I am off on a trip on my own. Yes ! Alone! I can't wait to get going to Europe to see some cities I really want to visit. It is great because I can choose what I want to do in each city. I am going to travel by train on the Eurorail.

     The train trip was fast and the views of the countryside were amazing. Now I am in Salzburg, Austria. The quiet hills of Austria are a great place to relax. The movie The Sound of Music was filmed around this area. Mozart, the famous musician, was from here. I listened to some of his classical music.

     The train ride to Amsterdam was a long one. It gave me time to write some postcards to send back home. Amsterdam is a fun city, full of friendly locals and many tourists. I spent the whole day visiting the art museums here. The museum about the famous Dutch artist Van Gogh is filled with history and beautiful art. I took a boat ride and saw local people in traditional dress. I even got to taste some delicious Dutch cheese.

     Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of the safest places in the world. I spent a busy and nice day at the Tivoli Amusement Park. It is a huge park which even has concerts and dance shows. Hans Christian Anderson, a famous writer of children's books, was born in this city. I found a lovely bookshop and bought two of his fairy tale books, The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling. My travels alone are done! What an adventure this trip has been! I love it.

    Children across the world are taking pictures of their school meals. They are sending these pictures over the Internet to a young girl in Scotland. Then she shares the pictures and stories with people around the world.

    The girl's name is Martha. She likes to write. So Martha decided to start her own blog. Every day, Martha writes on the Internet about the meals she eats at school. She also takes pictures of the food.

    Martha is very honest about the food. She does not just describe the food. She judges (评价) the taste of the food. She also judges how healthy the food is. Sometimes she likes the food, and sometimes she does not. Now, other people send pictures to Martha. Students around the world share their pictures of their school food!

    Martha also started her blog for another important reason. She began to raise money for the organization (组织) Mary's Meals. Mary's Meals works in the East African country of Malawi . It provides food for children in schools. Martha encourages her readers to send money to Mary's Meals to help build a kitchen.

    Martha hoped to raise about 10,000 dollars. But the total reached 100,000 dollars and still keeps on growing!

    Martha's blog has also helped to improve meals at her school. Martha and her school friends found their meals improved since she started writing her blog.

    No one knows what will happen to Martha's blog in future. But already this girl has helped to change the eating experience of many children just by sharing pictures of her school meals.

    I'm a Chinese student studying in Canada. I have been a boarder(寄宿生) with the Carsons for more than a year and a half.

    The Carsons live in their own house, which has four bedrooms including the one in the basement(底层) which I live in. Judy does all the work in the house and Andrew is responsible for the work in the garden. When they go out in the evening, they often ask me to look after their children.

    Judy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morris, lived in another city. Judy was their only child and naturally they doted on(溺爱) Judy's children. They often sent the children presents.

    Last April Mr. Morris died. Now that Mrs. Morris was quite alone, I expected that Judy would want her to come and live with them. One day, Margaret told me grandma was coming to live with them and her daddy and mummy would want my room back. The news didn't surprise me and the next day I went to Judy and asked her about it. I said I couldn't think of living in their basement room any longer if it was needed for Mrs. Morris. Judy seemed surprised at first. Then she told me there was no deed for me to move, for they hadn't yet come to any decision about her mother coming to live with them. "Naturally I'm worried about my mother. She has been in poor health." She smiled sadly and added. "To be honest, Andrew and my mother have never got on well. We'll wait a bit and see what happens. Perhaps Moter will be all right living herself, of perhaps they will both change their minds."

    That was six months ago. During this time I've heard that Mrs. Morris has had two illnesses and that her health has got worse. A nursing home was mentioned once but Mrs. Morris refused to go there. So up to now she's still living alone and I'm still living in the basement room.

    Athena was born and raised in Ukraine. Her parents wanted her to become a lawyer or a doctor. But she always knew she wanted to paint. She also realized a career in painting would not be possible if she stayed in her country.

    Even though she was painting in her whole life and it was her passion(热情)but it was only a hobby. And she never really took it to the next level because back in the country all the artists were hungry artists. So she knew for some reason she never took art as a career because she would never be able to make money and be successful in it in several years.

    So. Athena came to the United States when she was 14 years old to pursue(追求)an American Dream. She was clear on her goal. Athena first worked at a health food shop. She began to paint on the shop's menu boards. A customer praised her skill and asked if she would help paint faces at street fairs. Athena says it was a good start. Then she went to FABAIC to start body painting.

    Body painting is quite different from plain painting. And she loves it very much. She says. "With body, you work with the people factor and it's not only you. Maybe they want to talk or move, and they cannot stand still for several days while the painting will last three to four days. When I paint. I can't stop."

    Hello, my name is Judy. I am a girl. I live in a house with my family. This is Anna. She is my friend. She lives in a house on Park Road. Anna is 11 years old. I'm 12 years old. I'm order than Anna. Anna is 1.5 metres tall. I'm 1.55 metres tall. Anna and I live far from the school, so we go to school by bus. Anna likes to listen to music. I like to read books. We are good friends.

    I look at Grandma, and I don't know what to do.

    "Go! Go! But come back with some wood and some fruit," she says.

    "Ok!" I say, and I run out of the door and down the street out of the town. I follow an old track and it leads me towards the hills. Suddenly I see the nursery in front of me. It is like a sea of green. There are all kinds of trees and a very big vegetable garden. I step inside the gate. It is quiet here, safe from the wind and it smells so good.