Hello!

Hello!

My name is Iza. I'm thirteen and I go to an international school in Poland. My birthday is October 9th 1997. I was born in Warsaw, Poland and moved to the States when I was about two years old, since my mom was sick and medicine and doctors were much more advanced in New York than in Warsaw. I lived for four years in New York, with my mom, brother and sister (my brother is 12 years older and my sister is 14 years older). During this time my dad stayed in Poland, building up his company. After our stay on Long Island, New York, we moved to Warsaw where I started first grade in the international school. I've been here ever since. I live on the fourth floor of our apartment with two dogs. One of them is older (eight), he's a tiny black chihuahua blind in one eye. My other dog looks like a fox with a curly tail, she's four months old. I love both of them with all my heart. My younger one is visible in the picture below. I've got a lot of things I love to do. One of my passions is traveling, usually with family. Ever since I remember, I've been on planes or trains. My first trip outside of Poland was when I was nine months old to Greece. Some people complain about how during their breaks they stay in Poland, but I usually complain because I get no home time. During every break, I go to Portugal or Spain or Germany, or Italy or Madeira. Even though it's relaxing, since we're always in a nice hotel, it's not the same kind of relaxing that we get in our own home. Another thing I love is music. I'm usually very open to different kids of music, and I really like songs that have meaningful lyrics. Once my brother asked me if I like trains, planes, or buses more. I told him that they're all the same as long as I have an iPod with me. Sometimes I'll just find a song I heard that same day on the radio on YouTube and I'll set the volume on high and try to memorize the lyrics. One of my favorite songs is Hot Air Balloon by Owl City or Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. I generally don't enjoy listening to music that only has, for example, two different words throughout the whole thing or only a good beat. My preference of songs are those that put you in a good mood, especially ones that aren't computerized. Some things (or people) I don't like are rude people. It drives me crazy. Even when I don't like someone, or hate someone, if I bump into them common courtesy commands to apologize and maybe help them up if they fell down. If I say hello to someone, I wholly expect a hello back even if I don't know them. It annoys me when my parent's friends come with some of their children who are my age, and I introduce myself and they just sort of stare at me. If someone isn't courteous they aren't worth my time.

I think I’m an overall healthy person, even though my physical health really depends on the time of year. During the winter I don't go outside much and eat more (everyone does), so my health suffers. But during the spring/summer/early fall months I do exercise a lot. I’m not an extremely active person in general, but I do some sports. Now that spring sports are coming along, I’m going to start softball twice a week. I have tennis once a week and everyday I go on at least one half-hour walk with my dogs. My resistance to diseases is pretty strong and my illnesses in one year add up to one virus and one very strong head cold. The worst injury that’s ever happened to me was spraining my ankle and to this day we don’t know how I sprained it. Unfortunately, I have scoliosis (approx. 20 degrees) and once a week I go to a rehabilitation for my spine. That too, we don't know how it happened. On average about two to four times a week I also do workouts for my spine and the muscles surrounding it, even though it depends on the amount of schoolwork I have. People tell me I have a very healthy appetite, and my meals are never half-sized. Big bowl of cereal for breakfast (I like muesli but it’s annoying with braces), then a snack (muffin, milkshake, pretzel) two hours later, lunch (I eat the whole thing) and then a huge family dinner. I’ve always had a fast metabolism to balance out my diet, so I’ve never had to worry much about weight, even when I go on a chocolate marathon for a few days. On average, I sleep seven to eight hours, depending on how much homework I have or if I’m sleepy or not.

My social health is pretty well off, because as I said earlier, I don’t like impolite people. I make it my priority to smile and say hello. The person I speak to when I have problems is my sister who I contact over Skype. I don’t believe in bottling up emotions or holding grudges. In general I try to smile at whoever comes my direction. People who are rude and/or mean don’t deserve to breathe the same air as I do. Whenever my sister goes shopping, she takes me along because I'm straightfoward. I don't tell her what she wants to hear, "That dress looks awesome," but I tell her, "Honestly, it makes you look like a pink muffin."

My intellectual health is strong as well, I think. I have a strong desire for learning because I want to get into a good university. In high school I'm planning on taking some extra curriculur stuff so that it improves my chances of getting into one of the universities I'm sort of thinking of (Colombia, Yale, Brown, BC, NYU). I’m ambitious and I strive to get good grades. I do have one problem, though. Before I put my mind to anything I have to sort of convince myself it's a good idea to put effort in it. If a teacher doesn't earn my respect, I won't put 100% in my work in that class. Sometimes I just go sort of brain-dead, which is when I've been working for too long. Then, even if I have a huge project to finish, I have to put on some music and just be lazy. I'm also a bit of a procrastinator, and when I don't feel like doing something I don't do it. In order to do it, I first have to convince myself it's worth it, (such as: he checks homework, I'll get a bad grade, she'll hate me, I'll get a lecture, I've got nothing better to do, etc.). I do things a bit more logically, and sometimes it makes no sense to make an effort if it isn't appreciated.

My emotional health is pretty stable. I don’t feel the need to change something about me to feel better, because I’m confident the way I am. So far, I have never worn make up to school or straightened/curled my hair (except for special occasions). My theory is that everything you do to your body that isn’t natural is bad for it, and should be avoided unless there's a good reason not to. I know I’ll probably do stuff like that in a few years, but for now I don’t have to worry. When I’m put in front of a situation, like a documentary talking about how horrible gangs are, I don’t really like those kinds of (biased, ignorant) opinions. Everyone does something for a reason; what was this kid’s reason to join the gang? What if this person was born in this environment and doesn’t know a different life other than the one he’s living right now? Do we really have the right to judge them? When I think, I keep an open point of view. I don't like to be judgmental because I don't know the other side of the story, but when I //do// know the other side of the story I go ahead and judge. :) In my opinion, there is no fate. There is no destiny or anything strong like that except for a higher being. This higher being isn’t the “creator”. I like to think of this being as a guide, or a driver that just steers in one direction and sees where it will go. I came to be not because it was fated, but because my mommy and daddy loved each other. I’m not here for any more reason than the cow out on the pasture is. Sure, we’re the smartest. Maybe the driver steered in one direction, creating an intelligent race. Everything went smoothly for a while, but then the road started to get bumpy as civilization became corrupt. The driver is looking for a U-turn or a way to get back to where he started from, but it’s hard, since it’s a one-way street with only occasional fork. Who knows, maybe the fork will take us down a road that goes the other direction?



There are a lot of health risks for people my age. There’s alcohol, drugs, low exercise, too much screen time, anorexia, obesity, depression, and isolation, to name a few. So far in my grade we’ve had people drinking, not exercising enough and having too much screen time (as far as I know). Sometimes once a week, a group of people goes out to get drunk and have fun. I have dealt with this problem by not going with them and making excuses to get out of these parties, since I don’t want to be tempted. Not exercising enough and too much screen time comes from school and laptops. A lot of work is on laptops (screen time), and then since most of us either own our own laptop or take our school one home, it’s another few hours (screen time). Since we spend so much time on the computer, we end up spending less time exercising, which is a problem. There isn’t much of a solution to this, since work can't be gotten rid of, but people have reduced their screen time by keeping themselves away from addictions on the Internet. The Internet is also addicting; psychologists are thinking of making the addiction to Facebook official. There are virtual game sites and social media sites and gossip sites that seem so interesting, but we end up spending hours on them without realizing. I don’t go on these very often. As most 8th graders, I have found that without Facebook I’ll never know what’s going on, plus it’s a great chance to chat with your friends. My sister once said, “Facebook’s like a fridge; you keep opening it, expecting something to change, but it never does.” That’s exactly it. I don’t spend hours on end on it; I go on it every half hour for thirty seconds, maybe longer if something actually happened.



Some goals I would like to set for myself are: sleeping more, Facebook-ing less, exercising more, as well as many others. I'm going to sleep more my setting myself a bedtime (the one my mom sets doesn't work), like at 10:30. No matter what, even if I //really// want to comment on Facebook, I'm going to go to bed. If I have schoolwork to finish, I'll give myself another half hour. I'm going to Facebook less by setting myself a standard: first homework. I'll do all my homework first, and then if I have extra time I can go outside or go on Facebook (depends on weather). I've got a bit of a harder time with the outside thing because I live on the fourth floor on my building, so it's a little annoying to constantly go up and down either four flights of stairs or the elevator. Now that the weather's getting warmer, I plan on going for at least one hour walks with my dogs.



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