The Old Man and The Sea

Impressions and Difficulties:

I'm halfway done with The Old Man and The Sea and I must say I feel like not much has happened so far. He's a very good writer but I find the story a little... lacking in action... I feel bad for the old man, he's out all alone and has no one to talk to so he either talks to himself or the fish... which I found slightly odd but I guess he's getting lonely... I also found it very interesting how he kept either pitying the fish or telling the fish that he loved him but then immediately after saying that he says "but I will kill you"... That struck me as a little contradicting and very weird. The book does have a lot of good descriptions and I especially like the one on pages 9 and 10. It is when Ernest Hemingway is describing the old man. It is a very good detailed description with really good writing.

Predictions:

I don't think the old man is going to kill this big fish he has hooked right now... I feel like  the fish is going to outsmart the old man.. somehow....
I really hope that this book gets a bit more action and that he's not just out at sea for the remainder of the book trying to get the fish to jump...

A Summer Well To Remember

My summer has been awesome! I have loved traveling and spending lots of time with my family. One of the highlights for me this summer was going to Summer Well Festival on August 9th and 10th. I went with Rebekah, Andrew, and Hannah Graef (YAY She's back!!!) This was my first musical festival ever and it was epic! There were ten bands playing so 5 played each day. The first day was the best because I knew more of the bands that day. A band called Prides kicked off Summer Well and man DID THEY ROCK! I had heard a song by them before called "The Seeds you Sow" and really liked it! They are super talented and not to mention they are from Scotland and have great accents... :) To make it even better the second day we happened to see them just hanging around and so we got to meet two out of three of the band members. We had a really chill conversation with them, it was pretty amazing.
A band called The 1975 also played. Rebekah loves this band and it was hilarious to see her fangirling.. plus the drummer threw his sweaty towel out into the crowd and Rebekah caught it and then some girl tired to grab it and she fought her for it and won.... it was insane to see her like that.. but extremely funny :) oh and while they were playing so many girls were crying ...After The 1975 played JOHN NEWMAN took the stage. I've been listening to his music since last fall and it was such a great experience to see him live. He sounds even better live and his dancing skills blew my mind.... he was definitely the best performer at the festival. BASTILLE ended the first day and they were.... let's just say I have never screamed so loudly.. They are all so talented and sounded amazing live! I still can't really believe that we got to see Bastille live and it was one of the best experiences ever..I'll never forget how much fun it was!  I loved being able to sing... (or scream) along to their songs and break out my dancing  skills... (or lack of skills) ...

The second day we only saw three bands play, we didn't stay for the last band and another guy playing we didn't really care for so we walked around the festival grounds and got some food.. which was a much better choice.. we could still hear the music and it didn't sound too good..
The first band that played the second day was Reptile Youth... I didn't care for their music.. (too rocky) BUT the lead singer was hilarious...  He did their whole performance shirtless.. actually the drummer did too and the base player took off his shirt after one song... it was really hot I must say. But anyway he was dancing and jumping all over stage and he even tried to crowd surf... twice.. the first time he fell... But he came out into the audience and jumped on some guy and sang a little bit while sitting on some random dude's shoulder's... I died... it was hilarious. Then TOM ODELL played... he killed it .. that dude has got some piano skills.. it's legit.. The last band we saw was The National.. I only knew one song by them but Andrew really likes them. He passed Hannah and I three freakin times when he came out in the audience.. I patted him on the back each time.. it was pretty rad.. :)


Of course it was really hot out there and with all those people ( oh btw the festival was sold out.. yeah.. LOTS of people) it was even hotter.. and we had to stand pretty much all day... once we got a good place we didn't really want to move during the breaks between each band. Of course people were pushing to get to the front but you just had to deal with it.. I kept telling myself being super hot and sweaty and uncomfortable will be SO WORTH it to see all these amazing bands perform live... AND MAN WAS IT!! I have so many other funny/awesome stories about this festival.. from getting asked from this girl to fan her ( WITH MY HAT..) to catching the water bottle the lead singer from Reptile Youth threw off stage... but those will have to wait for another time .. this post is long enough....
I do want to share some pictures from the concert.. I must say they aren't the best quality.. my little ipod doesn't have the skills to take nice clear pictures... and you should see the video's I took... I was so excited I couldn't keep the ipod still so my video's will make you feel crazy... haha.. I was just so excited... :)

Before the festival started! Woot!

Prides killing it

The 1975...

John Newman... <3

he had some awesome backup singers too

He got really close at one point.. this is w/o zoom... and yes... I touched his jacket.. :)

The one and only Dan Smith from Bastille..

<3

During my fav. song Oblivion.. I almost cried... it was so beautiful.. :)

The whole band.. :) Bastilllleeee

Lead singer to Reptile Youth... on some dude's back (Bekah's hand)

TOM ODELL BABY!!!:)

Meeting Prides ( w/o the drummer tho :( ) was definitely a highlight!

All those pictures are without zoom we were actually that close to the stage! :)

                          This was for sure "A Summer Well To Remember!"

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway seemed very involved when he was in high school. I was surprised by all the sports that he was involved in as well as working on his high school's paper. I loved the quote he said later on in the article about the rules he learned from being a journalist and how he never forget these important rules of writing.  Hemingway is also quite the hero! I couldn't believe that even though he had 200 pieces of shrapnel in his leg he still cared for another wounded solider.. that is truly incredible and he deserved that award he got for valor..
It was really sad for me when it was talking about how much the war had affected him in a really negative way and he was also really young when he was in the war..

I read the article about Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory". This artcile was very interesting and I really liked it. Basically the iceberg theory is that if the writer writes all the facts and if he does it well enough the reader is able to gather the deeper meaning without the author stating it simply. He calls it the iceberg theory because the facts are like the the top of the iceberg that sticks out above water. But the structure part is hidden under the water just like the deeper meaning is not seen plainly but is there for the reader to find. It sounds like he is an amazing author. I'm excited to start reading it.

Austria Vacation

This past week we have been in Austria with the Rice family. The Rices lived in Romania a while ago before they moved to Budapest. We have always been really good friends with them but haven't done a lot with them after they moved to Budapest. It was really great to reconnect with them.

We were staying in a cabin that is a ski resort during the winter.. It was really high up and absolutely beautiful! The cabin we stayed at was phenomenal. It had a kitchen (actually two), many bedrooms, bathrooms, and even a Sauna... :) We went hiking a lot and picked over 20 cups of blueberries... yess.. With all these blueberries we made blueberry pancakes, 2 blueberry cobblers, one peach blueberry cobbler, and blueberry scones... YUM! It was truly a blueberry vacation... :)

The hiking was one of the best things about this vacation. I loved being surrounded by God's amazing creation.. it was incredible.. and beautiful...One day we hiked up really high to this cross. It was super foggy that day so you couldn't see a lot but every once in a while the fog would shift and we would get a glimpse of the magnificent beauty that surrounded us.

We made it! :)

The foggy hike

This lake was my favorite..:) There was a path so you could walk around the lake and enjoy the pure beauty. It was also really foggy that day but to me the fog added more intrigue and beauty to the lake. It looked like it had come directly out of a Lord of the Rings scene... I could have spent hours there..











We played loads of games such as Catan, Saboteur, and different card games.

This game is the best! I can't wait to play with you all! :)

Classic Catan.. with coffee :)

Overall it was a fabulous vacation and if you all want to see more pics I posted a lot more on facebook .. :)

Adventure English Camp :)

Last week I was at an English camp with about 60 high school students from Pitesti. I have been going to these English camps since I was very little. Each camp I get a little more involved and at this camp I was in charge of the kids program. When the camp met in small groups and had their English Lessons I would do crafts and play games with 7 kids that had also come. I was pretty nervous at first that I was the only one in charge and had to look after 7 kids but it turned out to be really great! The kids loved the crafts that I had prepared for them and we all had a really great time! :)

The theme of the camp was Amazing Race. The second day of camp we did an amazing race after lunch in project groups. This race was very fun but also extremely tiring. The first clue we had to find was in a trailer. My team luckily knew where the trailer was so we all took off running and were the first team to find the next clue..... once I arrived at the trailer they shove the clue in my face because it was in English... It told us that we had to milk a cow and bring the two cups of milk back to the cabin. I couldn't believe it... so off we ran to find some cows to milk.. It was quite the adventure... This whole race took about 3 hours.. and these 3 hours consisted of running up and down hills, climbing over barbed wire fences, stepping in mud (blek... my shoes were so dirty), taking selfies with village people, and did I mention running... ? Ha.. no but really we ran so much... it was crazy.. Our team ended up finishing in third place out of four... but the second amazing race game we played my team finished first and somehow we ended up winning overall... :) It was pretty awesome! 

I met so many great people and had fun staying up late playing a game called Saboteur. The last night of camp we played until three in the morning.. It's a really fun game! I think you guys would like it! :)

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, which I'm upset about because it was beautiful where we were.. but I never really found the time I guess... But here is a picture that was on facebook :)

Finished! My thoughts on this book as a whole...

A couple of days ago I finished Wuthering Heights. My oh my... this book caused me no end of vexation.....I don' know about you guys but I get very emotional attached to books and tend to become upset with characters... I get so into books that I forget the characters aren't real.. So of course that happened with this book. Like I said in my last post..  the characters frustrated me.... they are all just so selfish and blek... awful people.... (if you havn't read that.. you might want to go catch up and learn what the book is about.. :) )
When the book comes to an end it seems as if this book could never end "happily.." but it actually sort of did... it actually had some character redemption, which was the most pleasing thing of the book!
The book is sort of split into two parts... The first half is about Catherine and her love for Heathcliff but their inability to be together... but then  halfway through the book she dies during childbirth.. ( I know I was like What will this book be about??)  So then the second half of this book is about her daughter, Catherine an her love story.
Catherine (speaking of the daughter from now on) has two cousins: Hareton Earnshaw and Linton (Heathcliff's son). Hareton Earnshaw is a sad character... his mother died during childbirth and this drove his father crazy.. he neglected his child and Hareton instead grew up under the influence of Heathcliff.This caused Hareton to become a very despicable person.. from the time he was young he had vulgar language and his manners did not improve as he grew older. When Catherine meets him she is completely appalled that someone of his age cannot read or write.. but he was never taught.. it truly was very sad to see how awful Hareton was because of Heathcliff. But thankfully Hareton's character in the end is redeemed!!! Catherine begins to want to teach him to read and starts to be friends with him... soon they fall in love and Hareton becomes much  enjoyable and they both become much more happy than they were before! It was very refreshing to see this book end with hope, something the book lacked a lot of..

Revenge is a very big theme in this book... and Heathcliff is the mastermind behind it all. He starts off his plan by living with Catherine's brother when he comes back... He wants to get back at him for the awful way he was treated when he was younger by Hindley. He gets back at him by treating his son, Hareton awfully and then stripping him of his wealth and ownership of Wuthering Heights after Hindley dies... He also plots revenge against Edgar Linton (catherine's husband). They both hate each other due to the fact they are both in love with the same woman. Heathcliff marries Edgar's sister, which angers him very much and he basically disowns her. But Heathcliff's revenge doesn't stop here... he wants ownership of Thrushcross Grange as well.. Edgar's house. He acquires it by forcing Catherine (the daughter) to marry his son Linton (a very weak boy he dies shortly after they marry). This as a pretty cunning plan because since Linton married Catherine, everything she owned become Linton's. Heathcliff knew that Catherine's father would die soon and after he died everything he had would go to Catherine and Linton. What Heathcliff does next is terrible.. I was appalled.... Before Linton dies, Heathcliff makes him will everything he owns to Heathcliff... and yes since he owned Thrushcross Grange because of the marriage it all goes to Heathcliff.... He does this all because of two people that had mistreated him when he was younger and took his one love from him.... It's awful! His inability to have Catherine drove him to becoming a crazed revenge seeking monster...

Wuthering Heights: half way done

I am halfway done with my AP reading book, Wuthering Heights. I really love the writing. The narrator has a really good voice. I love Emily Bronte's style of writing and she uses lots of words I'm not familiar with, which is good because I'm learning more words.

BUT

                       THE CHARACTERS ARE SO ANNOYING AND TERRIBLE PEOPLE...... I'm not even joking.. remember how much we hated Daisy from The Great Gatsby???... yeah the main character Catherine .... 100X worse...SHE'S TERRIBLE..... TERRIBLE WOMAN.. And she's not the only terrible character... it seems like the author did not want to put a decent main character in this book.... But other than that I actually do really like this book... 

What it's all about:

It starts out with a man named Mr. Lockwood .. ( I think..) who had just moved into a house called Thrushcross Grange. His landlord is a man named Heathcliff who lives at a place called Wuthering Heights. Mr. Lockwood goes to visit him and he meets a very strange, misanthropic man. It is very obvious that Heathcliff has been hardened from his past. He talks very little and is extremely unfriendly. He lives there with a man named Hareton Earnshaw (who you learn about later) and a very rude uncivilized but pretty girl who he later learns is Heathcliffs daughter-in-law. He goes there twice even though Heathcliff makes is extremely obvious that he is not wanted there. The second time the weather is terrible and he ends up spending the night. The next day he returns to his house and his maid begins to tell him the story of Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, her brother Hindley Earnshaw, and the Linton family.

It's like great Gastby in the way that Catherine wouldn't marry Heathcliff because of his lower status and thus causing him to want to make money and become a respectable gentleman.. but by the time he comes back Catherine has married someone else....

Of course this creates problems because when Heathcliff comes back.... Catherine still loves him..and he loves her....but they can't be together...  It becomes a huge mess.... and everyone hates everyone else pretty much... 

But really Catherine is an awful woman and basically since she can't have Heathcliff she doesn't want him to be happy... and they both end up being miserable people...... Heathcliff is equally awful... he has his own set of people he hates and plans his revenge on.. (Catherine's husband and brother)

So my feelings towards this book are pretty split I guess.. the story is intriguing and I LOVE THE WRITING.. but the characters make me want to scream.... except Nelly ( the narrator ) she's pretty cool...

What Catherine says about Heathcliff...