Real Madrid, They are Unstoppable

“Los Merengues” have done it again. Real Madrid CF has won La Liga BBVA title for the 32^nd time in history! For those of you who don’t know what La Liga BBVA is, it is the professional Spanish soccer league which consists of 20 teams. Real Madrid has been completely dominating this league ever since it was founded and created in 1929. Like I mentioned before, Real Madrid has set the bar extremely high for all the other teams since they have won 32 times including this season (2011-2012). It will be tremendously challenging in order for the “runner ups” of La Liga champions to catch up; Barcelona FC is the team which Real Madrid will defeat in this highly watched championship. Barcelona FC is in 2^nd place with 21 titles of La Liga, meaning they are still over a decade away from Real Madrid in order to be tied.  I am convinced that Barcelona FC will not be winning any time soon, making Real Madrid the undisputed champions.

The 2011-2012 season has been intense filled with adrenaline and amazing moments. The season ended up with the following standings (these are the top 5 out of the 20 teams):

1.      Real Madrid: 100 points

2.      Barcelona: 91 points

3.      Valencia: 61 points

4.      Malaga: 58 points

5.      Atletico de Madrid: 56 points

As you can see, Real Madrid was at a 9 point advantage over Barcelona who was the runner up. In regard to the other teams, they were a long way behind, making it virtually impossible to catch up.

This season, Real Madrid set a new record regarding the scores; they achieved something no other team had done. “Los Blancos” reached 100 points in the standings! This had never been accomplished before this season. In La Liga, each team plays a total of 38 matches; earning 3 points when you win, 1 point for a draw and earning none for a loss.

Every time the Real Madrid team wins the title of La Liga, it has become a tradition that the whole team rides in a convertible bus to the main plaza in Madrid called la Plaza de Cibeles. In this plaza there is a large fountain holding a statue of the Roman goddess Cybele, which is very symbolic for the people of Madrid. When the bus arrives, there are millions of people watching and celebrating with the players. Then the captain of Real Madrid (this year it is Iker Casillas) climbs up on the fountain, ties a Real Madrid flag around Cybele’s neck and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Here I leave you with a video of the whole celebration. HALA MADRID!!!

My Brother's Graduation

May 26, 2012 finally arrived, the day my brother Dani graduated from Escuela Campo Alegre where he studied for 14 years of his life! ECA has been a second home for my brother throughout all these years and he has embraced it dearly. My brother could not have asked for a better opportunity than to have studied and graduated from such an amazing and incredible school as is ECA, as well as to have been surrounded by such caring family members, friends and teachers.

Dani was able to complete his education at ECA all the way from Pre-K to 12^th, studying late at night, working as hard as he could to earn goods grades and especially during these last 3 weeks studying for the brutal IB exams. Well, it finally all paid off!!! On Saturday May 26^th, 2012 my brother graduated as an IB Diploma Candidate with Honors. In mid-August of 2012, my brother will start another 4 years of academic studies (and possibly more) at Florida International University.

I can still remember Dani at his other “moving on ceremonies” in the past years. I can recall when Dani moved on from elementary to middle school. Then, a few years later, Dani left middle school to enter high school, and finally his senior graduation at ECA.

After the graduation, we all went to the graduation party which turned out to be a total blast since many people attended and there was booming music with a light show, as well as delicious food. I did not party alone since many of my brother’s classmates have siblings in my grade. So, I was able to enjoy this event with my friends Rodolfo Postigo, Guillermo Chibas, Hendrik Riemens, Lucia Romero, Ryan Kelly and Ivan Lopez.

There are so many words to express how thrilled I am for my brother Dani. However, once he departs on August 17^th, Dani will leave an enormous gap in my family. I can’t even begin to say how much I will miss him and how I will be extremely bored without him. 

Silver Fin By: Charlie Higson

As you read from my previous blog post on our SSR books, there is an obvious preference that I have for action and adventure genre novels. I decided to shift from the adrenaline pumping Alex Rider series, to the Young Bond novels. I finished reading Silver Fin which was the first book out of the 5 of this series. The story begins when young James Bond arrives to his new boarding school in England, Eton and it is one of the best in the nation. At Eton, Bond makes new friends, one of them being his roommate Pritpal. Later on, he encounters another individual who is 2 years older named George Hellebore. Bond is new to the school and has not had a positive beginning, since George has already begun to bully young James. Bond finds out that George’s father is Lord Randolph Hellebore, an arms dealer who supplied nations with weapons after World War I. This results in James’ father knowing about Lord Hellebore because James’ father had a similar job. Later on, the story setting switches to Scotland where James meets up with his aunt, and on his way he assists a boy nicknamed Red, to find his cousin who has gone missing. Red and James learn that Lord Hellebore owns large areas of land next to Loch Silver Fin (which was filled with eels), and the boys decide to creep into his territory. Unfortunately, Bond is caught and captured. Bond is taken to Hellebore, and the Lord begins to explain certain events that had been unclear for James. Lord Randolph had been experimenting with humans in order to create stronger and better soldiers. In the attempt of creating the correct product, the substances were used on people, to see how it reacted. Red’s cousin was one of the humans they used the test on, and he died from the chemical response of the ingredient. Eventually, Bond is drugged with the Silver Fin serum and placed in a cell. James manages to escape the cell which then leads him to an underwater passage to Loch Silver Fin. Surprisingly, George the son of Randolph comes back into the story but on Bonds’ side and both work together to destroy Lord Randolph’s work. Lord Randolph becomes extremely upset and is going to kill both his son and Bond. However, Algar (Randolph’s brother) stops him and both fall into the loch and then are killed by the eels. If you are the type of reader that enjoys action packed moments, I truly recommend this book because the “never ending action” made me feel like reading the book in one sitting. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books of this series.