Laura Voltà b2a: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas time

Hey! It's Christmas time! But... what does Christmas time mean for people?

Everybody reacts in a different way when it arrives this time of the year. For some people, Christmas time means having to work hard from early in the morning until lately at night to collect some money to be able to buy some presents for the family or for themselves. Others just wait until these days to see the family members all together, on those routine lunches which seem to have no end. On the other hand, there are also the ones who simply don’t like Christmas holidays because they can also be stressful and even they can be considered as a waste of time or (obviously) money.

However, the general perception of Christmas holidays is the one which all the movies portrait and in fact, all the medias. This is the one where streets are full of lights and everybody is outside home in the afternoon and they meet together at home when it gets dark, close to the big fireplace that someone prepared hours before.

In my opinion, Christmas time or Christmas holidays, is a time when I can meet friends that I haven’t seen for a long time, because all of us have more time; it’s a time when I can celebrate things that I probably didn’t give as many importance as they have; it’s a time when I get close to my relatives (due to those family lunches I’ve mentioned before); a time when I decide to tidy up my room because I’ve got no space to put new things (but it’s just an excuse not to recognize it’s a little bit untidy); a time when my brother and I spent more time together because we have to prepare some extra surprise presents for our parents and even we help each other with the new presents … All of these moments and little things, are the ones which make me feel happy when it arrives Christmas time, although there are always negative parts of it, like having to spent many time doing homework because teachers made us do it (they think the word “holidays” means having more time, but it’s not true! More time doesn't mean more things done because we have more things to do) or having to clean the house more often.

Anyway, that’s my personal opinion about Christmas :)
And now, I wish all of you a really good Christmas holidays. And, as today it’s the 31^st of December, I also wish you: Happy New Year!

Enjoy the night as I will try to do ;)

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Wonders of the World

Have you ever heard about the wonders of the World? Yes, I'm sure you have. Maybe it sounds better for you if I say that the wonders of the world are also known as "the seven wonders of the world". Isn't that right? But nowadays it's not as correct as it seems to say that.

Pyramids of Giza

In the ancient times, Hellenists made a list of seven great remarkable constructions which they thought they had to be seen before die. Those ones were: the great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Sadly, only one of this seven wonders is still how it was in older times, without lost of damages: the Pyramids of Giza. Perhaps it’s due to the desert sand or perhaps because its location didn’t suffer as many problems as there could be in Olympia or Babylon.

However, the Wonders of the World have changed through the years. Nowadays they can’t be considered as “the seven Wonders” simply because there are not seven. Years ago it took place a private meeting where a group of important particular companies decided which constructions would be the new wonders of the world. And after knowing the answers of the voting they made, a new list was published and it is said that it continued the older list, the original one I have mentioned before.

Although the exact number of the new wonders is not defined, there are lots of new famous buildings, constructions or statues that have been added in the list.

This is the reason why we cannot say anymore “the seven Wonders of the World” as long as we are not referring to the ancient ones.

Here are some examples of the New Wonders, enjoy them!

PS: I recommend you to take a look on them and choose which one you consider the best (don’t forget the ancient ones!) And then, you would better ask me: which is the next step? And I would say: ask your mum and dad for a new family travel! (That would feel really good after the research project we’ve just done, right?)