Looking for English native speakers in Barcelona Is there anybody who may be keen on face to face language exchanges in Barcelona? The idea would be to meet us in a bar or any public place and just chat, half English have Spanish. If you are interested, please contact me. See you!

About depression Make your pain worth it..... This is an expression that seems brought from a TED Talk. The reality is that pain itself is disgusting and not appealing at all, but something we need to learn from. However, it has to last only a certain amount of time, if you exceed your “pain tolerance” it will turn into something really bad for your health and for your entire life. Your social life will be damaged and your emotionality will be suffering the most. This impairment is in general, causing all the other bad consequences in your life. So, what is the critic point where you have to take the problem into your own hands and say: it is enough? Well….it depends a lot on each person. Some people need something really important happens, to make a huge “click” and start thinking they need a change. Thereby, they may wait “too long” until the change could be late. Differently, some people could see themselves in a situation they do not like at all, maybe feel stuck in a place they do not want to be. Sometimes, they could blame someone else for putting them in that place or, as bad as it is, they may believe that someone else has the special ability to take them out from there. As disappointing as it may look, both of these reasons are entirely false. Of course, there are close people who can help us in our emotional roller coaster, but to rely on a special person could be our saviour, it is a big mistake. That is, while we are waiting for someone who save us, the time is passing by and we can lose important things in the meanwhile. That is to say, as much as we wait as much difficult it would be to heal. If there is something we can rely on, is in professional help if we need it, just accepting that it is only one part of the way, or in the various activities that make (or made) us happy. Like hobbies, walking, playing some instruments, going out and….thinking about what we already have. When you try to make a balance between what you want and what you have, it may result that you already have much more than you have could ever be wished.

About important decisions There are few really important things in life and family is one of them. However, even more important could be to feel comfortable and happy about yourself. That is to say, to be genuine with who you are and what you do. I realized that is is not that significant if you fulfil your life with people, things, money, work or travel and sports experiences ...that is a very personal thing. Yet, what really matters is that whatever you choose has to be concordant with what you are expecting from life and what kind of person you would like to be. To illustrate it, I will give you an example. Imagine you are someone who really, truly, find happiness in your profession and someday one member of your family (parents, siblings, couple) ask you to move to another city to take care of them. Imagine that this decision will restrict the possibility of developing your career. You do it anyway because you love your family, what else could you do? However, sometime later you start to feel depressed, you have lost your happiness, your objective in life, and although you find some content in seeing your family alright you can´t stop feeling that bad. You know you have done the right thing so...what is happening? Well... you have lost your motivation. Sometimes, actions that can be seen as altruistic are not as good as one can guess at first look. Maybe...when someone is asking you an action of "true love" evaluate the situation twice, is the best thing one can do. And sometimes, say no is the correct thing to do. One could lose the forest seeing the tree, and in many cases, there are not only two options to choose. Life is no binary. Be honest with yourself could be the only way to take care of others.

Fast Food Fast food is becoming an eating habit for people in many countries. One can understand why this situation is like this, due to the fact that these meals are cheap and effortless. Moreover, they are generally high in fats, and for this reason, tastier. Nevertheless, fast food is also very unhealthy if one consumes it too often. Thus, when one eats significant amounts of junk food, the consequences for the body become seeable. For instance, overweight, heart problems or higher levels of cholesterol. Therefore, if people could not decide to have a balanced diet by themselves, one could surmise that governments should take responsibility in order to take care their citizens' health. However, the implementation of new task on the unhealthy food might not be enough. Although, the policy of increase fast food prices may discourage some people from buying it, some positive measurements can also be performed. To illustrate it, one could visualize supermarkets or small grocery stores with much more many options of fruits and vegetables. That is to say, that governments should invest more in order to bring a variety of natural food instead of some process products. If people could have more options to choose, then maybe some fruits may become more appealing than fries. Additionally, it is relevant to mention that in order to have a healthy diet, nutritional education is also needed. To conclude, I believe that governments should be involved in the health of their citizens and implement new programs that help to improve their diet. However, it can acknowledge that the compromise of each person is also the key point to highlight.

One big traffic jam Cars are the favourite way of-of commuting for many people. One could understand why these vehicles become more popular during the last 30 years, due to the fact that cars are made more comfortable and accessible each year. Moreover, the electric cars are cheaper to maintain and eco-friendly. Nevertheless, these above-mentioned characteristics are transforming traffic in an enormous problem in many big cities. For instance, Mexico City has one of the highest levels of traffic and commuting for work to home could be a daily challenge. Furthermore, parking is significantly expensive, not to mention the consequences of the greenhouse gases produced by the excessive burning of fuels. Therefore, traffic is an issue that governments shall take into account seriously and rapidly. Thus, one could suggest some possibilities to encourage people using another kind of vehicles. For example, reduce the cost of bus, train and underground tickets, or increase the frequency of those mentioned transports. Additionally, governments could provide to their citizens with free bicycles or offer some benefits to those people who share one car to go work. To conclude, I believe that the statement “one big traffic jam” is becoming true for several colossal cities. Consequently, the need to do something in order to solve this problem is showing urgent. Above all, it seems pertinent to remember that every change implies a new adaptation. In that sense, seems important to acknowledge that everyone will need to be involved in this change.

Which are the main reasons for learning a language Nowadays, lifestyles are governed by the globalized world where everyone lives in. Thus, some old traditions and customs, as well as languages are being affected by this phenomenon. Furthermore, this essential aspect of each culture, language, has to adapt to novel situations that 50 years ago were very unusual. For instance, international business and the need of speaking a foreign language. However, one can surmise that it would not be the only occasion where the knowledge of a second language could be useful. Likewise, it could be truly helpful if one is a freelancer and is working in their hometown, for instance, receiving tourist during the high season. By contrast, even if one has never had the opportunity of speaking a foreign language, several other reasons that justify the learning, could be mentioned. Firstly, to know another language besides the native one, is really useful for some kind of people, as researchers or scientists, because it dramatically increases the amount of information available on the Internet that one could understand. Secondly, it is useful for everybody in order to improve the health of the brain. That is to say, much one learns, better the brain will work. Moreover, it will improve its ability to memorize, focus and recover information. To conclude, be able to speak a foreign language is meaningful for the purpose of travelling or working abroad. Yet, it seems pertinent to remember that it is genuinely helpful for several other reasons, like having a healthy brain.

Increasing the number of sports facilities like a health care policy. In order to improve public health, several aspects shall be considered. Thus, exercising is one of the main points that require attention. Therefore, one could wonder if the installation of new sport equipment will be enough to increase the number of people doing exercise or by contrast, understanding the society zeitgeist would be necessary first. One could surmise, that sports facilities would not help very much if people do not use them, or if they do not know how to use them as well. Having said that, it seems pertinent to notice how important could be to educate the population in this aspect. It is particularly true, when a new policy is implemented and people have to adapt to a novel way of thinking of doing. Yet, a valid argument against to it could be that education is not possible if one does not have the tools that are needed. Furthermore, a logical conclusion leads to the above-mentioned clauses. To know both, new sports facilities and health education, are vital. To illustrate this, one could mention an example that happened in the city of Calamuchita time ago. The city hall of that place had installed several kinds of new sports facilities in the square. Those were available and free to use during day and night. However, they remained without any use. When people were asked why they do not use this equipment, they answered that they do not know what these facilities are for. To conclude, good quality sports artefacts are needed, but it is important to acknowledge that each new policy has to be accompanied by appropriated information.

Governments should spend more moneyon railways In my country, trains have used to transport more than 80% of the primary and processed products. At that time, people say, roads used mostly by personal vehicles and, car accidents were unusual. Nowadays, railways are destroyed and every load is transported by trucks travelling across national roads. Same roads that are used by families going to holidays or young professionals going to work every day. These squeeze roads have caused a lot of car accidents, some of them fatal. I strongly believe that governments should definitely spend more money on railways for several reasons. Firstly, because of the car accidents that I have explained above. Overload roads can only mean problems. Secondly, because of the fuel costs and the consequences that this consumption may mean to the environment. One single train can transport the load of more than 100 trucks, and much faster indeed. That means two things: lower consumption of fuel and as a result, lower costs in the final consuming products. Moreover, toxic gases produced by the burn of the fuel will be dramatically reduced and the air will be significantly much clean. However, there are economic interests that politicians have. For this reason, they keep inverting money on roads and not on railways. For example, time ago a group of people who were opponents of the actual government cut all the ways to the city of Buenos Aires because of they do not like a new policy. So, it could be that sometimes the government is afraid to make some decisions because of the social consequences. Summarizing, I totally agree with improving the railways. However, in order to do so it is important to notice that some changes have to be done first in the society.

My favourite book My favourite book is Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks. Sacks was a neurologist and he wrote about his patients and their mental disorders. I do like many of his books but Hallucinations is my favourite because it is about how people can misunderstand perceptual stimulus and believe that something mystical is happening to them. In my opinion, the most interesting part is that everyone can suffer from hallucinations and still be mentally healthy. There are a lot of special conditions that can make somebody hallucinate and then go on with their normal life. Although the most common causes of hallucination are psychotropic drugs, hard drugs and mental diseases, a lack of the input of different perceptual stimulus (for example sight) can generate a wide range of hallucinations. It is the same with hearing loss and with people whom can not move their bodies. For instance, there is a story about an old woman who lost her sight and pretty soon after that, she started to have simple hallucinations that involve geometric figures and colours. There is also another case, more perturbing, of a man who started to have complex hallucinations related to an Indian man standing beside his bed and looking at him with a threatening look. He had this kind of hallucinations due to sleep disorders. There are many more cases, I only talk about these ones that most interested me. It makes me think: How would I react if something like this happened to me?... In any case, it is a great book and I strongly recommend it.