Running and Swimming during Summer

    As I've mentioned before, I usually travel a lot during summer holidays. This year was no exception, however I still managed to spend some time in Moscow. As I live outside of Moscow, in the countryside, and the weather was surprisingly nice this summer, I have decided to take this opportunity to be active. I have a forest and a field near my house, so I have been going running around the field and around the forest, enjoying the nature. I have always decided to take my dog with me, so we both got some action for us. Also, after running I always came home wanting a refreshing shower, so I decided to combine running and swimming in a swimming pool. I have been changing the amount of time allocated for each activity depending on my mood, however I have tried to increase the time for both overall. By the end of summer, I have managed to spend one and a half hours running and then swimming for an hour.
    Of course I faced a few problems over the duration of the summer, for example one time my dog decided that he doesn't want to continue running anymore and just lied there in the forest, not wanting to move, so I was faced with a challenge to get him back home.

Overall, during summer, with the help of this activity I have met the following outcomes:
- Increased awareness of my strengths and weaknesses
- Undertaken new challenges
- Planned and initiated activities
- Shown perseverance and commitment to the activity
- Developed new skills

Summer Recycling

    Over the summer holidays I had some free time, so I decided to sort out all the notes, papers, magazines and notebooks I had lying around in my room. It took me a couple of days to go through all the papers I had, sorting them out in different groups. In the end, I ended up having a lot of papers I didn't need anymore, so instead of just throwing them away, I decided to think about the environment and recycle the papers I didn't need anymore. As it turned out, a friend of mine, was planning on doing the same thing, and as we both were in Moscow at the same time, we decided to meet up and take the papers to the recycling centre together. The job ended up being harder than I expected, because there was so much paper, that it took us quiet some time to load everything in the car and then get it out when we were at the recycling centre. Overall, I think the two of us managed to collect around 50 kg of all kinds of papers, from old books to just old school notes. I believe that I will continue to collect paper for recycling and come to the recycling centre every couple of months, thus engaging in issues of global importance.

I believe that by getting involved in recycling, I have met the following learning outcomes:

- Planned and initiated activities
- Worked collaboratively with others
- Shown perseverance and commitment to the activity
- Engaged in issues of global importance

Photography during summer

    My summer holidays always involve a lot of travelling to different parts of the world and, therefore, I always carry my camera with me to take pictures of the things I see. This summer I have decided to practice my photography skills, trying to take new kinds of pictures that I had never tried before, for instance macro photos of insects. After taking tons of pictures over the course of two months, I then had to spend a lot of time going through numerous photos, choosing the best ones, therefore it required patience. Overall, I am rather happy with the outcomes, even though not all photos I took ended up being great.