First, in Brief Encounters, read Sven Birkerts "One Long Sentence," a one-sentence essay that narrates a travel experience.
Then, write a one-sentence essay exploring an experience that typifies your life. Again, be deliberate as to which rhetorical modes you will use, and again, compose this first in a Word program and then copy-and-paste here. This one-sentence essay should be at least 200 words, and pay attention to your commas and semi-colons, which will help you keep this from being a run-on sentence. You might even take this to the Writing Resource Center for a final edit before submitting.
Traveling is interesting, exciting, long; my friends and I thought it would be fun to get away, far away; we stuffed the car all the way to the top, when we realized the doors could not close anymore we decided it was time to stop stuffing and time to leave; as a result of our over packed car one friend had to sit on top of the luggage—this was no surprised that I, the smallest member of the group, got stuck with this wonderful honor; as we drove toward the coast line, we saw beautiful green hills, free range animals, and some road kill, but this did not stop us, we were on a mission; finally, we arrived to our destination, after being crammed for two and a half hours, but once we found our place we still had to set up our campsite, oh the joys of traveling; once we unloaded the car and unpacked everything we noticed we were missing something very important, the top of our canapé was missing; we had to scrape together our blankets to make our shelter for the night; it turned out to be a long night; the next morning we woke up packed up all our things, and we were on the road again.
ReplyDeleteWe woke up on a warm Saturday morning; my family and I were excited to head to the beach, and although we woke up early, I was too thrilled to go back to sleep through the way; Glazing out the car window, I couldn’t believe my eyes after seeing the long blue waves and the beautiful view; It was my first time at the beach and I couldn’t control my emotions; Rushing desperately off the car, I took my shovel and bucket; I found a nice spot on the sand and I began to build my first sand caste with the help of my sister; after building the castle, we rushed to the water; we all splashed water to one another as we laughed and screamed of enjoyment; I also met new friends, and invited them to play with us; after playing in the water for long hours, we started to get hungry; my mom packed us sandwiches, cookies, soda, and other delicious snacks; it was almost time to head back home, and I couldn’t wait to come back to the beach again; we started to pack our belongings and while heading back to the car, I glanced one last time back into the ocean.
ReplyDeleteAt the age of six I had my first travel experience, although it was not a dream destination, it was a place that warmed my heart like nothing else has ever done before; I knew this was an important family trip however, I did not expect it to impact my life at such a young age, this place I talk about is my parent’s hometown and where they were raised; at the age of six I met my grandpa and grandma for the very first time; although that was a very exciting moment for me, I was more intrigued by the people, culture, and social structure of the place; this experience stays fresh in my memory because I got to learn a lot about my culture, values, and customs which opened my eyes, I learned a lot in this short trip that stay with me till this day; often times I revisit this memory to refresh my perspective because the things and places I observed over there are completely different, it then makes me feel more appreciative of my life, in the short amount of time I was there I made friends who continue to keep in touch with me; this travel experiences typifies my life because it is a moment in my life where I got to learn a lot about myself as well as my family values.
ReplyDeleteSkateboarding is the hardest, most exciting, and self-satisfying activity a person can do; I believe I was about ten years old when I first hopped onto a skateboard and I am forever grateful for it; when I was a teenager all me and my friends would do is go out and skate, if we weren’t practicing our flatland tricks in front of one of our houses we were out and about looking for the perfect spot to skate; the nearest skate park was twenty miles from where we lived so we were always exploring the city looking for areas that we could skate peacefully, the police always had it in for us and so we always kept an eye out for them; we would stay at a spot for hours trying to land one trick, repeatedly falling and getting back up just to get a five second rush of excitement from actually landing the trick and rolling away smoothly with all your friends cheering you on, that feeling is one of the best feelings in the world; I wish I still skated but it’s not the same as it was when I was a kid, if I was to get hurt or get in trouble with the police at my age I’m sure it won’t go down like it did when I was fourteen .
ReplyDeleteHeriberto Pina
ReplyDeleteI remember my first travel experience I was about seven years old; it was a trip up south to the beach; however, this trip involved all my family members from my mom’s side of the family. We all left in separate cars one or two cars per family. I still remember that day it was on an early Saturday morning. I remember the day before packing my stuff double-checking everything was in place. I remember taking a plastic bag with me just in case I would experience what they called carsick. Since it was my first time I didn’t know what to expect, thankfully I didn’t have to use the bag. Not only was it going to be my first travel experience, first time to a beach but my first time staying a hotel with a pool. The hotel was about ten minutes away from the beach. We got two rooms for about five families, so I remember the place being crowded. One thing I remember is that the night before leaving I couldn’t sleep because of the excitement of my first time experiencing the beach, hotel, and travel experience. For some reason it seemed like an eternity for use to arrive at our desired location; however, on the way back it seemed like it took us half of the time from what it took us to get there the first time.
I can’t say I can recall an exact moment or experience that typifies my life; however, I did recently experience a breath-taking, awe inspiring, experience, in a field of poppy flowers of all places, on a warm Sunday afternoon in Lancaster, California, this year, unlike previous years, thousands upon thousands of wildflowers, California poppies to be specific, have bloomed in the fields of the Antelope Valley California Poppy reserve, visiting this reserve is a memorable experience for me; if you have ever heard of the book or movie Wild, I believe that I experienced my very own mini Wild experience, right there in the poppy reserve, at the top of the hill, after a not so strenuous hike to the top, while the hike was nothing impressive, the view was absolutely breath taking, thousands and thousands of orange flowers covering fields of the reserve, the sheer number of wild flowers was impressive, but the image of thousands of flowers swaying in the wind took my breath away, for such a small flower, an entire field of poppies had a large impact on my current outlook on life; with big and monumental moments fast approaching, graduation, the start of a career, moving out, its sometimes hard to not stress and freak out, while these upcoming life events are important, its important to realize there is more to life, and more of the world to explore, in that poppy field, I realized, its moments like that, those awe-inspiring and peaceful moments, that truly matter in life.
ReplyDeleteFor as long as I can remember I have loved electric dance music; going to a festival and listening to who I grew up with was always an experience I wanted to have; well, I experienced it when I was nineteen, under the heat of the Las Vegas summer sun I danced from six in the afternoon to six in the morning for three days straight; I did not realize time had passed until I was driving back home; what I did realize during those three days was the blissful state I was in, the wonderful stranger I met, the bass of the music vibrating through my body, and the wonderful set up of each stage; I fell in love that weekend, with myself, the music, and the atmosphere; I felt at home surrounded by strangers, something I had never experienced before; attending the electric daisy carnival helped me understand that even if at times I feel out of place, there is other individuals in the world who I can relate to; the memory of that weekend replays in my mind every time I listen to electric dance music, and will continue to replay until the next time I am under the electric sky again.
ReplyDeleteThe rhetorical modes I used were description and narration.
Traveling is always fun and exciting, my best friend and I decided to do something different for her 21st and Halloween weekend; we went shopping that whole week trying to find the perfect outfits, and picked our Halloween costumes a month before; I was a bunny and she was wonder women; we drove five hours to get to Vegas, and once we arrived, we got ready that same night to head out; the first night we walked around the strip and danced all night, went shopping, met new people, and had drinks; the second day we ate breakfast at a nice restaurant, got on the fairest wheel, did some more shopping, and went back to the hotel to get ready for night two; we got into our Halloween costumes, and danced our night away, we had so much fun- we meet a lot of people and had drinks, and partied at like at five different clubs that night, then we walked back to our hotel at five in the morning and stopped by to get some tacos to eat- once we ate we went straight to bed- day three we had breakfast, shower, and got ready to go back home, it was an awesome experience and so much fun!
ReplyDeleteI woke up wide awake as my alarm went off ready for my day of travel; although our flight didn’t depart till 7, I was up and excited at 4:30 am that morning; we had to get all of our stuff together, that we had packed the night before, into the car and get on the road to the airport; everyone around me held coffees in their hands, since they needed their caffeine to keep them awake so early in the morning, but not me; traveling had always been dream of mine; at a very young age, I had made a promise to myself that wherever I ended up I would try to travel to explore far away places, and now here I was on my first endeavor without my family; my boyfriend and I thought how lucky we were to have had this opportunity and how much we struggled to save as we boarded the plane; excitement rushed through us as we began to land in Cabo, we realized we were on our own now as we stepped into a different country; when we got to the resort, it was as if we were in a dream, it was as if the weight of our stress and luggage just melted off of us; well, the staff there did immediately take our bags and offer us margaritas as we checked in; I couldn’t believe the view, the ocean was so clear and blue; the sands so soft with no rocks or seaweed in site, and the sun so bright and shinny; I immediately ran down to get into the water, and I could feel the soft sand and warm water hit my legs as I walked almost all the way in; my boyfriend was surprised, as I was never able to go past my thighs in the ocean back home because it was so cold; as we swam in the ocean and played on the shore, I knew that this trip was going to be one I would always remember and the beginning of my many more amazing traveling experiences.
ReplyDeleteA great experience was one year ago while I was deciding whether to buy a motorcycle or not; It was a should I get it or not day for about a week; although the frustration and anxiety was killing, I decided I was going to buy a motorcycle and I was going to make the process fast; the first step was to decide on what make and model to buy; although the color did matter, the excitement of getting one was all that mattered; I was doing research, reading articles, and blogs as to which motorcycle to get; I then asked myself how was I going to buy one if I did not have a motorcycle endorsement; I then decided to enroll in a motorcycle safety course; Even though I did not know how to use a manual transmission, I received my certificate within two weeks; I felt free riding a motorcycle; I then took the written test at the DMV and passed; I finally accomplished my goal by receiving my motorcycle endorsement; the final step in the process was to buy my motorcycle; within two days, I bought my motorcycle; I felt accomplished and enjoyed the whole process; to this day, riding a motorcycle made me more comfortable in identifying what I enjoyed; Every time I ride I feel free knowing I do not have to use a seat belt or be inside a “cage” (a car) as many other bikers define it; I am able to lane split which makes me feel more free on the road; Overall, it was a great experience that could not be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteMy worst vacation ever was a series of days repeated, ten days of travel and commute, Subway and Krispy Kreme, early mornings and late nights, loud crowds and silent conversations; it all started on a train, bags locked and stowed under the passenger cars, hopes and expectations discussed, an estranged friend waited at the end of the tracks with a green, compact vehicle; and from there our real journey began, and because the car was thirsty, we made many stops between large trees and mountain covered landscapes, and because the road was long, we drove over and under bridges, stopping just shy of our destination for some rest; and once we were refreshed, we set out once again and quickly reached the city, paid for a concrete rectangle, our main priority being to acquire our tickets; and we were in awe of the space around us as we made our way to the merch stand, provided our confirmation codes and proof of purchase, and received large totes full of joy and promise; this second day was great, but the ones to follow were full of resentment and disappointment, where I was punished for being worn out by the never ending events, for being bored with the unchanging format, for being uninterested in the limited venue and menus, for all of this I was a disappointment; my reasons for attendance were constantly under scrutiny and ridicule, all made worse because of the identity of the judge, the man I loved; and he convicted me of intentionally ruining our trip, of never wanting to go in the first place; so we rarely spoke unless we were discussing my intensions, something only I could have known, but that did not stop him from claiming omniscience, from telling me I was wrong and lying to hid face; because of this, I could not wait to get home, but before I did, there was the train ride back, the first time in a week the two of us were alone; that is where I lost my composure, let all my grievances known, told him how this was the worst trip ever, and cried the whole way home.
ReplyDeleteAbout two years ago, my family and I went on a two and a half week long trip to Europe, this trip caused me to truly understand my love for traveling; I realized traveling is my passion; we visited five different cities in Europe: Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, and Barcelona; the amazing cultural experience I had there made me crave experiencing more cultural adventures, I am going abroad this summer for a culture program in Germany; If it was not for this trip, I would not have thought of even looking into going aboard; I know that this is just the beginning of my life long exploring of different cultures; I plan on getting a job that allows me to travel. either leisurely or for the company I work for; this trip make me the travel fanatic that I will be forever.
ReplyDeleteAbout two years ago, my family and I went on a two and a half week long trip to Europe, this trip caused me to truly understand my love for traveling; I realized traveling is my passion; we visited five different cities in Europe: Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, and Barcelona; the amazing cultural experience I had there made me crave experiencing more cultural adventures, I am going abroad this summer for a culture program in Germany; If it was not for this trip, I would not have thought of even looking into going aboard; I know that this is just the beginning of my life long exploring of different cultures; I plan on getting a job that allows me to travel. either leisurely or for the company I work for; this trip make me the travel fanatic that I will be forever.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 8, and very excited to leave the country, my family, which consisted of my mother, father, brother, and I, took a trip to Mexico (the place of my family’s origin), the place in which my parents were born, and consequently grew up in; according to my parents the plane ride terrified me, this I do not recall since I remember I have always loved the takeoff and turbulence of the trips; I loved peeking out of the window and watching as we flew past the tiny cars, past the fading houses and buildings, past the shrinking towns and cities, past the multicolored land squares my mom told me were crops, past the oceans, past the clouds, and when I was done observing the distant world below, I went to sleep; when we finally landed, in the Airport of Guadalajara, my parents told my brother and I to never stray from them, to hold on tight to their hands or suitcases, and in the case of separation, if a stranger tried to take us with them, to scream and shout like our lives depended on it, this would alert people that something was wrong – three rules that ,although important, would never come to play a dramatic role in our trips.
ReplyDeleteI used narration and description.
Traveling is a positive, open mind-set, and a stress reliever; the first time I ever traveled was in the when I was fourteen years of age on my summer vacation in middle school; I traveled to Washington to meet my father’s side of the family, but to also explore and get out of California; we traveled with our car instead of taking an airplane, which was incredible to drive through the state Oregon and other little cities we came across; during the entire time in car, driving to Washington, we told jokes to each other, my parents told us stories about themselves, and we made interesting future plans we wanted to do; this was my first and last traveling experience I ever had, which turn out to be enjoyable, but was a long drive to get to Washington; although it was long, it was worth the long wait because we had multiple family bonding in the car and got to see many interesting things in the car that we would of probably of not seen how beautiful sparkling lakes Oregon had if we would of had traveled with an airplane to Washington; arriving at Washington the very first thing I notice that I found interesting was that it was winter instead of summer like in California; despising the climate, my arrival was the best feeling in the world because we got the chance to sleep on a bed and relax.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best trips ever that I took was in 8th grade, it was a trip to Washington DC, it was a club of 15 students, and on on the morning of I remember I was so nervous because I never went on a plane before and it was my first time, but I did have one person with me that maybe me feel brave; that person was my twin brother, even though we all had to sit separately on the plane my brother was at the end of the row that I was sitting on, so I was able to see that he was there, Once we arrived it was so beautiful there in DC, the sun was out and all the cherry blossom trees were covered in pink flowers, This week trip was so much fun I can remember everything that we did till this very day, with all the touring of museums and monuments we did, it was hard to end the trip, but some day I would like to go there again to make a family trip.
ReplyDeleteNarration/description
Ever since i was a little girl, all I remember was wanting to move and to dance;
ReplyDeleteI’ve done cheerleading, ballet, gymnastics, modern dancing, jazz, and i’ve even been in plays; As a young kid I always remember my mom saying “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop”; She always kept me busy whether it was tagging along with her catering business, or educational programs on the weekend; I cannot recall a dull moment in my childhood because my mom always believed doing something productive or exercising your body and brain; Being the captain of an Ocjaaf cheer squad, caused me to travel all of the time; Ocjaff stands for Orange County Junior All American Football; Every single football team of every age group had cheerleaders to support them. This is the time where I learned that I loved long road trips and traveling from state to state; Traveling to see different teams helped me understand the different ways that you could mixed different times of danced together. Traveling helped me to see the diversity of how to put moves together and see all different types of people who loved to do the same things that I loved. Traveling was so much better because my mom was one of my coaches and we were and are still very close. Traveling is something that i love and enjoy, and plan on doing for the rest of my life.
It was a warm summer day and I was waiting in line at Disneyland; I was so excited and nervous at the same time because this was going to be my first time to ever ride on a rollercoaster; the rollercoaster was called Thunder Mountain; as I drew nearer to the entrance I remembered about the incident where a boy had died on this very same rollercoaster from jumping off; I wondered why the boy jumped off the rollercoaster, maybe it was his first time on a rollercoaster and he got so scared that he jumped off; I thought that was stupid, I knew I would not do something so stupid as jumping off or maybe I would; thinking about it made me even more nervous; then finally, it was my turn to go on the rollercoaster; when everyone got seated, the rollercoaster started slow then all of a sudden went fast; I felt the wind blowing against my face, I heard people screaming in the background; a few of the faces, in front of me, were cowering in fear whereas most of them were enjoying the ride; besides the people sitting in front of me, everything around me was a blur with a mixture of different colors and the earth and sky seemed to intertwine; the rollercoaster went up, down, and took sharp turns; finally this moment was over and it was time for us to get off; this rollercoaster symbolizes life; you start out slow as a dependent baby relying on your parents and guardians for support, but before you know it you are an adult all alone in the real world, trying to find a way to get through life to make it out alive; sometimes life will bring you up and down, and you have to make hard decisions in life where you ask yourself if you have made the right decision but only time can tell where it leads you like the sharp turns on a rollercoaster ride; you never know if it will bring you up or down.
ReplyDeletePeople often associate summer camp or summer school with nerdy and lame activities but my experience with summer camp was the most adventurous time of my life; I was a sophomore in high school and had just gotten into an elite summer school program at UC Santa Cruz; the COSMOS program is so elite, that it is only offered at four of the ten University of California campuses and each campus only allowed around 150 students to attend; I was so ecstatic at the time because I, Brooke-Lynn Woodworth, had what it took in order to be accepted into this program; the cluster, or theme of my class, was Marine Mammals and Oceanography: From Prey to Predators and I was thrilled that I would be spending four weeks learning from a real college professor about the ocean and animals that live within; during this time I was able to pet a shark, go kayaking, look at krill and other microscopic ocean life under a microscope, and even got access to see two rescued dolphins at the Seymour Marine Discovery center; the four weeks I spent at this camp provided me with knowledge, memories, and friendship that I will forever remember so any time I hear someone say something negative about summer school or summer camp, I just chuckle.
ReplyDeleteI would always dream of the best vacation and what that would be like; would it be somewhere far, somewhere close, who would be there with me, how long would we be there, when was I going to go and just how much fun I was going to have; I thought of place such as Hawaii, Jamaica and different Island I could visit, but it never dawned on me that a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico would be the best vacation for me; As I packed my bags and got my different outfits together, all I really thought about was what was I going to do first when I got on the ship; As we got on board we took many pictures up until we reached our rooms, we went inside relax for a minutes and headed up to the dining room to eat lunch; After eating were all given groups to go into to have our safety's guide explained to use in case of an emergency, once this was over all the fun was going to begin; We went back to our room to change our outfits and headed straight for the club; When we got to club we sat down talked and had a few drinks, after having our drinks we hit the dance floor; We partied all night until we couldn't dance anymore, we had partied so much that dinner had slipped our minds and by time we got to the dining room everything was closed; So we walked around the ship looking for a place to eat and is was just our luck that there was a pizza place that was open 24 hours; Although the pizza looked delicious it was an ice cream machine that we end up enjoying the most that night; After 3 ice cream cones it was time for bed but we only end up sleeping for 3 hours because then it was morning and another day of fun was about to begin.
ReplyDeleteTraveling is something that my family and I love to do because it is such an adventure; a fun experience to have with people that you love and since I was younger I’ve traveled around the world to play softball and my parents would take me everywhere and watch me; and my since I love traveling so much, my boyfriend and I bought tickets to go to Thailand for a couple of days during the summer and it was so much fun; like for example we got to hold monkeys, interact with elephants, see a whole zoo full of pandas in China, and explore their exotic food and it was so unique to experience the way that people in Thailand and China use taxi’s to go everywhere instead of buy their own cars because nobody had a car which was weird but they also had taxi motorcycles as well which was so weird just like how they worship the ruler of their country like a god because I couldn’t imagine worshipping or president like a God because that’s just not the way that Americans do things at all; traveling has opened so many different concepts in my mind and in my life that I would have never otherwise realized.
ReplyDeleteEvery summer for 5 years straight until I was 12 years old, my family and I would go to Mexico to visit my grandfather and grandmother; the first trip I took was when I was about 7 years old, I never liked the thought of getting on an airplane; my brother would always scare me into thinking something would happen to the plane and that it would be more scary to be looking out the window while it happened just so he would be able to get the window seat for the 4 hour trip; visiting Mexico was not always my ideal travel destination, but I always enjoyed visiting family especially knowing that cousins house was on the same ranch as my grandparents; I loved how my grandfather had many farm animals to look after; he had several horses, cows, and pigs, one donkey (which I had the enjoyment of riding once) and a couple of goats and sheep; It was great waking up in the morning to relatives together for breakfast; after we would take care of the animals, and sometimes go out and ride the horses out in the mountains near my grandfather’s house; the mountains were absolutely gorgeous, they were so green and full of life; it was a great place to hike up to for picnic’s and to enjoy the view; It became a routine of going to visit my relatives every summer because the airport was close to my old home in Orange County, but I as moved to Bakersfield the summer trips weren’t as much as a routine.
ReplyDeleteRhetorical modes: cause/ effect, description, narration
I remember going on my first camping trip as it was yesterday with my family at Lake Lopez, where there was nothing but green trees, clear blue skies, and a beautiful lake; This like is where us kids spent most of our day, water skiing and tubing; Tubing was my favorite because it didn't take much effort; We just sat in an inflatable tube where me and my cousins sat being pulled by the boat in front of us; I remember it being such an exhilarating yet scary feeling at the same time, because it felt like i was going to fall at any moment, which i did a couple of times; Towards the end of the night my whole family would gather around the campfire and make amores, tell funny and scary stories, and play games; These moments were my favorite childhood memories because i got to see my all my aunts, uncles, and cousins; Every year we would camp at a new location and explore new places.
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