Vacation: Culture Shock

After recently reading a blog about a fellow students travels, I have been inspired to tell of my travels.  I haven't been to many places, but I have been to two places out west that have really captured my interest.  My first trip out west was last year for spring break.  I flew out to Los Angeles, California to visit my cousin who is out there aspiring to be an actor.  When I got out there it was a complete culture shock to me.  I didn't think that traveling within the United States would bring any kind of culture shock.  Growing up in Cornville, USA (as I like to call it), there isn't a lot of exposure to things outside the norm.  We are simple people that lead simple lives.  I grew up in a family of farmers ( although i never actually farmed myself) who are pretty stuck in their way of life and nothing is going to interrupt that.  One of the first things I saw out in California was the Church of Scientology.  I am a very devout Christian, so seeing this so-called church was VERY new to me.

This a picture of the sign outside the church, which looks more like an insane asylum than a church.

This is a picture of me standing by the huge metal lion outside the "church."

I don't know too much about Scientology, but my cousin who has lived in LA for awhile said that along with the building being a church, it is also a detox center.  One has to go through a process of detox before becoming a member of a church.  It was weird walking around the proximity of the church because you would see people go in and out of the Scientology Church and they were all wearing blue polos.  They all walked around with blank expressions on their faces.  Tyler(my cousin) said that usually if you are anywhere near the church there people who will try to persuade you to take a tour of the church.  He then told me that one of his friends did the tour just to see what the church was all about.  Apparently the tour was around two hours and completely bogus.  It was a bit terrifying to be within feet of the church.  I have found a website that explains Scientology and its basic principles.  Click here to see this website.  

I really enjoyed California and living life for a little bit in completely different setting than what I'm used to.  It is a very beautiful place with interesting and exciting things to see.  I got to visit Orange County one day while I was out there and I was able to capture the essence of the West Coast.  The Pacific Ocean is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.  It is truly the product of something greater than any one of us. My camera does not do justice to what my eyes have seen.  I will never forget how I felt when I looked out and saw the depths of the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

This is a view of Laguna Beach that I was able to capture in the late afternoon.  It was absolutely beautiful and I would have been content staying in that exact spot for the remainder of my vacation.

For my next post I would like to share another trip I experience out west in Colorado!!

What Do Teachers Think About Year Round School?

The first thing a teacher might think about when they hear the words, "Year round school," is "Hey I thought I was going to get my summers off!" One might try to sound like they wouldn't enjoy their summers off, but who wouldn't like to take three whole months to have fun with your family, and get ready for the next school year? Well those teachers that participate in year round schooling do not have their summers off. Although it is a proven fact that kids study better, and have a more positive impact with year round schooling, we would still be going to school in June, July, and August, when all of the other schools had summer break. I interviewed an 8Th grade English teacher on her thought of year round schooling, and here are some of her answers. I asked her if she liked the idea, and her response was, " I like the idea of year round schooling, but I have a feeling when it's 85 degrees and sunny outside, it will be hard for my students as well as myself to focus on the subject." She said she enjoys her summers off, but at the same time, it might be nice going to school for 6 weeks, and then getting three weeks off. Families could still plan vacations, and it would be scheduled ahead of time, no snow days to make up, because they would be tacked on somewhere else. It is a possibility that one would have to go to school longer in March due to a snow day instead of going to the middle of June and then back to school again in August. As a future educator, I am still on the fence about this subject. It would be nice to have my summers off, but at the same time, the states are in much need of money, and the students are in my need of a higher level of learning. Both of these ideas mentioned have been proven to increase when the school switches to year round. Hopefully one day everyone will be on the same level, and we can impact our future students in the highest level of positiveness that we possibly can.

Should Year Round School be in the Future?

Going to school year round is a controversial subject. There are some states that are in favor of year round school, therefore they went ahead and proceeded with the idea, whether they had other states participating in the program. As of 2007, there were 19 states with year round schools in them. Those states had 10 or less schools participating in the program. Many people question, what does year round school consist of? Year round school consists of scheduling educational institutions so that students take class throughout the entire calendar year. Students are still in school the same number of days as regular schools, but their vacation is dispersed in different ways throughout the year. For example, one school might go to school for 6 weeks, and then have a 3 week vacation. Statistics show that it is a higher way of education, and students achieve higher standards because they are able to work on a subject that may seem harder for a longer period of time. Our blogging group was torn on the decision on whether or not we liked the idea. Two of us liked the idea, and two of us were still on the edge about the idea. If year round school has a more positive impact on the children, then we believe it is something that should be in the near future.

Here is a link that provided some of the statistics that we used for this blog, if you want to take a look at them.

What about Spring Break For A College Student?

Spring Break is coming up for many college students, and when you ask a college student if they are going anywhere they usually say, "I'm broke!" That is the typical response you will hear from a college student whether they are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior. This is my junior year of college, and I have never been anywhere for Spring Break, because over break I usually try and work more. I want to save money to pay for summer classes, textbooks, and the next school year's tuition. Many of you might be asking, what are some alternatives we can do for Spring Break to still feel like we have a break, even if we are not going anywhere? Some alternatives a person could do would be to save up all three previous Spring Breaks, and then when you are a senior splurge and go somewhere with you friends since it is your last year of college. Another meaningful alternative that a lot of college students are participating in is volunteering over their break. Many colleges, religious organizations, and charity organizations have relief programs for countries that are in need. There have been many devastation's over the past year and many countries could use the helping hands. Many of you might be wondering if the trips cost a fee. Some of the trips do, but sometimes, if enough money has been raised throughout the year, it may be free, or a small fee may come with the trip. I realize the second alternative doesn't seem like a break, but if you are willing to sacrifice your time on a sunny beach, to help out someone that is in need, the reward will be more fulfilling in the end.

Here is a link for more information about alternative Spring Breaks!

Alternatives to Vacation

Millions of people have the chance to travel the world and see all of the different things that makes the world so different. There are also people who don't have the money or the time to travel so what do they do? They usually stay at home, watch a movie, go to the local beach, or the camp grounds. Besides traveling the world, other people consider or even prefer for their vacation to be right outside in their backyard or even down the street at a friends or wherever they can go to get away and have some fun to get away from all the stress at home. People also go shopping, out to eat or go for a bike ride. A vacation does not necessarily have to be a trip out of the state or around the country. It can be anywhere away from home that makes a person get away from the things they want to escape. Sometimes a real vacation can cause too much hassle and end up being a nightmare,so its best to stay at home save money, time and energy. A vacation should not have to be work, its supposed to be fun.
A link to check out other alternatives:
http://affordable-family-fun.suite101.com/article.cfm/affordable_family_mini_vacations

Affordability/ Expenses of Planning a Vacation

As a kid, going on vacation was like waking up on Christmas morning to an endless supply of Christmas presents. My only worry for vacationing was making sure I would be able to see and do everything on my list. As a child you don't think of all the expenses that go into planning a vacation. Now that I am older and traveling on my own, it has become evident that going on a vacation isn't as much like Christmas as I used to think it was. Planning a budget for a vacation sounds like an easy job, but there are so many things that go into one budget. First off, you have to decide what type of vacation you will be going on. Will it be relaxing, adventurous, or somewhere in the middle? Depending on the type of vacation your planning, your initial budget will change. The destination and accomodations you choose are just the start of your budget planning. Other things to consider are extra hotel expenses(i.e. internet use, telephone use, room service), transportation(gas money, airfare, etc.), appropiate clothing for your location, food, entertainment, and souvenirs. These are pretty obvious costs. Some hidden costs that we often forget about are things such as; tips, tolls, parking fees, etc. One more thing that just came to mind is one should always have emergency money that they can turn to in case of an accident, car trouble, or what ever the emergency may be. If you carefully plan a budget then you should be in good shape. If not, you must realize that money outside of your budget could be spent. So going back to the initial post, is a vacation really a vacation after all of the budgeting and stressing over how much to spend or how much not to spend? Ponder that.

http://hffo.cuna.org/12433/article/1744/html

Does a Vacation Equal a Stress Reliever?

Is taking vacation really a stress reliever? Many people want to take a vacation to get away from the stress, but in the initial blog, everything you have to do sounds like stress. One thing a family, couple, or person in general can do is plan. Many parents feel pressured when their students are out of school for the summer, because that is the time to take your family vacation. If co-workers ask you where your vacation is this year and you haven't planned it, it may start to stress you out. There are many tips online, on how to plan a vacation stress free so if you are up in the air about everything, look at the world wide web and find some helpful tips. One major tip that people need to remember is to decide what kind of vacation they want to take, and that alone will prevent a lot of stress. Do you want it to be close to home, far away, an adventurous vacation, a relaxing vacation, or a vacation that will have activities for your kids as well as you? Once you have your initial building block for your vacation you can start adding things(keeping your budget in mind) and hopefully everything will stay on track. If you plan out your budget a year or so in advance, you have the entire year to build your savings back up, therefore that would prevent stress before and after your trip. If you want to stay close to home, your travel budget will decrease and therefore you might have extra money to spend on things you may need. There are many different levels of stress on can have when taking a vacation, but hopefully this blog, and the links I have provided will help you from having a stressful vacation. As a side note the number one spot to vacation when you have had a stressful year is to an island or a beach so keep that in mind for the future when planning a vacation.

Tips on planning a stress free vacation:

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Plan-a-Stress-Free-Vacation&id=1352436

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/tips_for_a_stressfree_vacation