Three Cities I Would Like to Live in

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By: Rika Takatani , Japan

I live in Japan in part of Tokyo. I have always wanted to live in another country because I love to travel very much,and I study English for that. I especially like London, U.K., Honolulu, Hawaii , and Santa Barbara, USA. It was  very wonderful when I stayed in these three places. Why did I want to live in these countries? I’ll try to give some reasons.

London UK

First of all, I love  the Harry Potter series very much. I think it can influence everyone in the world. When I was in London, I felt  like I was in the movie! My dream came true.

UK has two major areas. The first area is the Piccadilly Circus area. Here the heart of London is a spectacular area. In the old days it was said to be the center of the world. This square has many fashion shops. Also, on the West side there are a lot of big theaters and an area called Chinatown on the East side of town. I watched a musical named  “Wicked”. It was amazing. The second area is called Star area. Here the United Kingdom Royal family lives in Buckingham Palace. Another important location to see is Westminster Abbey. Prince William and Katherine’s wedding ceremony was here, and it’s a very beautiful church. I like to look at the streets lined with houses in this neighborhood.

But, UK has a big problem. British dishes don’t suit me.

Honolulu, Hawaii

Everybody knows that Hawaii has very beautiful beaches. My hobby is scuba diving. So, I wanted to go scuba diving in Honolulu and to get my scuba license in Hawaii.

Hawaii is warm year-round. I think it’s easy to live in. The people are very kind and they can speak Japanese very well. The best thing is Hawaiian food suits my taste!! Rice and many vegetables. The only drawback to live here is  living expenses are higher than in Japan. If I become rich I want to immigrate to Hawaii as soon as possible.

Santa Barbara, USA

I’m now staying in Santa Barbara. I really like this city because of the relaxed environment. The beaches are very beautiful and it has many nice Mexican food restaurants. I’ll leave here this weekend; I want to come again someday.

I really want to go UCSB to study English. I went to UCSB when I was in Santa Barbara. It was awesome! Huge campus and many trees and buildings of glass!! Every person was relaxed on the grass. My university doesn’t have grass. My dream is to lie on the grass and do my homework.

If I feel bored, I can go Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco easily from Santa Barbara. During my time here, I went Los Angeles and Las Vegas. They were amazing!! I can’t forget this trip forever. If I live here I’ll go to Las Vegas once every few months.

Japanese foods are essential to me. If my dreams come true, I would return to Japan once a year definitely. Thank you for reading!!

Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

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My name Is Marcel Bettges and I’m from Germany. I’m 24 years old and the city I live in is called Cologne. Cologne belongs to the biggest federal state of Germany. Germany has more than 82 million citizens and our national sport and our pride is football and, therefore, the German national football team.

 

Closely behind football follows tennis. I started playing football and tennis when I turned 4.Both immediately became my biggest passions. The trainers told me that I had a lot of talent and, because of that, it became my most fervent wish to become a professional player in one of these sports.

A long time passed and I did everything to become as good as possible in my sports.

One day I woke up and it was my 17th. Birthday. On that day I received my first professional football contract, but in that moment I realized that I ha to decide between being a professional football player, a tennis player or just a normal guy who was really good in both of his sports, but not professional.

One day I decided to give football a try and everything started well. The fact that I’m a left-footed, there were better chances to get a spot in the team. Everything went well and I got my place in the team and played very important roles for my team. One day we had a very important play-off game. The day started great and I scored the 1:0 goal for our team. Several minutes later, my foot got caught in the grass, but my upper body moved in a different direction. In that moment I destroyed my knee, so that I had to use crutches for the next 7 months. Junior professional contracts are restricted to one year. Because of my injury, I wasn’t able to play football for a very long time and I needed a rehabilitation program, therefore my contract was not extended. In short, I didn’t receive a new contract and because of that fact I lost the passion of this sport.This led into a kind of motivational depression because I didn’t know what to do from this moment on. Thanks to my parents, I had also been very good in school so I could visit the best sports medicine faculty in country. I need competition in my life, so I started to play tennis again. First, just for fun and now, for the last 4 years, I have been playing really well and I have a ranking in the best 100  players of Germany under 25 years old.This was my little story and in the following I’m going to explain the rules of tennis and why it is so easy to fall in love with this sport.

 

General:

Tennis is the second most famous sport in Germany and currently there is a big boost because of Alexander Zverev.

zverev

He is just 20 years old and has already won a lot of trophies on tour. He is the biggest talent of Germany over the last 10 years and a lot of people believe in him. You can play for yourself 1on1 in tennis or a doubles which means 2on2. There is also the possibility that the countries play against each other in the Davis Cup.

There are regular professional tournaments and you can earn points to improve your ranking in the world. Additionally, there are ATP 500 tournaments in which you can earn more points and more money.  Most recently, there are the big 4 grand slam tournaments (French Open, Wimbledon, Us Open , Australian Open)which give you the opportunity to earn more money, fame and points. In order to get a spot in these tournaments, you need a very good ranking or a high status in this sport to earn a wildcard. Every round is a knock out round. In tennis you get the chance to start as an individual, as pairs or mixed. As a rule you earn the highest reputation for playing as an individual.

 

 

  1. THE COURT:
  2. The court is a rectangle, 78 feet (23.77 m) long and, for singles matches, 27 feet (8.23 m) wide. For doubles matches, the court shall be 36 feet (10.97 m) wide.
  3. SCORE IN A GAME a. Standard game

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Counting Points:

A standard game is scored as follows with the server’s score being called first:

No point – “Love”

First point – “15”

Second point – “30”

Third point – “40”

Fourth point – “Game”

If each player/team has won three points, the score is “Deuce”. After “Deuce”, the score is “Advantage” for the player/team who wins the next point. If that same player/team also wins the next point, that player/team wins the “Game”; if the opposing player/team wins the next point, the score is again “Deuce”. A player/team needs to win two consecutive points immediately after “Deuce” to win the “Game”.

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  1. Tie-break game during a tie-break game, points are scored “Zero”, “1”, “2”, “3”, etc. The first player/team to win seven points wins the “Game” and “Set”, provided there is a margin of two points over the opponent(s). If necessary, the tie-break game shall continue until this margin is achieved.

The player whose turn it is to serve shall serve the first point of the tie-break game. The following two points shall be served by the opponent(s) (in doubles, the player of the opposing team due to serve next). After this, each player/team shall serve alternately for two consecutive points until the end of the tie-break game (in doubles, the rotation of service within each team shall continue in the same order as during that set).

The player/team whose turn it was to serve first in the tie-break game shall be the receiver in the first game of the following set.

 

SCORE IN A MATCH:

A match can be played to the best of 3 sets (a player/team needs to win 2 sets to win the match) or to the best of 5 sets (a player/team needs to win 3 sets to win the match)

 

SERVER & RECEIVER The players/teams shall stand on opposite sides of the net. The server is the player who puts the ball into play for the first point. The receiver is the player who is ready to return the ball served by the server.

 

BALL IN PLAY:

Unless a fault or a let is called, the ball is in play from the moment the server hits the ball, and remains in play until the point is decided.

 

BALL TOUCHES A LINE If a ball touches a line; it is regarded as touching the court bounded by that line

 

Current Tennis player ranking:

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My favorite Tennis Player is Stan Wawrinka. He isn’t the typical tennis player and even his body structure is not the typical body type of a top player, but he has the biggest heart and passion and always gives his best.

Off course there is one player who is the “GOAT” and everybody in this world loves him. His name is Roger Federrer and he is, in my eyes, the best tennis player of all time. Even at his age, he plays the most aesthetic, dynamic and successful tennis. He is like a good wine which means he gets better by getting older.

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The Three Most Beautiful Beaches in The World

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By Honoka Tsukakoshi, Japan

Do you like beaches? If you are beach lover, you should go to the three most beautiful beaches in the world before you die.

IMG_0163First, you should go to Thailand. There is a nice beach in Phuket named Surin Beach. As you can see, the beach has very clear water and you can enjoy seeing a beautiful emerald green sea and wonderful nature. Also you can enjoy doing marine sports such as diving, snorkelling, and surfing.

IMG_2733Second, Bora Bora island is a good place to go. International Thalasso Beach is the most famous beach there. This island is one of Tahiti islands. If you go there, I recommend you stay at the cottage on the sea. You can see the beautiful blue sea when you get up or you go to bed. However, the cost of staying at the cottage is a little expensive. If you would like to stay, you have to save money.
IMG_2735Third, do you know that there is a nice beach in Japan? Okinawa Prefecture is the best place to see beautiful beaches. The most beautiful beach of Okinawa Prefecture is Maehama Beach. This beach is located on Miyako island in Okinawa Prefecture and people who live there said this beach is the best. If you go there, of course you can enjoy marine sports and also local foods in Okinawa Prefecture.

What do you think about these three most beautiful beaches in the world? Do you want to visit there? I wish you can enjoy staying there and you will be a devoted beach lover!

Santa Barbara Moments

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Michaela Kopecna, Czech Republic

For someone who wasn’t born in Santa Barbara some things can be completely new and strange. Every country has its own customs or traditions. Some of them could be normal, but some of them could seem little bit weird.

I am a girl from a small city in Europe and I have never traveled across the ocean before. So the words like “jet lag” or “culture shock” were, for me, completely new. I never understood the meaning of them because in Europe we all go to sleep at same time. That means that we have different traditions, but close and similar to each other.time

What time is it?

When you land at the airport your first thing you must check is the time, because in Europe it is 12PM. What time is the right one? That’s the question. Here in Santa Barbara it’s 12AM, so should I go to sleep? No! And that is what jet lag is.

How to use the toilets?

It could be strange, but the toilets are also different. And for someone from Europe it’s a shock. Are there really gaps when you close the doors? So everybody can see me through the gaps, right?hands

Are people here my friends now?

This could happened that you are standing at a bus stop and some stranger starts to talk with you. Just in Santa Barbara. The people here are so kind and helpful. They just talk with you and at the end of the conversation you are friends. How easy. That’s why I feel so welcome in this country.

How to say hi?

Hear Spanish in Santa Barbara is really common. All the names of the streets are in Spanish and also in some public buildings you can hear this language. That is because Santa Barbara used to be a Spanish colony. However, for every day use, just learn how to say hi in Spanish. That will be enough. So “hola” and “gracias senora”!freez

I’m freezing!

Sometimes you can feel cold here because of the air-conditioning or cold weather. Don’t underestimate it and take a  warm sweater into your classes. Even if Santa Barbara has the ocean it isn’t warm all the time. Suprisingly.

Goal!

You can say you are citizen when you help tourists get to the beach. You won! Santa Barbara is not so hard to orient oneself. So after a short time you will feel here like you are at home. Culture shock is gone and jet lag is your very old friend.

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