Soccer Is More Than a Game

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Collin Blunier, Switzerland

One of the most popular sports is soccer,  which is the most controversial sport in the world. There are headliners about professional soccer players  salary, their influence and their lack of sportsmanship.

Soccer is more than just a sport or a game, it brings people together, it makes friends and last, but not least, it is healthy.

If you play soccer you have to concentrate every single second. You have to be present to win, but sometimes you also need a little bit of luck. Everybody in the TV or in the stadium is watching you. The half of them hope that you will miss the goal, the other half hope that they can cheer.

One of the most important things are the supporters. They are every age, from 10 up to 90! They support the team with songs if they need it, they stay behind them if they have a bad game.

Two of the most popular players these days are Lionel Messi, Barcelona,  and Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid. They are not just players, they also make a lot of social supports. They support foundations or they have their own one.

Famous players do a lot for the soccer. They promote it, help children if they are in need and they show us if you are focus in something, you can get/be it.

Soccer is global and helps people to cross cultural barriers. It is allowing you to share your love with it and makes fans throughout the world. It doesn’t matter if you are American, Swiss, Japan or Australian, you will find people with the same interest in soccer.

Image result for soccer emotional goal      Image result for soccer fans brasilian

Should animals be used for scientific and commercial testing? by Stella, Germany

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General information:

An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the US for commercial and scientific testing including mice, rats, fish, birds, guinea pig, farm animals, cats and dogs.

They are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of  medications, check the safety of products destined for human use.

In additon, to the torment of the actual experiments, animals in laboratories are deprived of everything that is important and natural to them.
They are confined to barren cages, socially isolated and psychologically traumatized.
Most of the torture is legal.

Legal tests include: burning, poisoning, starving, forced, smoking, mutilating, blinding, electrocuting, drowning and dissecting without painkillers. They also get cut open without any painkillers.

The reality is that the majority of animal experiments do not contribute to improving the human health.


AGAINST the scientific and commercial testing

Many organizations try to follow the three R rules to improve the torment of the animals using for scientific and commercial testing:
Replacement
replacing animals with non-animals tests
Reduction
using fewer animals to do research
Refinement
emphazies the fact, that if companies are going to use animals for your research, they have to make sure that those animals are treated at the highest (ethical) level

Alternatives to replace animals in science:

  • in vitro (test tube) test methods and models based on human cell and tissue cultures
  • computer models and simulations
  • stem cell and genetic testing methods
  • microdosing (in which humans are given very low quantities of a drug to test the effects on the body on the cellular level, without affecting the whole body system)

Why is replacing animals in science much better than using animals for testing? Are there any advantages in non-animal testing?

Yes, replacing animals in science with different alternatives has several advantages.
It is cheaper, faster and companies can test more chemicals.
It is not only more effective for science, but also more reliable and more human.

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PRO the scientific and commercial animal-testing

  • Animals themselves benefit from the results of animal testing
  1. If vaccines were not tested on animals, millions of animals would have died from rabies, distemper, feline leukemia, infectious hepatitis virus, tetanus, anthrax, and canine parvo virus.
  2. Treatments for animals developed using animal testing also include pacemakers for heart disease and remedies for glaucoma and hip dysplasia.
  3. Animal testing has also been instrumental in saving endangered species from extinction, including the black-footed ferret, the California condor and the tamarins of Brazil.

 

Paseo Nuevo

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by Romane Millet, Ines Lorand, Antoine Marotte and Bettina Clauss

  • Where is it ?

Paseo Nuevo is located in the downtown of Santa Barbara. The complete address is 651 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

  • What is it ?

This establishment is a shopping with a lot of brands like Sephora, Victoria Secret, Aveda and 50 more shops. There are also restaurants like Marketplace Café, Eureka, Gourmet Burgers, …

  • Who are the visitors ?

Paseo Nuevo is a familial place where you can go as well with your friends than your family. We observed that the average age was young.

  • How is the architecture there ?

It’s a modern place with white walls and red roofs inspired by Spanish Colonial. We feel when we walked there that there is a relaxing ambiance. It’s very chill.

Vegan/Veganism

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by Katharina Coenen

 

Veganism is a type of vegetarianism diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many Vegans also do not eat foods that are processed using animal products, such as refined white sugar and some wines. They also don’t wear particular types of clothing, such as leather, fur and wool.

Vegan refers to either a person who follows this way of eating or to the diet itself. That is, the word vegan can be an adjective used to describe a food item, as in, “This curry is vegan”, or, it can be used as a noun, as in, “Vegans like cookies, too.”

But why would you choose to become a vegan ? They are many reasons. Let’s have a look.

Animals are a constant part of our lives. We share our houses with them, our beds, and we even consider them to be members of our family. While they may not be able to speak our languages, we value them highly. We interact with them and we often turn to them for emotional support. When they pass away, we mourn them.

We also believe that they enjoy being alive as much as we humans do, as they enjoy the company of others. Yet for other animals we stick forks and knives into their bodies and wear their skin as clothing. Is that morally right ? Maybe you think it is wrong to act violently against dogs or cats, but why do we think this? Animals around the world are dying just because we want to wear their skin, eat them or their products.

Some of us try to defend this by purchasing products that are marketed as “humane” or as produced “ethically.” However, these words are meaningless and actually do very little to give animals a better life. In any case, these terms comfort the public to believe it is okay to exhaust animals simply because we enjoy using them. We can change this social affliction and respect life by going vegan.

Consuming a plant-based diet also has significant benefits for our environment and health. Many studies show that eating more fruits and vegetables can dramatically change rates of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Raising animals for food is also the single greatest human-caused source of destruction to our environment. In the rain forest, areas as big as soccer fields were cut down and used for growing soy beans for industrial livestock farming. Many rare animal species are in danger of extinction.

Personally i decided to going vegan. For me, its the next logical step, after being a vegetarian for over six years, to do the best as you can to help our environment and to reduce my ecological footprint. I never felt so happy with myself. 🙂

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About me – Tim

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by Tim Schwehn from Germany

Hey! 🙂

My name is Tim and I am from Germany. I just arrived in Santa Barbara and I love the city by now. The beautiful streets and houses with the Spanish style look great. That’s one reason I chose this location for my EF study time.

What do I normally do in Germany?

I finished my exams in January and want to start my university studies in business education in October. So I have enough time to explore the world. For my study time I want to improve my English speaking and writing skills so I chose an English speaking country, but also one where the sun is shining quite often.

I like to do sports very much. I play soccer at a local German soccer club and go the gym at least two times a week. Playing sports is a very good balance for learning or working and you can turn your head off for a time.

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Furthermore, I love music. On the one hand, I like to listen to different kinds of music as well as making music on my own. I can play the piano and the guitar and I really enjoy creating music with some friends of mine.

My favorite food is pizza, but I can’t wait to eat some good Mexican food or beef burgers in Santa Barbara. I already went to one Mexican restaurant and the food tasted great. Maybe you can give me some suggestions about where to go. I will try as much as I can.

burger

I will stay in Santa Barbara for at least two months. I think it will be a beautiful time that I will never forget. So if you have some questions, feel free to ask. J

Growth of far right political parties in Europe

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By Alexandre, Belgium.

The last couple of years there were many elections in Europe and many countries have something in common with those elections. The far-right political parties are growing quickely and this might be worrying. People have become more and more protective of their own country. Even more people want  their country to leave  the European Union and this is very disturbing for the stability of the European Union. Far-right political parties in France, the Netherlands and Germany came out from the shadow during the last elections.

France:

Marine Le Pen almost became the president of France in the last elections. She faced Macron for the presidency and lost. Even though she lost with big scores she came almost to the door of the presidency of the country which is very worrying because she leads a far right party. She took over the party of her dad and just fired him from his own party a couple of years ago because she said that he gave a bad image to the party. This gives a very strong message about who Marine Le Pen is.

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The Netherlands:

In the Netherlands there were some elections for the parliament two years ago. Even though it is still a right party at the power something quite worrying happenned. A far right party that is lead by the extreme politician Geert Wilders won a lot of seats in the parliament and the party at the power of Mark Rutte lost a lot of seats. So, even though it is still a normal political party at the highest level of the country, a lot of people voted for the far right party of Geert Wilders which is very worrying. Geert Wilders said something very shocking a couple of years ago. He asked his audience if they wanted more or less Maroccans in the country and all his audience shouted “less,less,less,less.”

Image result for geert wilders

Germany:

In Germany there were elections for the parlement a couple of months agp. The chanceler of Germany Angela Merkel lost a lot of her support that she had. She did not have the maority anymore and because of how the political system in Germany is made she had to unify with 2 other parties to lead the country. But what is also shocking is that a very far right party had a lot of votes and makes its entry in the government. This has not happpened since the second world war and that is again very worrying. This result shocked a lot of people in Germany in Europe but here again we see a growth of the power in the far right parties.

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Behond these 3 countries there is also a growth of the power of far right parties in other countries in Europe. The people have become more and more scared and have become more and more protective. This is a very worrying process that is now going on and that has to stop. Europe is a very beautiful ideal and instead of discriminating against each other we should better listen to everyone and listen to the people who are frustrated and want to protect themselves.

Ibrahim Alshakrani, Yemen

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Alexandre Rientjes, Belgium

picture ibrahim

  1. Where do you come from? In which city do you live? What do you do at home?

Ibrahim comes from Yemen, Taza, a amall city in Yemen. In Yemen he started his studies of chemical engineering. He just started his studies and has between 2 and 4 years to do. He is very motivated and likes his study a lot. This is his second time that he is in the United States.

2. Why are you in the USA?

Ibrahim is in the USA to improve his English because his end goal is to pass the TOEFl exam. He needs the TOEFL exam to apply for the city college of SBCC to continue with his study of chemical engineering in the United States.

3. What are your plans for the future?

The plans of Ibrahim for the future are to study first at the city college in the United States and then to go back in Yemen to try to find a work over there. If he finds a good job in the United States after his study with a good salary then he thinks that he would stay in the United States.

4. What do you think about the United States?

ibrahim thinks that the United States is a good place to be and that the United States is very good for education. The level of education is very high over here and he says that it is very bad in Yemen. the teachers give better lessons on the USA because they have a better way of teaching. In Yemen they do not teach very much because their salary is very low. But something that is very good in Yemen is the education in dentistry.

A good place to be. For education it is good. here really have higher level education. Teachers level better hgere. The way of teaching. They dont teach that much becaquse back salary from the government. Dentestry is very good in Yemen

5. Would you like to stay longer in the USA or would you prefer to go back in Yemen?

Ibrahim would like to stay first a little bit longer in the USA but after go back in Yemen to work.

Maria Jose Ayala (Ecuador)

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by Assam Al-hajji (Saudi Arabia)

Edited with Spinly

What is your favorite movie ?

her favorite movie is the hunger games.

What is the best movie you have ever seen ?

The Bet movie she has ever seen is NARNIA.

Do you like travels ? Why?

Yes, because she likes explore and meet new people.

Would you like to visit Saudi Arabia? Why?

yes, because she thinks it’s interesting country.

Have been in middle east before?

No,she has never been there.

ASSEM AL-HAJJI, SAUDI ARABIA

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Maria Jose Ayala Zambrano, Ecuador

 

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WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?

KABSA IS RICE AND MEAT IS A TRADICIONAL FOOD OF HIS COUNTRY

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF MUSIC?

CLASSIC BECAUSE HE THINKS IS THE BEST KIND OF MUSIC AND IS COOL FOR THE MIND

WHICH IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE YOU HAVE BEEN?

SIDNEY AND GOLD COAST BECAUSE THIS CITY HAVE GOOD WEATHER HE THINKS IS PERFECT

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SPORT?

PLAY SOCCER BECAUSE IS A FUN COMPETITION AND IS GOOD FOR HIS HEALTH

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TEAM?

MANCHESTER UNITED BECAUSE THEY ARE ON THE BEST

 

 

Stella Rippe, Germany

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1)Do you have any pets ? If yes what kind ?

A dog, Jack Russel Parson Terrier

2)Where was your favorite trip ?

New York with EF

3)Are you looking for TV shows or movies ?

Yes, on Netflix

4) What kind of music do you like ?

Everything except hard rock, rock

5)Which sports do you like to do or watch ?

Watch skiing but she like to run

Stella R