Overseas Volunteer Essay Example for Free

Overseas Volunteer Essay The summer of 1996 was a time of great change for me as an individual. This was the summer that I was fortunate enough to get to spend six weeks as part of a traveling abroad program. These six weeks changed the way I viewed different places, people and cultures. I was lucky enough to experience many different things in many different places. I met many people from interesting cultural backgrounds and learned a lot from them. These six weeks prepared me for many new experiences in life. While traveling, I stayed with different families who were kind enough to take me in. Living with people who had different cultures and sometimes even different languages was a challenge for me since I had never even been out of the United States before this trip. I got to learn how to adapt to new situations by finding inventive ways to communicate with other humans. This was invaluable to me because it forced me to really pay attention to other people and learn about their cultural values through observation. This is a skill that has stayed with me. I have learned to slow down and really listen and observe in order to learn new things and gain new perspective. I was also able to visit many historic sites, landmarks and museums during my travels that I had only read about in books. I was able to apply a picture in a book to the real setting and this was an incredible experience. In these visits I was also able to learn a great deal about the culture in which I had immersed myself. This allowed me a deeper understanding of the people around me. These visits also told me about the rich histories of different groups of people and how they shaped the culture as it is today. In addition, I was able to try new and different foods which only added to my cultural experiences. At the same time, as I was experiencing new cultures I was also able to reflect on my own culture and the importance that it holds in my life. My travels have helped shaped the person I am today. I was forced to learn patience as I was immersed in cultures with different values and languages. I learned how to be creative in finding ways to communicate respectfully. I built my self confidence as I began to realize how capable I was of learning about different cultures in ways other than reading books. I got the opportunity to meet interesting people who helped me understand different ways of life and apply those to my own life. I learned how to be flexible in adapting to new ways of doing things, new ways of communicating and even new ways of eating. I experienced a great deal of personal growth in these travels that will prove invaluable to me in my future accomplishments. Changing lives is a great experience. This sentence sums up why I would like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have a deep desire to change the world by changing the lives of people less fortunate than me. I have been fortunate enough to have access to a high quality education. I have always enjoyed learning and experiencing new things and I would like to pass that on to other people. My college education was only a starting point in my life long learning endeavors. I have a passion for knowledge that has allowed me to reach a point in my life where I wish to give 27 months serving as a volunteer and enriching the lives of people around the world. Habitat for Humanity has given me valuable life skills but more importantly gave me the opportunity to help people less fortunate than me. I have been able to build homes for people and at the same time learn about their individual lives. I have taken my passion for helping others and in the process began to realize how one person can make a great difference. I can be that one person that takes the initiative to make small changes that will eventually lead to big changes. I desire to take this realization and travel the world helping others through small changes. Four years in the workforce has also given me valuable experiences that will enable me to be an effective volunteer. Through working, I have gained leadership skills that will serve me well when working with a team of other volunteers. These leadership skills will help me work cooperatively to make positive changes in the world. I have also gained a clear understanding of globalization outside of the United States and I wish to build on that knowledge through my volunteer work and opportunities I wouldn’t be able to have if I continued working in the corporate world. Working as a volunteer will provide me with international experience and new insights about the world around me. I can learn new values and perspectives that will make me a more well rounded and empathetic person. I will gain new understandings of different people and cultures and be able to apply some of that to how I live my own life. At the same time, I will have a great responsibility to show others my values and teach them new and exciting things about my own culture. Twenty-seven months is a short time in my life but those months will mean big changes in my life that will last long after my time serving as a volunteer is over. My life would be greatly enriched by helping others through small changes. I look forward to the chance to start making small changes right away and watching those small changes turn into big changes that have positive impacts on people around the world.

Shakespeare In Love :: essays research papers

Shakespeare in Love is a fictional story about the writing of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, played by Joseph Fiennes, is in the middle of what could be a disastrous writer's block. His idea for the play, which should be completed, is a pirate comedy entitled Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. But Will is stuck, his shrink asks him how long it has been since he has been with a woman and advises him that that is what he needs. Auditions are held since the players' troup is out on tour. All the not so actors are pitiful. Except for Thomas Kent, the alias given by Viola, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Women at this time are not allowed on stage in public. After Shakespeare shows interest, this character runs away to her estate where a party is being held. He follows Thomas into this party to later find love at first sight in Viola. Thomas once again shows up to receive her part in the play as Romeo. While Will and Thomas are talking, Shakespeare pours his heart out, telling about this wonderfully beautiful woman, Thomas's cousin. Somehow, they end up kissing. Now that Will has this woman, his writers block is cured, he goes on to write Romeo and Juliet through his true-life actions in his affair with Viola. At the end of the movie they put on the play through all the hardships, in the company of Queen Elizabeth. I greatly enjoyed this movie, even though it is not a typical movie of my preference. The truth is that I would have never gone to see this movie if extra credit was not given. I was delighted to see an extremely entertaining movie. I was also amazed at all the references that I would not have not caught if it weren't for English Literature and history covered this year and by reading Romeo and Juliet two years ago. Freshmen year, while reading the play, I repeatedly caught myself thinking, "I don't understand a thing they are saying.

External Factor Are Affecting the Ecosystems Essay

The word ecosystem refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment; these organisms form complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they interact with their physical environment. Ecosystems are constantly changing naturally, and they’ve got a specific and stable climax, equilibrium. Living as well as non-living factors may have an impact in an ecosystem such as the impact of humans in ecosystems by hunting, fishing, agriculture etc. r climate change may affect an ecosystem and dare it to adapt to the conditions. Will human’s activity affect the equilibrium of the arctic wolves ecosystem? Equilibrium refers to balance, so†¦ will human’s activities affect the balance of the physical and biological components of the tundra? Human activities, which affect the arctic wolf’s ecosystem, the tundra, are pollution, chemical contamination and overdevelopment. All of them are harmful to the ecosystem. Pollution affects in directly the tundra, habitat of the Arctic wolf. Pollution leads to Global Warming and this affect the global temperature, as a result ice melts and the tundra is affected because its an ecosystem nearly made up on ice, so eventually the ecosystem would be endangered and also the species that are contained in the ecosystem. Lately, thousands of â€Å"green† organizations have been generated to promote the green habits and to try to reduce pollution worldwide, reducing also the vulnerability of the tundra biome. Their projects consist in reducing wastes of any kind of energy source and saving any resource we get. This will involve social aspects also in the way that our society must take part and have an impact into world pollution, which will finally affect the tundra ecosystem; it has lately become popular to be ecofriendly. This ecologic movement has also affected the fashion industry which lately looks for looks with more pure materials, not much synthetic ones, also they’ve preferred clothing with pure cotton, even not only the materials of clothing are involved but the message in the clothing’s have taken a very special impact in the society. Hunting, affects directly and indirectly to the ecosystem of the Arctic wolf, it affects the interaction of living organisms by hunting the animals. The overhunting of species such as the musk ox and caribou in Alaska and North America were even near of extinction. This would create unsustainability on the ecosystem because there would not be equilibrium in the food chain and all the animals that have any relationship with the specie would me affected by don’t having a predator or a prey. Hunting in the tundra has had a very negative effect because important species suck as the musk ox have nearly got to extinction. By 1950, herds in North America were reduced by ninety percent, so this made the American population realize what was really going on in their country. They were loosing biodiversity and so laws were created to protect animals. This had an economic impact, because musk ox’s (prey of the arctic wolf) leather was part of the market so it has also a social impact, not only from for hunters but for the fashion industry which had a relation with musk ox’s fur and leather. Chemical contamination also affects the Arctic Wolf’s ecosystem. Lately, Petroleum and Coal or Natural Gas, Iron, Lead or Zinc mines and mineral exploration and exploitation and extraction are increasing worldwide especially in the Arctic. The development affects the Caribou, which are one of the main species present in the Arctic wolf habitat. Overdevelopment indicates to the building of roads and buildings in the tundra, this lead to more circulation. Fragile tundra areas of plants are taken out for the creation of these roads. Without plants to give nutrients to the soil, earth will stop being rich and will abolish the community of flora in the tundra. After discussing all the direct and indirect human impact in the environment, hunting, chemical contamination and overdevelopment are certainly harmful for the ecosystem. These activities attempt to the balance of the ecosystem by attempting against the living organisms that live in the tundra, ecosystem of the arctic wolf and by attempting against the non-living factors in the ecosystem such as climate. Even tough there are solutions for these activities to reduce or to stop, they are not completely efficient. In my opinion after all my investigation, apart from the pollution affecting indirectly to the tundra, the other activities are not a major concern for the arctic wolf’s ecosystem. As seen, human activities impact in the arctic wolf’s ecosystem is not positive (although they don’t damage much the tundra) toward the ecosystem. My final conclusion will be that external factors are definitely against the equilibrium of the arctic wolf’s ecosystem.

Internet Taxation and the Expansion of E-Commerce Essay

Internet Taxation and the Expansion of E-Commerce Internet taxation is an issue concerning different aspects of the Internet and its taxing. The taxes include: (1) taxes imposed upon Internet access fees, (2) sales taxes charged to online businesses selling to other businesses, and (3) sales taxes charged to consumers buying from a business. This is a very important issue as Internet sales continue to increase and as more business is conducted over the Internet. Because of this, revenue is not being pumped into state and local economies as much for lack of purchasing at local stores, and economies’ revenues are suffering as a result. Taxes could be imposed on Internet purchases, but this would in turn affect those businesses who†¦show more content†¦Internet access service is â€Å"a service that enables users to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the Internet.† (The Internet Tax Freedom Act, Mar. 8, 2005, http://www.ecommercecommission.org/ ITFA.htm) Internet acc ess services are only a part of telecommunications services, which also deals with telephones, radio, etc. E-commerce has been expanding very rapidly in the past few years, and that is why Internet taxation has become such a pressing issue. Congress also passed in 1998 state and local taxes on Internet access. A tax on Internet access is simply a charge (usually monthly) for the right to access the Internet via phone lines, cable lines, satellite, etc. What Congress did not do is require state and local governments to tax sales over the Internet. It is very tricky, but there has not been a solution to this problem because Congress has yet to completely and thoroughly address it. The problem is that taxes are not being paid because there is no legislation for sales taxes over the Internet. Much of the income obtained from these sales taxes are used for state and local expenditures such as police and fire protection, road maintenance, education, and etc. Without them, state economies are losing money. The problem still goes further thanShow MoreRelatedEssay on Internet Taxation1585 Words   |  7 PagesInternet Taxation The advent and expansion of the Internet have brought the issue of the application of state and local sales taxation to Internet, telephone, catalog, and other remote sales to the forefront of the policy debate. Under current law, states cannot require corporations without a substantial presence within their borders to collect and remit sales taxes. 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