Family Member Writes A Blog Entry

I asked my nineteen year old cousin to write a little text about anything she can think of. As she’s currently studying at university and will become a teacher soon, she decided to talk about that. Here’s what she wrote:

I’m a nineteen year old student who lives in Austria. Here, I study maths and biology. I want to become a teacher because I love being with young people and enjoy teaching them new things. My first year at the university is almost over and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I’ve met so many new people and experienced a lot of new things. Being a student is so much fun. The next few years are going to be the best time of my life.

 

Worst Case: Mountain Lodge

Chapter 1: Maisy

A strange noise awakens me. Was it footsteps? I’m not sure. My body tenses as I remembered where I was and what had happened. I hate people and now I’m trapped with nine of them in a ski lodge, all crammed inside of the heating room in the cellar. I haven’t talked to anyone yet. I have just kind of squeezed through and avoided eye contact.

A sudden snore startles me and I have to sit up to calm down. Maisy, it’s only a few hours til you’re out of here, you really shouldn’t panic every second you spend here, I tell myself.
The room’s almost dark but I’m able to make out three other cots. Only three? Where are the others? That doesn’t make sense! Again panic rises inside of me and I can’t help but begin to wheep. Slowly I make my way to the light switch, I have no other option but to wake the others. A groan can be heard from the black man in the corner as I light up the room, tears still rolling down my cheeks. A young girl sits up and rubs her eyes with the baby pink jumper she’s wearing. ,”What’s up? Are you ok?”, she asks, looking at me worringly. “Where’s our stuff?!”, the black guy literally screams and I shriek. ,”Don’t you see she’s crying? Have a little respect!” the pink girl says firmly while making her way to me. “No, he’s right! All our stuff’s gone! Why did they take our things?”, another bloke responds in a calming tone. The other six must have gone out to get help and have decided to leave us four behind. I have fallen asleep in my cot, before that plan was made, before the other people have headed out, so I couldn’t have known about that. They fill me in while the girl’s holding me in her arms, something I absolutely detest, but she has been so nice to me the past 3 minutes that I can’t reject her right now.

One after the other they introduce themselves as Tyrone, Nathan and Zoe and I speak up as well and introduce myself. After I’ve calmed down and freed myself from Zoe’s embrace, we all head upstairs for food. It might be 2 in the morning but there’s no way any of us can go back to sleep now. We still haven’t found out what has happened to our stuff, though we’ve figured the first group might have just wanted some more equippment and left it at that.

While taking out the milk from the fridge, I must have been careless, ’cause right after Tyrone points at my arm and asks ,,What’s that all about?” as if it were any of his business. I quickly pull down the sleeves of my jumper and turn around to leave his question unanswered and catch Zoe’s disapproving look at him.

Over the course of the day I manage to open up a little bit and get to know the others as well. I keep a distance from Tyrone, though I can’t help but see him glancing at Zoe’s behind every now and then. I really want to speak up and tell him off, tell him that she’s way too young and way too out of his league, but I keep my mouth shut and don’t say anything at all.
Nathan has been quiet most of the day, just like me. Is he as much of an introvert as me? He seems smart and whenever he does say something, it’s in this low, calm voice. Zoe’s been bubbling along all day. She’s talking nonstop, like a waterfall. Only five minutes after sitting down by the fireplace she has already told us her whole story. She’s spilt about her parents, her ex-boyfriends, her friends, her hometown, literally everything in five minutes. She’s been trying to get me to talk and tell her about myself, but I’ve been avoiding that. She’s really nice and all, however I can’t handle her sudden bubblyness too well. I feel like the only sane ones in this lodge are Nathan and me.

We all feel gutted when we find out about the blocked doors and windows. There’s no way we can leave the lodge, even if there’s a reason to.  None of the others have returned. Now we’re sitting round the fireplace, eating our dinner and Zoe has finally shut up after Tyrone has told her off. He might like her butt, but her bubblyness is not quite his thing.
I’m the first to fall asleep, wrapped in a cozy blanket by the fireplace. All the stress of today has made us all really tired.

Second chapter: Kathi
Third chapter:  Bastian
Fourth chapter: Matthias

5C’s Class Community

All we need is a little devotion
By joining our strengths & working together we can all improve
Can we change the atmosphere?
Do we want to work hard on our class community?
Everyone must contribute for it to work out
Friends are important & we should develop a friendship with every single member of our class
Good for you if you get along with everyone
Hopes up you will soon if you don’t already
I‘m aware that there are people you like more than others
Judging should be left behind and forgotten about
Keeping it friendly is one key to open a door to class community
Let’s bring us all closer together, let’s make the sun shine wherever we go together
Motivating, inspiring & encouraging we should be around our fellow class members
Noone should feel left out or unwanted
Of course everyone has those bad days where they don’t want to speak to anyone & just be left alone & that’s absolutely fine
People need their space & we should give that to everybody
Questions should be asked only when they want to be answered
Right now, we are not perfect, but we will also never be
So much should be changed, so much is already perfectly fine
There’s no need to stop our banter, though serious things shouldn’t be made fun of
Unleash your inner elephant ’cause they live in herds & we should as well be one, big, happy family
Valuability doesn’t depend on size, intelligence, wisdom or perfection
We are twenty-one equal people & that’s exactly how we should treat eachother
Xylophone music should play in the background while we all get drunk in just a few years time
You know we are awesome because, well we are, but we must show everyone else how amazing we are, not as one person, but as a group
Zombie attacks in 2030 will bring us all closer together at the latest if we haven’t managed until then. So chill out & enjoy the next years with the best people of this prison called school

Weather In Austria

From: Kerrin
To: Joe
Subject: climate in Austria

As you know, I’m from the beautiful country of Austria. Right now, it’s very cloudy and raining slightly, but that’s not always the case. In summer, my favourite season, it’s quite hot. Unless it’s raining and I’m inside reading a book, the sky is cloudless and the sun’s burning everyone’s skin at 35°C.
The temperatures go down in autumn. The leaves turn brown and fall off trees, the quite strong winds carry them away. By November it’s really cold here in Austria and everyone has to wear thick wintercoats to keep them warm. Sadly it’s never cold enough for snow on Christmaseve.
Now it’s spring and the temperatures are rising. It’s still cold in the morning, but pleasently warm throughout the rest of the day with about 8 to 15 degrees Celsius.
I don’t enjoy cold winters. I especially hate the muddy snow on roads which can cause problems for public transport. I would enjoy living in a place where it’s hot all year round, but I still prefer the seasonal changes. This way, there’s always the next season to look forward to.
I hope I was able to help you with your project and have informed you clearly about the weather in Austria.
All the best, Kerrin

This is lake Wörth or “Wörthersee” where I spend the sunny days in summer

The view from Gerlitzen, a mountain everyone likes to go to for skiing

 

 

Tobias Eaton-his character development

This essay has been written for people who might want to learn about my slight interpretations of a characters’ development in Veronica Roth’s Divergent series. If you haven’t read/watched the trilogy but still want to read my essay (thank you) I would advice you to read my ‘Divergent review’ as there the plot is explained. I wouldn’t have been able to explain the plot without immensely pass the given word count. Also, you should be aware that the following essay may include information essential for the plot of the books.
Four is one of the most important characters in Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy. Throughout the series you learn about his character and it’s history, begin to understand his decisions and may be able to follow his way of thinking. You are also most likely to fall in love with Four’s and Tris’ relationship, which gives insights in Four’s insensitive, yet protective behaviour around people he loves.
Tobias Eaton, the guy with only four fears, grew up in Abnegation and was beaten up by his father Marcus Eaton on a daily basis, which made him divert to Dauntless as soon as he had the chance to. His awful experiences during his childhood have left it’s marks. Tobias is suspicious of everything and everyone and knows what to believe and what not to. He learned not to trust people easily, not to be naive and therefore not to be manipulated, which may have helped him in plenty of dangerous situations, but have also made him face difficulties in everyday life. Tobias’ harshness has made him seem like a guy without a heart. He doesn’t let anyone in on his life, has somehow built up a protective layer around him, so that nobody can ever hurt him again. Only for those he has learned to trust, he lets his guard down and opens up. Around his friends he is a normal 18 year old, joking around, having fun and enjoying life. To everyone new he seems cold-hearted and strict, likewise to the 16 year olds in initiation, except for Tris Prior.
Tris plays an important role in Four’s character development. For the first time Four opens up and tells about himself, his history, his name. Their relationship makes us learn about him, about his fears and his strengths. He told her everything I have mentioned before, and this cost him a lot of courage to do.
Tobias has finally found someone he can trust and love with all his heart. We now get to know a side of Tobias, we hadn’t seen before. He tries to protect Tris with all it takes and often stops her from making bad decisions, afraid of losing her. Not only does he open up to her, but her friends and other people around him as well. It seems like he has found his happiness.
Even though Tobias is a fictional character, I admire him. He is only 18 years old, but a mature young man who has experienced life in ways a lot of lucky people haven’t.

Reading-what a great thing to do

As a kid I never really enjoyed reading. I loved being outside, even in the rain, and would never have chosen a good book over jumping into big puddles. But over the years I have grown up, not only have I gotten older and well, definitely not more mature, but also my interests have changed. I remember when I began reading my first “proper” books-Diary of a wimpy kid. I remember how, when we went on holiday, I used to lie on the beach all day literally swallowing the German version of the series. I was really proud of how many books I had read and was very happy about getting books for christmas. And that’s where it started, I guess.
Now I absolutely love reading, especially books written in English. I have grown to despise German books, there’s something about the English language that makes me want to hear, and read more and more of it. Right now I’m really into fiction, no matter if normal, realistic love stories or unrealistic fiction. That’s why I’m a big fan of John Green’s work, but have recently been reading The Divergent Series and The Hungergames and have fallen in love with the plot. I have also given graphic novels a try, but can’t quite make anything of them,yet.
Reading is a beautiful thing. Especially when reading fiction, you just dive into a different world, learn about something completely different from what you are used to and can just escape to somewhere else. I love how you have to use your imagination to see the world you are in then and how noone can see what you see. Everyone can have a different picture in mind when reading certain books. It’s great to have something to escape to, as well. These days everyone has something they worry about or something they hate about the place they are in. Escapism has reached such high importance in our society, whether you’re a big fan of a certain artist, or love watching a certain TVseries, or enjoy reading and diving into a different world, it has helped so many people, I’m sure. I absolutely love reading.

The Divergent Trilogy

The Divergent series, written by Veronica Roth, is all about a split society and it’s revolutionists. At the beginning of the series Beatrice Prior, a 16 year old girl from Abnegation, one of the five factions of the city, has to choose in which of those she wants to live in. This decision changes her life drastically. The reader follows Beatrice not only on an exciting, but also dangerous journey in her life.
The books are mostly written from Beatrice’s point of view, making it easy to learn about her mind and way of thinking. The character makes progress and becomes stronger and smarter. What was once a girl noone saw as competitor because she was so weak, scared and especially because she was from Abnegation, the sector that fears selflove and is known to be weak, later becomes a strong girl others fear and know not to mess with. I found it amazing to watch her progress.
The books are each about 500 pages long, which can be very demotivating, but worry not, as soon as you’ve gotten into the flow of reading, you will not want to stop.I found myself being bored and putting the book away a couple of times during the first 50 pages or so, though that changed quickly. Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant are easily read and understandable, even for those learning english as their second language. I only have one other negative comment – it was pointed out to me that the series reminded a little bit of the plot in The Hungergames.
There are a few things the Divergent series have in common with The Hungergames trilogy. Not only is there a split society in both, but also in both the once weak protagonist from an unimportant and hated sector of their city, turns strong and powerful. One might say, Veronica Roth read The Hungergames, then decided to write a series with similar aspects. However, this is a small criticism of an otherwise excellent trilogy.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves fiction and doesn’t mind the thick books. It’s definitely a page turner and blew me away.

My Path

I go through the woods. Trees everywhere, fir cones and pine needles on the ground. To my left there’s a little stream flowing downhill. The path I am following is marked with pebble stones. Oh, a sqirrel just climbed up one of the many pine trees. I wonder what the life of a sqirrel is like. If I were a sqirrel in the forest, I wouldn’t just climb up and down, I’d probably try jumping from tree to tree. I wonder if one of them tried that or do they do that anyway. I don’t know, I don’t care. It must be great to be a sqirrel. I can see my breath because of the cold, moist november air. What am doing out here? I should just go home seriously, it’s freezing and I’ll get a cold.
Ouch, I just tripped over a twig. See, this is a sign for me to just turn around and go home, this path will lead me nowhere. But I just pick up the earthy, dirty stick, throw it behind me and keep on going, ignoring my mind.
While walking, I cuddle myself into the fluffy scarf around my neck, my head down and kicking some stones along the path with my feet. Now, my minds free. I am thinking about nothing else but mother nature and what she created. Isn’t the world wonderful? Too wonderful for some people to see.
Oh, thinking about mother nature, she just put a freaking tree onto the path. No, that wasn’t mother nature. Some stupid lumbermen cut down that tree and didn’t take it with them. Did they realise it was too small to earn them anything only after cutting it down? Stupid ! And unlogical ! Why would they just cut down a single tree here? It seems to be the only one they cut down. Anyway, the tree isn’t big at all so I just climb over it, brush off any dirt from my trousers and keep on walking. I am not going home.
It’s just early in the morning, the sun’s slowly coming out. I can already see some rays of sunshine. They don’t change the temperature though. It’s still freezing. I am still freezing.
I reach a fork. Left or right? Where should I go? Probably home, but I don’t want to. So I just take the left path and carry on walking.
Deer! Are there any deer in there? In the forest I mean. Of course there are! There must be! They’d be scared of me, like spiders. My father always said that spiders are more afraid of me than I am of them,but I never believed him. They never start screaming like I do, so it can’t be.
I hear birds chirping. They are singing good morning songs, saying hello to one another.
Oh, wow, a wall! I mean, I have seen walls before, but this one, it’s huge. The bricks are grey, seem very old to me. The wall could be of a castle. Hold on, this is a castle. Suddenly I start running, overwhelmed with curiosity. I run back to the fork, this time taking the right path. I am all alone, no reason to rush, but I do. Heavily breathing, taking in fresh, cold air, I stand in front of an entrance to the castle. I was right, it is a proper castle. How does nobody know about this. I should tell everyone! Do I really want everyone to know? No, I don’t. I want this place for myself. Though, someone must know. I can’t be the first to find it! I just followed a path, other people have done that. Well, I will come here more often.

Housework

Many Teenagers do not help their parents with housework at all. In other cases teens help a lot at home and some assist their parents every now and then. Should teenagers share housework equally with their parents?
Every family is different. Usually mums stay at home and deal with the housework, but these days many mums are kept busy by a full-time job and do not have enough time for cleaning and cooking, like in my family. My mum is a full-time nurse and often comes home later than 8 pm, which means that my father and I usually cook and do the washing up (loading and unloading the dishwasher). Cooking is really fun and has never been done by mum. I have been helping my father in the kitchen since I was a little kid and mum always has been cleaning up afterwards so both my dad and I are always trying to keep the mess we make as small as possible.
Some teenagers are very busy with school or other activities like football, volleyball or an instrument they play and do not have any time to help their mum and dad. Others might have the time but not the will and aren’t forced by their parents to at least help a little.
My family manages the housework well and tries to divide it up equally, but sometimes this can be hard because my dad and I are crap at doing most housework.
My mum is definitely better than me with housework, except for cooking. She tries to keep the house clean, washes our clothes, irons them as well and we do not have a cleaning lady coming over regularly like many families do. I could never handle the household better than my mum, which is the case for most teenagers. I don’t think many of us know how to handle a washing machine or properly clean the house (yet).

Teenagers should definitely help their parents with the housework. Easy things like unloading the dishwasher or cleaning their own room should be done by every teen. Wether the housework is shared equally or not is a decision made by their parents. In the end they decide if their children have to help them a lot, not at all or only sometimes.