If you aren't Lyra or Surf, please don't post here! Thank you <3

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Hi Surf! How are you? <3
I'm so excited to be your penpal!

I don't really know you, because we haven't interacted a lot, but I have stalked you but I'm looking forward to getting to know you this session of SWC! Or well, these 12 days of SWC… Time flies </3

I see we have quite a bit in common! So, what's your favourite part of STEM, apart from geology? I love the sciences but also enjoy the practical part, building things and experimenting. It's fun! Geology is really interesting, it's one of my favourite sciences (besides astronomy and physics. If you've ever stalked me you know that I love these). I recently read A Short History of Nearly Everything, I think you might have read it too / heard about it since you like non-fi too (not sure if you're talking about literary non-fi or informative non-fi though!) It's about the origins of nearly everything: our universe, our planet, life… Would definetly recommend if you haven't read it and you're really interested in this, even though some of the numbers and dates are wrong (I took it from the library and someone had tried to correct them lol). (Sorry for the rant…)

Anyways, now that I'm talking about books… I enjoy reading, and my favourite genres include sci-fi and fantasy too! I like a lot of book genres (almost all of them, except romance and horror, I don't really enjoy reading or writing in these), but a more specific list is dystopian, sci-fi, real-fi, fantasy, and adventure. I read your profile, and I would gladly take book recommendations if you have any.

You also mentioned that you like music! Do you mean listening to it, playing it, creating it… or maybe more than one of these? Do you play any instruments? I play the piano and the violin, and I enjoy listening to music too. It's really relaxing.

And last but not least, yes, I've stalked you, and your art is really amazing! I love the profile pictures and the art you've created for your leader apps. It's so cool! I love art too, but I'm not really good at digital art and I prefer traditional, especially drawing with just pencils.

Well, I think that's enough for today!
I hope you have an amazing rest of your day and an even more amazing weekend. Can't wait to read your reply!
- Lyra

Hi Lyra!
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I’m doing well and I’m really looking forward to spring break in two weeks! I can’t believe March has gone by so fast, though–it feels like the month has just begun. How has your day been?

My favorite part of STEM would probably be experimenting and researching! I’m actually working on a science fair project right now (that I’ve been procrastinating on for months). Astronomy and physics are also really cool! I’m taking physics right now in school and we’ve just started electricity so we did a bunch of labs with circuits and electric charge. Astronomy is awesome and I wish I knew more–do you have a favorite aspect of it? I do like informative non-fi, though both are interesting. I haven’t read A Short History of Nearly Everything yet but it looks good and I put it on hold (I’ll keep the errors in mind when I read it)! Right now I’m reading two nonfiction books, one called Proto that’s about linguistics, and another called The Glass Universe which is a historical nonfiction book about astronomy.

Ooh okay! Some of my favorites in those genres are All System Red (and the rest of that series, which is sci-fi), Mistborn (fantasy/dystopian-ish), the Martian and Project Hail Mary (both sci-fi), and Six of Crows (fantasy). Some of these have more mature themes and a few have a some swearing so I would check reviews before reading. Speaking of books, I’m still looking for Janowitz and Los Seis Finalistas in my local libraries but I have a bunch of book store gift cards so I think I’ll get them to read for the summer!

I like listening to music! My favorite genres are probably indie or alt rock but I like listening to practically anything. I don’t currently play an instrument, but it’s really cool that you can play two! I did a bit of piano when I was younger and I used to play the violin for a few years, but I ended up stopping after middle school.

Thank you so much <3 I’ve also stalked you a bit (speaking of which, I loved your leader app) and your art looks really cool as well! Traditional art is fun and I wish I did more of it, though I haven’t had much time for art because of school and most of my pencil drawings are just in the margins of my notes I am finishing up a mural I’m painting at school though! It’s an environmentally-themed painting and it’s been really fun to work on so far.

Thanks so much for your letter, it was really nice to read <3 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
- Surf

Hi Surf! <3

First of all, I know this is incredibly late. I am so so sorry for the delay! I've been really busy with school these days. Like, a lot. I submitted some assignments literally 30 minutes before they were due… Anyways, now that spring break has started (at least for me… When does yours start?), I will be able to write much more, and I will reply sooner. Again, apologies for the late-ness. </3

Science fair sounds really cool! Procrastinating on something for months, is, unfortunately, very relatable. :') How's the project going? Would you mind telling me what it is about?
Why are you making me choose a favourite part of astronomy? You're so evil. (/j /lh /nsrs) Anyways, my favourite parts of astronomy are probably all the mind-blowing things that are out there. Neutron stars, interstellar objects that casually enter our solar system, cause chaos here on Earth, and then disappear forever, cosmology and light that has been travelling since the universe became transparent. Everything is just so weird and cool. Of course, ordinary things can be extraordinary and beautiful too.
I'm going to be evil too and ask you, what's your favourite aspect of geology?
Ooh, sounds cool! Linguistics isn't my absolute favourite topic to read about, but it's really interesting too. To be honest, I enjoy learning about anything

Thank you so much for the recommendations! I'll check these books out and maybe add them to my TBR list! I hope I can find them in libraries, because my parents think I already have a lot of books and don't love the idea of buying more, lol.
And I hope you find these books! If you do read them and love them, feel free to talk to me about them. I love hearing/reading others' opinions.

Listening to basically anything is so relatable. I have a playlist which I listen to often, and I've added so many different songs lol. KPDH soundtrack, parodies, Catalan music… A lot of completely unrelated genres.

Thank you so much! <33 Yes, I draw in the margins of my notes too, but I usually erase them because some teachers like to check our notes and give us a grade based on that. Wow, painting an environmental-themed mural for school sounds cool! I'm sure it looks amazing! My school doesn't have this kind of activities, unfortunately.

If I remember correctly, you mentioned maps in the penpalswc project too, right? Do you mean geography in general, learning about how maps work / are created, or looking at maps of different places? Or maybe all 3? (Looking at random maps is definitely a fun pastime, haha. I've seen some places with… interesting names). I don't know a lot about maps but I'm willing to read more about them

Lastly, thank you so much for the letter, your kind words, and for being my amazing penpal! Looking forward to reading your next letter, if you have time to write another one before SWC ends. Have a nice weekend <33
- Lyra

Hi Lyra!
No problem! It’s also been pretty busy for me–unfortunately my spring break doesn’t start until the end of the week, by the time March is already over </3 I only have a chemistry and Spanish test left this week though and then I’m free! Until I have to study for AP tests again–

Yeah sure! I wanted to have a more geology-related project so I’m researching the unit cell and anisotropic properties of minerals in local soils. I’m thinking about seeing how those properties might affect water drainage or filtration but I’m not quite sure if I’m able to draw accurate conclusions with the data I have. I’m not necessarily running any physical experiments since I don’t have the tools to do so, so I’m mostly analyzing online data. It’s really interesting but I’ve been busy studying for my classes (procrastinating) and haven’t started the poster yet.

Hmmmmm that’s very hard but probably mineralogy? Or maybe igneous rocks? I really like all the classification systems and how rocks are formed/their different properties.

I just started reading A Short History of Nearly Everything! My library’s digital collection had a recently revised edition so hopefully the errors were revised but it’s really interesting so far! I love my local library system so much, they just expanded the branch so I can get out a lot more books online. I prefer reading on paper but sometimes digital books are really convenient, like if I’m traveling. Do you have a preference for either paper or digital books?

Oh I also like KPDH, the soundtrack is awesome! Do you also like other animated shows/movies?

Aw, that's really annoying that you can’t draw in class/your school doesn’t have those sorts of activities. I vividly remember my fifth grade teacher telling me that I wouldn’t be able to doodle in class later on but that hasn’t stopped me yet lol.

Yeah, I like both geography and maps! I recently did a research project on maps in history class and read a bunch of books for research so it was at the top of my mind. Mostly I like reading about them, seeing how they’re made, and sometimes drawing them myself if I’m in a particularly creative mood! If you’re looking for some interesting books about them to read, some of the ones I enjoyed were Maps, Annotated (lots of diagrams and it has color palettes/keys for the maps which I love) and A History of America in 100 Maps (you might not find it as relevant since it’s US history but it has pretty cool images/descriptions).

Thanks for your letter! Being your penpal this session has been really nice <3
- Surf

¡Hola!
Muchas gracias por hablar conmigo y ser mi pen pal (¿amigo de bolígrafo?) otra vez. ¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo has pasado el resto de tu año de escuela desde nuestra última conversación? Lo siento si esta carta parece muy formal porque mis profesores no me han aprendido a escribir informalmente en absoluto. Pensarías que he aprendido más en los doce años de mi educación. Pero por supuesto no.

Como te puedes ver, tengo que practicar mucho para el próximo año de la escuela (también debes sentirte libre de avísame de cualquier error). Muchas de las personas en la clase de AP hablan español toda su vida y me ha escuchado que la profesora es muy estricta y por eso muchos de mis amigos no van a tomar la misma clase conmigo. Para mi preparación, estoy tratando de leer y escuchar más, y recientemente obtuve una tarjeta de la biblioteca de la ciudad de Nueva York cuando visité mi tía vive allí. Por eso puedo leer muchos libros más porque el sistema tiene tantos libros en otros lenguajes (realmente hay más de 380.000 libros digitales en total). Tengo un poco miedo de empezar un audiolibro en español aunque también tengo el libro digital pero ojalá que pueda completar uno antes del fin del verano. ¿Estás leyendo algún libro interesante ahora?

¿Qué estás haciendo durante este verano? Para mí, trabajaba en una pasantía corta por una compañía en un proyecto de geología al inicio del verano. Anteayer empecé una pasantía en un jardín local y voy a trabajar allí por el resto del verano. Es un jardín que crece vegetales para los bancos de alimentos y hay plantas como ocra, tomate, menta, albahaca, pimiento, y calabaza. Tengo que completar muchas cosas para la pasantía, como ayudar a la cosecha, desmalezar los terrenos, y sembrar las nuevas plantas. Es un poco difícil porque a veces el tiempo está soleado y húmedo, pero me gusta la botánica y también estar afuera.

¿Cómo has pasado tu sesión de SWC hasta ahora? Siento que estoy hablando diferente de mi voz en inglés o por lo menos divago más lol. Además, ¿vives en España? ¿Realmente usas la forma de vosotros? Cuando estudiaba el pluscuamperfecto y el subjuntivo me lo abandoné pero creo que sé más gramática en español que inglés. ¿Hay otras cosas interesantes que son parte de su cultura lingüística?

¡Estoy esperando tu respuesta!
- Surf

¡Hola Surf!

Siento haber tardado un poco en responder </3

¡No hace falta que me lo agradezcas! Disfruto mucho escribiendo cartas a mis amigos en línea. Y no te preocupes, yo me encontraba en una situación similar cuando empecé a hablar con gente en inglés en Scratch. He descubierto que aprendes mucho más hablando con gente y leyendo que memorizando vocabulario o normas de gramática en el colegio.
Yo estoy bien, ¿y tú? Al final del año escolar pasaron muchas cosas, me salté un curso y me gradué de la ESO (educación secundaria obligatoria). Fue un año raro. ¿Y a ti cómo te ha ido? ¿Te fueron bien los exámenes?

Eso no suena bien… Espero que la profesora se porte bien contigo. Pero haces bien, seguro que leer y escuchar más te ayudará. Si quieres, también te sugiero mirar algunos vídeos en este idioma para ver si lo entiendes, y de paso aprender sobre algo que te guste, antes de empezar un audiolibro.
Ahora mismo estoy leyendo Última noche en el Club del Telégrafo (Last Night at Telegraph Club), un libro que me recomendó una de mis amigas en Scratch. ¿Y tú?

¡Me alegro de que puedas trabajar en algo que te gusta este verano! De momento yo no he hecho mucho este verano, pero tengo algunas cosas planeadas. Por ejemplo, voy a ver el eclipse solar total este 12 de agosto. Ah, y otra cosa que aún no te he dicho: voy a ir a unas colonias de ciencia y matemáticas la semana que viene. Lo siento mucho, pero voy a desaparecer durante una semana (des del 19 hasta el 26 de julio), porque no nos permiten llevar dispositivos. Intentaré responderte lo más rápido posible estos días para que podamos intercambiar más cartas, y si no, podemos seguir hablando después de que termine SWC (sólo si quieres, claro).

SWC ha estado muy bien hasta ahora, aunque no he tenido tanto tiempo para escribir como creía. ¿Y a ti, te está yendo bien la sesión?

Sí, vivo en España. “Vos” en España no se usa mucho, pero en muchos países de Latinoamérica sí, se dice “vos” en lugar de “tú”.
Ahora mismo no se me ocurren otras cosas interesantes del español, supongo que porque he crecido hablando este idioma y todo en él me parece normal xD. Y a ti, que llevas 12 años estudiándolo, ¿qué es lo que te ha parecido más raro o interesante del español?

Algunas notas:
“Penpal” en español es “amigo por correspondencia”. (Por si acaso no sabes lo que significa, correspondencia cartas.)
Escribiste “también debes sentirte libre de avísame de cualquier error”. En las oraciones subordinadas (no sé si lo habéis estudiado, es un tipo de oración compuesta, que significa que tiene 2 verbos), cuando te encuentres con un verbo, una preposición, y otro verbo (por ejemplo: “asegúrate de terminar el trabajo”), el segundo verbo tiene que ir en infinitivo. Cuando escribiste “estoy tratando de leer y escuchar más” lo hiciste bien. Supongo que todo esto es un poco complicado para vosotros porque no tenéis tantos tiempos verbales.
“Año de la escuela” es mejor llamarlo “año escolar”.
(Lo siento si esto suena un poco ofensivo, no estoy intentando ofender en absoluto, sólo espero ayudar. Además, el resto de tu carta está muy bien, yo escribía mucho peor en inglés cuando me uní a Scratch, jaja.)

¡Que tengas un buen día! Tengo muchas ganas de leer tu respuesta.
- Lyra