4th writing - A proposal for the re-opening of operating theatres in Catalonia

Due to the economical situation, the government of Catalonia has taken some resolutions that I consider clearly wrong, especially those that concern health and education. The reduction in budget are affecting now essential services in a great number of hospitals, through the closing of rooms and operating theatres, and in primary care centres, in which the A&E departments are being closed at nights.

The government must do actions to improve the efficiency in public service, but neither decrease medical attention nor the human resources in education. In these activities related to health, doctors, nurses and other experts in sanitary specialities who have put forward proposals to ameliorate, which the government has not taken in consideration.

Whereas the health sector proposes a better control over the expenses in pharmacy, shifts and organisation in the hospital staff, the government has taken decisions about removing inheritance taxes that are only paid by the richest part of the population, who are the owners of huge properties and enormous amounts of money. Only the amount of these taxes in 2010 was estimated over 400 million €, which approximately is half the deficit in the health budget. I strongly believe that this is a political decision that should be changed because never have I heard of people dying because of a lack of operating theatres.

The Catalan government must reconsider their decisions, taking care of the importance of public health and they need to study carefully the best options to amend this mistake that can cost human lives.

3rd writing - The best holidays I have ever had

I waited for the train departure from Sants station, at the age of 22, a heavy backpack, my Interrail ticket, a youth hostel book and my savings for doing a whole month travel around Europe.

New York, London, Edinburgh, Paris, Athens, Istanbul...are wonderful cities that I have visited with my family, all of them astonishing experiences and each of them different. You can learn so much travelling with your family or friends, and talking with anybody that you meet throughout your holidays. Nonetheless I want to explain my first trip alone, which was for me an unforgettable event and a lesson about diversity, respect, customs, variety of traditions and indescriptible foods. Every country has its own personality, interesting sightseeing places and its peculiar style to receive foreigners.

I traveled on my own for the first time, after almost eight years without more than a fortnight of break every August. I felt a little fear, although I was totally decided to make a trip which I would keep on my mind for all my life.

My first destination was Paris, in the “Cité Internationale Universitaire”, a nice city and a great encounter with the kindest group of Moroccan students, who gave me a particular point of view about the peculiar character of French citizens. The second stop in Germany visiting my father’s family in Alsdorf, where I met a lot of their Spanish friends and remembered traditions, culture as well as Spanish food. They still felt homesick after being in Germany for more than thirty years. I also went to Munich and stayed some days in a youth hostel, where I realized that German people are not as square-headed as some people say about them.

The trip between Germany and the old Yugoslavia made me feel apprehension because of the continuous verification inside the train, not done by the ticket inspector but by soldiers. Having arrived in Sophie for discovering some interesting places like its magnificent cathedral, and the fighters for Albanian rights, which was the reason for the constant train checking. I am fond of saying that I have seen Split and Dubrovnik before the destruction of the war and I enjoyed the walk within its walls and its delightful beaches.

The next country was Greece and I went first to Thessalonica and Athens afterwards. Having reached the Parthenon, I felt overwhelmed by the majesty of its structure, with a splendid sight of a hospitable capital that reminded the history of Ancient Greece. I have loved Greece since then and I return on every occasion I have. Here I coincided with a bunch of Spanish people doing the same as me, but travelling in groups of four or more. They insisted on me joining their troupe, nevertheless they had different plans from mine and I continued alone, taking pleasure in my freedom. I travelled along all this country to catch a boat in Patras on my way to Italy, which I crossed from south to north, passing through Rome and Venice and going to visit an amazing place, Garda Lake. The last places I went to before coming back to Barcelona were Montecarlo and Nice, a bit stressful and crowded with beach tourism.

A truly pleasant trip, full of contrast and sensations, short in time for my pleasure but interesting enough to give me an open mind in front of the new situations which were approaching my oncoming. The next year, in summer, I would be married.

2nd writing - The most influential person in my life

What is the first choice that I must make? Obviously, deciding which sort of influence I want to explain to you. In my opinion it is an easy choice because I think that a person who has had a bad influence in their life do not deserve to be remembered. What I am trying to say is that you have learned with that experience the things that you will not repeat in your life, and you only have to keep it in your memory.

On the other hand, you normally are proud of a good influence and usually you will be reminiscent to other people about it. That is what I want, I will remember and write about a tiny woman, and in this case the smaller she was, the stronger her temper was. Her short life was not easy and many of her experiences were very difficult situations, which she made use of constantly for teaching me how to deal with problems.

She grew up being the oldest of four brothers and sisters, with her father imprisoned after the Spanish Civil War and working to help her family since she was only ten years old. When she reached her 21st birthday, she left her closest family and her loved city, Mérida, and immigrated to Catalonia looking for a better way of life. She travelled alone for her first time, by train and crossing Spain from one side to another. At that time she was newly married, and her partner had left the city two months in advance to be employed in a factory in Barcelona. In my childhood, she always told me two sayings, which have helped me with some essential decisions in my life, and these were:

The first and more important; “One that would have the fruit must climb the tree” by which she wanted to instruct me that I could not win anything without my own effort, and the second one, related to the need of doing a hard job with my learning; “One can never know too much”.

Without any kind of doubt it was my mother the person who has had the most powerful influence in my life. This is my little homage.

My first 5th writing - The best and the worst teachers

I still remember my very first teacher at nursery school, I'm talking about 1966. Her name is Ana Maria and she was the person who taught me how to read between my two and a half and five years old. Her kindness and patience helped me with all the new things at school, and she did a good job increasing my interest on reading through tales and comics at the beginning. I keep with me the first book she used to read in class “un barco cargado de...” and I still have in my memory her checked blue and white work coat, her sweet hands and her always smiling face. Since then I am an obsessive reader and I love her for that and chat about this anecdote with her sometimes when I see her somewhere. She usually laughs and asks me “ Carmen, how many books did you read last summer?” I am sure she is proud of all her students as we are proud of her

On the other hand, my worst memory about a teacher is related to my last year at secondary school in 1981, then called BUP. He was my maths teacher, a person who did not have the ability to encourage people in this, in my opinion, difficult subject. One of the lessons of the syllabus was about integrals and derivatives and I did not understand anything with his first explanation and when I asked for some help, his answer was – I will remember it all my life – “You are now and adult, find your way to solve it”. I was only sixteen, I failed the second exam in the course – the only one that I have failed in all my student life - with a mark of 4’95 but on the preparation for the final exam I said; “this is my challenge, if I fail he wins” and my final mark was excellent....I am a bit stubborn, I know....

4th writing: A discursive composition_2

Socials networks: good and bad qualities

If you are a modern and sociable person you probably need to use this kind of tools to keep in touch with your friends and family. I disagree with this form of communicating. Probably because of my age I prefer doing this in a more traditional way.

In the first place, I enjoy seeing and touching my relatives when I am talking with them. For me it is a great experience to see the eyes of my daughter when I am talking with her about something. The expression of her face aids me to know what she is thinking about the subject we are talking. If she does not agree with my opinion she normally tries to convince me with caresses or cuddling me, which nowadays, from what I know, is totally impossible through social networks.

One point of view in favour of social networks can be the quick contact with other people. Unless you have good visual software and fast broadcast connection that does not distort the images and sounds, actually this is a bit difficult through Facebook that is generally overused and has usually bad connections. It is said that you can communicate with people around the world with these tools, but I think that you can only talk, which is not the same.

I might use these social networks if I did not have other option. However, I still prefer listening to a warm voice or have a calm chat with my family and friends instead of this modern type of communicating. To conclude, I love with any doubt a face-to-face conversation in lieu of a cold email or SMS.

3rd writing: A discursive composition

How to decide which is the best option for your new office? There are many things to consider if you want to choose the best option. Nowadays it is often suggested that the open plan office is the solution for all kinds of companies.

Firstly, not all sort of work could be well done in an open plan office. If your company is responsible for high-specialised work, for instance as engineering or designing, you need concentration, which is difficult at this type of space. Another negative effect could be the lack of company privacy. Each employee has their own space in the open office, therefore that space is totally opened and anyone will see what another employee is working on.

However, we should consider the benefits of the open plan office in relation to the workflow. The basic information can be easily shared between the employees and they can have the option to solve a daily problem. In addition, technical resources are optimized. Not every worker needs to have their own printer or photocopier and that will help to decrease the company’s costs, and the savings could be invested in research or in worker’s productivity incomes.

To sum up, I believe that designing an office space taking into consideration the kind of work to do, the necessities of the company and the people that must work in it is the key to make the good decision.