Amsterdam- A picturesque capital city

The most picturesque place I have ever been to is Amsterdam. With a population of 800,000 inhabitants it is the most densely populated city located in the Netherlands. Swift-flowing streams, which run through the city, present a charming flait, comparable with Venice. Additionally, numerous bridges and canals give expression to the place. At all events it is worthwhile to going on a cruise and to tour through the numerous canals because it is exhilarating to feel the wind blowing at one's back. By cruising around, there is the best opportunity for breathtaking views towards impressive structures, too. For instance, the capital city is surrounded by unique buildings with artistic ornementations as well as famous for its exceptional house constructions. Dutch houses consist of redbrick, are narrow and high with multible stories and sometimes even lopsided because in the Middle Ages houses near the stream, were built on stakes. Simply amazing! For allowing as much sunlight as possible, many houses features big windows with shutters all over the facade which seems very unique. In my opinion, Amsterdam is a stunning place, full of ancient grand architecture-simply picturesque.

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Recommendation for a trip to Berlin

Today I write with the desire to give you tips for a memorable vacation in Germany. The most important advice is that you should check the weather conditions before you start the trip. With reference to my experience, it was a completely rainy and cool one-week trip, only because of organization problems. The trip was too quickly arranged without looking at another possible period. 

But now we come to the real useful things. You should know that Berlin is famous for its numerous memorials of the second world war. So, it's essential to buy a Berlin City Tour Card because it could be beneficial and cheap if you plan to visit many museum, buildings with impressive architectural features and other historical places, where you normally have to pay high prices for gaining access. These cards take advantage of allowing to pay only half of the price for entries or offer the opportunity to combine two cultural places for interest for a lower price.  Even travel costs are free in and around the city with such a card. 

Thereby, there are a lot of places which are worthwhile to see. On all accounts you should visit the famous Berliner Zoo, former a meeting point of prostitution and nowadays a zoological garden with impressive facilities and adequate animal housing which you have never seen before. Also you should take time for an underground bunker tour. That means, a fascinating guided tour below the metro station. It is owed to this place to give shelter to people during the Second World War.  Besides the "Berliner Brandenburger Tor" or the "Kurfürstendamm" is a must-have to visit.

According to my mind, the only attraction you can skip is the "Dungeon", a journey through Berlins history it's said, but it's only juvenile and not worth the money. If you are interested in enjoying exotic meals, you should travel to "Charlottenburg", a place where various restaurants and bars stay side by side. I hope I could give you a general overview about the advantages of a city trip to Berlin and if you have further questions feel free to contact me.

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My planned summer trip to New York

This summer I am going to take a trip to New York  which is an astonishing city in the east coast of America and a central point for numerous tourists. The most densely populated city in the US is also known as the land of the American Dream. Many immigrants travel to the US to fulfill their dreams, unfortunately often for nothing.  Also I chose to travel to the US to fulfill my personal dream:

•  to get to know the American culture
• the American lifestyle
• and to make friends with inhabitants there.

For this reason, I am going to take a city trip to New York at the beginning of August for two weeks.  I'm going to stay in a youth hostel in the middle of the centre which costs are approximately 50 € per night, including breakfast. That's a very good deal because normally the prices are much higher for staying overnight in the middle of New York. My flight is booked too, it's a direct flight from Vienna to the Central Airport at 10:00 am on the third of August. All in all, I have to pay 1000 € for it. 

I will drive to Vienna by car. For saving money I want to place the car by my relatives, who surely are willed to drive me to the airport.  By arriving in the city, at all events I want to visit the Statue of Liberty ,which was the first glance immigrants took from far away, and afterwards I want to relax because of the jetlag and take the opportunity to eat anything. The following days I would like to see the Empire State Building and visit the musical "Cat" on the Broadway. I have also heard that the sight from the Rockefeller Center should be amazing. Another day I would like to use my leisure time to visit different museums, for instance the "American Museum of Natural History", the worlds' largest museum of this issue. Of course the IMAX cinema is a requisite, and because of my strong interest in animals I also have to visit the Bronx Zoo. There are a lot of exceptional animal species which are threatened of extinction. I think, most of these sightseeing I will manage by tram or by train.

Once a vacation I am going to borrow a bike to drive along the centre because that's the best opportunity to see the marvelous city. At least one time, I also want to venture to go out at night. I have heard the nightlife in America should be amazing. I want to search for a disco to make party and to chum up with Americans. A problem is that I have to pay attention to my money I am going to spend. I have planned for my trip to spend 2.500 € and not more. Because of the expenditure in the hotel and the flight there is not much left, except for 800 €. So, I have to use it economical. Probably it's not possible to visit a restaurant every evening. Mercifully, there are enough fast food chains between which I can choose by shortage of money. However, I think that the city trip will be worthwhile and I'm really looking forward to it.

Suicide Forums

Suicide Forums are a significant topic to talk about in our today’s society. More and more foolish teenagers and young adults are looking for suicide instructions by navigating through the Internet. Young women and men, particularly between the age of 13 and 25, subscribe to such Web pages, post their mood in there and ask question about suicide, whereupon all visitors of the Web page are free to answer.

In Germany there are about 30 of such Forums, worldwide the number is much higher. It’s an intimidating development, which should be stopped before it’s too late. On the one hand, young boys and girls can make an appointment for dying side-by-side and on the other hand ,it’s possible to talk about worries and problems with each other, to get information about different suicide methods as well as an easy procurement of medicines when someone is willing to die alone and without much effort. These Forums are a hype because immature people think it’s a solution for all their problems.

It’s very dangerous to deal too much with Suicide Forums because everyone can become addicted easily. By surfing unsuspectingly and without any dangerous thoughts through the Web, people discover such Forums and are fascinated at once. Some people even belief that they can help suicidal persons and deal at some point with their own suicide thoughts, due to being encouraged through chatting with suicidal persons. Drifting away from the real world and being totally focused on the Forums are the first and dangerous step into becoming a victim. It’s like a vicious circle. If you start to enter this world, it’s not easy to get out. So, we should be aware of the unknown and keep distance.

 

 

 

Differences of stuying two languages

Today, I want to concern myself with the differences of the Transcultural Communication studies. Studying English and studying Spanish, my second language, are different in a number of significant ways. Studying two languages means that there are opportunities to get various insights into the behavior and into the culture of Spanish-speaking as well as English-, or American-speaking people. In Spain or Latin America, for example, people are more open-minded and relaxed in contrast to England or America. Additionally, Spanish-speaking people tend to celebrate due to any issue, such as the “Dia al lupo“, in which death family members or relatives are honored once a year.  Apart from that, the body language and the writing type of the Spanish and English language differ very much. In the former, the use of the body language is more common, next to the use of many apostrophes and wavy lines in opposite to the English language. Lastly, the challenge of both languages studies vary greatly. In the English course, much more basic knowledge is expected and the number of tasks is enormous, as opposed to the Spanish course. So, you have to keep in mind that studying two languages haven’t much in common and differ in several ways.

 

 

 

My opinion about obesity in America

America is a country with unlimited opportunities, the land of the American Way Of Life where a huge number of obese people live, that's a fact. According to the film "Super Size Me", about 100 million Americans are obese and 400.000 of American people a year fall ill because of eating the wrong food. But what is the reason behind consuming piles of food? It's the media which shows regular advertising spots on TV about food products consisting of sugar and other unhealthy ingredients? Or it's after all, the attitude of Americans towards their life-style? Or is there even an ideal of beauty behind the American eating culture? 

In my opinion, the rise of Mc Donald's is the reason for gaining weight rapidly. With the foundation of the fast food chain, America experienced a boom in eating high-calorie food. One in four Americans visits every day Mc Donald's in order to eat burgers and chips. But at the beginning many Americans weren't aware of the drawbacks such products could have for their health. They had never cared about the future and consequences that could arise. So, Diabetes, Asthma, high blood-pressure and mobility restrictions are only some of the illnesses an overweight person could get. It is also proven that obesity is a well-known cause of heart attacks. In 2006 425,425 people died because of such attacks, as Morgan Spurlock’s film, as mentioned above, displayed. Mainly children suffer in later life because they tend to gain weight very fast. 

Lastly, it's to realize that America is not only the country with many opportunities, but also the land with the most unhealthy people worldwide.

Jon Brower Minnoch from U.S. (1941-1983) 
heaviest human being ever recorded, around 635 kilogram

Reasons fot the War between Southern and Northern states

One of many things, that really surprised me about my CLI, War of Northern Aggression, was that slavery was an important factor for the beginning of the war. The North refused slavery whereas the South deployed slaves for farming and the houshold. Though not only in the war between the states, but also throughout American history slavery was an important issue. For this reason, it's important to know some background information for getting an understanding of the suffering slaves faced in former times. It's unbelievable that slaves were treated like animals, only with the aim to illustrate that they are the second-class after the white population. They had no right to vote, no civil rights, were discriminated, and even sometimes persecuted and murdered.

As regards all the efforts that were made to gain freedom, for instance losing land and family in order to rescue themselves, or fighting battles, it's needless to say that this success didn't come easy way. Considering that not until the Emancipation Proclamation, that was signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, abolished slavery, slaves had an day-to-day battle to survive. Additionally, it's often forgotten that disagreements about the constant taxation increase of imported goods in the South, the aim of expand slavery westwards and the fight for an independent South, played an important role in the outbreak of war.

All in all, the War of Northern Aggression was the central point in Americans history and started because of many different reasons.