What ECA has done to me

ECA has been my home, my community, my school for the past 5 years of
my life. I entered in 5th grade, the transition from Venezuelan school
to ECA was hard, but I managed to survive my first year even though my
best friend moved. Which meant,, that I needed to find another best
friend in my first year of middle school. Throughout these 5 years in
ECA I've learned how to respect, and understand other cultures. Being
from a Venezuelan I really didn't have much understanding, and
tolerance for different people. But, that day when Shaika asked all of
the girls to be quite while she prayed towards the Meca in the middle
of a camp in the countryside of Venezuela, made me see things from a
different prospective. I met many people at ECA, some that I've shared
memories for 5 years, and others who just come and go. Even though
it's hard to see people come and go so much, it's great to know that
you have friends all over the world. Today, I concluded, that even
though I personally think ECA is not the place for me, it has made me
into a good, understanding, honest, tolerant, and responsible person.
I've recollected uncountable memories here, and promise to never let
them recede away.

Freshman Year

Freshman year was not that bad actually. I remember last year, all our teachers scaring us, and our upper classmates too. I’m happy to say, I survived my first high school year. Without my friends I wouldn’t have made it, everyone has their ups and downs but this year was definitely a hard one. I got the news that I was leaving Venezuela, and my grandmother's is really sick. But apart from those tiny little things, freshman year rocked. We, day 1 P.E girls, managed to get to the showers before the sophomores after physical education, that definitely was a major highlight of the year. Seeing everyone changing their next year schedule, and figuring out who is with who in their classes makes me sad knowing that I won’t be able to graduate with the 76 class of 2014, that truly does suck. But, I guess I’ll find great classmates in my next school. Supposedly I’ve heard that the best high school year is sophomore, which makes me exited, I hope to have fun in boarding school. And, I know I’ll come visit Venezuela since my parents will stay here. I door in my life is closing, but the next one is already opening.

Blogging, or No Blogging?

I’m not going to lie, I did enjoy blogging. Blogging at the beginning of the year was so much fun, I liked that we would get graded by just writing about whatever we would want to. But, after time passed, my ideas started reseeding, and I barely had any ideas left, which made it much harder to write 4 blogs in a quarter.  The pros about blogging would definitely include being able to express, and write about things that people would be able to read without knowing who I am. I also liked writing about my boarding school experience. The cons about blogging would include not having enough ideas for the end of the year, and not being able to use names was hard. I have an idea, maybe for the next freshman class, you can have them write blogs for the first semester, and for the second semester have them do another type of creative writing project.  

Este Es Mi Pais Natal

For my final project in my I.T class we were supposed to do a poster in Photoshop that represents us in some way. 

I did a poster that describes all the important things for me, and what reflects me as a person. The general color of the poster (yellow, blue, red) is the Venezuelan flag, which represents my home country. It has only 7 stars which in some way portrays my determination, and pride for Venezuela against Chavez. The yellow area of the flag has pictures that show my family. My family is extremely important for me and now that I'm leaving to Boarding School it's going to me really hard to leave them all. My family has always been there for me, which obliges me to give back to them by doing well in school, and being healthy. The blue part of my poster has a background which is a picture of the Avila. The Avila is a mountain in Venezuela which I wake up to every morning, and this picture was taken from my house. This picture was taken by my father whose hobby is photography, I plan to follow his steps, and be as talented as he is one day. Last, but definitely not least, the red area of my poster has pictures of my friends. I consider myself a very social person, and my friends are very important to me. I have been extremely lucky the past few year because I've had many friends that have been supporting me, and I'm happy to know that they are aware that I will always be here for them. For those that do not speak Spanish, the text is a part of the lyrics of a song of Carlos Baute. This song was released during the strike in Venezuela, and people all over the country sang it through manifestations, and it helped maintain hope, and pride for Venezuela.

Having to leave all these things, and people behind will be the hardest thing I'll have to do. But, at the same time I do know that I can count on their support. I feel extremely proud of my work, and I’m glad that I’ll be able to take this on to my new school.

Please Leave!

The corruption that this man is causing is unbelievable. I am a Venezuelan and I can say that he is destroying my country, and in a few years we will be left with nothing, and with only pure communism. Is perspective of life, and his believes are based on socialism, and communism, he thinks that everyone should be equal and that taking away from the wealthy people, and giving it to the poor is ok. Well it’s not. It is not ok because, when he expropriates companies he basically destroys it because he can’t manage it. I am a good source because this man, this beast has taken away from my family, and from many others, and we cannot let this happen anymore. Today March 30, 2011 I am travelling and in immigration, I saw more than 80 Cuban’s leaving Venezuela with televisions, blenders, DVD’s, and many other devices that were given to them by the government. So what is he doing? He is basically letting us suffer here, and give all to Cuban’s and poor people that vote for him. It is sad to say that the only reason I am leaving my parents, and moving away from Venezuela is because of this man who has been in power for 12 years, and he is not planning on leaving.

Lucky!

Being Lucky, ok so I don’t want to be arrogant, but I’ve been told to be extremely lucky. I remember when my dad would go on vacation, he would bring my sister and me presents, and I would always chose the hand with the best present. My sister nowadays still remembers those things, and they still happen. 3 years ago my sister and 2 friends, hosted a fashion show to recollect money for an organization of children with cancer, and they had a raffle. In the raffle I was asked to be the one that drawed the number tickets out of the bowl. When it came to the last prize, which were pearls with gold, I drawed my own ticket and I was the lucky winner. It is proven by all members of my family that my luck is truly a gift. This December vacations we went to visit boarding schools, and when leaving St. Mark’s school, I saw a gold coin in the floor next to my car. And I said, “If I get in I’ll definitely frame the coin.” One month later we find out that I got into St. Mark’s. And now in this right moment I’m on a plane on my way to the re-visit day, and hope that this luck made a good decision. 

ByeBye

I think it’s going to be harder than what I thought it would be. I’ve been at ECA for 5 years already, and every year I’ve had to see my best friend leave (5^th-Alisson, 6^th- Valeria, 7^th-Delfina, 8^th-Valentina,) and now, I’m the one who is leaving. Even though ECA is not my favorite place, it’s still been my second home for a long while, and leaving it behind will be hard for sure. Apart from the general things like, teachers, I’ll have to leave my friends, I’ll be leaving behind my British School family (Eleni, Matias, Fernando, Allan,) they’ve been in my life since Pre-k, and I have shared a lot with them. Apart from them, leaving my cousins, Rodrigo and Jorge is definitely going to be hard, especially Rodrigo who I’ve studied with my whole life. Inspire of all them, there are no words to describe how difficult it will be to leave Irene, and Clarisa behind, they have only been in my life for 2 years, but I feel like they are as or even more important than the rest. I have shared so much with them, and just thinking about two other girls that will replace them is quite impossible. Kind off mean to leave my parents for last, but they know I’ll miss them, and a lot. Not having my sister around for two years has made me share so much with my parents, and not having their support next year will be challenging.