English 102-Introduction Entry

Hello,

My name is Boriana. I was born and raised in Bulgaria, a small country in East Europe with great history and beautiful nature.

This is a resort called "Albena" where I spend my vacations growing up.

I devoted my professional life to Medicine, and my personal life to raise two wonderful children. My son is a college student, and my daughter is in High School.

My professional interests are in the field of science. There are so many things we do not know about us, for example how our brain works. There are so many diseases we do not know how to treat, and even what causes them. We do not know how to treat Ebola, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple sclerosis, and so on, the list is long. There is an “epidemic” of cancer – the incidence of cancer is growing every year. It is expected  in the near future that deaths from cancer will exceed deaths from cardiovascular diseases.

I think we should pay more attention to our environment. What have we done with it? We polluted the air and the water with chemicals. The food we eat has more GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), than vitamins and minerals. No wonder we have such a huge increase in cancer cases! Instead of giving the necessary ingredients to our bodies with food, we put artificially produced chemicals, pesticides, and hormones. I would love to be able to influence our society to produce organic foods, to educate people to take care of their bodies, to treat diseases, to discover the reasons for the diseases, and new treatment options. This is what inspired me to pursue a degree in Nursing. I attend Glendale Community College to be able to fulfill the prerequisite classes for a Master’s degree in Nursing.

My personal interests have completely different direction. I love art- books, paintings, music, theater, and movies. Being an European citizen, I had the opportunity to visit places where great artists were born and raised, and had their concerts. Coming to America, I was introduced to a huge entertainment business. I love to watch movies. I think that the American actors are very good, and I really enjoy their work.

I love spending time with my family and friends. I used to play volleyball in High School. Last year I participated in the volleyball team of the hospital I work at. We did not win in most of the games, but we had a lot of fun. This year my daughter’s team won first place in the State Cheer Competition in Prescott. I am a very proud mom of a cheerleader. 

Entry #11: Final Blog Reflection

Blogging was a new and very exciting experience for me. I was hesitant at first because I did not have any experience in blogging and English is not my primary language. I was surprised that once I started writing, the ideas kept coming and I was able to express my feelings and share opinions. Blogging gave me the possibility to improve my writing skills. It also brought out my personality. I did not know I had so many things to say and I was shocked that I was able to say them in correct English!

This experience taught me how to use technology. From this assignment I learned that blogs are a wonderful addition to our social media. It is a way to hear the most current news in the world, to learn about the latest discoveries in science and technology, to travel in time and to new places, to communicate with people from all over the world. The information in the blogs is presented in different ways depending on the author’s style. As a blogger I am able to choose who to trust and to follow, who to discuss the topics I am interested in, which pictures and videos I want to see, and all this is just one click away.

I expressed my views on topics concerning our health, lifestyle, environment, food, and medicine. The most exciting was the fact that I could choose a topic to write about. I used the possibility to express my opinion on current events. My blog “Vaccines can save lives” was a respond to the measles’ outbreak which started in Disney Land.

I was able to blog about topics which I consider important for our society and concern me personally. My blog “Obesity epidemic” gave the opportunity to do some research and express my opinion on a very important global health issue. 

In my effort to figure out the reasons for these problems, I learned a lot about our food industry. The movies, “Fresh”,“Food, Inc.” and the video,"Food preservative video: Pink Slime",  were an eye opener for me. They changed my view about my eating habits. Thanks to the blogs I posted on the food themes, I will make an effort to change my lifestyle. I will definitely consider the local food markets for buying food, and I will try to eat more fruits and vegetables instead of meat. 

I decided to post a blog, "Healthy food from my country of origin. Bulgarian cuisine", to introduce my readers to tested through 20 century tradition of making healthy food. I hope this blog will show that the old customs of preparing food are possibilities we can consider in our effort to build a healthy lifestyle.  

As a blogger, I am able to learn about new findings from our history and hear news about political, social, and sports events in the whole world. I can enjoy the work of artists and witness the achievements of scientists at the same time. Blogging gave me an opportunity to express my vision on important current topics such as "GMOs pro and cons", "What are Probiotics?", and the future in "Technology in Medicine".

I enjoy reading blogs that catch my attention and see the world through the eyes of other people. This was a very enriching experience for me and I will definitely continue blogging.