Tag Archives: rcl1314

Santorini, Greece

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Last week was hell week for me. Actually, my days until finals are over will be busy. I bought total of five energy drinks and spend over 30 dollars on Starbucks for coffee. This explains how much I suffered last week doesn’t it? So I decided to look over places that will heal my tired mentality. Fortunately, my friend in Greece facebook messaged me this weekend and asked about my recent status and I told her how much stressful the school work was. After talking to her about my life, she suggested to come to Greece during summer and leave everything behind. I looked up where she lived, and she lived in Santorini, which is a volcanic island in the Greek islands. For this week, I will take a look at where my friend lives and the place I might visit in the future.

Santorini is known for its dramatic view and as sunset town. Since it is island, it is surrounded by beautiful beaches. Its got everything so every year, this place attracts millions of travellers around the world. I could see why my friend strongly suggested me to visit her. The atmosphere at Santorini was generally peaceful and quiet, perfect place to think worry about nothing. In Santorini Island, there are several villages and towns that are perched along the top cliff of the caldera. The main town is called Fira, which is located on the top of a cliff of a caldera.

When you first arrive at Fira, you need to hit the black sand beaches. The sand is literally black, isn’t it cool? Next up, check to see if the Ancient Akrotiri is open to people. Akrotiri is another village in Santorini and it offers a great view of the caldera and volcano. It became famous because it is known for settlement of Akrotiri and it contains the ancient history as well as modern civilization. If this village is not open to visitors, I would head to the Island of Thirassia to climb the ancient stairs that lead to the city of Manolas. As you may recognized, there are so many historical places at Santorini so the appearance can be little old but it contains the beauty of ancient. When you climb up the stairs, you will reach a viewpoint where you can capture the entire view of Santorini.

However, the most impressive and attractive fact about Santorini is the fascinating beaches. There are so many beaches, such as red beach, perissa beach, kamari beach, perivolos beach, agios georgios beach, cape columbo beach, monolithos beach, and finally vlychada beach. I always wanted to live near beaches because I love the sound of the waves that hits sand and rocks.

All about Santorini makes me want to leave everything behind and buy the flight ticket to Greece. If I get a chance to visit my friend, I will definitely want to go, especially with someone special. I know that Santorini is known for a place for a romantic getaway in Greece. Santorini is special because you can enjoy clear waters while perched on the rim of a massive active volcano in the middle of the sea.

 

Environment – Imagine a world without clean water

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Previously, I briefly talked about the danger of lacking natural resources and how it will impact our future generations. Among various natural resources given to us, I think water is very important. I know that everything is equally important but in my opinion, I can’t live without water for a single day so I chose to write about water for this week. Most of our water supply comes from rainfall, snowmelt, and infiltration and we get it from all over the landscape. Our concern is that in some areas, the adequacy of the available ground and surface water supply and the quality of the water is decreasing.

    In United States, agriculture is the largest user of the Nation’s water. With increasing population, people in agriculture field increased, leading more use of water. As a result, the competition for water supply is higher each year and ultimately led to water shortages. This means that the water to produce food for human consumption, industrial processes, and all the other uses is becoming scarce.

    Another crisis arising due to the lack of clean water is environmental. Not only humans are in need for water but also plants and animals require water. It will have a profound effect on aquatic ecosystems and the dependent species.

    As a result, we cannot put this issue aside because it is happening quickly than we believe and after desolation would be useless. According to NRCS, natural resources conservation service, NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to producers who implement conservation practices and management strategies, including the restoration and protection of wetlands, which benefit water quality and improve water management.

   Today, 1.1 billion people live without clean water, 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, 1.8 million people die every year from diarrheal diseases, and 3,900 children die every day from water borne diseases (from UNICEF/WHO).

    Keep in mind that when you use freshwater at any time, huge saving and improving of water management is possible. In general, Americans do not notice water scarcity so almost everywhere the water is wasted.

    As I said there are so many ways to conserve water in our daily lives. From the waterproject.org website, I found some general tips for us to keep in mind every day.

  • Turn off taps all the way so they do not drip

  • Do not run the water continuously when doing dishes and hand-washing

  • Load fully when using automatic dishwasher

  • Low flush toilets can reduce the water shortage to 40 ~ 50%

These are just several lists from the website that I thought we encounter the most as college students. For me, I began to waste so much water after I came to Penn State and began dorm life. Water that I use when I brush my teeth, take a shower, or wash dishes was spent without thoughts. Because I thought that I have paid for everything that is available to me here at Penn State, I exploited given materials. Now I know that this is bad and it is wrong, I do try harder than anyone else at least in the bathroom not to use single drop of waste without a purpose. Considering Penn State as my alternative house, I took more conservative actions and began to think greener.

We are all human being and we tend to take things granted. However, if we start to think that one little action we take towards saving environment, the world’s natural resource won’t run out.

           It is our responsibility to maintain what we got from our ancestors and turn it over to our next generation. Personally, I think the government should enforce more laws or organizations to implement water conservation system into the community. Increasing water overuse those results in water scarcity is the negative connotation of worse things to come. For example, I did not we had a water day marked on our calendar. The awareness of water scarcity is very low and this is the first thing we need to fix.

           Let’s face it. We need water to survive. Our body is made up of 60% water and water is used for producing food, clothing, etc. We need to know and learn how and why they are used inefficiently so that we can conserve, manage and distribute the water we have productively.

Last Unreached Treasure in East Asia

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I can’t believe this is my seventh blog post already. We are almost at the end of our second semester and our first year as college students. It has been a tough year for me because making transition from high school to college was not as easy as I expected.

Last week, I called my mom after my second statistics exam and we talked about what we are going to do during summer my break, which is about 110 days long. This was the moment when I forgot that I had ruined my exam and began to look forward for the end of the year. She told me that our family will be going to visit Boracay, Philippines for two weeks. I never heard about Boracay before but it sounded so interesting because my little sister’s korean name is Bora (what a coincidence). So for this week’s passion blog, I looked up where Boracay is.

Bora means wind and cay means wall, and altogether means preventing wind. It is one of the 7,000 islands of philippines and in around 1974, germans and swiss travelers founded Boracay. It is really small so you can’t even identify it on the world map. Afterwards, Boracay became secret paradise for small group of people.

When I searched for Boracay, it was known for marine leisure sports. I will talk about the top five, which are sunset sailing, hopping tour, helmet diving, bug car, and massage.

  1. Sunset sailing

    It is also called paraw sailing and paraw is a local sailboat with two outriggers and two sails in Philippines. You can explore the entire island and the beach at once with fantastic sunset on top of it just by sunset sailing. It is a calm ride so many people can enjoy and you are allowed to bring food and drinks so it is just perfect for our family.

  1. Hopping tour

    Hopping tour is similar to sunset sailing but its focus is solely on visiting various islands and beaches in Boracay . It is a whole day event which every hotel offers and usually it comes with lunch. While you are on a boat, you get to experience snorkeling and swimming  in any particular sites. The most popular visiting places during hopping tour are Crocodile Island, Crystal cove Island, and Puka shell beach.

  1. Helmet Diving

    Helmet Diving? Huh? When I first heard about this activity, I imagined myself with an helmet and swimming in the ocean but it was actually walking on the ocean floor. You literally wear a helmet and walk around on the bottom of the ocean. This activity is good for everyone because not everyone can swim but everyone can walk. While you are underwater, you can check out cool fish and reefs. Also, you can take pictures underwater with people. Don’t worry about running out of breath because air is pumped into the helmet! Surprisingly, the helmet weighs 22 kilograms but I am assuming that you won’t feel the actual weight under water.

  1. Bug Car

    At the peak of Mountain Luho, you ride bug car and view the entire island in one sight. Also, on the way to the peak, there is small zoo that features wildlife reserve. If you want to experience the wildlife and the beautiful views of Boracay, I would recommend bug car!

  1. Massage

    Last but not least, after all those sports you might be doing, I think you should take a break and have a rest. I think the highlight of traveling is spending at least one day in hotel and utilize the extravagant services that are provided. Most hotels in Boracay present spa and massage services to recover from dynamic entertainment.

    Overall, Boracay sounds like an island full of fun and adventure. I am so excited for this upcoming trip!

Persuassive Essay Draft

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What College is for

College is for students to grow intellectually, help them mature as a person, and prepare them for a potential job or career. Nonetheless, there is perpetual argument about the failure of higher education. The quality of college experience is depreciating partially due to the university curriculum which disengages students from materials they are supposed to be learning. These days, many students work for high GPA and pay attention to the materials that are relevant to future employment. Lack of academic commitment is a genuine concern even among prestigious schools. If this continues, the misunderstanding of what college is for will not get resolved. There were numerous tries to make changes to come up with a solution to the problem. Yet, people tend to change the whole system rather than to transform gradually. Basic understanding of what the core dilemma is priority rather than increasing the number of graduate students. After experiencing Penn State education, I became aware of sincere drawbacks that disturbed students’ academic life. Concerning the enhancement of higher education, cut down of requirements for general education, reduction of morning classes, and construction of tunnels that connect the buildings are necessary.

General education is primarily for the students to gain opportunity to explore new ideas in various fields of study and discover unknown interests. It serves as foundation for specific majors, recognition of individual’s possible potentials and promotes integration of knowledge into a coherent worldview. The purpose of general education plays important aspect in college community. However, the pressure of total number of general education credits is too much to handle for some students with majors of high totals that also have to get fulfilled in order to graduate. On top of major courses to take, general education requirements are seen as disposals that students have to deal with for the university diploma. Thus, students do not approach these general education classes with the same devotion as they do with other core classes. Conjointly, professors who are committed to teach subjects as if everyone is anticipating on majoring in the subject aggravate the problem. As a result, innocent grade point average will suffer and interrupt one’s desiring prospect. Also, students register general education courses based on the easiness and familiarity instead of exploration and skills. Defeating the purpose, general education is portrayed as grade boosters to many students which mean that they do not take classes to learn materials. Students should not be taking classes that cover materials they have already been familiar with at some point in high school. Based on universities, the price of each class registration differs, but certainly nowhere is cheap. College tuition rises exponentially every year and it is not fair for students to pay for classes they are enforced to take that will not benefit them in any ways. Those money could be better spent somewhere else. Additionally, it is easy for students to skip those classes because they believe that those classes are not relevant to their majors. If general education courses prepare students for, support, and enrich other specific courses, the efficiency of education will enhance. Disconnection between general education requirements and entrance to major courses leads to the failure of acquiring real values of general education. Exceptions to those students who do not know their prospective major, general education might be one way to help them find their path. It should be open to everyone but not mandatory for students. Ultimately, students desire for higher education because it opens up the entrance to employment and allows class mobility in the society. Though, most of the jobs oblige specific skills rather than broad knowledge of various subjects. It would be more difficult to market the value of such incoherent curriculum to potential employers. General education courses should not be required for college students because college is where students spend time focusing on and learning about what they are going to do for the rest of their life, not for learning bits and pieces of every possible subject on campus.

College students are most sleep-deprived people in the world. Combination of education and social life often leads to the irregular sleep habits. Students trade off sleep with their lab reports, essays, homework, projects, and readings. They often pull all-nighters, eat late-night, and drink energy drinks, which could all lead to permanent brain damage. Also, food that students consume at night is not healthy at all. From 2001 study, “only 11% of college students have good sleep quality, 73% have sleep problems, 18% of college men, and 30% of college women suffer from insomnia.” Suggested hours of sleep for healthy person are eight hours, but it is far-fetched dream for college students. Enough sleep is necessary for students to store what they learned in class during the deep sleep that occurs all through the night. With deficient sleep, not only students cannot function regularly during daytime, but they also ruin their health by weakening immunity. They lumber throughout the day feeling lethargic and exhausted because of lack of sleep. Some symptoms of sleep deprivation are loss of productivity, cause of sensitive behaviors, lowering of grades, and constant mood swings. Yet, college is reluctant to this issue and seems like it is treating sleep as luxury, not as essentiality. For many students, morning classes can be the reason why they cannot get enough sleep. If it is possible to sleep early in the night, morning classes will not affect students’ life. In reality, however, students have sleep debts that has been piling up to get paid off. Attendance rate of morning classes is usually low compare to other classes in the afternoon. Also, students race to register afternoon classes and avoid 8 am class. Clearly, students will not stay awake even if they end up going to the class. Not only morning classes interrupt the sleeping pattern, but also take away the time to eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast can lead to various unhealthy eating habits. Breakfast is known for the most important meal of the day. The amount of college work will not change immediately, so the solution to the problem of sleep deprivation seems unapproachable. In order to engage more students to come to the class and pay attention is to reduce morning classes and increase availability of more afternoon classes. There are some students who focus better in the morning so complete destruction of morning classes is unreasonable. Yet, to improve quality of higher education generally, the growth of appropriate time for classes is essential.

Accidents occur on campus due to numerous reasons such as bad weather and too many pedestrians and vehicles. Penn State, located in the middle of mountains, is affected by hazardous weather during all four seasons, threatening students’ safety. According to Wisconsin University, they have created underground tunnels that connect residence halls and academic buildings for students’ convenience. Creation of tunnels that connect buildings for students will reduce the accidents that occur due to severe weather. Most of the colleges do not close due to snow and other weather concerns, enforcing students to pull through obstacles to go to classes. People slip, fall, get sick, and skip classes which are not the purpose of what college is for. Also, it would be much safer for students to walk underground, avoiding cars and buses. Penn State has over 40,000 undergraduate students, so the traffic system is very hectic. Cars need to wait until large group of people finish crossing and students need to pay close attention to the bikes and rushing cars. Besides student’s safety and organized transportation, colleges should have tunnels to support forming better environment for research studies. One major difference between college and high school is that students get to participate in research with university professors to discover and develop important laboratory skills and explore career choices. Many publish, perform, exhibit, or present their work and share it with the community and beyond. For those who work in labs sometimes need to transfer data and experiments from one place to another and safety is required for successful study. Instead of spending money on buying excessive snowplows, colleges can invest in making tunnels to create guaranteed, safer setting for students to study. With establishment of tunnels that connect dorms to academic buildings, more students will attend classes within the right time. The core problem of higher education is to engage students to learn passionately and devote their times to explore intuitively, not to increase the number of college graduates and waste tons of money for nothing. Start of approaching these goals is to make students go to the classes they want to go. It is college’s job to provide the atmosphere for students to succeed.

“Well begun is half done,” by Aristotle, implies that the first step is always the hardest, but the following steps would be easier to accomplish. Today, many parents and students forgot the purpose of higher education. Certainly, college is not just for supporting students with a substantial job at a reasonable salary. Many people crave for the college students to learn citizenry, joy of living, adaptation to adult social life, and independence. Yet, the core objective is to provide personal intellectual growth. According to the College Board, the average college tuition for 2013-2014 was $30,094 at private colleges, $22,203 for out-of-state public colleges, and 8,893 for in-state public colleges. People pay all those money not for students to skip classes, take unnecessary classes, and sleep in classes. Adjustment towards improved higher education is urgent to prevent further confusion of why college matters. More and more Americans are going to college, but how many of them are actually learning anything? To get to whatever destination students pursue, college should support students with better curriculums and safer environment.

Flower ,flower, flower! Spring is near us :)

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Nagano, home town for cherry blossom

Spring has finally came to State College! Now, it’s time to pack our winter clothes and bring out our lovely dresses. When I think about spring, I imagine flowers right away, especially cherry blossom. My favorite type of bath and body works lotion is cherry blossom since I first used its product.

    Sometimes, I wonder where cherry blossom originated and today I will introduce the city Nagano from Japan, where cherry blossom came from. In Japan, cherry blossoms are called sakura.

    Nagano has almost every kind of spring blossoms and flowers. In Nagano, known as Takato Castle Ruins Park, many people visit to witness the showering of flower petals. Takato Castle Ruins Park is located on the southeastern Nagano Prefecture and almost 1500 cherry trees are planted. This place became extremely popular site for view cherry blossom to many visitors and today, it is crowded with thousands of people strolling around. Usually, cherry blossoms are illuminated in the evenings from April through early May.

    Not all cherry trees are the same. They slightly have different colors of petals, some are redder than the others. With every gust of wind, the blossoms begin to fall and create flower blizzards.

    Even though my focus for this week’s passion blog is about flowers, Nagano has so many other places to go for preparing spring. Matsumoto Castle is one place I would recommend visiting because it is one of the most complete and beautiful Japanese original castles. Also, there are about 300 cherry trees planted around the castle grounds so you won’t miss the flowers.

    Next places I would go are Alps Park and Shiroyama Park. They are both located on the hills overlooking Matsumoto castle and there are about 1800 cherry trees planted. Both parks contain barbecue areas and several walking paths that lead through cherry groves.

    After touring Nagano city, or any cities around the world, we need to eat delicious local foods. In Nagano, oyaki is the one food you must try out. Oyaki is Japanese Tacos and it is favorite home dish of Nagano and you can make your own variations.

    Nagano is also known for its Shinano soba. Many people think of ramen as Japanese’s traditional noodle dish but many asians prefer soba because it is made up of more healthy products.

    I think Nagano is the perfect place to go for food, views, flowers, history, etc. Everywhere, this city is surrounded by cherry trees and people from different countries to appreciate the distinct culture. It is sad that I never had a chance to visit Japan even though it is located right next to Korea. It is true that we miss out places that are close to us. Now it is far away from where I live, but I would love to visit Japan next time when I visit Korea.

My mother country, South Korea

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Introducing Jeju Island

 

I hope everyone had a restful spring break. It was really short but somehow it felt longer than one week break. Anyways, I was wondering where I should visit this week and I decided to go to Jeju Island. Jeju Island is one of the nine provinces of South Korea and when I was eleven, I visited Jeju for my first time and last time until now. In my memory, Jeju Island had the most beautiful beach, peaceful fields, delicious foods, and so many attractions. Certainly, travelers cannot keep away from Jeju Island.

 

Many people call Jeju Island “the Hawaii of Korea.” There are so many reasons why it is called like that, but I will reduce it to 10 reasons.

 

1. Hallasan

It is the highest mountain in South Korea, and is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2002 and a World Heritage Site in 2007. I remember that I rode a horse around the trail when I visited back in the days. Its view is amazing and it feels like all the stress is getting relieved. Many hiking clubs come to Hallasan to take the slopes containing Crater Lake, alpine plants, woodpeckers, chipmunks, butterflies, and beetles. Some people call it Mountain Yeongjusan, which means “mountain high enough to pull the galaxy.”

 

2. Lava tubes

It is another UNESCO Geopark; the Manjang cave is more than 8 km long. This is one of the longest lava tube and many people choose to visit because it definitely offers a great unique experience.

 

3. Grandfather stones

Jeju is a volcanic island so due to an outpouring of lava, Jeju has plenty rocks. Grandfather stones, referred to dolharubang in Korean, are statues that are considered to be gods who offer protection and fertility to Jeju. Around 1750, people carved rocks to scare invaders off. Only 45 still exist and they remain a symbol of a distinct ancient culture.

 

4. Deep diving women

Since Jeju is an island surrounded by ocean, it was hard for rice to grow on wild, windy island. So sew-women called haenyo learned to dive 10-20 meters without breathing for various sea foods. You can easily witness them across the island working and they are usually 65 to 80 years old. Isn’t fascinating?

5. Beaches

One of my favorite reasons why I want to go Jeju again is the beaches. It is crystal clear and the soft sand just enthralls me. You can see everything under water because it is so clean!

6. Loveland

For many Koreans and other foreigners, Jeju is selected for one of the wannabe honeymoon location. It is an outdoor sculpture park and the theme is sex. The visitors need to be at least 18 years old and it has become a sort of crash course in sex education for honeymooners. Does it sound interesting?

The most ordinary picture I could find

 

7. Various therapies

If you are women traveler and is looking for unique therapy, Jeju has it. You can float in the pool with pretty lights out and comfortable music playing. Also, you can lie back in an oxygen room and rest with delicious food on your hand. It is another paradise inside you can experience.

8. Food, food, food

Jeju has so many local specialties such as whole grilled mackerel in sea salt and barbequed pork from Jeju’s black pigs, raw seafood, seaweed and sea urchin soup, and so many delicious foods that you will never have tasted before and won’t forget.

9. Teddy bear museum

Families with young children must visit Teddy Bear Museum in Jeju. You can see various teddy bears from different countries and it also has the smallest teddy bear in the world. Also, the restaurant in the museum has view of the beach so many people enjoy visiting the museum.

 

10. Olle Walking Trails

Olle means narrow path between the street and one’s doorstep. The olle walking paths starts at the east point of the island and ends at the southwest point. When you walk, you can capture the beautiful Blue Ocean, green forests, and charming villages all at once.

Heaven in Earth!?

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To Bolivia this week!

“Uyuni, all white in the salt flats where the sky and ground meets”

 

For this weeks blog, I was kind of lost because I couldn’t really come up with a place to explore. So I asked my friend’s dad who actually travels to places for his job. When I asked him where was his favorite place, he did not hesitate. It was the salt flat in Uyuni, Bolivia. When I heard Bolivia, I was like “where is Bolivia?” Bolivia is located in central South America. It is actually bordered around Brazil and Argentina. After I heard about this city called Uyuni, I looked up to see if it was worth writing for.

First of all, the visual representation of Uyuni salt flat just captured my heart. It was beautiful. I never saw anything like this before.

 

How can you not fall in love with this picture… it looks like a person is walking on top of the sky. Now do you want to travel to Uyuni with me? Amazingly, Uyuni salt flat is the largest one in the world.

So, are you wondering how does that kind of picture can be taken? It is simple! Salt flats are desert lakes and it is formed in closed hollows where the rainfall couldn’t drain away after it rained. Usually, for the wet climate, a normal lake would form. However, for desert, the water is heated and evaporates into water vapor faster than it is filled up by rain. As a result, the salt and minerals dissolved in water are left behind as a solid surface.

Also, the reflection occurs where the sky ends and ground begins. The largest salt flat suddenly changes to the largest mirror in the world. You can see that the entire sky is reflected on the ground. People take those kinds of pictures and it makes me want to actually visit the place more than anything. You can never compare the feeling of actually being at the location where you wanted to go unless you are physically there.

Not only the salt flat, but also the cactus island is another place to stop by when you go to salt flat at Uyuni. It is in the middle of the flats with more than five thousand cacti. Most of it is over hundred years old.

 

I think salt flat in Uyuni contains the most beautiful views in the world. Cactus, flower, sky, water, desert, camel, people from different countries, and so many more. I cannot believe I never heard about this hot place ever in my life. I certainly want to go and take my own treasurous pictures and capture all the beautiful views. Want to join me?

 

Be Aware!

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Macro thinking, Micro moving

Environment- the danger of lacking natural resources and growing landfills

Earth provides us with oxygen, water, land, ocean, and other living creatures that help us to live. Imagine yourself without those important resources. We won’t be able to walk, eat, or breathe for not even a second. This is why we need to focus on the preservation of those rich resources. Our natural resources’ preservation depends on the environment since resources are important aspects of environment.  In order to protect our privileges to use these given resources, we need to conserve the environment that sustains us with fresh air, clean water, homes, and food.

Also, due to our wasteful minds dealing with our very limited resources, there are no spaces left on the Earth to contain all those debris. Literally, we are running out of room for our garbage. How depressing is this? Growing population takes up large amount of spaces for living, and imagines that at one point, trash will invade your private region. Whenever I throw away my trash bag, I wonder how many spaces we can possibly have for all these waste in this country. In the world? What happens when we run out of those spaces available to us currently?

For my civic issues blog posts, I want to discuss about the two opposite but related global environmental crises: Shrinking natural resources and growing landfills.

It can be said that our modern life is dependent on the profligate consumption of natural resources. The more we use, the more we pollute. It is ironic how we are harming our own homes and health with our own habits. The culture of consumerism and the materialistic views led to too many unnecessary spending. With advanced technologies that we are creating every moment, we are getting closer to the extinction of our supplies. The speed of extracting resources from the nature has increased exponentially due to the advancement of technologies.  Like I said earlier, the rapid growth of population also takes a part into leading the growth of utilization of our natural resources. According to the Worldwatch Institute, “the world is on a path toward irrevocable and damaging global warming, and that climate change is also part of the serious environmental issue confronting the global community.” However, the problem is that the depletion of our raw materials is overshadowed by global warming. Although global warming can be more problematic than running out of the resources in the long-term, but if you think about what we might face in short time, depletion is the first thing we need to solve.  Our forests are withering and shrinking, our water sites are reducing, our dry lands are growing, our ecosystem is draining, our minerals are depleting, and our cropland soils are exhausting.

We may think that this on-going depletion has nothing to do with us. Some people don’t realize that we are running out of these resources, and some people believe that we will have endless resources. Well, we are all wrong. All the products we buy that are made from nonrenewable sources leads to the contribution to the problem. We have no time to wait for someone else to take an action. The time to change this is now. We need to take sustainable action. Sustainability keeps the balance between humans and nature to coexist in conformity. Even Penn state has sustainability website that enforces state college community to successfully integrate the sustainability into our lives and prepare people to become sustainability leaders. Around the world, growing number of people reinforces the habit of recycling to stop the depletion of resources. The focus of recycling is that each one of us can do our part and make it count towards the long way of sustainability.

 

Ultimately, humans need to come up with immediate and innovative solutions in order to stop the depletion of natural resources. The rate of consumption will increase since the population is constantly growing. Unless this depletion stops, the world will soon run out of resources and there may not be anything left for our future generations. We can’t just think about ourselves. What about our grandchildren and their children and so on?

 

Singapore: In Asia here I go

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Singapore is known for its sophisticated, refined places to many travelers. I once heard that if you are a woman, you should definitely visit singapore before you die. Cozy and comfortable atmosphere of spa and art galleries, clean and neat restaurants and cafes, and trendy shopping malls, Singapore has everything that will enthrall many young women.

 

This week, I will fly to Singapore, which is located in Southeast Asia, really close to my motherland Korea, and spend some luxurious times.

 

First of all, I loved the weather in Singapore. All year long, even during December and January, SIngapore’s weather is lovely. It’s sunny and hot, but not too hot for me. I hated State College weather during winter. I never experienced negative fahrenheit ever in my life until I went to Penn State. It was freezing cold and it felt like snowing would never end. Anyways, bright sunrays welcomed me to Singapore and I began my tour. SInce this is all my imagination, I will stay at the hotel called Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

 


 

This hotel is known for its unique design. Moshe Safdie, the designer, built in the form of card decks for the three hotel towers. Inside the hotel includes museum, shopping center, convention centers, and the casino. At the SkyPark, which is located at the top of hotel, many luxurious restaurants, club lounges, and etc are located. What I desired the most to visit was the infinity edge swimming pool in the SkyPark.

The pool is located at the 57th floor, offering the stunning views of Singapore. This pool is the largest and highest pool in the world among hotels, and when you swim up to the edge of pool, it feels like you are about to fall off to the ground.

Just by spending time in this hotel might take you couple of days, but you cannot miss out the fantastic places in Singapore. Sentosa Island is the next place I will go since many people call it the treasured island. At Sentosa, there are numerous attractions and activities to entertain your every interest. Universal Studios Singapore, Songs of the Sea, Jewel Cable Car Ride, The Sentosa Express, Sentosa Boardwalk, Golf Club, Palawan Beach, Tanjong Beach, and so many more attractions that will fulfill every traveler’s expectations. If I were to choose one, I would go to the Songs of the Sea.

With dazzling performances, the waterwork definitely enthralled me. It is designed for adults to enjoy it and kids to love it.

 

One last thing I want to emphasize about Singapore is the shopping mall. The world’s greatest street, Orchard Street in Singapore attracts visitors every year. This boulevard is surrounded by malls and shopping centers. Also, it contains numerous restaurant, cafes, and snack stands to take a break from shopping and walking. (I heard that the ice cream sandwiches are really good.) When you visit Orchard Street during Christmas season, it is known for its amazing christmas lightings.

SIngapore surely impressed me with enthralling attractions and places. Also, it is not that big so you should make the most out of it with no more than three or four days.

 

Welcome Back~!

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The next place I wanted to visit is Varanasi in India. India in general is a country I really wanted to visit. The reason why I chose Varanasi out of so many cities in India is because of Ganges River that flows within the city. My life after I came to college has been so busy with many things and I often thought about just peacefully resting, and have no worries.

    I am perfectly ready to leave everything behind and depart to Varanasi, India right now.

    Unanticipated air welcomed me when I got to India. The road of Varanasi was full of cow poops. I heard that people here clean the road once a year, which is on the Diwali of the gods (festival of Kartik Poornima celebrated in Varanasi). At this moment, I will explain what this festival is all about. Diwali is another name for “festival of lights” and this is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. It’s a five day festival and in order to prepare for the Diwali night, people clean, refurbish, and embellish their homes. Just like how we celebrate the new year, people in India believe that Lakshmi, a Hindu God, will bring wealth and fortune for the year ahead. Surprisingly, the festival does not occur on the same day. The exact day of the festival is chosen by the position of the moon, which is set to be no moon day. Most importantly, Hindu people believe that by lighting candles and having fireworks, all the darkness will be lifted and bring prosperity.

While I was waiting for this holiday to come, which will happen during my stay in India for a week, I went to see the Ganges River; the ultimate reason why I chose Varanasi. The river is 2520 km long and it is located between India and Bangladesh. According to what i’ve heard, this river is sacred to Hindus. People worship the river as the goddess Ganga and they believe that the river purifies them. Unfortunately, the river is badly polluted because of many people living near the boundary and being civilized. Visitors usually don’t touch the water since they may get skin cancer. However, the majestic and reverential Ganges River made me to put down all the worries and concerns.

    After healing from Ganges River, my feet walked towards Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It stands on the center of the city and is the one of the most revered pilgrimage sites for Hindus. I walked around the temple and just enjoyed the beautiful building and took pictures.

  

    Then I went to watch the spectacle of life and death at ghats. Ghat is the stair leading to the river. Hindus think it is holy to die in Varanasi, so some ghats are referred to as burning ghats, where the dead bodies are cremated and floated on the river.

    Varanasi really showed me what India looked like. It was the holy city where a boat ride along the Ganges with dead bodies occurred and witnessing the local culture just by walking around.