I know this sounds geeky but…

This year, in my English class we read Macbeth. I knew that the play was about some guy who killed some other guy and couldn’t wash the blood off his hands. Little did I know. I wasn’t very exited. The previous year we didn’t read any Shakespeare because he wasn’t on the AP test. The last play I’d read before Macbeth was Othello: not my favorite literature piece, but I fought through it.

This year when my teacher told us we were going to read Macbeth, I was indifferent: just another play where everyone dies. I was expecting long speeches, blank verse, extended metaphors, etc. I wasn’t expecting to understand or appreciate Macbeth.We finished the first Act quickly. I understood it all. No need for sparknotes or pink money or whatever. For the first time, I could comprehend what the play was about.

I thought maybe I’d gotten lucky. But no, I grasped all five acts easily. Macbeth is my favorite. It became my most annotated play and my most wrinkled,

Two weeks after Macbeth, we began reading Hamlet. I thought I wasn’t going to understand it. But I did. I get it. I was so happy when I finally understood what the famous “To be or not to be” speech was all about.

We’re still not done with Hamlet, but I’m looking forward to reading the end. I know that everyone dies because someone spoiled the ending for me but I still want to know.Now I want to see through Shakespeare’s words, not through the condensed summary written by a sparknotes writer or through the simple words of a classmate.

I know it soudns geeky, but I like Shakespeare. [specially Macbeth xD]

College Essays

I just finished writing my first drafts of the UC admissions essays. I think those were the hardest papers I’ve ever written. Well the first drafts are done! I basically sat down in front of the computer, read the prompt and began to type. THat’s what my teacher told our class. Just type, don’t stop. This way your true self will come through. The hardest part was thinking about what to write.

Now I’m going to step away from them for a couple of days. Forget about them, and then come back with a fresh mind. I know that next time I look at them, I’ll say: “Did I really write this? This is horrible!”

A Farewell to AP’s

Dear AP Tests,

I write to you to give you the final farewell of our time together during this year. It has gone by so fast, these 8 long months, all spent together in the company of a textbook and practice tests. I must say, our daily meetings were quite pleasant, they almost never failed to put me to sleep. Paradoxically, there were times when I was deprived from sleep. Staying up until midnight, with the pen scratching fore out of the paper, those were your favorite times.

At last, the good times came to an end. Our last hours together were divide into different sessions, each around three hours long. How I waited patiently for the clock hand to complete its usual loop. We finally said goodbye, sealing the annotated symbol of our friendship. I watched as you were taken from me by a proctor who was longing to get home. I know the feeling.

Farewell AP exams. If I were to see you again, it would be a sight for sore and sleep deprived eyes. Do not worry my friends, it wil not be long before we meet again, under the light of a flatt roofed classroom or among the pages of a book. There in between the crammed lines of text, I will see your face again.

Adieu, mes amis.

~LeLoOr