Sebastian Martinez
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-1A
12 March 2019
The Trip
The date is December 20th, 2014, and it is a very hot day in southern Mexico. My hands are sweating, and I feel the strong force of the wind hitting my face as I race down the steep road. I can feel myself starting to lose balance and try to guess which way would be best to fall. I can’t control it anymore….
Let me start at the beginning before this all began. The date was December 8th, 2014 and I was heading to elementary school. I was in 4th grade and I asked the teacher for all of the homework I would need before I took off to Mexico. She handed me a small stack of papers to do that wouldn’t be too hard to finish if I took them with me on the trip. I was traveling with my grandparents, my sister, and my cousin. My parents had already booked me a flight with them on December 10th, 2014. The airport was in Boise, Idaho.
I started to pack the day before, and I tried to figure out all the stuff I would need for the trip. The suitcase was already full, and I could not fit anything else in it. My parents dropped my sister and I at my grandparent’s house at around 9 P.M. Unsurprisingly, my cousin was already there with a suitcase in hand. I greeted my both of my grandparents and asked them what time we were leaving.
They said, “Nos vamos a las tres de la mañana.”
That means three in the morning in Spanish. I guess the flight was at 6 A.M, and it was best to be an hour early. We arrived at the airport at roughly 5 A.M. The sun was just beginning to rise, and it was dawn. After all the security checks, we were at the gate and waiting for 6. The time came, and we were all excited to leave.
The plane had to make a stop in Phoenix, Arizona. When we arrived there, it was hot and dry, very different than Idaho at the time. We boarded another plane, and this one was heading to the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. When we arrived, the stench of pollution hit me. I knew I was in a big city. We still had to travel more in car because our town was an hour away from Guadalajara. When we finally arrived, I felt relief from traveling so much and was exhausted.
The date was now December 20th, my cousin and I were looking curiously around the shed. We saw two bikes in the back corner of the shed. They were very dirty and covered in cobwebs. We asked our grandpa if we could wash and use them, and he said yeah. We gave them a wash with the hose, and they weren't dirty anymore.
We took them onto the road, and I said, “First one down the hill and back wins.”
My cousin agreed, and we were set to race down the steep road. We counted to three and went down it as fast as two cars. I was winning at first, and then I suddenly started to shake and lose balance. The fierce wind was hitting my face, and my eyes were teary from it. I knew I was going to fall and was contemplating on how I should land.
“Help” I said as I fell.
It was too late. I fell on my right shoulder and hit my head on the road. Everything went black. I woke up at my grandma's house on the bed and all my family was around me.
“Are you ok” my sister and cousin asked.
“I think so” I responded.
I got up from the bed. I had a raging headache, and my right shoulder was aching. They took me to see a doctor, and it turned out I had a minor concussion. I had a bald spot on the right side of my head where I hit it on the road. We returned home the next week, and I got sick from the drastic decrease in temperature. Months went by, and I now when I look back at it, it was pretty funny. I learned to never ride a bike without a helmet and to not ride recklessly.
Narrative Reflection Questions
Answer all questions with complete, grammatically correct sentences. Be specific and thoroughly address each question.
1. List one thing you've learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like? One thing I learned is to use detail when you are describing something. I will always use this in other assignments.
2. Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn? I needed to indent some of my paragraphs and then I learned how to do that.
3. What are the conventions of a narrative and how did you meet those in this assignment? Narratives use detail and dialog and I think I met these in the assignment.
4. Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I would give even more detail throughout the narrative.
5. What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? I am proud that I used great detail in this paper.
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-1A
12 March 2019
The Trip
The date is December 20th, 2014, and it is a very hot day in southern Mexico. My hands are sweating, and I feel the strong force of the wind hitting my face as I race down the steep road. I can feel myself starting to lose balance and try to guess which way would be best to fall. I can’t control it anymore….
Let me start at the beginning before this all began. The date was December 8th, 2014 and I was heading to elementary school. I was in 4th grade and I asked the teacher for all of the homework I would need before I took off to Mexico. She handed me a small stack of papers to do that wouldn’t be too hard to finish if I took them with me on the trip. I was traveling with my grandparents, my sister, and my cousin. My parents had already booked me a flight with them on December 10th, 2014. The airport was in Boise, Idaho.
I started to pack the day before, and I tried to figure out all the stuff I would need for the trip. The suitcase was already full, and I could not fit anything else in it. My parents dropped my sister and I at my grandparent’s house at around 9 P.M. Unsurprisingly, my cousin was already there with a suitcase in hand. I greeted my both of my grandparents and asked them what time we were leaving.
They said, “Nos vamos a las tres de la mañana.”
That means three in the morning in Spanish. I guess the flight was at 6 A.M, and it was best to be an hour early. We arrived at the airport at roughly 5 A.M. The sun was just beginning to rise, and it was dawn. After all the security checks, we were at the gate and waiting for 6. The time came, and we were all excited to leave.
The plane had to make a stop in Phoenix, Arizona. When we arrived there, it was hot and dry, very different than Idaho at the time. We boarded another plane, and this one was heading to the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. When we arrived, the stench of pollution hit me. I knew I was in a big city. We still had to travel more in car because our town was an hour away from Guadalajara. When we finally arrived, I felt relief from traveling so much and was exhausted.
The date was now December 20th, my cousin and I were looking curiously around the shed. We saw two bikes in the back corner of the shed. They were very dirty and covered in cobwebs. We asked our grandpa if we could wash and use them, and he said yeah. We gave them a wash with the hose, and they weren't dirty anymore.
We took them onto the road, and I said, “First one down the hill and back wins.”
My cousin agreed, and we were set to race down the steep road. We counted to three and went down it as fast as two cars. I was winning at first, and then I suddenly started to shake and lose balance. The fierce wind was hitting my face, and my eyes were teary from it. I knew I was going to fall and was contemplating on how I should land.
“Help” I said as I fell.
It was too late. I fell on my right shoulder and hit my head on the road. Everything went black. I woke up at my grandma's house on the bed and all my family was around me.
“Are you ok” my sister and cousin asked.
“I think so” I responded.
I got up from the bed. I had a raging headache, and my right shoulder was aching. They took me to see a doctor, and it turned out I had a minor concussion. I had a bald spot on the right side of my head where I hit it on the road. We returned home the next week, and I got sick from the drastic decrease in temperature. Months went by, and I now when I look back at it, it was pretty funny. I learned to never ride a bike without a helmet and to not ride recklessly.
Narrative Reflection Questions
Answer all questions with complete, grammatically correct sentences. Be specific and thoroughly address each question.
1. List one thing you've learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like? One thing I learned is to use detail when you are describing something. I will always use this in other assignments.
2. Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn? I needed to indent some of my paragraphs and then I learned how to do that.
3. What are the conventions of a narrative and how did you meet those in this assignment? Narratives use detail and dialog and I think I met these in the assignment.
4. Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I would give even more detail throughout the narrative.
5. What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? I am proud that I used great detail in this paper.