PLANS!

For this winter break, I will go back my home country. I have a flight on the afternoon of 23^rd December. I can’t wait to be home. I miss my families very much. I will transfer to the University of South Alabama, so I will have last 10 days in Minnesota. I will miss here, because I have many friends here. Unfortunately, my orientation day is on 5^th January, so I only have 10 days winter break. I will arrive at Jinan, which is my hometown, on 25^th December. I have to go to Beijing on 28^th to get my visa. It ought to cost my 2 days of my holidays. I will visit my grandmother. My grandmother, who is 83 years old, lived with my aunt in Yantai where is 500 km far from my home. Yesterday, I called her; she told me that she missed me a lot. I think I need call on her. I also want to give her some gifts, which I bought in Mall of America. I arrived at Minneapolis on 25^th August; I lived here for almost 4 months. My nephew, my older sister’s son, is my best missed. He was 4 months old when I left home; he is 8 months old now. My sister told me he had 4 teeth. I can’t wait to calculate these by my self. I bought him a large amount of cute clothes which full filled half of my trunk. I am not sure that he remembered me. I have an amazing plan list. I want to use my ten-day holidays well. First, I will go to some restaurants and full fill my stomach. Seriously, I missed various Chinese foods. For example, Hot Pot, Peking Roast Duck and dumplings that are my mother cooks. I can cook dumplings well, I believe that it taste like my mother cooks. But I also miss my mother’s dumplings. I think it is a kind of missing which I missed my mother a lot. Second, I will go shopping. Thanks god, I can speak Chinese to salespeople who can understand me. I will buy some staffs for preparing of my Alabama trip. I need some books about GMAT, which is a test of master application. It is so sad that I shouldn’t have time to meet my friends. These above are plans of my winter break.

I have referred that I will transfer to the University of South Alabama. I expect the new life I will have there. I will study an accounting bachelor major there. Accounting is my wants, so I think I will work hard on it. I have a specialist family. My parents and my sister are all accountants. So I got a lot effects from them. I dreamed I would be a good accountant when I was a child. I will spare no effort to work on it. I think I will choose some accounting classes next year. I believe that I will have a good term next year.

Soda

Soda is a kind of soft drink with out any alcohol. Soft drinks are often carbonated and commonly consumed while cold. The normal soda is cola. (I noticed that the taste of American coca cola is different from Chinese.)

In the United States, soft drinks are sold in 3, 2, 1.5, 1 litre, 500 ml, 8, 12, 20 and 24 U.S. fluid ounce plastic bottles, 12 U.S. fluid ounce cans, and short eight-ounce cans. Some Coca-Cola products can be purchased in 8 and 12 U.S. fluid ounce glass bottles. Jones Soda and Orange Crush are sold in 16 U.S. fluid ounce (1 U.S. pint) glass bottles. Cans are packaged in a variety of quantities such as six packs, 12 packs and cases of 24, 36 and 360. With the advent of energy drinks sold in eight-ounce cans in the US, some soft drinks are now sold in similarly sized cans. It is also common for carbonated soft drinks to be served as fountain drinks in which carbonation is added to a concentrate immediately prior to serving.

Soft drinks trace their history back to the mineral waters found in natural springs. Ancient societies believed that bathing in natural springs and/or drinking mineral waters could cure many diseases. Early scientists who studied mineral waters included Geber, Alkindus, Rhazes, Paracelsus, Robert Boyle, Friedrich Hoffmann, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, Hermann Boerhaave, William Brownrigg, Gabriel F. Venel, Joseph Black, and David Macbride.

The earliest soft drinks were sherbets developed by Arabic chemists and originally served in the medieval Near East. These were juiced soft drinks made of crushed fruit, herbs, or flowers.^[2] From around 1265, a popular drink known as Dandelion & Burdock appeared in England, made from fermented dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and burdock (Arctium lappa) roots, and is naturally carbonated. The drink (similar to Sarspirilla) is still available today but made with flavorings and carbonated water since the Safrole in the original recipe was found to be carcinogenic.^[3]

The first marketed soft drinks (non-carbonated) in the Western world appeared in the 17th century. They were made from water and lemon juice sweetened with honey. In 1676, the Compagnie des Limonadiers of Paris was granted a monopoly for the sale of lemonade soft drinks. Vendors carried tanks of lemonade on their backs and dispensed cups of the soft drink to thirsty Parisians.

References

1. ^ Matthew T. Campbell (2003-04-01). "Generic Names for Soft Drinks by Country". popvssoda.com. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
2. ^ Juliette Rossant (2005), The World's First Soft Drink, Saudi Aramco World, September/October 2005, pp. 36-9
3. ^ Chris Milliken (2007). British Soft Drinks Since 1960. University of Cambridge