Indian Epics 2018

Top 3 Readings of Part B: EXTRA CREDIT Source 1.  The Wise and Foolish Merchant -A Merchant bought goods to sell -A younger merchant was going to sell the same -One of the merchants had to travel first -The foolish merchant went first -The old merchant thought it was better for the young one to go to create a better path for him -The demon was going to take the fool merchants water -The wise merchant comes to save the day and is able to make it to town 2. The King's White Elephant -The carpenters live near a river and get lumber every day -They saw an injured elephant -They helped it -The elephant would stay and help them -The elephant's son also helped the carpenters -The kind bought the elephant 3. Why the Owl Is Not King of the Birds - Owls vs Crows -The owl was chosen as the king of the birds -But the crows didn't like that choice -They became enemies -The birds decided to not pick either Title : Jataka Tales Author : Ellen C. Babbitt ...

Top 3 Readings:  1.  The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking -A turtle became friends with two geese looking for food -They invite the turtle to visit their home -The geese made a deal to take the turtle if he keeps quite -The kids started to make fun of the turtle because he was on a branch -The turtle broke the promise and talked back to the kids -He fell and died Source 2.  The Sandy Road -A merchant goes to a desert -It was soo hot outside that people could only travel by night -The first man on the path was a pilot to guide the rest of the travelers -The merchant thought that they were near the city -The pilot grew exhausted -They get lost and are without water -They beat a rock to find water -They do not give up and reach the city 3.  The Foolish, Timid Rabbit -A rabbit takes a nap under a tree -He thought to himself "what if the world breaks up?" -A coconut falls -The rabbit runs in panic -He tells all of the animal...

This week, I was finally able to read the last sections for Mahabharata. It took so many weeks for me to be able to wrap up the story, but I am so glad that I did. I really ended up enjoying the ending. It felt that there were no open ends left to talk about. Although I did not enjoy this epic as much as the stories of Rama, it was still entertaining to read.  Outside of working on my website, this week I ran into a website of another student in our class. Although I cannot remmeber her name, it has such a nice layout. It gave me inspiration in the formatting that I should use for my future stories for my porfolio.  These past weeks, my German language lecture finally started. For the past three weeks, I have taken a lot of time to study German. When I first arrived in Germany, I could not speak anything. Now, I am able to have a small conversation. It is crazy to see how much progress I made in a matter of weeks. I am really excited and motivated to learn German. The midd...

Going back to the meaning of growth mindset, one version of the definition is to stay open to new ideas or different ways of thinking to improve your own mindset. Since I like to travel, there are times when I am ignorant of different cultures because I have never had the chance to interact with people from that country. Each time I travel somewhere new, I try and take in a new culture by trying to understand why the people there act the way that they do. This in the future helps me grow my personal mindset and take down my personal stereotype that I had. Source

This is arguably one of the most important tech tips out there. An online bookmark is so important when taking an online lecture, or even a lecture on campus. When looking up resources, you can simply save your source or webpage to a folder to look at it again later. I personally have a "college" folder on my Google Chrome Brower. This folder holds more files for each of my classes during the semester. It makes it so easy to navigate to refer back to old webpages for the course. I would recommend to create a subfolder for each class. This will save a lot of time to find what webpage you are looking for. If you are unclear how to make a bookmark on your browser, please click the link for more information.

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT My Top 2 Readings from Part D from the Public Domain Edition of  Mahabharata : 1. Horse Sacrifice -The wandering of the horses have ended - Yudhishthira was pure -   Arjuna  and Arjuna's Son brought a horse -12 days after the arrival, there was a big ceremony -They bathed in the Ganes -There was a sacred alter -Animals were scaraficed -Kings and other royals were to be blessed -They were to sarfice a horse  - "Pure indeed is the horse; verily the gods will accept the sacrifice. Strike now, O strong one." -The horse was very pure and full of "light" -For Vishnu This story was nice because it described a ritual. It was intresting to see the importance of horses or what it defined as "pure" in the epic.  Source   Source .  Indian Myth and Legend  by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). 2. The Afterlife -The final section - Yudhishthira reachs complete bliss - Duryodhana  has the throne -Ev...

Source My Top 3 Readings from Part C from the Public Domain Edition of  Mahabharata : 1.  Krishna's Visit -Krishna went to the forest -Krishna talked with Draupadi -Her husband did not save her -"A Queen over kings" - Yudhishthira, "Anger is sinful; it is the cause of destruction. He that is angry cannot distinguish between right and wrong. O fair Draupadi, one should forgive every wrong. Forgiveness is holiness; it is Truth; it is  Brahman ." -   "The gods are shrouded in mystery; who can pierce the cloud which covers the doings of the gods? Although thou canst not perceive the fruits of goodness, do not doubt thy religion or the gods." Overall, this story was a hard read because it was talking more about how life operates in general, versus something that is said in daily conversation.  Source .  Indian Myth and Legend  by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). 2.  The Court of King Virata -Pandavas ...

This semester has gone by so fast! Right now, I have missed more assignments than I originally expected to. I currently have 166 points, which puts me at a 'C.' With this being said, I will spend more time focusing on this class. I hope to catch back up and finish with an A by doing all of the extra credit assignments each week. Overall, I have not had any troubles with the assignments. It is just sometimes hard to keep up since I am also studying abroad this semester. I have honestly really enjoyed everything in this class. For the last half of the semester, I will focus my full attention and effort to finish the semester strong. Source

When I looked back at the comments from the other students in this class, I have found them all very positive and encouraging. This is very good for my writing because I am honestly not confident by any means. Since my classmates encourage me to keep writing stories, it makes the assignments a lot more enjoyable. When it comes to my responses and feedback to others, I had a hard time at first. All of the stories that have been published have been very good, in my opinion. So, it has been hard for me to find feedback that will help with their writing. But, I am starting to get used to giving constructive criticism. Everyone in the class has such interesting stories and backgrounds. Having an introduction to each person in the class has made an online lecture a lot more personal. After looking back at my introduction, I feel like I wrote myself in the right light. I wish I made it a little bit more detailed, but I am able to share more about my life in the comme...

I can't believe how fast this semester has been going. As we approach the middle of the semester, I have taken the time to look back at my past reading assignments. I first struggled with finding the style of notes that I wanted to type. But, after looking at other blogs, I was able to develop a style that worked for me. I thought that picking out my top 3 readings would be more useful than summarizing the entire section. Through my top 3, I am able to create a story from it. I have always struggled with creative writing, but this course has helped give me a more creative outlet to express myself.  Source I picked this image of Rama because I enjoyed reading the epic about him so much. I did not think that I would enjoy reading epics, but this was very manageable and I was able to learn a lot from this teachings. Also, while I was in a small city in Germany the other day, I was in a store and the owner had pictures of Rama. This was really cool because I knew who Rama wa...

REWRITTEN IN PORTFOLIO: WEBSITE   Source There once was a girl named Jess. She was later married at a young age of 16 to John. These two were inseparable. John adored Jess more than anyone else in the world. Although they came from religious families, they, themselves, were not. After moving in with each other the trouble began... Jess: Let's have a baby. John: I think that we should After a year passed, this conversation turned into a reality. Their child was beautiful. They originally planned not to raise this child in faith of any kind. But, one day one of John's friends became a large influence in his life. Mark was involved with the Catholic church his entire life. After talking with Mark about religion, John started to develop his faith even more. John: Let's go to church. Jess: What!? This doesn't seem like you. Jess did not know how to react. As years passed, Jess and John began to grow apart. They did not expect this situation on their wedd...