Saturday, January 14, 2017

My Storybook Favorites

Storybooks

Storybook 1: I picked Biblical Love Stories as one of my storybooks because my faith is something that is very important to me and love is a crucial part of our existence according to the Bible; "But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13. The introduction to the stories is very good! I feel like it is accurate for the information that is actually in the stories. I really like how the stories were written. I also like how in the author's note, the author does actually tell the true story and when she improvised. I makes me feel more of a modern day connection to these biblical stories; it makes them more relatable. I liked that the author offered an image at the end of each of his or her stories. This storybook is easy to navigate and easy to understand.

https://1a78c148-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/biblicallovestories/home/biblical%20love%20stories.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cohMr7-KgXPFgTnY6QVfTm2skEdkjPsFIO7K83CFEhM-YF-0w5JNfB8yVaOrag8YXTd7jrTIlCpUbsl8QJ86bp369oGIEfgqWEgfx8P-0ZdI7dNSy8oxNl1f02cSWlCV-JoHLn-JFo4qbGhjTsb8l83EYXtr6WcLwsiUISL4rb1RNZcvxrp0jKdZKhAygEPby3e40-r3Pza0e79JuW47kNhrdZfvoaijoh6GAxwZt3hH-OvJG7POgvam3QdZ3pEZp5WU9qi&attredirects=0 

Storybook 2: I chose Fairy Tale Cribs because it showed the storytelling in a different way. It takes the reader in and makes them feel like they're actually part of the story. It is narrated like the character is actually talking to you rather than telling a story or us hearing the characters' thoughts. So it is more like a playwright than a book.


Storybook 3: I chose The Darling Tales of Wendy because Peter Pan is my favorite story! I have loved Peter Pan ever since I was a child so I was extremely excited when I found this Peter Pan story! This storybook is formatted mostly from Wendy's point of view and they are in the form of letters. I liked that they were letters that conveyed stories of the past and occurrences of the present. I liked the layout of the site a lot. I liked that the font was even script as if written by Wendy herself. I didn't like the author's notes that much. They seemed less informative than the other storybooks I had read. They were more about why the author thought what she thought rather than what was her writing and what was original. I was a little disappointed in how they portrayed Peter Pan and with the writing. I encountered a few grammatical errors, and they really took away from the overall effect.


Introduction: Modestly Me

Hello to whoever is reading this! I am a student at the University of Oklahoma. I am a senior majoring in Chemical Engineering and minoring in Spanish and Chemistry. I made this blog for my Mythology and Folklore online course. I was in the Pride of Oklahoma for 3 years. You can occasionally catch my few seconds of glory on television if you tune in to the Sooner's Football Games!

Pride of Oklahoma Logo

This is my final semester in undergrad, and I am so excited! I have been doing biomedical research over dental caries for over a year now. I will continue doing research this semester and hope to continue in graduate school.

I LOVE animals! I have a fat cat named Izzy. She occasionally will play but usually lays around looking like a worm on whoever will let her rest upon them.
(Izzy photo taken by me)


I love reading. Over the all my breaks from school I make sure to read as many books (for fun) as I can! I don't really have a favorite book. I just like anything that can stir my emotions and make me feel what the characters feel! On the other hand I don't really watch television. To be quite honest, I don't really like technology.
I know! I'm a disgrace! And to add to it: I even deleted my Netflix account...by choice! I haven't really missed it either! I am convinced I was born in the wrong generation. I believe I would have been better suited for a generation that doesn't rely on technology as much.



I dance and play the piano and flute. I studied abroad in Spain (more details about my trip can be found in my post: Mi Lugar Favorito), and I now have the travel bug and can't wait to go explore other places! My goals in life are to learn the guitar, cello, saxophone, become fluent in Spanish and German, travel the world, teach English/work in different countries, work for Disney, and show love of my one and only God through my work!

Week 1 Storytelling: The Boy Who Would Be King

As I was going by Charing Cross,
I saw a black man upon a black horse;
They told me it was King Charles the First;
Oh, dear! my heart was ready to burst!
 (Original Nursery Rhyme)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is a story a girl one can only dream to be,
Behold this is the story of me,
I was a child of one,
Because by then my father was done,
He died of a stroke before I was born,
And of course you can bet, my mother was torn,
She wanted to love me, but still yearned for him,
She dreamed of riches and so much more,
But in the end we were nothing but poor,
So when I was young, I made a friend,
His name was Charley,
But only called this by me,
While my mother would clean his house,
I would watch, quiet as a mouse,
Until the day I met my dear Charley,
We played together every day thereafter, Charley and me,
We would play everyday from morning to night,
And slowly we noticed our change of height,
He grew tall, handsome, and strong,
My face was thin and my hair was long,
And he told me he knew I was beautiful all along,
We learned to love,
No one could imagine a better pair of doves,
One day when we were teens,
Of each others presence we would soon be weaned,
He told me “from the day we met till the day we part,
You will always have a piece of my heart”,
He told me things were to change,
And through the months we were estranged,
As a symbol of his love he gave me a pin,
And he told me he could never see me again,
I didn't understand why,
But after he left I did nothing but cry,
I was later informed he was a prince,
It has been 10 years since,
And so that brings me to today,
As I was walking along my usual way,
As I was going by Charing Cross,
I saw a black man upon a black horse;
They told me it was King Charles the First;
Oh, dear! my heart was ready to burst!
Because you see it was Charley,
the man I loved and in return loved me!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note: This story is based on a Nursery Rhyme about King Charles; the nursery rhyme can be found in The Nursery Rhyme Book page 37, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). After reading this nursery rhyme, I was inspired to write about a forbidden love between a boy who didn't realize he would be king and a peasant girl that was the daughter of one of Charley's parents' maids. 

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¡Mi Lugar Favorito! (My Favorite Place)

Andalucia, Espana
     The summer after my freshmen year, I studied abroad in Spain. People kept telling me it would change me! I just rolled my eyes and said "Yep, I can't wait." But they were right. It did change me! This trip made me rethink my future. This was my first trip abroad, and now I have the travel bug! I just can't wait to go again! Spain has been my favorite place that I have traveled to this far. I didn't expect to love it so much, but now I have to say there is a piece of me that can't wait to return to Spain someday!
     I studied abroad with a group of 20 students from my university and a professor. We studied 3rd Semester Spanish and completed the course in 3 weeks. We stayed in Sevilla, Spain. There were many historic buildings and amazing things to see! One of the most popular buildings in Sevilla, Spain is the Catedral de Sevilla.
(Image Information: personal photo of the Catedral de Sevilla;
photo from May 2014.) 

     We stayed in Sevilla most of the trip. We got the privilege of staying with host parents that actually live in Spain. While we were there we formed relationships with them, and they taught us about Spain, too. My host mom also made some amazing traditional food for us! 

 (Image Information: personal photo of a meal at my Spanish home;
photo from May 2014.)
(Image Information: personal photo of Traditional Seafood Paella;
photo from June 2014.) 

     We also visited another famous sight in Sevilla called La Plaza de Espana. A scene from Star Wars was shot in this location, the sequence where Anakin and Padmé arrive on Naboo. (How cool! Right?)

 (Image Information: personal photo of me in La Plaza de Espana;
photo from June 2014.)
 (Image Information: personal photo of my friend and me in La Plaza de Espana;
photo from June 2014. Photo by Ashlee O'Dell.)
 (Image Information: personal photo of La Plaza de Espana;
photo from May 2014.)
 (Image Information: personal photo of La Plaza de Espana;
photo from May 2014.)
     While in Spain we got the opportunity to travel around the region of Andalucia, Spain, and visit some other cities around Sevilla including: Cádiz, Málaga, Huelva, Córdoba, and Granada.
 (Image Information: personal photo of Málaga;
photo from May 2014.)
(Image Information: personal photo of Málaga;
photo from May 2014.)
 (Image Information: personal photo of me in Córdoba;
photo from May 2014.)
(Image Information: personal photo of a Catedral in Córdoba;
photo from May 2014.)
(Image Information: personal photo of The Alhambra in Granada;
photo from May 2014.)
     In Cádiz and Málaga we got to go the the beach and relax. In Córdoba we got to visit the Mosque-cathedral of Córdoba. In Granada we got to see the Alhambra. And in Huevla we visited La Rábida which is where Columbus stayed between 1491-92 waiting for financial backing from the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for his voyage to the New World. We also got to see replicas of Columbus's Ships.

 (Image Information: personal photo of La Rábida in Huelva;
photo from May 2014.)
 (Image Information: personal photo of The Santa Maria in Huelva;
photo from May 2014.)
     Overall, I LOVED Spain! I had such an amazing time, and I can't wait to go back!

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Here is my official test and first post for my blog!