Travel

I had the opportunity to travel to California with no parents or my brother for five days. Five days that I got to see so many new places. I always to try to go to new places and my goal is that in the future I study abroad and travel as much as I can. When I arrived everything seemed okay but as soon as my dog saw me he jumped in circles and raced towards me I was also glad to see him. On my trip I saw many universities and I was even able to see the sunset on a beach. The sun seemed to be so close that I felt as if I could go into the ocean and swim up to it, probably even fly up to it as well, like Icarus. It truly was an amazing experience and it's experiences like this that make me want to pack up a bag and walk across the continents.

Taken by: Abigail Navarro

 

My parents were not the only ones dreading to let me travel by myself and my plans leaked out to half of my family in a small amount of time (I had a small part in this, I was excited to visit new places). I would spend more than half an hour on the phone every day listening to my aunts and uncles explaining to me how dangerous it would be for me to travel with no one they knew. I have an amazing family and one of my cousins talked to my mom for more than an hour he convinced her to let me go for a short time. This was almost a year ago and in this month after talking to my family on the phone trying to convince them again, I was able to convince both my mom and dad this time on my own. It took more than a month to convince them but my nagging had finally paid off and at six a.m. I was in front of my school with a suitcase.

 



Taken by: Abigail Navarro 1/9/14


I'm not sure if it was the fact that I had a time off of my daily routine or that pressure was taken off my back and neck for a couple of days but my attention was mostly taken away by the scenery surrounding me. Sometimes I turn my head directly upwards and I can see how the sky slightly curves and I feel like I'm in a snow globe or marble, as if I too was in a scene and part of that snow globe that occasionally is shaken to knock me down and create a small riot on both ends of the globe.

 

I have no idea what career to pursue in a small amount of years to come, but one thing I do know is that I want to travel. I wish to not fall when the globe is shaken but to take off like a bird and fly to another area and check if the objects there are knocked down, then I will pick them up and fly again. My nest is where my family is and yes it is my home, but whenever I travel, even if it's somewhere close I feel as if I know the world I live in a bit more and I feel a bit more connected and free.

 

I know that it's hard to let one go, but I also know that if it is that hard to let one go then it must mean that they are very important to you and I wouldn't want to keep them locked up in a perfect little cage knowing that they also wish to fly, I wouldn't want them to be knocked down and stay in the same place they were. I would want them to pack up a bag and walk across the continent, or fly to the other end of the globe and help others do the same.

 

 

Different Stars at Different Times and Places?

I was able to go out on a Saturday and as I came out if a casino, Grand Sierra Resort, I noticed that I could not see any stars I was only able to see the moon, I left about nine o'clock and headed over to a friends house. As I was leaving the casino I was able to see a bit more stars but not as much. I left their house around one in the morning and as I was getting into my dad's car I saw so  many stars, which got me thinking of what I learned about light pollution. At what time are stars more visible and around what time do they disappear from our sight? Do stars appear different like the moon does in the southern hemisphere or do we see different stars than different parts of the world because of our locations and time?

According to Clara Moskowitz, "The opportunity to see certain constellations I'd never before seen, some of which are visible only from below the equator, was one of the experiences I was most looking forward to on the trip."  Different constellations are visible at different locations and I realized that I was able to see more stars at later times that I haven't noticed before. I thought it was interesting how some nights I would see certain stars that I could identify but I also would see different stars that I have not paid much attention towards and some of the stars that I noticed seemed to only come out later at night, perhaps because they were easily hidden from sight due to the light pollution.

Winter is about to begin and I have the opportunity to travel this year south where I will be able to observe the sky and notice the differences between the stars at night compared to my observations because of the time difference. I understand that our sky looks different from different places in the world but it's exciting realizing that I have the opportunity to see a different side of the sky and hopefully I have the opportunity to see the sky without any light pollution masking the sky.

 Works Cited:

Moskowitz, Clara. "Reporter's Journal: A New Yorker's View of the Southern Sky." Space.com. N.p., 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.