Lo Que de Verdad Importa

Hello Everyone,

Last Friday, October 21st, I went with my school to a presentation/conference at Hotel Aragonia which is apparently the most expensive and fanciest hotel in Zaragoza. The presentation was called "Lo Que de Verdad Importa" which means "What Is Really Important." I went with students from my school who are in Bachillerato 1 which is the same as 11th grade in the US. The presentation really put in perspective how lucky we are. I only saw 2 of the 3 speakers because I had to leave early to go to Panticossa with my host family which you'll read about in my next post.

The first speaker was Jaume Sanllorente who co-founded "Sonrisas de Bombay" or "Sunrises of Bombay." It's an organization that is helping improve living conditions and the future for poor people in Bombay, India. Sunrises of Bombay opened schools, is leading re-development, and helping those living in poverty by offering job placement and education. The second speaker that I saw was Irene Villa. She was an incredible speaker and such an inspiration. When she was 12 years old, her mother's car blew up from a car bomb that was placed by the Spanish terrosrist group ETA. Fortunately, she survived but she lost both of her legs and 4 fingers on her (right?) hand. She spent months recovering in the hospital and years of physical therapy. Irene now has prosthetic legs. She overcame the tragedy and is a psycologist, humanitarian, and a radio personality. Irene is also a gold metalist in various sports. She also got married last year.It was such an amazing story to hear, we all can learn a lot from her about what it truely important and that you really can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Although I wasn't able to see him, the third speaker was Toni Nadal who is a former tennis professional. He is now a trainer for other professional tennis players. I really enjoyed the presentation. WE even got a shout out from Carlos Jean! He is a famous music producer that is really popular here, I'm not sure if he is known in the US. Below is the link for the website with the video of the entire presentation. I hope everyone is doing well!

http://www.lqdvi.fundacion.telefonica.com/congresozaragoza/

Until next time, Brian