A passage from Paul Bowles'book The Sheltering Sky

"Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless..."

Loneliness

Sometimes, I feel lonely , when I found myself sitting alone and nobody is here for you to listen to you , here I have to say that I miss the last two or three months passed in London with my dearest friends Rami , Noussa , Jenny .... Of course I have friends here in Tunisia but they are busy in their works , others have changed I can hardly recognize them ; well that's life but nothing affects me anymore .

Last week , I was a little bit upset , so Rami called me to check if I'm feeling better or not , this is the friendship .
The real friendship for me is when you are not feeling good or you're in bad situation or something bother you then someone comes to you , gives you a hand and try to comfort you , it helps alot trust me .

Hi everybody

Well it 's been along time since I posted a note or some reflections on my blog , ok I know it's a shame , but to be honest I had nothing to say or maybe I was hiding my feelings because in deep inside my heart I couldn't stand the fact I'm leaving London , my dearest friends, teachers .....yeah , it's the truth , I was thinking it's too early for me to say goodbye but I had no choice ; I also think about how is life in London right now , sometimes I imagine myself walking around in Hampstead this magic place that I won't forget and for sure I'll come back there oh yeah , I can picture the Hampstead Heath I mean the park which considered as one of the famous park in London where you can get to see the London view from there : I used to go there with my friend Ada , it's so peaceful and beautiful really .
But the good part , I still in touch with my pals , I got a mail recently from Noussa , last week Rami wrote on my wall in facebook , here I have to thank the new technology such as Internet, Facebook,messenger,skype..... it keeps you close to your beloved ones , trust me :-)))

Hope that you won't forget me guys

Love Arwa

Getting ready for the presentation

Friday's lesson was based mainly on our next presentation which will take place on Tuesday 27th .
We discussed about the significant ingredients of successful presentation and here is the list :

1- Eye contact
2- Body language
3- Avoid reading
4- Pace
5- Pauses
6- Smile !

My first draft about the main effects of globalisation and to what extent they are beneficial to my subject area

The introduction :

The world nowadays is living under the trajectory of globalisation which plays a leading role in our life in terms of economic , political and cultural aspects .

There was a divergence of opinion concerning this issue of globalisation of whether it is beneficial for advocating a strong relationship between nations or may generate some drawbacks to economic growth as well as social and cultural exchange between countries .
The American journalist , columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman has examined the impact of the "flattening of the globe " and claimed that " globalised trade , outsourcing , supply -chaining , and political forces have changed the world permanently , for both better and worse ."
He also argued that " the pace of globalisation is quickening and will continue to have a growing impact on business organisation and practice ."(2005) p4
This appears to show that what Friedman claimed proves that the current success of international business is related to globalisation but the question is to what extent are the effects of this controversial process beneficial to international business ?

This essay will look at the both sides positive qnd negative effect of globalisation as a whole then it will focus mainly on its implication on the world of international business .



The essay outline :

Paragraph 1 : A brief summary on the positive and negative effect of globalisation .

a) the positive effect :

1) Reduction of cultural barriers .
2) Spread of democratic ideals to develop the nations .
3) Allowed greater information access to all parts of the world (internet , satellite ...)

b) the negative effect :

1) It can often lead to the destruction of local customs and cultures .
2) Greater risk of diseases being transported between nations .
3) Greater chance of reactions of globalisation being violent in an attempt to preserve cultural heritage .

Then , I will move to discuss the effect of globalisation on my subject area ( International Business ) .
Obviously , I will divide the three paragraphs into two parts ; pros and cons of globalisation .


Paragraph 2 : From the point of view of companies :

+ : business can get access to the new markets .
-: sometimes if not always they have to pay bribe to be able to compete with the other companies .

Paragraph 3 : From the point of view of consumers :

+: They have the choice of products ( variety )
-: local businesses are destroyed by the new emergence of foreign products .

Paragraph 4: From the point of view of employees :

+: it allows people to work abroad .
-: They can be subject of exploitation and discrimination .

Conclusion :

Recapulate what was mentioning before in the essay .
Basically , there is a balance between the both sides ( positive and negative )
Ending with an open question : how to find a compromise to deal with the cons caused by globalisation ?

Today's course

Today's lesson was based mainly on the best way to learn new words and how to manage to not forget them .

Some people have a good memory like Hajime ; he said that when he goes to the gym to practise , he always try to review what we have done in class ( new words , collocations .... ) on his mind ....

Many agreed that we should always review what we have done in class , it will help us to memorize the new words and definitely we won't forget it and that is the point ; for example today we saw some crucial collocations related to our subject areas so Steve asked us for homework to use them to create a sentence which required us to link them together and I guess that tomorrow he will test our memory and to what extent we manage to use this collocations to stimulate our academic skills .

Here is the list of collocations :

to take out mortgage

high risk loans

rising interest rates

to bolster ( make it strong ) money markets

to borrow on more favourable terms

to solve the liquidity crisis

confidence is shaken by

to bring the threat of recession

rising living costs

hit consumer confidence

Some new words that I have learned recently

Sunday night my classmates and I got an email from Steve to ask us to be in time for the Monday's lesson because we will have a special guest .

In fact , he told us that a student from Kings college I think is coming to our class in order to help us improving our Academic skills which means she will give us some new academic English words to improve our English vocabulary .
Sounds great isn't it ?

Well , I was eager to go to the course ...... and I was not disappointed because thanks to Bianca (her name ) , we learned new words that I never heard about it before and here is the list of the words :

Deprivation : lack of something you need to be happy and healthy .

Impair : damage

to substantiate : to prove something

colossal : very large

exuberant : happy and lively and full of energy

enervated : too tired

pernicious : very harmful

vehemently : very strong

My own achievement in 2008 and what I would like to do in 2009

Well , 2008 was not my best year to be honest in terms of health , private life .....

But if I have to talk about my best achievement I would say my Spanish course .
In fact , I passed my Spanish exam initial level A3 and I got also a business certificate from the British Council . I am proud of my self but as I am a perfectionist person , I decided to come here to London to attend an English course so as to improve my English level mostly my speaking .

It was really a challenge for me but still not satisfied with my level . However , it will push me to work harder and that s what I am looking forward in 2009 .

In fact , I will finish my academic course at London Met on January 31 . After that , I am planning to go back home to apply for a job hopefully I will find a job in an international company cause I want to work with foreign people thus I can improve my English .

I also want to attend an Italian course , actually I used to speak Italian but it has been a long time ago but I can understand very well .
Moreover , I will restart my Spanish course too , I am so excited about that as I miss my friends , my teachers and of course The Instituto Cervantes Tunez .

I suppose and I hope it will be an interesting year for me .....

By the way I wish to everybody a happy New Year and Best Wishes .....

Love and Peace