her papers approved by the government for a green card yet, which means that if she ever goes back to Mexico, she can't come back to the U.S.  Her dad is works for the Mexican government, and he too has tried his best to fix this whole mess. 

Overall, illegal or legal, once you get here as an immigrant, the U.S. government should allow you to stay and work to become a legal citizen.  It takes years to legalize an immigrant in the United States, but once your here, you should be welcomed and be able to stay.  If someone is so desperate for a new and better life that they'd break the law to get one, then why not? Good people deserve to live in a country that gives power to the people.  They've done nothing wrong by wanting a better life in a good country.  If their records clean then why not give them a better life?  

Summer Vacation

Hey, guys! It's me again.  A little malfunctioning going on with the internet at my house, so I am currently sitting in my dad's office writing this oh-so-fabulous blog. :) Anyway, so this blog is about summer vacation (well duh) and where I went.  So, I'm going to start off with the beginning and work my way to the end (or to the beginning of school).  

The first few weeks of summer were quite boring, actually (it was transition camp time) but I guess you could say that was the calm before the storm.  The first (and one of the best things) that happened this past summer was TGE.  The Great Escape is a church trip that I went on with my church youth group in colorado, and it was my third (and last) time to go.  That trip was AMAZING, especially when we went white water rafting in the Arkansas River (which is the coldest river in the United States, no lie) and got dunked in at the end (oh, yeah, did I mention it was like seventy degrees outside?).  Anyway,  the thing about Colorado is is that it's so extremely beautiful.  It seems so unreal to see a snow capped peak in the distance, and know that it's perfection is real.  (I'll try to eventually post a picture of it some time soon!) 

Sadly, that trip had to end, and as soon as we got back from the Rocky Mountains,  I was  rushed to re-pack so that we could arrive in the Smokey Mountains in (literally) twenty-four hours.  If you have ever been to both the Smokey Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, then you know what I'm saying when I tell you that they are extremely different from each other.  The part of the Smokeys that we went to was in Boone, North Carolina, which is where my aunt and uncle live (and also where the Samaritan's Purse is located which is where my aunt and uncle work :] ).  When you're in the Smokey Mountains, and you wake up in the morning on top of a Mountain,  it's quite and eerie  feeling to look out of the window and see the clouds below you.  That trip was fabulous, and if you ever go to Boone, make sure you go to Grandfather Mountain (it has a swinging bridge fifty feet in the air). 

So that was basically the end of all my traveling for the summer when we got home.  Over the next few weeks, a lot happened, such as my uncle getting a job as a head coaching job of a college baseball team, them (he, my aunt and their three children) moving to Arkansas, and us (my mom and I) meeting up with my aunt and the three children to kidnap the eldest for two weeks.  My cousin tends to act older then her age (in a good, responsible kind of way), and she had been doing so much for my aunt over the past months, so we invited her to an intensive dance camp at my studio so she could get back to what she loves to do.  She is an absolutely amazing dancer, and I thought it was pretty cool that she made friends here in ATX that she still keeps in touch with.  Sadly, it ended too soon and she was heading back to Arkansas and her new life.  

A lot of sad things have happened this summer, but most of them have a happy ending, like my friend Aya moving to Israel.  Her father is a professor at UT, and he's taking a sabbatical the 08-09 school year, so at the end of July, Aya and her family packed up after saying their goodbyes and took off to Israel.  The good thing about a sabbatical is that it only lasts a year, so we'll get to see Aya next August. :]  Saying goodbye to Aya was basically the cherry on top of summer.  It was a sad but optimistic goodbye, with a sort of finality woven in. 

Well, that was my summer basically summed up in a lot of lines.  It kind of got mushed together and confusing near the end, but I was kind of dozing off (I would blame it on allergy medicine making me go loopy, but I didn't take any today. Oops. ).  Well, I  think there's another blog due next week, so I'll blog to you then (weird sentence).  Until then....

About Me...Continued

Okay, so the general information I think all of you got (my name, where I am, my interests, etc.) in the "About Me" section of this blog page.  So far, you know that my name is Olivia, I am currently in Texas, and I love to dance (alot).  I'm currently a fish (freshman) in high school, but I do have an older sister (senior) that drives me to school everyday ( Just not this week because the five minutes it rained monday morning, we were going down the Jester hill (a really, really, really big hill) and my sisters care slid when she put on the brakes and we did a 360 and crashed into the guardrail.  It was kind of scary, and we got to school late, but by miracle a huge rock stopped us from going over the guardrail :] ). 

As I said (multiple times) before, I love to dance, and am involved in my studio's amateur dance company with Allison (who is also doing this blogging project).  Reading is also one of my favorite things to do, but with all this homework plus dancing, I don't really get to read much.  So far, I'm most likely failing a lot of my classes (I'm not usually like that) with all the Pre-AP homework and dancing and church stuff, but hey, it can only get better. 

 I live in a house on a street (I'm not telling you which house or what street) two houses down from my grandparents with two cats, two dogs, a little monster (our dachshund puppy), my mom, my dad, and my sister.   My church youth group is like my second family, so I (try to) go to as many church things as I can.  My mom used to teach three-year-olds and my dad is an engineer at Polycom (the place that makes triangular phone conference things).  My sister is extremely intimidating if you're and aspiring artist and/or writer,  and she is currently trying to find a college to go to next fall.  So that pretty much sums it up for the "family" portion of this about me section. 

Anyway, on October 25, 1993, I was born into this world in the Stanford hospital near Palo Alto, California.  We moved to Texas for my dad's job when I was one, and decided to stay, so here I am.  I can be a spazz sometimes when I'm excited, and I tend to be (unintentionally) loud, especially with my friends, which is not really a good thing.  I guess I'm a good girl in the classroom, though (hopefully).  I freak out about my grades, and I'm a perfectionist, which is definitely not a good thing when your in highschool. Hey, I only said I was a perfectionist, not perfect.  

I guess this is the end of my little "get to know me" section, but if i remember anything,  I'll post it or something.  Until then....