Why I love Rome

I have been in Rome for the past four days. I have traveled to big world cities before; Beijing, New York, and London, but I don't think that any of these cities can compare to the eternal city. Here's eight reasons why I love Rome:

1. Pizza. We all know that the pizza in Italy is supposed to be really good, but can you truly understand the meaning of good unless you have eaten at Pinsere right next door to the Hotel Medici. This little gem is bustling at lunch time, and for good reason. They have a counter with many different types of personal pizzas, and all you have to do is point and they will pop it in the oven for you. Examples of pizzas I tried are potato and prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato sauce, red onion and spicy salami, pumpkin and biscotti and blue cheese and balsamic (like what???).




















2. Roads. Most of the roads here are quite bumpy, and that is because they are like cobblestone. It is basically a mosaic of stone bricks on the streets. They are fun to walk on and create an earthquake like environment when riding the public bus.

3. Colorful buildings and shutters. If it's not marble in Rome, then it is going to colorful. The buildings will be painted yellow or orange or green or pink and there will be set of shutters on all of the windows that are different colors. My favorite color scheme was a yellow building with sky blue shutters. The colors give life and personality to the city, much nicer than drab bricks or monotone siding.

4. Trees. One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing the different types of trees that grow around the world. Rome might just have some of the best after Costa Rica (hard to beat the trees in a cloud forest). They have many tall skinny pines, but the real beauties are the stone pines, dotting the hill tops and adding to the ancient aura of the city.



5. Compactness. I saw almost all of the main historical sites and attractions in Rome, and they all seemed within a mile of the giant white marble WWI memorial in Venice Square. I knew my way around the Jewish Ghetto and the Tiber River and almost always recognized something around me. It made it really nice for exploring the city.
Jewish Artichoke


6. Gelato. What can I say? Creamy, decadent, the absolute best way to top off a carb-filled three course Italian dinner. When in Rome, eat gelato everyday.

7. Ancient ruins all over the city. It's pretty cool to be walking through modern shops and restaurants then stumble upon the Colosseum or the Palatino Hill. It amazes me how well preserved so much of the ruins are, and our tour guide gave us buckets of information to understand how her city used to be.

8. Luke Miles. This is my boyfriend and he was on this trip with me. We spent every day together, taking selfies and sharing food and laughing. For me traveling is always better when it is with someone you love, and I am so happy that L&L got to take on Italy together.

Ciao Rome!

The Things I Know

In sixth grade, I was asked to make a chart of things I know about, things I know a little about, and things I want to know about. Below is a photo of the original document.

If you are finding this a little difficult to read, I have made another chart that is easier to read. I'm not sure why I crossed everything out and wrote "labroodles" at the bottom.

 When I first found this list among stacks of my middle school papers, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Sixth grade me was an expert in the field of potatoes, but really I wanted to know about sand. And train stations? I'm pretty certain that must have been a lie, because I had never even been to a train station until 2015. I believe the point of these lists is to explore writing ideas. If you are writing a story or informational piece, it would be better to choose from things you know. But if you were writing a research paper, you would want to choose something you knew little or nothing about so you learn while researching.

Things I know a lot about: caves, chemistry, turgor pressure, Luke Miles, and potatoes
Things I know a little about: snow skiing, driving, blogging, statues, and train stations
Things I want to know about: bottom of the ocean, teaching, string theory, south africa, and how cell phones work.

This is a very small list I made up off of my head, just like I did six years ago. I still love potatoes, I have a little experience with train stations, and I still can't wrap my head around cell phones.

Ride Your Bike

Bike riding is something that I enjoy doing when I am home. Not hardcore "bike 50 miles at a time" bike riding, but instead leisurely biking on my road. It might sound lame, but to me it is the best way to enjoy Happy Hollow road.

On school weeks, after school let out the Kessler's would bike to my house and we would take off from there, up and down the road. We also give a friendly wave to every car that passes, and there is usually some screaming involved at dogs that get a little too close for comfort. Once I was flying down the hill on my road when a dog ran right in front of me. I hit it head on and flew off my bike, but thankfully my only injuries were a gash in my big toe and a sprained ankle. Rides right at sunset are my favorite, you can zoom to the end of the road and pull over at the bridge to take in the beautiful country landscape that is glowing orange.

Sometimes we do go on bigger bike rides out on desolate country roads in my county. Usually in the fall, my parents and I will grab a couple MRE's and bike for around 8 miles, lucky to ever pass a car. Our bikes are 21 speed, so whenever going up a hill we will brag what speed setting we are on (3, 7 being the highest and 1, 1 being the lowest). I am proud to say my bike hardly ever leaves 3, 5.

Biking is a great way to get around. It is quick, agile, environment friendly, personal health friendly, and fun. If biking to work is an option but you've just never tried it, you should. Bike around your neighborhood as well. Everything seems a little happier when you are on a bike.

Dear China

Before coming to China, I was very excited. I would consider myself a world traveler in the making, and every new place I get the opportunity to travel to gets me one step closer. My goal when traveling places is to have an absolute blast and learn as much as I possibly can. As for China, I thought that it would be a little crazy, but overall a great time. I can say that the second I walked through the airport in Beijing, I knew this was going to be a huge culture shock. One can think in their minds that 23 million people in a city is going to be a big number, but you don’t really understand the massiveness of that number until you actually immerse yourself into Beijing. The crowds of people everywhere really did throw me for a loop, especially because I am from the country side in Kentucky. After a few days though, I felt like a true citizen of Beijing. Nothing made me feel more independent and mature than riding the subway through the city without an adult, and actually arriving at the destination I wanted. I initially thought the subway system was chaotic and unorganized, but I came to realize that it is actually very organized and efficient, you just have to be on your toes at all times. Another aspect of Beijing I was not expecting was the very distinct smell. Before coming, my friends who had been to China before told me that China has a smell, and they were right. I got used to the smell very quickly though, and it will seem odd in America to not have the Chinese smell lingering about everywhere.

           

           One of the parts of China I was looking forward to the most was the food. In the United States, Chinese takeout and Chinese buffets are my favorite restaurants. I was really excited to taste actual Chinese food, instead of the Americanized version. I quickly realized that Chinese food is much different than what I was expecting. It took a little getting used to, and there were some things that were just too weird for my sheltered American appetite, but overall the food was a good and interesting experience. One of my favorite foods I had while I was here was in a little restaurant across the street from our hotel. Inside, you could watch the chefs making the noodles homemade, getting them thinner and thinner with every pull. They were the best noodles I have ever had in my life, and I ended up eating at the noodle restaurant for supper three times in a row!

            This trip was full of a lot of fun experiences, and I really enjoyed all the places we visited in Beijing. First, the markets. In America, there is no bartering at all in stores. But in China, I quickly found out you must barter or you will be getting completely ripped off. It was so much fun bartering, I loved going back and forth with the sellers, trying to settle on a price that suited us both. The markets themselves were a little crazy, but they were a fun and new crazy, one I wanted to keep going back to (even though my wallet didn’t want me to). Second, the Great Wall of China. When I heard we were going to get to climb on the Great Wall on this trip, I was very excited. The Great Wall is one of the most impressive man-made structures in the world, and is full of so much rich history and beauty. And when we actually climbed on it, it was awesome. The pure size of the wall was amazing, and even though I was dripping sweat the whole time, it was well worth it. I felt like a true citizen of China, and at the top I took a few minutes to just sit and admire the beautiful mountains and world around me. It was probably a moment I will never forget.  Third, the Olympic park. The Olympic park was on the top of my to-do list while in China, and it ended up being on the itinerary anyways. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing were the first Olympics I ever watched, and I loved them. It was just so cool to get to physically get to walk around the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube where the world’s best athletes have competed. I really enjoyed seeing the architecture of the buildings. The buildings in Beijing are like none I’ve ever seen before, and it sparked an interest in architecture for me. These three places I mentioned are only a very small fraction of the places we visited while in China, but all of the other places we went to were all awesome experience’s as well.

            Overall, China was probably the biggest adventure I have ever had. It was so much different than America, and it definitely took some getting used to. However, I do not regret going on this trip, and I am so glad I was opened up to so many new experiences. China was one of a kind, and who knows, maybe I will see China again in my future.

Climbing

“I consider climbing a meditative activity,” Smith says. “You have to focus intently on what you’re doing, so you can eliminate all of your other thoughts." Stetson adds, "When you’re standing on top of what you thought there was no way you could do, when the risks were high, it’s one of the most satisfying things in the world."

So far my three favorite moments in Italy have involved climbing stairs:

1. Climbing to the top of the Dome of Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers in Florence.
2. Climbing up to the Rocca Maggiore castle in Assisi.
3. Climbing down to the Tyrrhenian Sea in Sorrento.

I agree with Stetson. Before you begin the trek up or down, your goal seems like a tiny flickering light at the end of the tunnel, wavering in stability. But once you take that first step, your blood starts flowing, your breathing becomes heavy, and the only thing on your mind is getting to the end. Climbing requires a lot of concentration and will; it is very easy to slow down and stop your journey, telling yourself that you've done enough and the view is just fine from where you are now. But is the seeing the view all you really wanted to acheive when you took that first step? The view at the end will prove to yourself that you really accomplished something, but the feeling of satisfaction is the most important.

Take the stairs next time you walk to class or head to the office, and CLIMB THAT GODDAMN MOUNTAIN! (Jack Kerouac)

Pretend Game

You are a 16 year old British girl. Your twin sister and yourself were on a merchant ship that crashed onto the shore of America in 1613. You are scared, confused, and hungry. This new land is remote, not another human in sight except for your sister (everyone else was killed in the crash). You and your sister cling to each other, feeling utterly alone. But little do you know that lurking in the trees are seemingly savage people, the Native Americans. 

After dozing off while leaned against a mossy tree, you are awaken by the snap of twig. Scooting away slowly to not wake your sister, you stand up. Like a bolt of lightning, a young man covers you mouth and drags you away. 

You are surrounded by dark people wearing colorful buckskin tunics. They watch cautiously as you eat the rabbit they gave you. You recognize you captor; how could you not, his handsome eyes were staring at you with unmatched intensity. But wait, how could you even consider an attraction to this beast? He tied you to a tree in a foreign land and had left your sister alone in the forest. 

Days pass, and the feelings only grow. While you are consumed with worry for your sister, you can't help but fall in love with the boy. He brings you extra food and sneaks into your tent at night to tell you stories from his world. One night he rushes in to your tent with a machete in hand. "Oh no," you think, "they have decided to kill me." To your surprise, the boy cuts the ropes around your hands and feet then frantically informs you that your sister has been taken captive by an enemy tribe, and they intend to murder her at dawn.

You both set off towards the enemy tribe's camp to rescue your sister. There are guards surrounding her tent; you attempt to sneak in the back while the boy causes a distraction in the front. A commotion ensues as the three of you (sister safely in tow) sprint back home. Along the way, the boy begins to lose strength. To your horror, he has been struck by an arrow in the side. His breathing becomes shallow, it is apparent he won't last much longer. Your captor, your savior, and your first love had given his life for you and your sister. With one last kiss, you walk away. 

Weeks later a ship arrives to retrieve you and your sister. As you float away from land, you feel a gust of warmth in the chilly wind, and you know that he will always be with you.

Above is a synopsis of a pretend game Meredith, Mia, and I used to play. The setting was the Kessler's front yard; Meredith was the Native American boy, Mia was the twin sister, and I was the girl who fell in love with the boy. Because there were only three of us, whenever one of our characters wasn't in the scene we would play other minor characters. We could spend hours in our fantasy worlds, every time a little different than the last. This is just one of our pretend games; there were many others we cycled through. I remember when we got a little older and Meredith decided she didn't want to play pretend games anymore. That was a sad day; I still miss playing the lost British girl and letting my imagination have complete control.

Happy Hollow

I have lived on Happy Hollow road my whole life. The name is fitting; the road dips in the middle, creating a hollow, and the people always seem to be happy. Below is a handcrafted map of Happy Hollow Rd. The red pentagons are houses on my road (most houses are pictured; however, some houses I did not deem worthy so the picture isn't completely accurate) and the green pentagon is my house. Black circles at the end of a black line represent a cul-de-sac, while blue circles represent ponds.

1. Henry the egg man. Henry is an 85 year old man with a very large chicken coop. He gets his eggs fresh every morning, and every week or two we will go buy a few dozen. He also puts up 15 handmade christmas trees in his yard every holiday season.
2. Beans and Alexis. These are two children (they do have parents, don't know their names) that Meredith babysitted in the summer of 2014. They are very sweet and love to ride bikes.
3. The police officer that lives far from the road in a big beautiful house.
4. The Grinch. This man takes three walks down the whole length of our road everyday; the morning, midmorning, and afternoon. He was dubbed the Grinch because he never used to wave at cars passing by, but once you get to talking to him you realize he is a very sweet old man.
5. The Kinnards, home of Jonathan Kinnard (fellow Gattoneer and Meredith Kessler's former beau).
6. Randy the farmer. Not really on Happy Hollow, but he has a gravel road that runs the length of his property through agricultural fields that is very fun to ride four-wheelers on.
7. Mamaw and Papaw! They built their house in 2007, moving from Indiana, and their property has many Hickory trees, making for thousands of yummy nuts and squirrels to eat the.
8. The Morris's. They have a dog named Jackson that bolts through his electric fence and bothers my papaw quite regularly.
9. The Kays (aka the jews). All I know is they are rich doctors that throw huge Bar Mitzvahs.
10. This weird little house that used to be back in the woods but then someone new moved there and chopped down all of the trees. They also have a wonderful flowing creek in their front yard, great for frolicking in.
11. Taylor Blakely's (Mia childhood friend) grandma. She has cute cats. 
12. The Stallons. They have many grandchildren that come to their house every weekend, and many a time have I wandered around their yard when no one was home. I'm willing to bet they've seen the Kessler's and I skinny dipping in the Kessler's pool before.
13. Destiny. She lives with her grandparents in this house. She is in the highschool band and has a cat that sits at the end of her driveway when she gets on the school bus and is waiting for her in the same spot when she gets off of the school bus.
14. The Kessler's! My best friends Meredith and Mia live here. Their house is so dark at night it doesn't even look like it exists because they don't have outside lights on. They also have a frolicking creek in their front yard and a pasture in the back.
15. The mormons. They all have long hair and wear skirts and their front yard is the site of the epic flood river floating.
16. The Dunns. This family lives next to the Kessler's and they have always been a little sketchy. The son does drugs often, they have a very mean dog chained up, and their house looks like it is beginning to fall apart. They have a grandson named Trey who comes to visit sometimes, he used to pick on Meredith and I when we were little.
17. The Thomas's. They have a girl my age in school, but we never interacted. They are also terrible drivers, if you see the Thomas's car, run!
18. The Keller's (not us). These are my second cousins on my dads side, Richard and Judy. Judy tutored me in math for a while.
19. The dog people. Who knows what these peoples names are, I just know they decorate their house for every holiday, they have lots of dogs, and they adopted an autistic asian boy that sometimes stands on the side of the road and throws things at passing cars.
20. The Woodards. They really aren't important, but they have been here as long as my family so I felt they deserved a spot.
21. The old Silfies resident. New people live there now, but it used to be my second home when Lucas Silfies lived there.
22. ME!
23. Jerry and Betty Boling. Our beloved neighbors, an old couple that always keep an eye out for us. Jerry loves deer hunting and mows his yard every other day. They also used to have a weeping willow tree in their front yard that was great for pretend games.
24. The Adcocks, our mortal enemies. They moved to town about 5 years ago, and I decided to become friends with their daughters until there was a huge scandal in which they accused us of murdering their dog in the night (we didn't). It was all downhill from there; they got a mean dog, Kristen (the daughter) moved away and went to the dark side, and now I hear the parents are getting divorced.
25. These random people with a blue house and beautiful Christmas lights.
26. Mr. Fisher. We used to think he didn't actually exist because his house was run down and there were never any lights on. Then one day he showed up, and now he is a regular in the hollow.
27. Legendary Huffy. He fixes all cars and teaches dogs how to hunt.
28. Matt the Police man and his mom. They have an awesome creek, but I don't think they like me because I often cut across their yard.
29. The old Cornell residence. Mrs. Cornell was my second grade teacher and the first person to really push me in my education. Their mailbox is an exact replica of their house.
30. The new people. When they were building their house, Mer, Mia, and I got caught in our swimsuits playing a pretend game in their house. They were very friendly about it, but we never completely warmed up to them because their is a great fishing pond in their backyard we no longer have access to.
31. Why did I even put a pentagon here?
32. Crazy dog people with beautiful apple trees and a amazing pond that we aren't allowed to go to.
33. Leann, my mom's good friends and once called the cops when she saw the Kessler's and I messing around with her mailbox at night (we had written nice letters for everyone on our road and were trying to be anonymous with their delivery).

This is a very quick summary of the houses and people that have shaped my childhood. The people don't really run the Hollow though; the dogs do. We are a dog community, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My Favorite Physics Lab Report

Position and Velocity

By: Luci Keller

Partner: Wendy Loomis

9/3/15

Experimental Description:

During this experiment we completed four different tasks to analyze position and velocity. First we dropped one bean bag every second while someone walked at a steady pace so we could use the distances between the bags to analyze velocity. Then we took turns walking forwards/backwards going fast/slow in front of a sonic range motion sensor, creating graphs of our positions and velocities vs time. We combined the bean bag method with the motion sensor method to compare our bean bag speed calculations vs the calculations from the graphs produced. We did this by dropping one bean bag per second as someone walked towards the motion sensor. Finally, we matched position and velocity to a given graph by determining how we could move in front of the motion sensor to best replicate the velocity on the given graph.

Data and Analysis:

TASK 1: Below is a sketch that replicates the dropping of bean bags while a person walked at two different speeds.

 

From the bean bag positions for both walks, you can tell that the person was walking at a steady pace because the distance between each bean bag is close to the same over a time interval of one second. Each walk lasted 4 seconds. You can tell that the person was walking faster in the first walk because they traveled a much larger distance than the second walk in the same amount of time.

Task 2: We then created different position vs time and different velocity vs time graphs using the sonic range motion sensor.

Position graph 1

                                                                  Position graph 2 

The sign (positive/negative) of the slope (Δd/Δt) graphs tells you the direction that the person was moving. In position graph 1, the person was moving backwards because their position is increasing with time (positive slope), meaning they are moving away from the sensor. In position graph 2, the person was moving forward because their position was decreasing with time (negative slope), meaning they are moving towards the sensor. The size of the slope tells you fast the person was walking. A larger slope means that the person was walking faster, and a smaller slope means they were walking slower.

Velocity graph 1

Velocity graph 2 

The sign (positive/negative) of the velocity tells you the direction the person was walking. In velocity graph 1, the person was gaining distance (equivalent to walking away from the motion sensor) because the velocity is positive. In velocity graph 2, the person was decreasing in distance (equivalent to walking towards the motion sensor) because the velocity is negative. The absolute value of the size of the velocity tells you how fast the person was walking. In velocity graph 1, just by looking at the graph, it appears that the average velocity was .3 m/s. In velocity graph 2 it was about .5 m/s (absolute value of -.5 m/s), meaning that the person is velocity graph 2 was walking faster.

Task 3:

Graphs that correspond with bean bags

 

We calculated the speed of the walker using the bean bags first by finding the mean of the distances between each of the bean bags and dividing that by the total seconds traveled.

.69m + .65m +.61m + .59m + .62m / 5 sec = .63 m/s

From the velocity graph, we can see that the walker’s actual speed was around .40 m/s. Our calculations of speed using the bean bags was around .23 m/s faster than the actual speed, meaning our results were not very reliable.  

Task 4:

Recreation of given velocity graph

From looking at the given graph, we determined that we needed to stand still for the first two seconds, walk backwards (away from the motion sensor) for two seconds, stand still for one second, walk forwards (toward the motion detector) for 3 seconds, then stop for the rest of the time. The above graph was created by following these steps, and is fairly close to the original graph.

Conclusion:

To conclude, the relation between position and velocity and time can be analyzed through graphs. We determined that a positive velocity means an object is gaining distance while a negative velocity means an object is decreasing in distance. A positive slope on a position graph means that the object is moving away from the motion sensor and a negative slope means that the object is moving towards the motion sensor. Errors that could have had effect on this experiment would be not correctly calibrating the motion sensor or not pointing the motion sensor at a flat moving object (i.e. a baggy wrinkly shirt could have caused errors in the measurement of position).