OUR SCHOOL TRIP TO SEVILLE

https://drive.google.com/file/Seville

Recently I have seen a movie with my classmates titled “Patch Adams”. It tells the story of Hunter Patch Adams, a doctor who revolutionised the way people with mental illness are cured.

The role is played by Robin Williams, an extraordinary actor.

The movie begins with Patch going to a psychiatric hospital to get treatment after an attempted suicide.

Obviously he is fully conscious of his actions and he is not crazy.

UN ANNO SCOLASTICO ALL'ESTERO

Trascorrere un anno scolastico all'estero è uno dei modi più efficaci per imparare una lingua straniera. Lo studente ha  l’occasione di immergersi completamente nella lingua e nella cultura della sua destinazione, di acquisire eccellenti conoscenze linguistiche riconosciute a livello internazionale e di stringere amicizie che dureranno una vita.

Stefania Voloaca, studentessa del quarto anno del Liceo Linguistico, ha deciso di partire per gli Stati Uniti e ormai vive lì da oltre quattro mesi.

Questo è il suo primo avvincente post.

“Vivere dieci mesi negli Stati Uniti non è facile! È un’esperienza difficile sia a livello emotivo, perché ci si ritrova totalmente da soli dall’altra parte del mondo, sia a livello linguistico, malgrado una buona conoscenza della lingua inglese, il primo mese o forse i primi due mesi non si è in grado di capire tutto ciò che la gente ti dice!

THE ETERNAL CITY

In May 2019 I went on a school trip to Rome and I really had a great time.

Rome is the capital city of Italy and it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Lots of tourists from all over the world visit the city every year because of its historic monuments and art sites.

It is in Lazio, a region which is in west-central Italy. From Subiaco, you can easily reach the city by car or by bus. It will take you about an hour and a half.

Rome is not the ideal place to visit on a day trip because the city is huge! Anyway, I can suggest a very interesting sightseeing tour  which you can take in just one day!

A DAY TRIP TO CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO

Last month I went to Civita di Bagnoregio with my parents and my cousin. It is one of  the most beautiful medieval towns in Italy and a very popular tourist destination. In fact, every year more than 700 000 people go there  from all over the world to admire this breathtaking town.

It is famous for its nickname: “the Dying Town”.  

It is located on the top of  a tuff hill  which is constantly eroded, consequently the town always risks disappearing. Today only eleven people live there.      

It is in central Italy, in the province of Viterbo;  it is about 120 km from Rome and by train or car it only takes you about  two hours to get there.  You can visit this town on a day trip because you will need about three hours for sightseeing. I recommend bringing suitable footwear because the only way to visit Civita di Bagnoregio  is on foot. As soon as you arrive, you will find yourself  in a parking area where you have to pay a €5 ticket. To reach the centre of the town you have to cross a 300 metre long bridge which connects the old town with the new one. While walking across the bridge, you can enjoy the  spectacular landscape of  "Valle dei Calanchi".                

The historic centre is an attraction in itself, but there are other places of interest such as Colesanti, Bocca and Alemanni Palaces, built during the Renaissance. In Alemanni Palace  you can visit the Geological and Landslides Museum. Another important building is the Church of San Donato  which overlooks the main square and  where a holy wooden crucifix is kept.  

  

Civita di Bagnoregio has some small shops of handcrafted products and souvenirs. If you are hungry, there is the possibility to find small restaurants, taverns and bars  where you can try some typical dishes, for example “fettuccine with chicken entrails sauce” or “polenta with truffle”  ... I am sure you will enjoy them! 

You can also download an app to get all the information you need  about the best places to eat and drink as well as the tours to choose.  I loved this atmospheric  town very much because it seems like a magical place where time has stopped in medieval times.

Ivonne Ciocchetti,  2^C  Linguistico

SOCIAL MEDIA – A WORLD OF APPEARANCE

The Internet is definitely the most important social revolution of recent times and the appearance of social networks has changed our lives, the way we deal with others, our way of thinking and our behaviours.

An important issue, regarding social media, is the contrast between appearance and reality and the consequences that follow.

In social media like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok  it is possible to show every moment of our daily life: what we usually eat, the book we are reading, what we are studying, if we are hanging out with our friends or dating with somebody.

SYRIA, 10 YEARS OF WAR

In 2021, the terrible war in Syria has turned 10 years old, and seems to have no end.

Main events of the war

Ten years have passed since peaceful protests broke out against the government of President Bashar Assad in March 2011 because of the so-called “Arab Spring”, it triggered a popular uprising which quickly turned into a real civil war. The hardest fighting of the war has taken place in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria. The United States had a leading role in the management of the war,  during the years of Obama’s presidency, but especially during Trump’s presidency. In fact, the United States did not intervene in the war until the first use of chemical weapons in the conflict happened in August 2013. The first American air attack occurred in September 2014; an attack on the Syrian territories controlled by the Islamic State, which had proclaimed its "caliphate" in Syrian and Iraqi territories. Subsequently, Assad’s Syrian army suffered its first defeats against the Islamic State, for this reason Russia and then Turkey intervened in support of Assad. The conflict continued and in 2017, for the first time, the United States launched a barrage of missiles as a direct attack on the Syrian government. In 2018, after Assad had recaptured all the suburbs of the city of Damascus, Great Britain, the United States and France launched military attacks on Syria to punish Assad who was accused of using chemical weapons again and killing many civilians. Then the United States decided to establish new sanctions against the countries which supported Syrian military operations. Despite a decade of fighting and a destroyed country, Assad remains firmly in power. 

Syria today is suffering a serious economic and humanitarian crisis, and is divided into three parts. An al-Qaeda group dominates the northwestern province of Idlib, while Turkish-backed rebels control some stretches along the Turkish border. The Syrian Kurdish forces supported by the United States control about a quarter of the country in the northeast. Assad controls the rest of the country.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS AND LITTLE WOMEN IN COMPARISON

The reign of Queen Victoria gave the name to the period of time between 1937 and 1901: the Victorian Age. During this complex era, characterized by great hypocrisy and social imbalances, there was a marked division between male and female skills. 

The concept of family was very similar to the Roman idea of  “pater familias” or  "father of the family"  who had absolute rule over his household; in fact  his wife and his children  had to submit to his will and  his wife’s tasks included only the domestic sphere. 

Women’s life was so difficult, since they were considered as objects and their role was limited to have children, do household chores and obey their husbands. They were requested to be pure, pious and chaste; for this reason, they were associated with the ideal of “the angel of the hearth”, thanks to Coventry Patmore’s literary work The Angel in the House (1854).

Women did not have any right: they could study only if it was useful for the maintenance of the house and any one of them who wished to study or attend university was mocked; they also could not vote and paternal rights were assigned to men, as well as every trace of money.

During a conference, even the scholar John Ruskin presented his idea of  men as “defenders and creators” and women as “those who clean the house”.

Yet the condition of women started being in the spotlight: as they were tired of it, they started overthrowing some of the rules imposed on them by criticizing contemporary society in their literary works in which they expressed their rebellion, hidden behind the feminine ideal.

As I have just affirmed, women who transgressed the Victorian “code of conduct” were not accepted; but despite the numerous vetoes imposed by society, some of them - like the Brontë sisters and Elizabeth Gaskell - decided to undertake the world of literature anyway, by hiding their identities using male pseudonyms or by remaining anonymous.

Among them, there was Emily Brönte and Louisa May Alcott. 

MY PASSION FOR TRAVEL

Since I was a child I have always been fascinated by the idea of discovering new places outside my own country. I was curious to know that there was such a vast world outside the door of my house, and I wanted to travel it as soon as possible. Studying English at school aroused  my passion for this language together with  my interest in all the countries where it is spoken, but in particular Great Britain. Lots of my relatives told me about their adventures all over the world, they showed me photos, videos and they brought me gadgets and I remember being really impressed with what they showed me about London. I don’t know why, probably because I saw that city very different from my village, it seemed another world to me and at that time I was just a 10-year-old girl.

So I started to ask my parents to go to visit London, I dreamed of getting on that strange giant wheel known as the London Eye which seemed to me just a wonderful carousel, I couldn’t wait to see the beautiful palace of the Queen and I even wanted to put on her crown, just to feel like a princess!

Years passed, but my desire of visiting the capital of Great Britain  remained essentially unchanged as I grew up. I was also learning the traditions and customs of the country, and then  those attractions, which as a child seemed so strange to me, began to take their real form, and they continued to captivate me very much … until Christmas 2017!

ST PATRICK’S DAY

St Patrick’s Day is a famous religious festivity which is celebrated on the 17^th of March in Ireland and the States. Its name is connected to the Roman Patricius who is commonly known to be the missionary who converted the country to Christianity in the 5^th century. In fact, St Patrick’s  is the patron saint  of Ireland.  This is an occasion for people to gather, enjoy music and dance as well as to organize lots of parties.

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: A BALLAD BY JOHN KEATS

Julian Peters is a comic-book artist and illustrator living in Montreal. Recently he has focused mostly on classic poems. Here you can find his comic-book adaptation of La Belle Dame Sans Merci  by John Keats (1819).

Benedetta Renzetti,  5^C  Linguistico

UN AUGURIO DAVVERO SPECIALE ...

MY TRIP TO PRAGUE

During the Christmas holidays I spent four days in Prague, the fascinating capital city of the Czech Republic.

On the first day I went to Charles Bridge, a historic bridge which connects the Old Town and the New Town. After crossing that famous bridge I took a walk in Mala Strana District;  I went and saw John Lennon Wall which  is entirely covered in graffiti and lyrics from the Beatles' songs, and designs relating to local and global causes; I loved it so much because it was the meeting place for young local dissidents at the time of oppressive Communist Prague.

MY TRIP TO NEW YORK

Last summer I went to the fascinating city of New York and it was an amazing experience. Coming from a small town, seeing that vast and chaotic city, always full of people, was really weird. I went there on a study trip for two weeks, the other students and I were all divided into groups, each with its own group-leader. The first thing I noticed was that on my other trips I always had to walk in line, but in New York it was literally impossible!  Sidewalks are huge, but there are too many people around and apparently New Yorkers are always in a hurry, so we bumped into lots of them lots of times!

WRITING HAIKU POEMS

Here you can read some of the haiku poems my third-year students enjoyed writing.

A LETTER TO KOBE BRYANT

Dear Kobe,

I still can’t believe what happened. Nobody believes it. Yet, that’s it! You died leaving a gaping hole in the whole world. The fact is that you were not just an incredibly brilliant professional basketball player who took the ball and scored. No, you were a “legend”! You have always been, on and off the pitch. You have always been a fantastic person, with a bright smile, ready to laugh and make people   laugh. 

But why you, Kobe? Why, among all the wicked people in the world, did you depart this life? Probably the only wrong thing  you did  was  to  tell the referee to go to hell in various languages!  You died with your beloved daughter Gigi, leaving your wife Vanessa and three other beautiful girls in despair.  

I can’t understand your tragic death! Your absence is enormous for everyone, in the same way as the Staples Center missed your dunks when you retired from basketball in 2016. Your relationship with basketball was unique! It is amazing to think of all the records you beat:  the only player in NBA history who scored 60 points in his last game, the youngest player who won the Slam Dunk Contest, the only player in NBA history to score at least 600 points in the postseason for three consecutive years, the youngest player to start in an NBA All-Star game at the age of 19 years,  the only basketballer who won an Oscar in 2018 for his contributions to "Dear Basketball,'' an animated short about his relationship to the game. I think that’s enough, even if there are so many other  records …

It is the moment to say goodbye. Without a doubt,  you will continue to live in the heart of every person who loves sports, you will always  be a source of inspiration for many young people, but above all you will continue to be a “legend”. And do you know why you will never be forgotten? Simply because "Legends Never Die"!

#mambaforever 

#alwaysKobe

Simone Cerri, 4^C Linguistico

GRAFFITI: ART OR VANDALISM?

Graffiti is one of the best manifestations of contemporary art. It consists in writing or drawing everything you want on a wall or another surface. Graffiti ranges from simple words to elaborate drawings or paintings.

Graffiti has existed since cavemen began telling their stories through their drawings on cave walls;  people utilized graffiti as a form of worship in ancient Egypt and at the time of the Roman Empire. Nowadays graffiti artists use spray paints and marker pens and they embellish decaying urban areas.

MY SCHOOL TRIP TO MALTA

Last April I went on a school trip to Malta. There was my class, three other classes and three teachers.  We left Subiaco on 6 April and we arrived at Fiumicino Airport in the early afternoon. Everybody was very excited! Our plane took off at 4.40 pm. The flight was short and I spent the time watching out of the window!  I really love flying!

We arrived at 6.10 pm and, after collecting our luggage, we took a coach to the Topaz Hotel.

THE SCHOOL OF TOMORROW

Using my knowledge and experience, I think school in 2155 might be similar to the school we attend nowadays. Unluckily, the school system has always been stuck in the same structure for many years: there are teachers in a continuous state of lesson preparation and test correction as well as  students who use books and exercise books and  always have to study lots of subjects. There are a lot of teachers who are trying to “improve” their lessons, using new technologies such as computers and the Internet, but there are still teachers who just prefer to use textbooks for their lessons.

REFLECTING ON EQUALITY AND FREEDOM ...

The satellite event “Equality and Freedom”, organised by the Italian association “Sulleregole” and in which my class participated on 30 November, was extraordinarily inspiring. Gherardo Colombo has been taking part in such meetings with high school students for years. He is a former Italian magistrate who had a crucial role in some of the most remarkable trials in the country, such as “Mani Pulite”, a judicial investigation into political corruption in the 1990s, and the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli, a court-appointed lawyer who was liquidating Sindona's crumbling banking empire. The event was presented by the famous actor Pif, and Gherardo Colombo was flanked by the journalist Sergio Rizzo. They both dealt with very serious topics, which are generally underestimated by most people: not only freedom and equality, which are doubtlessly the core values of every democratic society, but also the correlation between the Internet and these two concepts. Thanks to his friendly and even joking attitude, the magistrate managed to involve the students in an active discussion about the profound meaning of the word “equality”, which is, I think, more and more misunderstood. Each of us is unique, but the Constitution (and more specifically Article 3) guarantees the respect of the differences and defines the conditions which allow people to have fair opportunities. However, what Colombo helped us understand is that a society based on equality is not necessarily characterized by freedom, too. So, the two values must coexist in order to create a better society, in which everyone is different, and equal: sex, race, personal and social conditions can’t be turned into pretexts for discrimination and violence.

Besides, Sergio Rizzo, Vice Director of  “La Repubblica”, discussed the problems of the Internet related to the world of work and “artificial intelligence”. It was probably quite tedious for some students, but I found it extremely interesting, mainly because of the influence of technology on our lives, as it is becoming increasingly significant. Just think of Amazon or Google which have an incredible decision-making power over international politics and economy.

What we can do is to strive to keep the democratic values alive, even in front of such a changeable world.

Matteo Masi,  5^C Liceo Linguistico