Universidad Europea de Madrid

UEM LAB REPORTERS around the World

Are you on vacation? Where are you now?

In front of the Eiffel Tower, on the beach in Cadiz or right next to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul? Maybe you are looking at the Taj Majal in Agra or on top of a mountain in Peru or in the Highlands of Scotland. You might be discovering the rainforest in Costa Rica, climbing up the Teide or having a great time with your friends at home. Where are you now?

Wherever you are, you could become a UEM Lab Reporter right now!

1. Print out the LOGO attachment.

2. Have someone take your picture holding up the LOGO in front of an interesting place.

3. Send the picture to me, wendy.frankel@uem.es . Don't forget to include your name, degree program and the place in your e-mail.

4. We will put your picture on our map and also in the photo album on the UEM Lab webpage.

Let's see how many of you participate!

Check out UEM Lab Reporters around the World on this blog in September. And you can see last year's particpants at
http://comunidad.uem.es/shakespeare/2009/9/25/england-ireland-scotland-canada-and-the-usa

Practice your English wherever you go. And have a great summer.

Wendy

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 2 comentarios

Drive safely! Buckle up!

You're off with your friends. For an hour, for a weekend, for the summer.

You're talking and laughing and having fun. Sound familiar?

Well... be careful!

We got stopped at a lone traffic circle on a country road near a provincial town with absolutely no traffic in sight. The Guardia Civil, police, pulled over the lead car and then his partner signaled for the 2nd car to pull over too. What was this all about?

Before we got the explanation as to why we were stopped, we were told to hand over our IDs. My passengers handed over theirs, but mine was in my purse in the trunk. The police officer asked me again, so I started to get out of the car. "Get back in the car," he growled. "But you asked for my DNI. It's in the back" I replied.

"Stop! You're not wearing you yellow traffic vest ! You can't get out of the car without your vest on." I looked at him and the deserted road in astonishment." Well.... What? " He said "OK" and I got my DNI for him. Meanwhile those in the other car were going through a similar procedure. The police officers strode back across the deserted road and called in our IDs I guess. When they returned we were told that the woman in the back of my car was getting a 150 Euro fine for not wearing her seat belt. She was not given a copy of the fine but would receive it in the mail.

The other car was ready to go, so off we went to meet up again a few blocks away. The backseat passenger in that car had also received an invisible fine, but for over 200 Euros! Why the difference? Conflicting opinions of the 2 police officers? Male/female discrimination for backseat traffic offenders? I think it was probably the fact that one had a driver's license and the other didn't even though neither was at the wheel. We were angry............but the police officers were right. Seatbelts are important, even if you are in the back seat.

Look at this short commercial from Chile. It says it all.

Wendy. See vocabulary below.

undefinedC:\Documents and Settings\901\Mis documentos\BLOG + CONNECTA 3\comercial-Chile.wmv

Vocabulary:

Buckle up: abrochar el cinturón
You're off with: libre, por allí con
got stopped: te pararon
lone: solitario
in sight: a la vista
pulled over: nos pararon
lead car: primer coche
hand over: entregar
purse: bolso
trunk: maletero
get out of: salir de
growled:gruñó
replied: contestó
vest: chaleco
strode: (past tense of stride) caminó
fine: multa
blocks: manzanas, calle
at the wheel: al volante, conduciendo

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 1 comentario

Storks, storks everywhere!

Spring in Vinuesa, Soria, Spain.

A beautiful stone village, off the beaten track... but easily accessible.
You'll find a river and a lake and pine forests. Spend the night. Get a feel for the place. You'll relax. You'll forget. You'll meet new people. You might even bump into someone you know. Someone who's kept this place a secret. Someone from the UEM!

In the spring storks nest here. Dozens of storks. They're on the churches, on smoke stacks, in the trees. We saw 2 and 3 nests in some tall trees.

Vocabulary:

Storks: cigueñas
Off the beaten track: apartado,

bump into: encontrar por casualidad, chocar con
Smoke stacks: chimineas

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 1 comentario

Non-stop train rides of the future

Looking for an alternative to air travel? How about non-stop fast trains?

The Chinese are working on this new concept.

There are 30 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, 30 stops with a minimum of 5 minutes per stop. That's an extra 2.5 hours of train time.

Some of you may remember the trains in Spain in the 1970s and 80s. Few people had cars and though hitchhiking was still an acceptable practice, students used to get around the country mostly by bus or train. Taking the mail train, the "Correo", or the fast train, the "Rápido", or the express train, the "Expreso", for long distance travel in Spain challenged your patience. The trains stopped in every station and the trip was interminable. Then the Talgo appeared and train travel was pleasant, though too expensive for most budgets. The AVE came in next but again the price was high. This Spanish bullet train is very efficient and many business travelers are opting for this means of transportation, leaving the delays, cancelations and lost luggage at the airports for the budget travelers. Yes, the times have changed. It's often cheaper to fly, but faster to take the train.

What's the next step?

The Chinese are working on a bullet train which never stops. It slows down at the stations but the passengers are already on board a connector cabin which then slides onto the top of a bullet train as it cruises through the station. Another connector cabin slides off the back of the train with the arriving passengers on board. Why not? Sounds interesting. Look at this 1 minute film. It's in Chinese which you just might not speak, but the graphics are very clear and self expanatory.

Wendy
Vocabulary:
hitchhiking: ir de auto-stop
get around: moverse, ir de aquí para allá
challenged: desafiar
pleasant: agradable
budget: presupuesto, bajo gasto
bullet train: alta velocidad (bala)
delays: atrasos
luggage: equipaje, maletas
slides: desliza

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 0 comentarios

A dot on a globe in the known universe

Who are we? We are but a dot on a globe, a tiny insignificant sphere cruising through time and space. We are but a small, minuscule member of the Milky Way Galaxy, one of many galaxies.

I'd like you to see this fabulous digital representation of THE KNOWN UNIVERSE as presented by the AMNH, the American Museum of Natural History. It shows us just where we are in the afterglow of the Big Bang. You will see our planet with our artificial satellites and our moon, our sun and beyond.--Wendy

Vocabulary:

a dot: un punto

beyond: más allá

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 1 comentario

Volcanic Ash falls on Iceland

A volcano erupted in Iceland and the ash cloud headed east. Chaos in the airports as European flights were canceled. Planes were grounded, leaving passengers stranded both here and abroad. Some of our near and dear had to find alternative means of transportation: a ferry out of Liverpool, a bus with 30 kids returning from a now-prolonged tour of Wales... And the stories started to circulate. We worried about Europe and flights and friends, but what about the Icelanders and their livestock. How did they handle the eruption and falling ash?

Could this be similar to what happened to the dinosaurs?

Ashes in Iceland from the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano.

Vocabulary:

ash: ceniza
headed: se dirijió
flights: vuelos
grounded: se quedaron en tierrra
stranded: atrapados/tirados
abroad: en el extranjero
our near and dear: amigos y familiares
means: medios
worried: nos preocupamos
livestock: ganado
handle: llevar/ (manejar)

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 0 comentarios

"The Transition": the car-plane of the future

What do you think about this car-plane the "Transition" which is expected to be available in 2011? Terrafugia has completed its flight testing of the Transition POC (Proof of Concept). It's a plane that you can land at the airport, fold up the wings and drive home. Great idea! 20 years from now will we all have "Transitions"? Just think of the traffic jams in the sky! Check out Terrafugia.

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 3 comentarios

The International Space Station

The International Space Station is often in the news,and has been since 1998. We know that there was a basic structure and that other components have been added over the years. We hear about the people on board, the difficulties they have, the experiments that are carried out. We know the ISS is up there and that it is quite an achievement.

Watch this presentation via computer graphics. You'll see the components come together piece by piece. What a difference from the original project. Open it full-screen so you can see the information onthe sides too. This is really neat, cool, awesome, sweet....chuli, chachi, guay, alucinante. O sea, mola mazo!

VOCABULARY:

The news: las noticias

carried out: llevar a cabo

come together: juntarse

full-screen: pantalla completa

the sides: los lados

neat/cool/awesome/sweet: maravilloso

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 3 comentarios

Happy New Year- 2010

Happy New Year! Happy 2010 ! Oh, that looks futuristic just like 2000 or 2001 did a decade ago. And what about 1-1-2010? That looks really strange, doesn't it? Well, a week has already passed and we're still sitting here, writing 2009 by mistake and staring at the computer screen, wondering what the future will hold.

Have you made your New Year's Resolutions yet? Are they the same ones you made last year and the year before? Is this THE YEAR when you're finally going to get it together? Did you start the year off right, start in on your fitness program, your diet, your personal Stop Smoking campaign, or are you waiting for a more auspicious date like maybe 10-1-2010 or as the Americans would write it 1-10-2010? Shall we procrastinate perhaps until the day before exams begin, or till next semester, or possibly till Groundhog Day or your birthday or.....1-1-2011 (ouuu, that looks really cosmic. That's only 11+ months from now. Maybe we should just leave our great plans for personal development till next year.

So, where were you on New Year's Day? Were you sleeping it off?
Were you outside, enjoying the day from beginning to end?

This is where I was as the 1st day of the year 2010 came to an end. Wendy

VOCABULARY:

staring: to stare: mirar fijamente
wondering: preguntándome
will hold: ofrecerá, sostendrá
get it together: organizarme
start X off right: empezar con buen pie
auspicious: prometedor
procrastinate: dejarlo para el último minuto
Groundhog Day: día de la Marmota
sleeping it off: reculperándose

Last year's NEW YEARS post:
http://comunidad.uem.es/shakespeare/2009/1/7/new-year-s-resolutions-2009

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 1 comentario

An inspiring book: "Three Cups of Tea"

"Three Cups of Tea" : One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time.

by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

This is an important book.......right now! It's an outsider's inside look at what schools mean to people who want to educate their children, especially their daughters, and can't. It shows first hand what Mortenson was willing to do to bring hope to isolated villages, in this case in Pakistan and Afganistan.

He found a need and found a way to fulfill that need, by building schools. Then he searched for collaborators and funds. And he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Read it.

www.threecupsoftea.com

• Publicado por shakespeare•
• 1 comentario