1. The presentation of the project was not too bad as we prepared who will say what, however, it could have been better if we had a more formal outline for the entire project and presentation. Also, since everyone picked an article that is related and interests them, everyone knew what to say and was ready for any questions asked.

2. The experience was really interesting, especially how each groups were pre-selected for us which enabled to talk to people that you may have not normally talked to. This has been an okay project for everyone to work collectively during the Freshman Seminar class, except I wish the outline for the project was more detailed.

3. One thing that I learned about myself is that I should maybe open up a little more and not be as shy, especially in the future because there will be no Freshman seminar class to guide us through it.

4. As I watched the first group go that was before us, I was preparing how to present my portion of the project. During this time, the rest of my group also got together to decide how we will start off. But throughout the other groups presentations, I learned a lot of new and interesting things like with the World Soccer games coming up.

5. The experience of watching all the other groups go was interesting because I was thinking how we could have improved or what we could have adjusted slightly. Overall the experience was enjoyable and some presentations were humorous.

6.  Through these presentations I learned my classmates  interests such as one group had a whole presentation on soccer/sports.

“Trying to Keep Religion Out of the Charter School Classroom” by Edgar Walters

Imagine being in a Hebrew class in Middle School in NYC if its offered. Now imagine being in a Hebrew class in Middle School in San Antonio, Texas. Sounds like the same thing, right? Well not exactly, there is a state mandate that if kids are being taught class in a certain language, then they should also be taught the religion/culture, according to a NYTimes article on The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus of the San Antonio Jewish Community. But here’s the catch, these charter schools which are “publicly funded and privately owned” are forced to abide by these laws, but other public schools are encouraged to “keep religion out of the classroom” just like in NYC. This is exactly as if you attended one of these new charter schools which are popping up around the city and you take a class in Chinese and are forced to learn their religion, or Italian and learn their religion, or in Hindi and learn their religion. For me, this sounds absurd because schools are originally instituted to teach you material such as math, science, language, and history, while families are there to teach you culture and religion based on their upbringings.

“Energy-Saving Secret of Jellyfish”

Jellyfish, by living on the East Coast, we can all relate to the warm summer days spent on the beach or swimming in the ocean with hundreds of jelly fish around. They often are problematic such as the recent incident when a nuclear reactor cooler in Sweden was clogged up with thousands of jellyfish posed a great threat, and are also seen as an “ecological invader” as the New York Times article suggested. Just like with anything else thats a nuisance, scientists in South Korea created  a robot which “liquifies” these propelling blobs. The new experiment at hand is determining the exact dynamics of how these jellyfish propel themselves along with the energy expenditure. Well one may wonder why would this would be of great importance, but, the US Navy is very interested in this mainly because jellyfish use very little energy for their propulsion, therefore, water-crafts with incorporated technology can be of great essence to modern day warfare and monitoring of the seas. This concept of jellyfish is similar to the movement of octopus which uses not as much energy as a whale for example and can cover great distance.

“Mutiny Halts Italian Gambit by Berlusconi” NYTimes

“Political theatrics,” thats what seems to be the recent trend not only in American government, but also abroad in Italy-as described in this NYTimes article. What Berlusconi- “the former powerful prime minister” intended to do before the Senate meeting was to bring down the coalition government. As this week the United States & Italy is currently “paralyzed by partisan political warfare,”Americans are in a stalemate regarding the Republicans varying perspectives on the Obama Care Act, while Italy is rather facing a sense of progression with great changes seen in the upcoming days and weeks. This sense of recovery from a time of instability, exemplifies the instability and clashes amongst governments and its people. Besides the American shutdown, and the Italian discrepancies in the Italian Senate, the Kenyan government is also fragile since there are numerous talks on how the government did no respond properly and effectively to the Westgate Mall attacks. These “oppositions to government” which Berlusconi stated, are a form of regression in my estimation, which is a required condition to progress and improve.

http://slide.ly/embed/147ab36bfe8fd24002609f1a8d78e0b7/autoplay/

The first picture is a picture of a suitcase and the map of the world. One of my interests is traveling, after visiting numerous countries in Europe, I would love to travel the entire globe, especially Asia. The one thing that I love about traveling is experiencing various cultures, languages and food. The next picture is cooking, along with traveling I am open to trying new foods were ever I go as culture to me is revealed partly through food. Overall, trying new things and bending my palette is a really exciting experience, especially recreating some of the plates I have eaten and creating new things as well.  One of the sports I enjoy playing the most is tennis, the competitive drive and determination required to play this sport fit in with my personality. Tennis helps gets all the stress and anger out and requires you to think ahead of the opponent. Picture #4 shows someone skiing, this is my favorite winter time sport because of the speed associated with it and the vast amount of techniques/skills required to ski. Picture #5 represents my passion for fishing, not only do you have the satisfaction of catching something but it is a very relaxing and calm sport which is just like my personality. The next picture is of a beach, during the summer or when I’m away on vacation, I enjoy laying on a beach chair reading and swimming in the water, this is my sense of paradise and relaxation. My other favorite activities which I enjoy doing is camping and walking in the mountains, I especially enjoy the whole idea where there is no power, everything is on a gas camping grill and you can sit by the campfire and talk. The last picture in the slideshow represents my love for biking, the stamina required and some of the challenges associated with it are what I enjoy most.