Stress at College

By the end of every term, the ghost of stress hovers above college students. Lost of studying, sleepless nights and careless eating. Do they ring a bell to you? Exams are one of the most stressful situations we have to cope with yet there are a series of steps to follow to get over them.

Most of us believe that the more hours we study the better. This is a common misconseption though. When it comes to studying quantity outweighs quantity. In order to works at is optimum potential our brains need both oxigen and fresh air . We need to keep our blood circulating an the only way of achieving this is moving. Go for a walk. Meet your friends: Leave your place. Devote a fraction of your time to relaxing and ensuring all that reading finally becomes knowledge.

Undoubtedly, long studying hours is not the only factor that can result in stress. All the anxiety and nervousness our bodies are exposed to may inevitably lead to insomnia. This is a rather common symptom of stress. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about it. As the saying goes: if you can´t beat them, join them. You could take advantage of those peaceful hours at night and study or just relax. Make the most of your time- do not try to avoid it since once your exams are over, your biological clock will return to its normal rhythm.

Finally, your eating can play a decesive influence on your performanceduring the exams periods. Try not to neglect your eating habits. Keeping a balanced diet will aid both your body and your mind to successfully undergo the exams period.

We are all well aware that a stress free end of term is an unattainable task. However, we are convinced that following the suggestions mentiones above you will be a ble to overcome the stress fuelled by exams and get the best results. At this time of the year your well being is as crucial as studying. Give it a try!

You look just like your mother!

More than once, I can assure you, you´ve heard someone saying: "you look just like your mother!" - Do I? Well, fortunately for me, my mother rocks!

Among the infinite possible gene combinations, there is always one (or some) that we cannot get away with. Either my dad´s nose or my mum´s legs...It seems I´m a copy of them. Darwin and Mendel have explained in a convincing way why my eyes are brown, however they haven´t done much to explain why I burst into tears when I can´t manage a situation (just like my mum) and I tend to avoid every confrontation (just like my dad).

How is it that our characters are shaped? Is it a genetic question? Is it a background question?
After some reading I came to know that as well as our parent pass us physical traits, they also transmit character or rather hints of it. It’s our private social interaction with our families and later public social interaction which help us develop our characters. There are many theories,for instance, evolutionary psychology claims that "At birth, everyone starts from scratch, with a unique genotype, some inbuilt instincts (including a temperament), and a pre-wired capacity to learn certain kinds of behaviours". So then, according to Freud, who based his studies and theories on Darwin´s work, we are in fact shaped by our backgrounds. High on top of the list being our parents, the ones we mostly interact with in the early stages of our life.
As a conclusion, I can say that, although we are likely to inherit some characteristics from our parents, society does influence the way we think and behave. This fact reinforces the view that portrays human beings as unbelievably complex and flexible creatures.

Tough Enough

When I had to think of a topic for a cartoon, I wanted it to represent me and how I feel: This is my cartoon
In this cartoon I try to represent something that sooner or later we are all confronted with: that is independence.
As this is our last year at college, I wanted to portray the fears and insecurities that we all feel now that we are about to step into adult life.
Once we get our degree, the first thing we need to do is to get a job. Even though most of us already work, supporting ourselves is by far a differet thing. Luckily for English teachers job opportunities abound. We might be offered jobs in private institutes, schools, even our houses can be places of work. However working conditions vary, and there are many people out there who might want to benefit from both our capacities and inexperience. I have to confess that the name "tough enough" came up rather naturally. I quite often find myself saying that.

As regards the experience of being a cartooninst, I really enjoyed. The idea came up almost immediately, the dialogues though, were more difficult. I guess that it is because we are always so concerned about our writings, finding synonyms or fancy words that when it comes to simple language we just have to think twice as much!

What´s in a word?

As master Shakespeare puts it in his lyrical tale "Romeo & Juliet" :


"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."



What´s in a name if not an arbitrary concept? I can´t help wondering why some words are regarded as “just ugly” and others are “simply lovely". Quite often you avoid buying something or refuse to eat something because of its name, think of “guacamole" and "kidney pie" . First, let see what a word is. According to the Merriam Webster´s dictionary a word is "a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use" .

One feature that might make a work ugly or nice it’s the sound. Not because one sound is better than another but what they connote can be more or less pleasant for our ears. If I think about the word "guacamole" I cannot help thinking about disgusting things such as gush or gob.
And that is due to the / g / at the beginning.

Another feature which can contribute to a word´s "appeal” might be its cultural or historical background. For instance, "Nazi" or even "che". The former gave a name to a political party, however the horror of its ruling over Germany rendered it almost an insult. The latter, a word which is so popular in our country, can connote revolutionary feelings for other people .In a country like Venezuela can be considered heroic. I wonder what connotations it might have in Belgium.

Finally, I will focus on the length of words.

• God, faith, love, mum, foe, hate.
• Circumlocution, anniversary, onomatopoeia, characteristics, facilities, observation.

Let´s take the first words of each group. God has three graphemes while circumlocution has fourteen. What a difference! Let alone some of us do not even know the meaning of circumlocution. On the other hand, we are all well acquainted with God.
No matter how long or short words are the best way to express ideas and thought. Human are the only blessed creatures that have this gift. I´ve found some gifted people...read:

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
Maya Angelou

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.
Mark Twain

The words of truth are always paradoxical.
Lao Tzu

You can stroke people with words.
F. Scott Fitzgerald