A Guide to the University

Food

The TWU Cafeteria is open 7am to 8pm．It servessnacks, drinks, ice cream bars and meals．You can paywith cash or your ID cards．You can addmeal money to your ID cards at the Front Desk．Even if you donot buy your food in the cafeteria, you can use the tables to eat your lunch,to have meetings and to study.

If you are on campus in the evening or late at night, you canbuy snacks, fast food, and drinks in the Lower Café located in the bottom levelof the Gouglas Centre．This area isoften used for entertainment such as concerts, games or TV watching.

Relaxation

The Globe, located in the bottom level of McMillan Hall, isavailable for relaxing, studying, cooking, and eating．Monthlyactivities are held here for all international students．Hours are 10am to 10 pm, closed on Sundays.

Health

Located on the top floor of Douglas Hall, the Wellness Centre iscommitted to physical, emotional and social health．A doctor andnurse is available if you have health questions or need immediate medical helpor personal advice．The cost ofthis is included in your medical insurance．Hours areMonday to Friday, 9am to noon and 1;00 to 4;30pm.

Academic Support

All students have access to the Writing Centre on the upperfloor of Douglas Hall．Here,qualified volunteers will work with you on written work, grammar, vocabulary,and other academic skills．You can signup for an appointment on the sign-up sheet outside the door two 30–minuteappointments per week maximum．This serviceis free.

Transportation

The TWU Express is a shuttle(班车) service．The shuttletransports students between campus and the shopping center, leaving from theMattson Centre．Operationhours are between 8am and 3pm．Saturdays only．Round tripfare is $1.

    Today marks the one-year anniversary of my father's death.Looking back at the past year,I cannot describe how hard it has been for me mentally and physically.

    For a long time I suffered in silence.I felt as if I was running in circles（圆圈）.I kept my tears to my sleep and my loneliness in my bedroom.

After my father's death,I began channeling all that pain into dance.But as a fairly new dancer,I haven't had too much stage experience.I recently performed at my school's winter concert for one of my classmates who is dealing with a rare illness.I dedicated（献上）the dance to her and my father.I only had one week.I was so anxious that I felt like I was having a heart attack.

    Luckily,my best friends came to my aid.What they said to me was one of the kindest things anyone has ever said.I will never forget what one of them said:"You are so beautiful because of your heart and beautiful mind.You have more kindness than some will ever have.I saw how much that dance meant to you,especially how it connected with your memories.It made me cry,that is how incredible you are."

Just surround yourself with people like my friend who will never think little of you.I am so proud of how much I've achieved and I know I will keep going,just as my father would have wished.

Food festivals around the world

Stilton Cheese Rolling

    May Day is a traditional day for celebrations, but the 2,000 English villagers of Stilton must be the only people in the world who include cheese rolling in their annual plans. Teams of four, dressed in a variety of strange and funny clothes, roll a complete cheese along a 50-metre course. On the way, they must not kick or throw their cheese, or go into their competitors' lane（赛道）. Competition is fierce and the chief prize is a complete Stilton cheese weighing about four kilos (disappointingly, but understandably the cheeses used in the race are wooden ones). All the competitors arc served with beer or port wine, the traditional accompaniment for Stilton cheese.

Fiery Foods Festival—The Hottest Festival on Earth

    Every year more than 10,000 people head for the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They come from as far away as Australia, the Caribbean and China, but they all share a common addiction—food that is not just spicy（辛辣）,but hot enough to make your mouth burn, your head spin and your eyes water. Their destination is the Fiery Food and BBQ Festival which is held over a period of three clays every March. You might like to try a chocolate-covered habanero pepper—officially the hottest pepper in the world—or any one of the thousands of products that are on show. But one thing's for sure—if you don't like the feeling of a burning tongue, this festival isn't for you!

La Tomatina—The World's Biggest Food Fight

    On the last Wednesday of every August, the Spanish town of Bunol hosts Ea Tomatina—the world's largest food fight. A week-long celebration leads up to an exciting tomato battle as the highlight of the week's events. The early morning sees the arrival of large trucks with tomatoes—official fight-starters get things going by casting tomatoes at the crowd.

    The battle lasts little more than half an hour, in which time around 50,000 kilograms of tomatoes have been thrown at anyone or anything that moves, runs, or fights back. Then everyone heads down to the river to make friends again—and for a much-needed wash!

    It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

    My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I'm so glad I did.

    On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big hums(脊背)in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn't believe it –—there aren't any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale—-actually as big as our boat—-was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡)and waves. “She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe –—and to give us a trusting(信任的) look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

    In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.

Hot Air Balloons

    The basis of how the balloon works is that warmer air rises in cooler air. This is because hot air is lighter than cool air as it has less mass per unit of volume. Mass can be defined by the measure of how much matter something contains. The actual balloon has to be large as it takes a large amount of heated air to lift it off the ground.

    The burner uses propane gas to heat up the air in the envelope to move the balloon off the ground and into the air. The pilot must keep firing the burner at regular intervals throughout the flight to ensure that the balloon continues to the stable. Naturally, the hot air will not escape from the hot at the very bottom of the envelop as firstly, hot air rises and secondly, the floating power keeps it moving up.

    To move the balloon upwards, the pilot opens up the propane value which lets the propane flow to the burner which in turn frees the flame up into the envelope. It works in much the same way as a gas grill: the more you open the valve, the bigger the flame to beat the air and the faster the balloon rises.

    The “Parachute Valve” at the very top of the balloon is what is used to bring the balloon down towards the ground. It is a circle of fabric cut out of the top of the envelop which is controlled by a rope which runs down through the middle of the envelope to the basket. If the pilot wants to bring the balloon down, he or she simply pulls on the rope which will open the valve, letting hot air escape, decreasing the inner air temperature. This cooling of air causes the balloon to slow its rise.

    The pilot can operate horizontally by changing the vertical position of the balloon because the wind blows in different directions at different altitudes. If the pilot wants to move in a particular direction, he or she simply arises and falls to the appropriate level and rides with the wind.

    The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, is one of the most brilliant structures on Earth. It is nearly 400 years old. Emperor Shah Jahan had it built in memory of his wife. It took about 20 years to build the monument. Some 20,000 workers and 1,000 elephants helped get the job done. Today, the Taj Mahal is not just a symbol of cultural history. It's also India's most famous tourist attraction. About 8 million people visit it each year.

    But pollution is turning the white marble monument shades of green, yellow, and brown. The Taj Mahal stands on the polluted Yamuna River. Insects are attracted to the dirty water. They leave greenish droppings on the building. Air pollution is also a big threat. Factories and cars release pollution into the air. It sticks to the Taj Mahal's suidEace. In the 1990s, India's Supreme Court ordered hundreds of factories near the monument to close. Also, car and bus traffic was restricted. From time to time, workers clean the Taj Mahal. But doing so is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. And it doesn't prevent the discoloration.

    On July 11, India's Supreme Court gave the city of Agra a warning: "Either you destroy the Taj Mahal or you restore it". Authorities in the city submitted a draft of an action plan on July 24. It suggests banning plastics and construction from the area. It also calls for the closing of more factories.

    "In order to preserve the Taj Mahal, people must come together to work toward a solution. There needs to be positive pressure on people to act. We need to act immediately," Sachchida Tripathi says. He worked on a 2014 study of pollution at the Taj Mahal. "We are trying," he adds, "but we need to try more."