“The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.” (Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430) I will graduate in 2007 and be sent out into the “real world” to become a productive, knowledgeable citizen. To start the now unavoidable ritual of watching the 7:00, 5:00, and maybe even the 9:00 news. It seems today that the vast majority of the news is about the Pope’s condition, the war in Iraq, and other topics from abroad. Webster’s definition for knowledgeable is; marked by or indicating intelligence or knowledge. I do not think you can truly have knowledge of a foreign country until you have been there and experienced their culture first-hand.
What you learn from a text book you forget almost instantly, what you see, hear, and experience you remember. For example the Great Depression. We have covered that in many history classes but few people can tell you anything about it, while our grandparents can go on for hours about it. What I learn on this trip will help me in both High School and College classes, because I will have experienced everything first-hand. 
Right now when I watch the news and hear what some of the world leaders are doing I ask myself what were they were thinking at that time? Being fully submerged in their culture I may be able to understand their motives, and I may become less discrimative against said leaders. Being fully submerged in their culture might help me with my future job, what ever that may be. When I’m of age to vote it will also act as a guide as to who I should vote for. Hopefully putting a more competent person in charge of our country this time around.
My home life is really simple almost to the point of being boring. I wake up at 6:30 every weekday morning, eat breakfast, and get ready for school. On Mondays after school I have Harmony practice until 6:00, on every other Tuesdays I have a Teen Institute meeting also until 6:00. Once I am home from my meetings or practice we will have super. Depending on what classes I have I will have between 10 minutes to 2 or 3 hours worth of homework every night. On Monday nights at 8:00 we sit down and watch Fear Factor, Tuesday and Wednesday nights we watch American Idol, Thursday we watch Survivor and CSI, and on Sunday we watch Cold Case. If somebody does not want to watch television, or the episodes are repeats, then we find something else to do. Such as going downstairs and play billiards, air hockey, darts, or ping-pong. On weekends I wake up at about 8:00 or 9:00, eat breakfast, do my homework, and watch television, play games, or read all day, taking an occasional walk to keep from yelling at my two younger sisters.
My interests include band, listening to music, playing tennis, talking to my friends, playing with my two cats and dog, and playing with my sisters. I dislike people who think they are better than me and everyone else at everything, when somebody takes something of mine without permission, and games and television show that have no point or purpose. Something my Italian family should know, I wear contacts and cigarette smoke makes them really dry and itchy really fast.