Describe a long walk you had

Band 8 Sample

I would like to talk about a long walk that I have taken recently. So this was a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake. I do this walk quite regularly actually, usually in the late evening, and usually whenever I am feeling under pressure at work or school.

That night, the fresh air and tranquil atmosphere around the lake made me feel relaxed but quite energetic at the same time, and it helped me to refresh my mind to get ready for a new day to come. There’s also a lot of police presence around the area which makes you feel quite safe, so you don’t have to be concerned about being pick-pocketed or something like that, you can really just concentrate your mind on other more important things.

Surrounding the lake is a long spacious pavement, where people usually go jogging and walking, and after taking a long walk I just sat there on a bench, taking in the peaceful atmosphere. Most of the time I was just gazing at the stars, trying my best to let my mind unwind and meditate.

The reason I took this walk was because I had just had a huge fight with my best friend and he had started questioning some things about my life, and it made me feel really awful. So following that, we had an argument and all of a sudden I started questioning our relationship. Things just started feeling very bizarre, so I went looking for something that would calm my mind.

Vocabulary highlights:

1. under pressure – feeling stressed because you have a lot of things to do
2. tranquil – calm, peaceful and quiet
3. police presence – when there is police in the area
4. pick-pocketed – to have something stolen from your pocket eg. wallet or phone
5. spacious – with a lot of space
6. pavement – the footpath
7. gazing – looking at something for a long time
8. meditate – to sit still and pay attention to your mind and breath
9. huge – very big
10. awful – very bad or unpleasant
11. bizarre – very strange, weird or unusual