Treasure,+Jose

= Week One - Panama City, Panama =

**Preparation for Summer School**
In late January, I was accepted to go to a JSA summer school of AP US Government in Standford University near San Francisco. During the first week of vacation, I started preparing for this program which will take place in an English speaking country and in English. I started researching modern governmental issues to back up my debates. Some of the most interesting topics were immigration and nuclear power. I can't wait to go to Summer School and have a meet lots of new people.

= Week Two - Panama City, Panama =

**Robin Hood**
On June 1 while in Panama City, Panama, my awesome 20 year old cousin Stephanie and I went to watch the movie Robin Hood. We saw the movie in Cineplex Theatre in the Multiplaza Mall of Punta Pacifica. Robin Longstride (Hood) is a legendary English archer, also an outlaw, who was famous for never missing a shot, he always got the bullseye. The movie, however, doesn't relate the tales of Robin Hood as an outlaw, it gives a story on how this person went from being a great man, hero of England, to becoming an enemy of the king. This 2010 movie was directed by Ridley Scott and the script was written by Brian Hedgeland. The main actors of the movie are Russel Crowe (Robin Longstride), Cate Blanchett (Marion Loxley), Max von Sydow (Sr. Walter Loxley), William Hurt (William Marshal), Mark Strong (Godfrey), Oscar Isaac (Prince John), Daany Hutson (King Richard the Lionheart), etc. Basically, the story is that Robin Longstride, along with four friends, find the dying leader Robert Loxley who was carrying a message to London stating that the recent king, King Richard, died in a battle with the french. Robin took the message along with the crown to London where he pretended to be Sr. Loxley. After delivering the crown, he fled to Nottingham where he impersonated Sr. Loxley and fell in love his widow. While pretending to be such an important figure, he influenced many of the decisions of the crown with regards to the relationship between England and France. The people of England, knowing this, starting looking at Robin like a hero and so the king got jealous and sent him into banishment. This movie is an English input for many reasons:

It was a good movie and I recommend it to all.
 * it is in English,
 * it talks about an English legendary hero, and
 * relates to some of England royal history

= Week Two - Kingston, Jamaica Trip to Jamaica =

On June 15, I travelled with my mother, brother and grandmother to Jamaica, my hometown. We travelled on Copa Airlines, Panama's national airline. We normally trave to Jamaica once a year for multiple reasons. Some are:

This trip to the land that I love is an English input because Jamaica is an English speaking country that got its independence from Britain in 1962. Its capital city is Kingston and that is where I lived for 12 years. I am glad that I travelled back to Jamaica because I have the chance to see all my friends and family. I have lots of history in Jamaica and from the day I left it to now, i am still missing it.
 * Jamaica is our hometown
 * we have many relatives in Jamaica like my step-father, my aunt Marie, and my uncle Salvador
 * we have many friends in Jamaica
 * my mothers financial grounds where she has most of her bank accounts and investments are in Jamaica
 * Jamaica is a tropical paradise excellent in the field of tourism
 * we love to travel

= Week Three - Kingston, Jamaica =

Mystic Mountain Trip
During my second week in Jamaica, I took a trip to one of the tourist cities of the island named Ocho Rios. Ocho Rios is named after the Spanish for having eight different rivers that drain into a bay full of white and sandy beaches. In Ocho Rios, my mother, aunt Marie, uncle Salvador, grandmother Lithuania, grandfather Salvador, brother Tony and I went up to an amusement park on the hills known as Mystic Mountain. Mystic Mountain features many different rides and activities. There in Mystic Mountain, one starts off by taking a Sky-explorer Chair Lift from the foot of the hill to the peak where the main plaza is. After that, one may ride on a personal Bobsled on a rail, Canopy, swim in a large and cool pool, have fun with an exciting waterside, enjoy massages at the mini-spa, shop in the Souvenir shop, or eat delicious traditional Jamaican food at the restaurant which gives a remarkable view of Ocho Rios and the sea.



Being the fact that I am a very adventurous youngster, I did all of the rides and experiences all of the amenities. My uncle did so as well. My grandfather and my brother for being too old and too young respectively. My mother and grandmother for being the ladies who don't risk themselves at all, didn't do anything. The experience, for me, was awesome! I had lots of fun! I was a bit scared on the Canopy but everything was like a piece of cake. I would love to go again.



This adventure is an English input for many reasons. First of all, one has to interact with all the guides, life guards, waiters, cashiers, and other employees in English because Jamaica is an English speaking country. Secondly, in the plaza on top of the hill, there are booths explaining the culture and history of the Jamaica which I read thoroughly. It honors the track and field athletes who are the fastest in the world and also the bobsled team who represent Jamaica every winter even though it never snows in Jamaica. All of this was written in English. Mystic Mountain was great, was an English Input, and is a worthwhile experience.

= Week Four - Palo Alto, California, USA =

Arriving in Stanford University
June 27, I travelled to California to begin the JSA Summer School that I have been preparing for. It was a warm Sunday morning when I woke up early in Atlanta to travel to the airport. I arrived a little late and so had to rush with the check-in process and run to my gate. Finally, we boarded my flight and began the five and a half hour flight across the United States to San Francisco International Airport. The flight was nice because while I flew, i was able to see many things such as the city of Memphis, the vast plains and farms of Kansas, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Grand Canyon of Arizona, the desert, the California farm lands, and the San Francisco Bay Area. This trip was extremely exciting for me because it was my first time traveling to California, to San Francisco, to the West Coast of the United States, first time on a flight longer than 3 hours, first time flying without being an unaccompanied minor, first time going to Summer School, first time traveling to a city where I don't know anybody and first time living in a dorm. If it were not for my knowledge of the English language, this would not have been possible at all. I had to read all the airport signs, guide myself by them, interact with people in English, and live by myself in an English speaking environment. As soon as I arrived, I started getting nervous. In the airport, my legs were sort of shaking and my heart was beating quickly because it was my first time doing all of the things mentioned above. I was also wondering if I would be able to find the person picking me up at the airport. After debarked the plane and getting my suitcase, I went to the pick-up area and in no time I found the person that I needed to be with. We went in a bus and drove to Stanford University. I was amazed when we entered because Stanford has an extremely beautiful entrance with magnificent buildings and gardens. I quickly went through the multiple steps of registration, got the fairly complicated internet system hooked up onto the computer, and moving in to my dorm. I started meeting other students and in little time, I had my first group of friends. The arrival in Stanford was awesome and I will always remember that day.

= Week Five - Palo Alto, California, USA =

Trip to San Francisco
While in California for my JSA Summer School, all the students and the staff took a culture trip on a Sunday to go visit the beautiful city of San Francisco. We all got up at around 7am and took a one hour walk from Stanford University to Palo Alto Train Station. After eating breakfast (a little box with a bagel, an orange, and a juice) and waiting about another hour for the train to arrive, we were on our way up the San Francisco Peninsula. The area was beautiful with fogy mountains, vast plains covered in suburban landscape, and the bay full of life. It was about 10am when we got of the train at the CalTrain station in the city. When we thought that our long journey was over, it was not because we had to take a LONG bus ride to Fisherman's Wharf, a tourist attraction. Finally, we had arrived!

At Fisherman's Wharf, we split up in groups of three and we given the freedom on roaming the area on our own. I united with my classmates Sierra and Victoria. We walked, saw, took pictures, and shopped. It wasn't all that nice because shopping with girls as chaotic; they have to enter every store and look at everything. Every so hours we had to meet up at the drop-off area to check us in to allow the staff to ensure that we were alive. I also hanged out with a very good friend of mine, Janelle Bullock, who took me too this plaza where every item sold was chocolate. There was everything chocolate; you think about it and you could find it in chocolate! Some extremely weird things happened to me as well. I was basically frightened and shouted at by a random homeless man who screamed at my face, "I wanna pee, why you don't understand, I want to freaking pee!" I was also frightened by another homeless man who made a living from hiding with a bush and scarring tourists as they pass by. Another homeless man started to make out with a random woman in front of me while walking down the sidewalk. And finally, there was another homeless man that stood up with a sign stating, "Need money for weed!" I guess that I am a homeless magnet, LOL!

My trip to San Francisco, despite the awkwardness, was great! I got to spend quality time with my friends, I got to buy some very interesting items, I got to explore a new city, and I got to eat a delicious chocolate sundae. This is clearly an English input because I got to visit a complete English speaking city. I guess that most of my English inputs are travels but this summer has been one of constant travel. This is great for my English practice because most of my destinations were English speaking. San Francisco is an iconic city, and a great tourist destination.

= Week Six - Palo Alto, California, USA =

Term Paper and Final Exams
The end of JSA Summer School was approaching and our classes, which by the way were in English, were ending. This meant that we needed to wrap up with a term paper, which was worth around 20% of our final grade, and the final exams, worth about the same percentage. These two assignments/events was probably the most challenging part of the Summer School for multiple reasons. First of all, our classes were college classes given by highly educated college professors who are extremely demanding. Second of all, it was the first time that we would be put to go beyond our regular efforts in order to get a comfortable grade. And thirdly, for many of us, it was the first time in summer school. The term paper had to be twelve pages long in complete MLA format and the final exam was a combination of essays and short answer questions. It was difficult but it was beneficiary. The topic for my term paper was to write about the biography, the constituency, the party and recent votes of the California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the Democratic Party, represents the 16th district of California known as the Silicon Valley. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been involved in politics all her life. It was not very easy finding 12 pages of information about this woman; it was very difficult finding more than two pages about her. I had to do time-consuming research using the internet and the Green Library in Stanford. The fortunate thing is that the Honorable Lofgren, on speakers’ day, presented herself to the school and gave a speech on how she got to be who she is today. She also allowed herself to be asked very detailed questions about her career. This gave me somewhat of a head start above my classmates because my congresswoman was the only congressperson who appeared before the class. However, this was not enough, because there were a handful of details that my professor demanded that she did not mention. In the end, I was able to complete my assignment and I got an 87% on it. The final exam was about equally challenging as the report because we had to study, understand, and be able to judge on hypotheticals based on all the information given to us throughout the entire class. All my classmates gathered multiple times to conduct study sessions. We also went to bed late at night on certain occasions because our brains did not fully absorb the information given to us. We took the exam on a Friday morning the next day we got our grades. I got a 96%, the first 90 I got in the class. It was difficult but I understood the material very well.



= Week Seven - Palo Alto, California, USA = = Graduation and Last Day =

The last day of our exciting experience was a sad and happy day at the same time. It was a sad day because we had met great friends that we would probably never get to see again. Nevertheless, it was a happy day because we all had completed a very rigorous program that will give us many opportunities in the near future. I would like to rewind a bit however to the day before that. We had many exciting and fun events. We had a talent show which I performed, alongside my best friend Akhil Cherukupally, the song “It wasn´t me” by Shaggy. It was also the day in which I moderated the final debate known as the powerhouse debate composed of the best debaters in the program. It was also the day that I was elected to do the Graduation Speech the following day. I will now fast-forward to graduation. I was honored to deliver the graduation speech. Everyone seemed to have liked my performance and had thanked me. I was excited but sad because I had met the best group of teenagers and will most likely never see them again. It was a moment to cry. My English experience was over. After graduation I packed my clothes and in a short moment, I was off to the airport. The strangest thing happened in the airport because some random traveler came up to me and was about to give me a hug and possibly a kiss. Let me note that this was a man. It was extremely awkward and luckily “nothing” happened. My flight to Atlanta was at 10pm and I waved California goodbye. __ = Week Eight - Kenesaw, Georgia, USA = = How to Train Your Dragon =

How to Train Your Dragon, in my opinion, is one of the best children movies I have ever seen. It talks about a fictitious young Viking named Hiccup who lives in a town of other Vikings with the constant threat of invading Dragons. The Vikings have the wrong perception that they need to battle the dragons in order to survive however, this young fellow, realizes that there is a better way to do survive and that is living in harmony alongside the dragons, treating them as pets. It was very difficult for Hiccup to get this idea across because he was looked at the foolish useless member of society who only caused harm. His father, who was the leader of the clan, did not trust his son and was extremely disappointed in him. He was also a strong hater of dragons and would not tolerate any peace with the beasts. I went to watch the movie with my step-mother Stacee, my brother Connor, and my step-sister Madison. We all enjoyed the movie and would like to own it in DVD. PS: the reason why we watched the movie so long after it came out is because we saw it in the dollar theater where all movies have premiered long ago and cost one dollar.



