Class 4

Today we learned about economy and transportation. It was very interesting. I preferred the transportation topic since I’ve had the opportunity to try it… I mean, of course economy too, since I’ve worked there, but I think transport caused a lot more impact in me.

Airports in America are very busy, they are like miniature worlds; you can see people from all around the world in the same place. It´s awesome. I stayed a few hours in Miami International airport and in the JFK airport in New York. They are very organized and clean, especially JFK.

After arriving to NY, I took the Air Train, which is a kind of small train that moves through a rail held up in the air, roller-coaster-like, and it takes you from the airport to different

To go from New York to Vermont I took the Greyhound bus. Another option was the Amtrak, but it took longer, not that much longer, maybe a difference of an hour of two, I can’t remember that well. I think the best way to travel in the US, when you are just visiting, is by bus. You get to see different cities, people, sights and landscapes. While I stayed in Vermont, I became a frequent Greyhound traveler, I used it every weekend to visit my friends around Vermont.

Also, each city has its small bus line. One was named The MOOver… and it had cow spots, and the other one was named the BEEline, and it had flowers and bees.

Public transport is very fun to ride. The schedule is printed in the different bus stops and you have to be at that time sharp, or else, you have to wait a while to catch the next bus. Timing is very exact, one bus will arrive at 8:47 and the next one at 8:54 exactly. Subway Stations in the city directly.

In NY I used the subway. Many friends told me to be careful since I could get lost because of the large number of routes with different letters, numbers and colors, but luckily, I found them easy to use. There are subway stations everywhere in NY and to be able to move around you have to get a MetroCard, like the Metropolitano here in Lima.

I found a video on YouTube about air traffic in the United States. I was shocked! United States is the country with the most flights and the most airlines in the world; it also has the busiest airports. I thought of sharing this video. Please click here to watch the video. I hope you enjoy it and find it as interesting as I did.

Class 3

This class we learned about the U.S Government system. How everything is organized and how the system is divided. Besides of what I learned in class I decided to search a little bit more about the political parties. The most known are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, but there are several more that are not well known. I’ll just describe each one very shortly.

The American Independent Party www.aipca.org: this Party believes in liberty and justice. There are very religious. Their priorities are to protect de right of life and family values, secure the border and enforce immigration laws and to promote the Declaration of Independence principles.

The Democratic Party http://www.cadem.org/: they believe that the government should provide quality education for all, protect citizens’ rights and ensure a stable country with strong and expanding economy. Their priorities are to give more jobs, improve affordable healthcare and end wars in Irak and Afganistan.

The Green Party http://www.cagreens.org/: they stand for peace, social and economic justice, nonviolence, respect for

diversity and protection of the environment. Their priorities are to provide a clean energy and environment, protect the planet, its people and promote peace.

The Libertarian Party http://www.ca.lp.org/: this is a socially tolerant and fiscally responsible Party. Their priorities are to increase individual liberty and responsibility, reduce taxes and shrink the government.

The Peace and Freedom Party http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/: they stand for equal rights and good life standard for citizens and protect the earth. Their priorities are to end war, provide good jobs with higher pay and more taxes for wealthy people for healthcare, housing and education for everyone.

The Republican Party http://www.cagop.org/: this party aims to improving quality of life by creating jobs, and improving education, healthcare and environment. Their top priorities are to promote an economy t

hat creates new jobs, to reform education and pension systems and to protect taxpayers-force government to be accountable.

Of course there are many many other Parties. Some are very serious and others, well... not that much. Many states have their own political Parties as well. If you want more information about all these Parties and their description, click here.

Fun fact: the Republicans and the Democrats are the most important Parties and they are represented by an elephant and a donkey. Why? Long story short: During Democrat Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaign (1828) his opponents used to call him a jackass (donkey). He decided to represent his Party using the image of this animal describing themselves as humble, strong-willed and brave. A cartoonist, Thomas Nast, made this symbol famous by using it in newspaper cartoons.

He also made famous the elephant symbol for the Republicans when he drew the donkey dressed as a lion scaring all the animals in a zoo. The elephant was labeled "the Republican vote" and now they use it to represent their strength and dignity and intelligence.

Class 2

This class was exciting. We had our first presentation today, and I was the first one. I talked about immigration and its history. I think I did pretty well :)

United States is a country of immigrants. Yes, that's a known fact but many of them are illegal.. ok, I suppose that's known too. But, how hard can it be to become a legal citizen in the U.S? Let's see this easy chart I found on the Internet. (Click here to see it bigger!)

Yup... It can take almost 30 years in the worst case scenario to became a legal citizen, that is, to get yourself a green card... if your lucky. That explains why many people try to enter the U.S and stay there permanently.

On the other hand, 7 amnesties have already been passed in the U.S. I can imagine a lot of illegal immmigrants just waiting for an amnisty to happen but, along with the amnisty, there are a lot of other deported illegan immigrants that just don't apply to the amnisty.

If you want to become a legal citizen, with green card and everything, you can wait a lifetime, marry someone, find a close relative living legally there or get a nice job... and of course... enter ilegally and hope for an amnisty.

Still, you can always stay in your own country, live happily and help in your own country's development, and that is my personal choice.