Sofía

A tumblrblog about me for a school project. My blog is called sooforsof because I have two nationalities: Dutch and Spanish. In Dutch my friends and family call me Soof, in Spanish they call me Sof.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Dreams, What I want

My biggest wish.

My biggest wish is to travel the world, or at least a big part of the world. Now I have talked about travelling on this blog a lot but that’s just because it is my most favourite thing to do!

Travelling is my biggest wish because it involves so many different  other wishes of mine. Like for example pin pointing a place on a world map and going there, going to a destination and only bring my passport and wallet, and going to the airport and buy a ticket for the first plane that is leaving. 

When people ask me what my dreams are and I tell them one of my dreams is to travel the world they often don’t take it seriously. They think how are you going to visit all the countries before you die, where will you get the money from? But I don’t listen to their negativity. I once read a quote which said: ‘An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside of you.’ So whenever someone says something to me like it wouldn’t be possible I just tell them that I don’t think like that and think about that quote. Besides it is a dream and dreams don’t have to be possible. However this is my ambition and I will try to make it possible as far as I can. It isn’t about the number of countries I will visit, it’s about the experience.

These photos were taken of the internet.

[sooforsof-blog]

https://ibucketlist.com/nl/user/sooforsof/e8dfd445c9df703a903b

These photos were taken of the internet, of the site: https://ibucketlist.com/nl

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Dreams, What I want

Profession.

What I am doing in my daily life in 10 to 15 years. There are a lot of things I want to do and achieve in 10 to 15 years. Will I actually do those things? Only time will tell. Of course I really want to achieve my goals and I am already working towards them but sometimes you can’t get what you want. This is why you mustn’t stop believing. If you don’t believe in yourself you won’t achieve any goal. You first must get confidence in your self and look at the different options there are to achieve your goal.

Well then, what do I want?

There are a lot of things I want and I know some aren’t possible but that’s okay. I try to look at the things I want that are possible. As my study  I want to do a bachelor in languages in the Netherlands, then I want to do a minor writing in England and then I want to do my master in either also languages or writing or journalism in New Zealand. When I get to work out my profession I want to be a journalist and maybe present tv-shows about travelling. As a small side job, I want to be a travel writer and write books about my travels. Maybe I also want to write columns for some local magazines here and there. For all these jobs I have to travel and be able to speak different languages. These are exactly the things I LOVE doing. Travelling to me doesn’t mean going to different countries to just be able to say I went there. To me travelling is experience, happiness, culture. I would love to visit countries with totally different cultures to get to learn about those cultures and how people live in those countries. While travelling I also want to have the ability to speak various languages. I am raised bilingual, Spanish and Dutch, and right now I guess you could say I am almost trilingual as I am doing a bilingual course at school with Dutch and English. I am also learning French on school, a language I really enjoy learning and I am always looking forward to French class. Italian is a language I am now starting to learn by myself, first with an app but in the future I would like to do an official course on the internet. Other languages I am encouraged for to learn are Portugese, because my parents speak it and I know some Portugese people, Chinese, because it is the number one spoken language on earth and I think it’ll be very difficult and I like challenges like that, Russian, because it’s such a fascinating language and I hope I’ll be able to at least come in contact with many more languages.

On the second row of photos you can see two persons: Floortje Dessing and Louis cole. They both really are my spirit animals, which means a person you would like to be if you weren’t yourself. Floortje Dessing is a travel writer herself and I own a number of books she wrote. Those are my favourite travelling books. She also presents in various tv programmes, those are almost the only programmes I watch really. Louis Cole is a daily vlogger on youtube. This means that he posts a video blog about his life every day. With these vlogs he earns money and with that money he is able to travel to a lot of countries. 

Floortje Dessing’s website: http://www.floortjedessing.nl/

Louis Cole’s website: https://www.youtube.com/user/FunForLouis

When I grow up, whatever my profession will be I just want to earn my money while travelling and I want to improve my talents; Writing, Speaking Languages and Public Speaking.

These photos were taken of the internet.

[sooforsof-blog]

A drawing of me in 10 to 15 years. I’m looking through the window of an aeroplane.

This dawing was drawn by me.

This photo was taken with a Motorola Moto G.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Dreams, What I Want

Me in ten years:

Name: Sofía

Eye colour: Brown

Hair colour: Brown

Where I live: New Zealand

Study: Writing, Journalist, English literature

Profession: Journalist, Travel Writer

Way of transport: Bike, Car

Status: In a relationship

Children: None yet

Pets: None

Trips: (hopefully) Too much to count

Most precious memory from school: Graduating, Trips, Public Speaking

Most precious memory with friends: All the laughter, Late night beach visits, Holidays with friends

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: School, It’s a must!

Immediategoal.

The test week.

Next week it’s test week (repetitie week) on my school. This means 10 tests in one week. For me this is a big challenge as I have some difficulty with the Beta subjects and I will have to study hard for those subjects. This is why I made a planning as you can see on the first picture. I planned one week ahead so that I would start with learning one week before the actual test, this helps me to remember things better and to not study the night before the test. I made my planner very colorful with motivating things so I can motivate myself. 

I also posted a picture of a guitar. This will be my reward for the test week. I have been attending guitar lessons for 4 years now and I have always wanted to play electric guitar. When I started attending guitar lessons I wanted to play the electric guitar but my parents told me I had to play the classical Spanish guitar first. Now, 4 years later, I think I am skilled enough to get another different kind of guitar to switch around. As I have been babysitting and saving up money I will have enough money to buy one and I will buy one after the test week so it can be a sort of reward for myself for doing a good job this school year. The thought of being able to buy a guitar after the test week also makes me motivated to do better in school.

The first photo was taken with a Motorola Moto G.

The second photo was taken of the internet.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: School, It’s a must!

Shorttermgoal.

Helping to learn children English.

Although this has nothing to do with my school, it does involve education, mine and also others.

In August, I want to help at a camp that helps children to learn English. As my English is quite good and I like children and to help others I think this would be a perfect oppertunity for me. The camp is called Sabinares del Arlanza and is located in Puentedura. Puentedura is a village in Spain which is close to the village my family lives in. I think it is fun to do something to help others and I think this will also help me because I will become more experienced with helping others and I will also improve my English and Spanish.

These pictures are pictures of the camp and were taken of their website: http://www.sabinaresdelarlanza.com/es/c/campamentos-de-verano-en-burgos#collapse-toggle-1  

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: School, It’s a must!

Longterm goal.

Passing my CPE exam.

As I have reached the end of the third year of the bilingual course on Nehalennia, I have just made my FCE exam. FCE stands for First Certificate of English. My result was 174 points which refers to a B. In my opinion this is a quite good mark and I am very happy with it. I was the happiest with my result for writing. I had the best mark of the class and I had 33 points out of 40. As I want to do something with writing as a profession later I was very glad with this good mark as I think it is important to start to do good and then build it up. The graduation is on the 7th of July and I am looking forward to it a lot, especially now that my English teacher has asked me to do a speech at the graduation.

Next year I will have my CAE exam and hopefully I will graduate for that too. CAE stand for Certificate of Advanced English. While following the Cambridge course eventually it will lead up to the CPE exam, which stands for  Certificate of Proficiency in English. One of my longterm goals is to receive my CPE certificate.

This picture was taken of the internet and the certificate showing is not mine or anyone else’s I know.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: School, It’s a must!

Long term goal.

Graduating.

This picture show the flags and schoolbag hanging out of the window of our house from when my eldest brother graduated secondary school. We have hung up the Dutch flag and the Spanish flag because my father is Dutch and my mother is Spanish. 

Gratuating may seem like just an ordinary goal, but a lot of times it isn’t that easy to graduate. You have got to work hard for it and you can show that by studying hard, making your homework and showing interest in class. Even little assignments are important for graduating. They help you to improve your skills and you will need those skills to graduate. Actually the process to graduating already starts in the first grade, from then on you will be building up your knowledge until you graduate. 

To me, graduating also means a new beginning. You have proved yourself you could conquer the exams and now you need to show the world what you are capable of. So therefore I hope that in a few years those flags will be up there again but this time, with my schoolbag hanging there.

This photo was taken back in 2011 when my brother graduated. It was taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ-8.

[sooforsof-blog]

“To travel is to live” - Hans Christian Andersen

Travelling, crossing borders, seeking for new adventures, I love it all. I am always looking forward to go to new countries and places. Therefore, travelling is my absolute favourite thing to do. The fact that I’m lucky enough to be able to travel to different countries and to get to explore new places and learn about their cultures and languages means a lot to me.

The thing I do the most while travelling is just open my eyes and look around. See the world from a different perspective. There are so many different people with different countries on earth and meeting different people and getting to know different cultures are things I would like to do every second second of my day. 

If someone gave me a plane ticket to visit another country I would be happy to take it and make memories in those countries. Even if there’s poverty or any other kind of problem in that country. Those problems may be one of the things which will make your trip unforgettable.

The first two pictures show some souvenirs from various places I have been to and they all are the smallest things with the biggest stories behind them. 

The top-left and right pictures were taken wih a Lumix Panasonic DMC-TZ8.

The last picture was taken with a Motorola Moto G.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Hobby’s, Freetime

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgRMHrtQpnhKHdsGiFQRyQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjWRi2qaGtKjQyoQLc4OGkw

Playing music and listening to music.

These are two activities I do a lot. Music does something to me which I can’t explain in words. It makes me feel better when I’m sad and when I’m already happy it gives me this little spark of madness. 

I have been attending lessons to learn guitar for four years now and never during those four years have I regretted it. I have a great teacher who teaches me how to play and gives me different songs to practise at home. Another one of my teachers is youtube. This may sound dumb but it can really help with learning the chords for popular songs. Above I have posted two of my favourite youtube channels of guitar players.

Listening to music is something I do all the time; while travelling, while reading, while relaxing and while riding my bike ( I only do this in my village in Spain when I know there won’t be any cars on the road, safety first!). I listen to all kinds of artists like The rolling stones, Bruno Mars, Amy Winehouse, Bongo Botrako, Bob Marley, Ed sheeran, The Beatles, Bastille, Imagine Dragons and Keane.

These photos were all taken with a Lumix Panasonic DMC-TZ8

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Hobby’s, Freetime

Seagulls squawking, the wind blowing in your hair, the sound of the waves hitting the sailing yacht, the wind making the sails shiver, the sun going down at night, the boat tilting when you go fast .

These sounds and feelings make me happy. They all have to do with a sport I really enjoy; sailing. 

Since I was a small child I always have enjoyed going sailing with my father in our yngling, a small sailing yacht. Today, 2 ynglings later I still go with him many times. My father has taught me all the ‘ins and outs’ of the boat and sailing so now I am capable of controlling the yngling almost on my own. As sailing is one of my favourite things to do in my free time I go with my father every time I have the possibility to do so. Every sailing trip is a new experience and brings me memories and that is one thing I really enjoy about sailing. For example last week we sailed for five hours straight because the yacht was in another harbour and we had to sail it back. Another time I almost fell in the water because I wanted to make a knot to make sure the boat wouldn’t go away from me. Well the boat did and I was holding on the poal so tightly to make sure I didn’t fall in the water. These are only two of the many memories I have made during sailing.

The name of our yngling is ‘La Gaviota’, which is Spanish for seagull. My father thinks seagulls are beautiful birds and he says that our boat is like a seagull; gliding through the sea and wind.

Two other things my father always says about sailing are ‘A red sun in the morning is a sailor’s warning, a red sun at night is a sailors delight.’ and ‘The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails.’ The second quote doesn’t necessarily has to do with sailing. This quote accounts for everything in life, if something does not go the way you want it to you just have to make it like you want to, ‘adjust the sails’.

The first two pictures were taken with an Iphone 5s.

The two quotes were edited with the app Photo Grid.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Persoonlijkheid, Me myself and I, Kwaliteit

Creative/Cre-a-tive (krē-ā′tĭv)

adj.

1. Having the ability or power to create

2. Productive; creating.

3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness.

4. One who displays productive originality.

I enjoy doing things considered as creative. Writing, drawing, painting, crafting and making music are a few examples of those ‘creative’ things I do.

I often prefer making a birthday gift for a friend rather than buying one and they also like it a lot. On the top-right you can see a present I made for one of my friends. Another example of a self-made present is a magazine I put together for another friend of mine.

On the top-left I posted a picture of a drawing I am currently working on. The drawing shows a portrait of a girl drawn all in grey, white and black, which represent that she isn’t all that different from the outside. I drew her eyes really big to show that she looks at things differently and sees an opportunity in everything. There are all kinds of colours and little drawings coming out of her head. This is supposed to represent her brain; all the things she is thinking of throughout the day. As I mentioned before, I haven’t finished this drawing yet but I will soon because I really like to draw. However I do know I am not the best at drawing I still do it because I am inspired by a lot of other things in life and I want to improve my skills. Am I the girl in the drawing? Who knows. She doesn’t look like me from the outside but from the inside she does.

I am also not afraid of showing my creativity as mentioned in the quote: ‘To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong.’ I think its great to be inspired by all things surrounding us and to put those things into art with our creative souls. And you shouldn’t be afraid to show them.

The first picture was taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ-8. 

The second picture was taken with a Motorola Moto G.

The quote was taken from the internet.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Persoonlijkheid, Me myself and I, Kwaliteit

Caring/Car-ing (ˈkeə.rɪŋ)

Adj.

1. A caring person is kind and gives emotional support to others.

My friends and family always thank me for being such a caring person. Whenever a friend is crying I will be the first one running towards them and comforting them. I care about so many people and then hearing them telling others that I am such a caring person really makes my day. 

A person I take care of a lot is David. He is the boy I babysit. Everytime I come to babysit him he comes running to me with a big smile on his face. I really enjoy taking care of him whenever I can. You can see him on the first two pictures.

The person I learned all this from is my mother. She taught me to care about others and help them whenever needed. She is the most caring person I know and is always there for me and others. This is why I inserted the last picture.

The first two pictures were taken with a Motorola Moto G.

The picture of me and my friends was taken with a Samsung Galaxy S4.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Persoonlijkheid, Me myself and I, Kwaliteit

Adventurous/Ad-ven-tur-ous (ədˈven.tʃər.əs/)

Adj.

1. Willing to try new or difficult things.

2. Exciting and often dangerous.

I enjoy going on adventures. Whether those are small ones or big ones and by bike or by skateboard. 

The picture on the bottom shows my scratch map. The concept is simple: you scratch where you’ve been. All the trips to those countries which are scratched were adventures to me.

The picture on the top-left shows the tickets from several places I have visited and events I have attended. These tickets all have a story behind them, either a big one or a small one. These stories are all adventures to me.

On the top-right I placed a quote saying: ‘We must take adventures in order to know where we truly belong.’ I think this is true and therefore I placed the quote in this post.

The picture of the scratch map and the picture of the tickets were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8. 

The quote was found on the internet.

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: Persoonlijkheid, Me myself and I, valkuil

Disorganised/Dis-or-gan-ised (dɪˈsɔː.ɡə.naɪzd)

Adj.

 1. Badly planned and without order.

 2. Not good at planning or organizing things.

I am disorganised, although not in every way. In my bedroom you will find some places which are very organised and other nooks which aren’t organized at all. On the pictures above you can see some of those nooks: my cupboard holding my textbooks for school, as disorganised as always because I continually take and leave books there, my nightstand which holds a number of different things I almost never need, and my lavatory holding a number of different skin and hair products. In the mirror of my lavatory you can also see a few other disorganised things on my desk.

These pictures were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8

[sooforsof-blog]

Themawoord: persoonlijkheid, me myself and I, valkuil

Distracted/dis-tract-ed (dĭ-străk′tĭd)

Adj.

1.Having the attention diverted.

2.Suffering conflicting emotions; distraught.

I get distracted very easily, while doing homework, while sitting in class, while drawing or crafting, while sailing, while making music and even while watching a movie. While doing these things I will think of other fun things I want to do like travelling for example, I get distracted and before I know it I am already doing another thing I wasn’t supposed to do.

In this song Paul McCartney sings about his distractions. You can interpret this song in many different ways and I interpret it in a way where he is singing about how he gets distracted easily while thinking and where he is wondering about what his life would look like if he didn’t get distracted so easily.