Halfway through the quarter, what I have learned.

Here I am, February 3, halfway through my college quarter at the local community college. This quarter I took Math, Developmental Psychology, and Spanish, all 5 credits each. I have learned a lot in Psychology and will be a better person by knowing how people grow up and will know more about what the person is thinking ( or not) and will be able to give appropriate responses that I haven't had time to practice yet. Psychology is definitely a beneficial subject for being a responsible citizen and should be taught in high school. In Spanish I have learned a lot of course, I haven't known much Spanish since Elementary school,  and am able to make basic sentences now. After taking two quarters of German last year, the second language is a lot easier because I know how to learn a language and how languages are put together. I am thoroughly convinced that languages should be taught by the European model, first language in the first four years (usually English) than another language in year 5-8, and finally finish with a third language in the last part of your public education. My psychology learning has taught me that learning languages makes connections in the brain during the golden period of languages in the single digits that makes someone more intelligent throughout their entire life.

I took my band final yesterday. We are playing awesome music as usual. Everything else has been steady since December. In SOGO we are playing the Barber of Seville for my last concert (the first piece I played in SOGO in fact) and selected scenes from Carmen. It is going to be a great ending for my SOGO career.

I am also working now at Evergreen. I am designing the web page for the lab I work in and helping to set up the science meeting. Everything is coming together.

The Joy of Languages

I am taking German at my local community college. I have enjoyed it immensely. I am listening to a German podcast as I write this, and have noticed things about learning a foreign language.
1. It increases the knowledge of how your own language works grammatically which makes you a better speaker.
2. It is fun. It allows you to speak with more people, and the joy of learning and making connections is cool.
3. It allows you to get more perspectives when you look at the news through new websites.

I plan on taking more languages throughout my life, and I will use all of them as I travel the world. Up next: French.

I am remembered at my alma mater

Today was what these two weeks are going to be like, go to two classes and then I'm done with school for the day.
I rode my bike to school with one of my friends, and traveled the 11.5 miles in 55 minutes, averaging 12 miles per hour approximately. Pretty good, in my opinion.
I went to my two classes, and then the college by bus where I finished paying for my classes. I rode the bus back to high school where I ate lunch, and then rode my bike back to my grandparents, about 5 miles. While there I played some Grieg, Debussy, and Beethoven on the piano.
I then decided to go to my middle school which is a five minute bike ride away from there, if that much. I dropped by our friends' fruit stand next to the school, and then parked my bike. I walked in, said hello to some friends and walked into the library.
In 8th grade I spent almost every recess in the library and while there I shelved books and straightened shelves. I did both of these again and helped a kindergarten student find some comic books. Then while I was straightening shelves in the non-fiction section near where the windows are, a 5th or 6th grader came up to me and started asking me to do the llama dance, which I did a lot during middle school. It consists of saying: "Llama rock, llama rock, llama llama llama rock. Llama shuffle, llama shuffle, llama llama llama shuffle. Llama tweest. Llama tweest. Llama old school." I was amused, and one of my friends said that the people around my age remember me for who I am, but the elementary schoolers remember me for my crazy antics. This was really funny, and I hadn't thought about the stupid song for about a year if that short a time period. When I read this post several years from now will probably laugh again. My Mom picked up my brother and then went shopping, our librarian left and I rode my bike the remaining 6 miles. I have had a quiet evening, having already rode 23 miles today. A good day.

First day of school

A pretty good first day. I have two classes in the morning, band and IB English. I then have the rest of the day free. In band we got our syllabus, and in English we learned about each other.

I then went over to the community college where I am going to start running start on September 21. I forgot to pay for one of my classes, and talked with one of my friends for a while and got my ID card. I went home around noon and then rode the bus back to my high school. There I ate lunch with another one of my friends and then hung out in A pod and wandered around the school. I was in the library in the end, and went to my grandparents on the "yellow limousine" or school bus.

I rode my bike for a little bit when I got home and basically am resting.