Students at Embassy CES

News from Melbourne (still rainy xD)

You haven’t heard anything from me for quite a long time, have you? I just have too many things to do and am having too much fun! xD

School is still going well. Once we played this funny game… We formed two groups and had to spell words with letters written on cards. Those who finished first and had the correct spelling got a point:

 

To celebrate some students' farewell we went to a famous chocolate café here in Melbourne which is called Max Brenner. I shared a 'chocolate pizza' with two other students:

 

Yummi!

I tried to stay fit, and this is the reaon why I went jogging in my neighbourhood. Unfortunately, the swooping season has just started... It lasts for about six weeks. What's so bad about it? Well, the birds (like magpies) are nesting and therefore behave super protective - hence, they attack you if you approach their nest and if you don't know how to protect yourself. I tried running away because I didn't know ^^ Useless, it makes it even worse -.- In fact, it's quite simple, you just have to look at them and keep the eye contact...

When you think of Germany, you may think of pretzels! I have seen a ‘Pretzel World’ here in Melbourne, but they sell very strange variations. Today, I tried ‘Jamaican Almond’. It tasted very different from the usual, salted one, because it had sugar on it. Nevertheless, it was very nice!

Next week I will have to leave Melbourne, so I'm going to profit as much as possible from the time left!!!

 

 

This is a dream come true!

I think that the biggest achievement that I´ve accomplished so far, has been taking the decision to come to Australia.

I started to save all the money that I could - also I had to sell my car - and I spent all the money on an English course and I bought the tickets. I

´m in Australia right now and I felt really pleased with myself because I think I made the right decision at the right moment. I must say that I couldn't have reached my goal without the support of my parents and of course without my husband who decided to put all his money in to coming with me to studying English and to enjoy the all things that Australia has.

We´re so proud of ourselves and definitely this experience will have a big impact on our personal and professional lives.

This is a dream come true!

Happy greets from rainy Melbourne!

I don't know why, but the weather is terrible this week. It's cold and raining all the time! On the weekend, I was much more lucky, because we had sunny weather. I went to Mornington Peninsula and Wilsons Prom on Saturday and to Lakes Entrance on Sunday. The beaches were so beautiful...

Squeaky beach - the sand really squeaks :)

90 Mile Beach

Lakes Entrance: this is where the Bass Strait and Victoria lakes meet; we even spotted seals and some dolphins!

The Friday before, I participated in an IELTS-pre-test at school. The makers of IELTS do this to evaluate the difficulty of a test. It was indeed quite hard, but very good to practise!

The day before yesterday, I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens. We had good weather by chance ;) You don't have to pay any entrance fee, which I think is really nice. And it's so beautiful... :

I hope the weather picks up a bit, you get depressed with all the rain ^^

President Obama, happy birthday

Hello again,

My last week was such a busy week for me, simply because I just moved into my new apartment, which took all my time so that I couldn’t go out for the weekend or even join the many school activities. I even asked Patrick my favorite teacher if he could help me to write something.

 

Patrick's Super Class

However this week I did one thing. I thought it was so easy, and didn’t expect anything in return from it. I just sent to Mr. President Obama, a birthday E-card wishing him happy birthday. After 2 days, I got an email from president Obama himself thanking me for the E-card. It made me so happy  that I’ll keep it in the “never ever delete box”

The email

Finally, I want to say "Ramadan Mubarak" to all Muslims around the world, and wish them happy great month starting from Aug. 10

Thanks a lot!

Find me on Facebook: Ahmed Kaifi.

Meet Juwita, our new blogger from Melbourne

Hello everybody!

My name is Juwita, I'm 18 years old and I come from Germany.

I started my language course at Embassy Melbourne on the 5th July, so I have been here for about a month. So far, it has been great =)

Directly on the first day, I met new students, because we formed little groups and introduced ourselves to the others. Since then, I have been meeting Jenny (Germany), Aya (Japan) and Stephania (Columbia). It's because we were all afraid of not finding new friends, that we were glad to find nice, open-minded people.
The teachers and the staff are great - so funny and helpful!

In Germany, I just finished highschool and because Australia is said to be an amazing country, I decided to spend the time until university starts in October abroad. I have already been to England three times, so it was time for something different.

I need to improve my English, because a lot of essays for my studies (either law or medecine) will be in English.

Apart from the lessons, I participated in some great trips with the school: Tim Burton Exhibition, Melbourne Aquarium, Edward Scissorhands...

I really enjoy my time "down under"; the only thing I definitely miss is the sun. In here, it's winter and in Germany they have got summer... I'm just glad that the Australian winter is not as cold as the German one. You hardly get snow in Melbourne, because it's still 5-15°C "warm".

C u soon.

PS: The photo shows me drinking "bubble tea". It originally comes from Taiwan, but because Melbourne is multicultural, they have got it here as well!

Read more about Embassy Melbourne on our main website.

Why Boston?

Boston is one of the greatest cities to visit. Why?

Almost everyone would agree that Boston has the best universities in the world, which make it like a dream educational city for every student to come and study. However I won't tell you about the huge number of universities in this city because I'm sure everyone already knows that, maybe even more than I do.

I'm wondering whether Boston has places to enjoy yourself and have fun, apart from studying? Only if you believe that studying has a small part of fun in it ;) I couldn't know the answer before I "discovered" many fun places in this city.

I even didn't believe Erisa, the sister of my Japanese friend Maya, when she sent me such a big list of places I could visit in this city. So many restaurants, parks, malls, bars, and nightclubs which are, according to her, "my favorite place to have fun in”.

It was such a useful list to know where to enjoy the best of this city. I did visit some of the places she mentioned and it’s great so far.

However, everyone has his own reasons for choosing Boston, but whatever you think could attract you to a city; for sure you can find it in Boston.

Have a look at Erisa's list for Boston; you may like some!

 

And here are some of the places we visited from the list:

 

The best hot chocolate cafe in the world.

 

John Harvard.

Before I end I want to say thanks to my Friend Anmar for video he made for me. I think it’s too early to be called a writer, but that was so nice of him.

Thanks all,,,

Find me in Facebook: Ahmed Kaifi
 

Introducing Ahmed Kaifi

Hi there!

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ahmed Kaifi, a 26 year old Mechanical Engineer from Saudi Arabia.

Before I came to Boston, I used to work in a company which gave me the opportunity to visit many countries around the world such as Malaysia, China, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and many other countries. However, that made me realize how pleasant it is to meet people from different cultures. 

I'm such an easy going person, love outdoor activities as much as I enjoy browsing for new information on the internet. In addition I'm a quick learner and I like to challenge myself

Well, now I've been in Boston for 1 month and that is a new challenge in my life because I decided to continue my education and take a Masters degree in Engineering Management. In addition to that, I'm studying at Embassy Boston to improve my English "hopefully" to get a good score on the TOEFL test.

I'll share with you an Embassy student's life in Boston, and the activities we do in many places in this wonderful historical city. I hope you'll find it interesting to discover the old Boston in a new way.

That's all for now, but don't miss the next edition of "Why Boston?"

Ahmed Kaifi

Part 3. Sunrise at Napier

I first didn't intend to stop by Napier but I thought it'd be good to see a sea of New Zealand and wanted to see a sunrise and a sunset at the horizon. However, something was in my way: I got a cold. T.T
At Taupo, my last stop, the bus came late so I had to wait for over 1 hour outside shivering with cold.

* I lay on the bed as soon as arrived at the backpackers' hostel... Look terrible... *

I was lying in the bed thinking only of getting well as soon as possible. And then I looked back on my trip.
Lots of NZ people have helped us to find the way, and other things. Auckland is so busy and big that those who don't know NZ well can be confused that Auckland is the capital. City life is just like that so it's hard to feel the kindness of New Zealanders.

This period of NZ is not a busiest travel time so there were not many visitors from other countries. I think that has given us more of a chance to get in touch with Kiwis.

To be frank with you, I don't remember things in Napier because I was too sick to look around the town. Sorry. T.T

Anyway I blacked out that night.

* The moment just before the sun appears. *
 

* This is the scene of sunrise at the sea of Napier by my friend L.E.H. THANK YOU. *

I resurrected next day anyhow.

 
Not look good but not bad, don't I? ^.^

There's not much to see in Napier, I think. The town, however, is as beautiful and exotic as can be. The best part is that you can enjoy the view of buildings and nature while walking along the seashore. Anyway, I strongly suggest that you should go up to Bluff Hill. I think you're going to have to hitchhike to go up there. I walked up and regretted doing so.

You maybe recognize that my story in Napier is wandering... and incoherent...
Sorry but I really don't remember that day well because I was too sick. T.T

I'm asking for your forgiveness by these pictures.

Mr. Keith gave us a ride on our way back down to the town. I was just soooooo happy.
What in my mind at that moment was go to bed...
Wellington, the capital of NZ, is waiting for me.
What's my condition going to be like in Wellington???
I wished myself luck.

Part 2. LAKE TAUPO

Taupo is not a very big city. You can walk around the whole city within a day. I was going to stay for just one day so I didn't need to rent a car or a bike. I had made good progress in enjoying Taupo by the time I went to bed last night.

Firstly, Cherry Island. It's an island in the middle of the water about 1km north from the city centre. The sign for the island is so small that you are likely to miss it. However when you first see the sight, I'm sure that you will be surprised.

* The very first sight you see when you get to Cherry Island *

I even felt that I was deep in the jungle where a calm river flowed through a intact canyon. It is surrounded by the rock mountains and there's a bungy jump. Some young boys and girls were jumping off the cliff. 
 
* The water is so clean that you can see through to the bottom of the water. *

I took off my shoes and went into water to take a picture of the ducks. I recorded some of them landsliding on the surface of water.

I'm sure that here is a good place to have a rest for a change. I couldn't go onto the Cherry Island but looked around because it was private property and closed. I just wondered who can have an island. It must be someone who's very rich.

I left the island behind for Lake Taupo.

 * Got a shot on the way to Lake Taupo. I love looking up at the clouds floating up in the air ^.^ * 

I was comparing nature in Korea and in New Zealand. Fewer people and more land than Korea's make a big difference, I think. In fact, it's hard to see such green lawns just everywhere in Korea. I just can feel a new beauty of the nature. The best part is walking along the Lake Terrace.

* It cost me $2 to use the telescope so I was just pretending to look through it. ^.^ *

Wherever I stepped ahead, I couldn't go forward. The various and astonishing views from the lake shore stopped me from going away at every spot.
Time to appreciate the fantastic photos taken by me.^^

* One hundred percent transparency of the water of Lake Taupo *
 
It's a sea not a lake.
I'm leaving for Napier. Now I will see the sea tomorrow.

Smart Express | O inglês do futuro na Embassy

Bruna Calheiros reports on the Embassy Smart Express course at our New York school. Don't speak Portuguese? Take a look at the Google translation.

Passei as últimas semanas assistindo a aulas na classe Smart Express da Embassy NY.

O curso, que está disponível na Embassy dos EUA, Australia e Inglaterra, é diferente dos outros por alguns fatores que fazem o aprender inglês uma nova experiência.

Assim como os outros cursos, as aulas são ministradas com a ajuda de um white board (lousa) interativa. Mas no Smart Express não apenas o professor que tem a tecnologia a sua disposição, como também os alunos.

Os livros são substituídos por um e-book e a caneta por um teclado. Ao chegar na sala, cada aluno recebe um netbook para acompanhar a aula e fazer os exercícios. O bacana é que os exercícios e diálogos são acompanhados de vídeos e áudios, além de uma ferramenta para checar se suas respostas estão certas e um menu inteligente.

Outra facilidade é não ter que carregar o livro didático para tudo quanto é lugar e mesmo assim você tem acesso à ele em tudo quanto é lugar! Isso porque só é necessário entrar no site com seu login e senha que todo o conteúdo está lá e todas as suas lições ficam salvas na sua conta no servidor.

É realmente diferente e muito mais prático! O método de ensino também é diferente e passa por tudo o que você precisa saber para falar inglês em 11 semanas. Gostei bastante dessa experiência com o Smart Express, mas infelizmente na Embassy apenas essa classe já aderiu ao método do e-book (esperamos com ansiedade para que todas as outras salas utilizem esse sistema!).

Assista ao vídeo abaixo para ver uma demonstração prática de como são as aulas!

Embassy Smart Express (Flash 8 Medium)