Sorry

As I write this it's now 6.30 in the morning on Friday the 24th September. The reason why I got up so early (at 6) is because from today to sunday evening about 16 of us are going climbing in the Dolomite Mountains on the famous Via Ferata climbing course.
I have nearly finished my blog for the week (sorry I haven't updated it recently, I've been busy, but like always I keep a record of the day) so will try and post it on sunday or at the very latest sunday.
Hope you're all well,
Robin

Friday and Saturday (sorry if it's a bit long)

Friday 17^th September

I woke up early again today, for reasons that you will already know. I finished my biology homework and then went off to biology. We carried on looking at cells and compared animal and plant cells. In history we continued looking at treaties instigated by Bismarck and then what happened when Bismarck was fired by Kaiser Wilhelm II and the decline towards war. We carried on looking at poems in English, although this time it was a bit cheesier as we were looking at moon poems. We looked at ‘Sad Steps’ by Philip Larkin and it was an alright poem, as at least it wasn’t going on about how romantic the moon is or anything like that, but it just didn’t seem to float my boat, as they say.

At break I got another sandwich to make up for the absence of breakfast (firstly I don’t want to get any of the bugs that travel round college so quickly, so I try to avoid shared cutlery and bowls etc, secondly after this there is only bread. And they recently changed the bread to a really dry type. I need to get myself my own crockery and cutlery). We sheltered under a tree as we ate our sandwiches, due to the torrential rain that was hammering down upon us, and had been since last night. After this I went to the last lesson of the day, Italian, where we looked at the daily routine. Viviana told us that she was going to be teaching a workshop next week on the 23^rd and 24^th so we have our Italian lessons then off. At the end of the lesson she asked a few of us to stay behind and said about (and she had already said this in assembly on Monday, but it was mainly for secondi, so I didn’t listen too much) this conference thing in a monastery in Tuscany, which was focusing on Europe and Africa. Basically the college gets invited every year and the college hadn’t had enough secondi from Europe to volunteer to go, so she was asking us. She said to email by three that afternoon (as in Friday afternoon) and naturally I forgot to. I also don’t know her email, as we haven’t received the college address books yet… But still, it was annoying when I remembered the day after that I never emailed. On the other hand it was all going to be in Italian so maybe next year I would be able to enjoy it more… It was incredibly strange to hear Viviana speaking English, though, as apart from that one assembly I’ve never heard her say anything than a few words in English.

I got back to Fore in the day room to find Raza (my room-mate from Mauritius) cooking. We had talked about this last night, that Raza was going to cook for our room, last night, but I didn’t really imagine it happening. As he was doing this I checked my emails and facebook etc only to find that my legs were ridiculously painful due to mosquito bites. Counting only the bites on my legs I found 17 bites. I took solace in watching the latest Mock the Week on youtube. People joined me and then subsequently walked away as they realised there was not a hope in hell that they could ever understand any of the references or the type of humour used. Also, as I was watching this for some reason I typed in a word into the dictionary on my laptop, which is something I have been doing a lot recently as people ask me words in English that I have never heard before. And partly because I’ve been speaking to Davide quite a bit, who always thinks about the origins and asks me about the origins of English words, but also because the dictionary tells you the origins, it really is fascinating finding out the origins. The word I typed in then was ‘pining’ – partly because I thought of the Monty Python sketch with the dead parrot, another shining example of British humour, but also because it was quite an appropriate feeling. This is what the dictionary told me: ‘Old English pīnian [(cause to) suffer,] of Germanic origin; related to Dutch pijnen, German peinen ‘experience pain,’ also to obsolete pine [punishment] ; ultimately based on Latin poena ‘punishment’ I find that quite interesting… After that interlude, in the end it was just Raza, Emma (Raza has a French passport and his mother tongue is French, and he was selected by the French UWC national committee, so Emma is his co-year, from near Bordeaux) and I who ate a rather delicious omelette.

I then went to get my passport from the school office in the expectation that I was going to go to emisfero and get a sim card for my old phone, which I am currently using as an alarm (indispensable, I can turn this phone off every night and it will always turn itself back on for the alarm) and a timepiece. On the way back, I met Virginia, from Italy, and Emma, who I had about half an hour ago had lunch with. They were on their way to emisfero so I quickly ran to the room, got my bag and ever-growing shopping list, and went to join them.

At the supermarket, one of the many things on my list was ‘biscuits’. But then I realised, ‘why am I buying biscuits that, in all honesty, I probably won’t like that much, when I could be making some?’ After buying some essentials, such as a mini drying rack to hang on our radiator (the problem with having shared drying racks in the corridors is that people can all too easily walk away with your clothes, especially socks. So this solves this problem). The worst thing is that everything is SO expensive. Like for example those canvas sort of shoes that you can get in Primark for about £3, and up to £10 everywhere else, are €25. And just in general most things are about 20% more expensive than in the UK. So much for a weak Eurozone. Although at least the sim card was only €5.

Speaking to Virginia on the bus the common topic of Berlusconi arrived again. I told Virginia how when you say ‘Italy’ to people in the UK, as well as food, history and art, one of the main things you think is ‘Berlusconi’. She was most embarrassed. Emma, it turns out, is actually the youngest student here, at only 15. Although mentally she is definitely older, as she moved up school years in France when about 8 or 9, so she’s always had her peers slightly older. I think it would be more difficult if there was a fifteen year-old who wasn’t used to being educated with older people, or on the other extreme a twenty year old, as there is a definite gap between people at this age. Really it depends on the education system of each country, for example the Italians are all seventeen as they finish a certain number of years of high school before going to a UWC, whereas from the UK we are pretty much all 16 (apart from Scotland, where they’re 17 as they do their highers) as most of us have just done GCSEs.

After tidying my room out for a bit and sorting out my new purchases I went downstairs to the day room, which was positively dead, so I decided to take out the recycling, which is my college service (actually as primi, our college service isn’t supposed to start until the second term, but I’m nice). I bumped into Francesco on the way and we went back to Fore to play card games. In the end we were joined by Salsabeel (prima, Bangladesh), Alex (secondo, Belgium), Julia (prima, Netherlands), Seva (prima, Lithuania), Esther (seconda, France) and a bit later Gabriel, my British secondo from Wales.

The first game we played was one called ‘flags’. Basically you play in partners sitting somewhere across the table from you, but not directly opposite. You are each dealt four cards and then 5 more cards are placed faced up on the table. The aim is then to swap the cards on the table for yours in order to get four of the same suit or 4 of a sequence in the same suit. When you have it you do your sign (for example yawning or scratching your nose) that you agreed with your partner in secret, and if you see your partner doing it you have to shout ‘flags!’ If someone else sees then you’re effectively busted, and they can shout ‘flags!’ If they get it wrong you carry on as normal. I wasn’t particularly good at this game as I was so focussed on my own cards I kept on forgetting to look at my partner (Salsabeel) who began to get a bit peeved at my lack of observation. The next game we played was just as bad for me. You have three cards and then you pass one round and look at it and you have to try and get four of the same suit or a sequence like in Flags. We played two variations: one when you have a set you place your hand in the middle of the table, the other when you put your finger on your nose. Both of these were extremely funny, not least because I was almost always the last one to notice, and then I realised that everyone else had been staring at me for the last thirty seconds…

The reason Gabriel had come to see me was at first to ask if I wanted to come to his residence for a pizza that evening. I ordered with the seconda from Slovenia (but I cant remember her name) and about an hour later I went with many of the Italian primi to old offices. Basically the residents of old offices (all twelve of them, and in fact only about four of them were there anyway) were hosting a pizza night to try and liven the place up for once. It was really nice, and the margherita pizza was only €3, and not bad either, compared to British standards. I also learnt this really weird game-thing that seems to be quite popular, and there must be a name for it, it’s basically where you have your cup and then you bang and clap in a funny order and pass the cup to the next person, and you take the person to your other side’s cup. It’s really hard to explain, but I think it might be a German tradition, as when I was on the trip to Nancy (Newcastle’s twin city) with the city council in July, it was all the German young people who were doing it. Hmm…

We then went to the residence Ples for a bit, but really there’s not much there apart from a large kitchen (no day room), so we went back to Fore. After a yoghurt, Raza suggested going for a walk down to Porto in the storm (it was raining, but relatively warm - and fun) so Raza, Zaid, Josh (who we picked up on the way) and I went for a little walk which was really fun actually. We dropped a present off for Raza’s EE friend on the way at the residence Luchese, where I got to have a look round the grandest residence. Basically an EE friend is where every primo/a selects a secondo/a from a list to be their ‘EE friend’. You then write to your secondo/a and give little gifts such as chocolate to encourage them with their EE (extended essay). It’s a nice tradition, but rather annoyingly someone else (Job) thought that my secondo (Gilbert from Uganda) was his secondo so he started writing to Gilbert. So now I haven’t got anyone…

We got back after the walk to find that a scorpion had been killed in the corridor outside our room, which is always a nice surprise. After checking the internet I went to bed for a relatively early night (at about 12) and watched the Thick of It. To be honest there would never be any point in trying to show it to anyone else but Gabriel, as the amount of satire, irony and sarcasm (and when I say sarcasm I don’t mean the really obvious American one, I mean the witty British one) is incomprehensible to most people. Also most people wouldn’t get the political references, not to mention the Scottish accents and the speed of the voices. Anyway, the Thick of It is always nice when you have any feelings of homesickness (which weren’t actually much), as there is not much else funnier, in my opinion (so humble it is). After that I just lay in the dark for a while, watching the lightning light up my room every other minute. Beautiful.

Saturday 19^th Septembeer

So much for a weekend lie-in: Raza was going to Trieste for the weekend, staying the night with his grandparents in a hotel. Instead of packing earlier he decided to pack at 8.30 in the morning, waking us all up. Although Zaid had already gone to Venice for the second trip (and how glad I was I went last weekend, as even though I was ill, the weather was so much better then). Also note how Zaid doesn’t wake us up whereas Raza does… Although in fairness to Raza I know that he is pretty homesick at the moment, so if he can get a bit comforted from seeing his grandparents then it is worth us losing a few hours of sleep. Also Gabriele and I decided to use this unexpected time to make (argh – I am picking up the habit of non-native English speakers of using the verb ‘to make’ for everything) a trip to Trieste. So we went for the eleven o clock bus, where we bumped into Pete, the Yorkshireman who’s come to here from the UWC in Norway for a year’s change. At least we could sympathise and be British together by taking about the horrendous weather. Anyway, it was really interesting speaking on the bus and finding out about Pete and his life in Norway, which he now considers his home after being there for nine years. It was also really interesting learning about how much they value skills in Norway, for example a friend was given a grant by the Norwegian government to finish her nurse training she had started but never finished twenty five years ago, at the age of fifty. And it was also a viable option for him to work in a petrol station in Norway on his year off from RCN (Red Cross Nordic, it’s the name of the UWC in Norway) as the pay is so high. He’s taking a twenty-five percent pay cut coming here.

When we got to Trieste I decided to go to a chemist to buy some paracetomol in case it was ever needed (actually relatively cheap: only €2 for 20 pills), however when I got to paying I realised I had left my wallet on the bus. So I sprinted back to the bus station, Gabriele in tow, where luckily the bus had not gone yet. Gabriele asked the people on our seats if they had seen a wallet and fortunately someone had handed it in to the driver. We went to the ticket desk and there we found the driver, to whom I said my most grateful ‘grazie mille’. Gabriele explained how I was very lucky as where he comes from, in the south, Puglia, the wallet would have just been stolen by someone.

At first Gabriele was looking for a suit, so we looked in a couple of shops then headed into the main centre of Trieste. Although it had been continually chucking it down for the whole time in Trieste (and Duino), the water pumped it up to number 11 as we were passing the main piazza (square), Piazza d’Unita d’Italia, so we sheltered in the alcove of the main building in the huge square, which is itself a colossal building (the Germanic and Austrian influences are everywhere, as Trieste used to be the main port of the Austro-Hungarian empire), which is something to do with eh local administration. As I had seen in Trieste when I was staying with my family, there is a registry office at the building. And as we were standing there we saw the lucky couple come out into the torrents where they had the Italian tradition of having rice thrown on their backs. We then decided that we should go somewhere, or at least I did as Gabriele was on the phone to his dad, so I decided to go to a really good ice cream shop near the hotel where we stayed in Trieste. This turned out to be a master-stroke, as we were sheltered and the ice cream was delicious (Gabriele said that it was good, so it must be really good if an Italian says it’s good. In fact he ended up having two ice creams). Gabriele then informed me that his parents are going to buy him a suit and send it to him, so at least we didn’t have to traipse around the streets in the pouring rain looking for suits. Trieste actually is so different in bad weather, though. When we came before on our pre-visit, it was thirty degrees (obviously centigrade) and sunshine every day, and the café’s were always full and the streets thriving. I don’t know where all those people went. Inside, it seems.

After the ice cream I wanted a little look at the hotel we stayed in, and also passed the excellent pizzeria nearby. We then went to the old part of the city where I was trying to find the wonderful little bookshop that we had also visited on the pre-visit. On the way I bought a Times (Friday’s edition), as it was the only English newspaper I could find. The only place I’ve seen the Guardian was in Venice. I’ve also seen the Daily Mail (it’s like a rat, you’re never more than three metres from one) but obviously I wouldn’t spend my money on it. There, I helped Gabriele find a book in English (as they have about five shelves of English books), that he would be able to read, obviously with the help of a dictionary. We settled on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. Opposite the bookshop was a deli where we got sandwiches, which we later consumed at the bus station whilst waiting for the bus. On the way to the bus station we popped into the post office, where I sent a little something home.

We got back to Duino at about half 2, where I checked my post and to my surprise there was a package from home. It turned out to be my debit card, meaning I have now moved from the world of ‘those who can’t’ to ‘those who can’. The next part of the sentence being ‘waste all their money away’. Anyway, to stop the bank blocking my card, thinking that someone had stolen it and it was being used abroad, I rang the Co-op and it was surprisingly easy to notify the dates of my stay in Italy, a lot less complicated than I thought it would be. After this I spoke to Dad for a bit, during which time I reminded him to send my pin code by email and also the details for online banking, so I can check my balance if I make any purchases (for example I intend to order from Amazon, literally the best game I have ever played. It goes by the name of ‘Junglespeed’). If I can check my bank balance I can see if the bank charges me for online transactions on amazon.co.uk and amazon.fr (there is no amazon Italia, and the closest geographical amazon that I could understand was amazon France as I barely speak a word of German). I also requested from my father the recipe for shortbread, as like I said about yesterday with the biscuits, I want to make a ‘british’ biscuit. Next on the list is ginger biscuits. If you have any British recipes that I could cook (sweet or savoury) although preferably vegetarian as naturally I have never cooked with meat, email me or comment below. Maybe quiche? Although even the word quiche itself is French… (Alsatian in fact, derived from the German ‘kuchen’…)

I then went to finish watching the Thick of It, during which time I experienced the horrible feeling of trying so hard not to spray liquid out of your mouth when laughing it came out my nose. Lush… I then decided to read the Times and caught the latest on the pope’s visit. I know there’s the internet, but there’s nothing quite like having a physical thing in your hand that you can read and complete, if you have the time. By now, I realised it was already 5, so, feeling like I hadn’t achieved much, I went for a wander. As it turned out, with half the school in Venice, and the weather so bad, everyone was just having a lazy day, which was actually really nice. A time to catch up on oneself after the sheer amount of stuff going on over the past few weeks. I sat downstairs feeling British reading the Times (although really I shouldn’t be giving a Murdoch publication any exposure…), and then spoke with Roberto, my secondo from Sardinia, about British politics, as he knows a surprising amount. A little bit later, Moritz was walking by the room as I was showing some people my playing cards with scenes of Northumberland and Newcastle on. He then went and got his South Tyrolean ones, which were completely unlike any cards I have ever seen. They were even different from Italian ones (which are pretty dissimilar to normal cards, anyway). He showed me the local game, which was actually quite fun, although there is no way I could describe it. This website roughly tells you about it: http://www.pagat.com/trumps/watten.html . I showed Christian, from Indonesia, the cards from Northumberland, and I think he was quite amazed. It’s funny how you take all this history and beautiful places for granted.

In the end, due to tiredness, I settled for a quiet night in watching The Pianist, which was a really moving and powerful film. I recommend it highly. Again the lightning guided me to sleep.

Oh yeah I forgot to put any photos on the laptop, so I'll put them on the next post. 

Robin

Thursday 16th September 2010

I woke up this morning to the sound of the sea, for once earlier than Raza as I had to get up and use my free block and the hour beforehand for homework. I find it very hard to work when tired in the evenings so getting up early was the solution for me in this case. I may have to start drinking tea and coffee, though, as apparently you will need to work until late at night… Anyway, pleasingly, I actually understood the maths homework, which was indescribably comforting, as every time I know I have maths on the timetable I am dreading it as I know I will spend another lesson not understanding anything (as you will see below). Economics was also to be done; all we had to do was read the first five pages of the textbook, but it made me think how fortunate I am in that if I wasn’t a native speaker it would be a lot harder for me to do that.

In economics we carried on looking at production possibilities curves, which truly are fascinating, but I imagine they will be useful one day. After that I went to maths, where I just found the lesson terrible. Basically we have been going through this background knowledge booklet for the course and I recognise most of it, just need to be reminded of how to do it. However instead of being reminded I am being taught completely different methods using notation I have never seen in my life. It’s really frustrating, as whilst I know I am no ‘whizz-kid’, I know I am capable of doing it. Also, since there are so many people who took standard maths as they couldn’t do higher because of timetable issues, the pace of the class is really fast and I don’t want to ask. I know I’ll have to soon, though. At least today I sat next to Davide who was able to explain stuff to me that the teacher wasn’t.

After a break time spent doing my Italian homework (as I said I find it so difficult to work in the evenings) I went to history, where we carried on looking at the newly created Empire of Germany in 1870 and onwards. We looked at Bismarck’s treaties and for some reason I started pondering a little, as you do. Perhaps it’s because this room is where the amnesty international taster session was held and someone there talked about how some of the students can’t sign certain petitions because of their country (eg Singapore, Hong Kong) and also because talking about Berlusconi so often, as well as all the wheeling and dealing going on in the build up to World War One, it did make me think how lucky I am to come from a country such as Britain. Yes I know the food’s bad, the newspapers are mostly toilet paper and the weather is all we can talk about, due to the fact it’s so miserable. But at least we can think, say and write what we like, do what we like without any fear of anybody coming and stopping us (well unless you’re dealing with the metropolitan police, in which case they like to injure and in some cases kill you. But it’s fine up north). Even in Italy, Berlusconi controls the state-owned TV channels and owns the rest privately so he has completely monopoly, as well as the fact that corruption with government and the mafia and even with the Catholic Church is so prominent, and it almost makes you feel proud. Almost. I have at least thought a lot more about my own heritage, partly being born in Fiji, but also a lot about being from the North East. As in not ‘England’. I’ve learnt more about the history of Newcastle (through the booklet I took with me) and about the local language and talking about the difference between the north east and the rest of England, and the difference between Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, has made me almost feel more connected. I know certainly that I have a desire to go walking in the hills (anywhere in Northumbria will do, although preferably nearby a river), walk up Northumberland street and visit the quayside, with the bridges, the sage and the Baltic. I also have an urge to go to central station, and of course St James’ Park… (And Joe, if you’re reading this, Blackpool didn’t beat Newcastle, it’s just because Berlusconi’s censorship of the media means that they change everything on the BBC website and because of budget cuts the website you look at in Italy is the same as the one in the UK so it changed it for all UK viewers too– to discredit it of course – so they changed the score line round, as actually it was 2-0 to Newcastle).

Anyway, big thinking moment over, although not for long. Italian was another fun lesson, learning about family, and I have to say I know that you shouldn’t laugh (and I didn’t) but you should hear French people trying to speak Italian. It’s the accent, really. Especially with the ‘r’s and the words that end with an ‘e’, as in French the ‘e’ would normally be silent. Although it does make me think ‘what on earth do I sound like?’

After that lesson, I have now completed my first 8-day cycle at the college (the timetable is an 8-day one, to avoid events that are frequently on the same day disrupting the same lessons). So I thought I’d do a little round-up (if you want you can just skip this if you’re short on time. I hope it is useful though for those who are interested):

Biology (Standard Level): taught by Mike, from the UK. I’m trying to work out whether I really will enjoy biology. So far it has been pretty good, although Mike’s teaching style is a little different. He tends to talk a lot and then we fill in the sheet and ask him if we don’t know the answer. I think I will like it, as he’s clearly passionate about the subject and the course looks quite interesting.

Maths (Standard Level): Taught by Tim, from Germany. Well. What can I say? I think you know my current feeling about maths. The thing is I can really enjoy maths. But here, with the class at such a high level, and using different notation in the maths, like really different, (rather ironically, it’s almost like I’m in a position where it’s not my mother tongue) and with Tim the teacher being, well clearly very well meaning, but sometimes hard to follow (although in fairness I should definitely ask more questions). I just hope it gets better, as I don’t want to drop down into studies level, as I know I can do it, it’s just about reaching the position where I am able to do it.

English A1 (Standard Level technically, but still in the same class as higher due to timetabling issues meaning I can’t join the newly formed standard level class): Taught by Lydia, from Wales (and an alumnus of Atlantic College): Surprisingly enjoyable lessons so far. Lydia has managed to make the lessons interesting and fun and I do feel like I am looking into these poems with a different view than before. Although I maintain that I much prefer simply reading books, poems or whatever, rather than writing about things like chapter openings and the style of writing, I think maybe if it carries on like this it won’t be so bad. I might even be able to take English at higher…

Economics (Higher Level): Taught by Annemarie, from the Netherlands (not Holland). Economics I think should start getting more interesting. It is already a completely new of thinking for me, the idea that everything pretty much has a ‘utility’ – satisfaction that can be gained from it – but I want to be able to help change things, and I think that maybe economics is a useful way to do it. As Annemarie pointed out, we, as economists are the ones to persuade the government not to destroy rainforests or other natural havens as the benefits from keeping them are so much better (financially as well as just, not destroying the environment for greed, but I don’t think Shell or BP get that concept) as we provide the financial data to prove it. Also, with the IB course being international, we look a lot at international trade and development, two aspects, especially the latter, which interest me.

History (Higher Level): Taught by Eunice, from Wales. History should be a really interesting course, and Eunice knows the course like the back of her hand, so to speak. We have been having some quite interesting discussions so far in history and hopefully this will carry on. The only bad thing, for me, I would say, is that it is all modern history (as in from 1870-1999), and I haven’t actually studied anything older than that since year 8 (when I was thirteen). And especially in first school, history is, for obvious reasons, a lot more simplified, and a lot less about understanding. I’d really like to (and even though some people say it’s not interesting) learn a bit more about some of the Tudors or other monarchies/kingdoms/empires from around that period, or even before that. I suppose that’s what reading’s for.

Italian B (Higher Level): Taught by Viviana, from Italy. Italian is probably my favourite subject, at the moment. We are mostly going through what I have learnt already, but it is actually really useful as it’s also about cementing key ideas in my head, such as verb endings and basic vocabulary. The pace is also fast enough that it isn’t at all boring, and I really enjoy how the school’s policy is that teachers don’t speak English in the lessons at all, as it really helps you think in Italian. And since we are doing Italian B (A2 wasn’t even on offer), it means that I can learn without feeling any pressure to write any essays or analysis of literature in a different language! (whilst I’m sure when I improve my Italian to such a level that I can read good books in Italian I will enjoy reading them, I don’t think that’s going to happen in the next two years. At the moment I just want to focus on communication).

Back to the day’s events:

After lunch at mensa I went to post my blog and then realised that since my phone charger had arrived, even though I have an Italian one, the UK one has a USB cable so I can upload photos to the laptop. So I added them, hope they are useful and I will think of more of the area in which I am living in soon. Any requests?

This was done in a rush as at 14.30 I had my first climbing session as part of my official physical activities programme for the IB. On the way I posted my creative activity choices form in the box by reception. My choices were: Number one – Sustainability group, Number two – Ways of seeing and Number three – Amnesty International. I will almost certainly get sustainability group, but I would really like to do as additional activities any one or even three if I am not too busy of Ways of Seeing, Amnesty International and Photography. There are loads of others too, but unfortunately a lot of them class with either my physical activity or my social service.

We met for climbing at the climbing store outside Pala residence where we got all the kit that we prepared on Tuesday (and for some people Wednesday). We got in the minibuses and drove for about half an hour or so to Val Rosandra, a mountainous area on the other side of Trieste to the sea, which gave a completely different view. This time, instead of doing normal climbing (as in vertical up and down sections along a rock face, with instructors at each one and you can try and do as many as you can), we did a mini via Ferata, in anticipation of next weekend’s trip to the famous course in the Dolomites. It was a completely different way of climbing, following a steel rope (which was brand new, as it happens, as Carlo, our Italian climbing instructor, had recently completed the refurbishment of the course with a local climbing group) and generally travelling horizontally, for about two hours. The way you do it is you have two ropes with clips (carabiners) which you clip onto the steel rope which is anchored into the wall every meter or so. And when you move one carabiner into the next section, it means you have one holding you in case you fall. You’re also allowed to use the rope in tricky spots, which proved to be quite useful. I happened to be a the front, which although you might think bad as people are behind you, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as you never had to wait for people, and since I didn’t find it too hard, I had time to stop and look at the amazing view, the view of Slovenia and all the interesting flora and fauna around me. I have to say I really am looking forward to going to the proper via Ferata in the Dolomites now.

We all went straight to mensa after we got back, as climbing is an energy sapping activity! After a much needed shower I went to the library to attempt to do my homework, write this blog and then hopefully get an early night.

Actually as it turns out I have to finish (I’m now writing this in the day room at 22.40) my biology drawings of plant and animal cells (I didn’t bring my pencil to the library, stupidly enough) and I also have just had a really nice chat with Rimma, the residence tutor, about general life. Also she asked me if I was ever homesick and said that if you weren’t homesick sometimes it wouldn’t be normal, which was comforting to know. It was also just nice to talk to her, as she is clearly someone who really cares.

The view of Trieste from the viewing station right before the climb (it's the same view, this was just a better photo)

A praying mantis (my third one in Italy) I found on the climb

Six out of the seventeen of us

Another view

A strange almost cactus-like plant

Wednesday 16th September 2010

Today Gabriele and I had the luxury of a free block in the morning, although naturally Raza managed to wake us up at the normal time. At least we could go back to sleep until half 8, though (well 8.15 for me, as I had biology to finish. Old habits do indeed die hard).

In English we went through poetic terms, for example assonance, alliteration and sibilance for any of you doing English lit GCSE or A-level. I also managed to work out what Dadaism is (as a poetic term) due to the fact that last night in the Ways of Seeing taster session with Henry, we also looked at Duchamp’s work and the Dada poster. I was, as they say, well chuffed. In case you’re wondering my example was, ‘Why is there a fire engine in my bed?’ I should be, like, a poet or something.

In Biology we looked at the sheer scale of how small cells and their parts are and also I learnt that it’s impossible for some cells to have a nucleus as if they did the nucleus would take up most of the space (prokaryotic). In Economics we were introduced to Production Possibilities Curves and how much quantity and quality of factors of production can affect the efficiency of a country’s economy. In History (where Eunice very kindly finished not just without the extended period, but five minutes before the end of the normal lesson) we carried on looking at the causes of WWI, looking at Germany’s position in 1870, with Bismarck at the helm, when Germany wanted to try and make treaties with European powers in order to cement itself as a power and just as importantly isolate France.

I decided to forgo lunch due to the fact that I had only purchased my breakfast sandwich at 11. This led to a relaxed afternoon until 2.30, when I had my taster session for the Amnesty International creative activity session (interestingly enough AI at the college used to be a social service but they had to change due to IB requirements saying that social service must help the local area). This was led by Eunice but seems to be mostly student-led, where each week a student presents a particular case and the group talks about it and thinks of campaigns to run. For example they write a lot of letters and have petitions, but also think of creative ways to raise money and awareness, such as hosting ‘three course meals’ in Fore dayroom, where people are given a presentation on a particular item. Basically whatever you want, really.

Immediately after, leaving the school building, I saw the sign on the door that I had seen that morning, asking for any volunteers on the school’s ‘bio-plot’, in other words an allotment. So I went there and helped the secondi who were there to weed, seed, and talk about the plants. We also saw a very interesting creature which I have included a photo of in the selection below as I hope that someone can identify it (Richard, if you’re reading, your expertise would be most appreciated. Or anyone else). It is about the size of your index finger and has a little horn on it’s head/bum. Instead of legs it has loads of little wart like blobs. The garden’s only been going a year so hopefully over the next two I can insert some of my northern-heritage (don’t mention the fact that I was born in Fiji) green fingers. I’ll have to get some leek seeds. They probably would grow, as since we are so north, the climate isn’t nearly as hot as southern Italy where the citrus fruits are grown. Although I am thinking about bringing my banana plant over (or at least one of its babies) to see how it does.

On the way back to Fore from the bio-pot (which is in Ples garden) I bumped into my roomo Gabriele, Francesco and Davide, who were on thei way to porto. So I went and changed and went to join them. I met Gabriele down there, as Francesco and Davide had swum to the headland where the old castle is situated on. Gabriele and I went to join them but turned swiftly round after Davide explained that he had been stung by one. Henry (as in the teacher, who had just got out the water after a swim) was quite concerned but Davide seemed fine. After Francesco and I jumped in off the tall rock for a bit (disregarding the fence that someone has put there to stop us doing this very thing, and in the process they’ve made it more dangerous as you have to jump from further in to the rock) for Gabriele to take photos and then we just sat in the sun for a bit talking and ended up talking about Italian politics as a newspaper was on another sunbather’s towel. I learnt more about the Italian right and also the Dutch, as Job, from said country, was there, too.

At 6 was the taster session for the sustainability group, which is led by Max, who is the biology teacher and also the one who’s best friend is from Gateshead so he’s been to Newcastle (as obviously there’s not that much to do in Gateshead) many times. The sustainability group seemed really interesting as they really do a lot. For example they run the whole college compost system, and also have done a lot with reducing the college’s carbon footprint, for example with turning off lights. They have also managed to get to the point where solar panels are about to be installed in three of the residences and are trying to initiate a village-wide composting scheme. Even though it is only the second year of the group, you can tell Max is so passionate about it (he’s really committed to the UWC movement – he left being head of biochemistry at Oxbridge) so I think it would be a good activity to do. I personally think the college should buy a pig to eat all the scraps and food waste.

After mensa I managed to get my college email to work on Mac’s ‘Mail’, which is really useful indeed, as I can look at all my emails (obviously I can’t get any new ones) received without having to go downstairs. Although talking about accessing internet, Patrick, my secondo from Canada, reminded me that Macs can give each other wifi (how sad we are, sharing wifi with our macs) so if I am downstairs using my cable for the internet I can give anyone in the rooms above me wifi. As long as they’re using a mac, and not a PC.

After that I went to the taster session for Astronomy, led by Mark, the physics teacher, which was quite interesting. There loads of people there, though, as it is a completely new activity, as the school has had the telescope for a few years but only opened it recently as the student who won it in a competition hasn’t returned to the college and collected it. Anyway, I got to see the moon in really good detail, right close up, which was amazing, and because it was a half moon, the shadows were really large, which apparently makes it nicer to look at.

I think I’ll choose sustainability as my first choice and I’m undecided as to my second and third choices. Annoyingly, I could’ve gone to the taster session for photography, as Max who runs it, said that you don’t have to have a camera to do it, so I may yet take that. Or I can take any of these as additional activities, it just depends on time, really.

Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening relaxing either talking or sitting in my room. Raza and I were joined by Josh doing homework, as his roomo was asleep, where we spent a nice time speaking natively. I’m sure I’m losing my English here. Hopefully I’ll at least gain some Italian in return…

After I’d written this, at about midnight as I was on the way to sleep when I was woken up by a noise. It turned out to be a group of people singing happy birthday to Lorenzo, a primo, and then picking him up and dragging him to a shower. Considering that this hasn’t really happened to anyone else I would be quite angry if this happens to me as I have no wish to be woken up and put in a shower, even if it is supposed to be a tradition. Also, I wonder how many of the people who support this ‘tradition’ (actually it was only about 5 people, so not exactly a majority) have their birthdays when we’re on holiday…

The view of Venice from the boat

The Bellini Alterpiece in Venice

Henry strutting his stuff

The sinking ground and the flooding water at the foot of the rialto bridge

The gondola yard

A shop where you bought second-hand books by the 100 gram

The view of the castle from our bedroom window

The side of our residence (the balcony is available from mensa, so you can eat with the view) 

Fore lawn

The view of the bay, Trieste is in the larger hills to the left, but obscured by the sun I think

Across the sea to Slovenia and then Croatia

People eating lunch on the balcony outside mensa

People on the bio-plot (allotment)

The mysterious insect

The last few days (I have tried to make it short but sweet)

Sunday 12^th

Sunday morning I managed to have my first lie-in, til 10, and at 11 I went down to the day room as I had thought that our English group was to prepare a presentation of The Dream of the Rood, but since the group was split nothing happened.

After lunch at 1, I spent the afternoon talking with my roomi and whoever happened to be passing. I also managed to speak to Gabriel (my secondo from the UK) which was really nice as you can talk about British things and you understand! (e.g. about our self depreciatory humour, differences between the regions, etc) This was nice as the last time I had talked properly with Gabriel was about a week ago at 2 in the morning, so now we had plenty of time.

I then went to the school building later on in the afternoon, with the prime purpose of having a private skype conversation, however I arrived to find the internet not working. So I decided to just write my blog and answer as many unanswered emails I could find. It was nice having a few hours by myself as sometimes being with people all the time gets a bit much.

At mensa in the evening I got talking to Redatha, my secondo from Africa (yes I realise Africa is not a country but I’ve forgotten precisely which one…). We got talking about his EE (extended essay, the 5000 word mini thesis you do for the IB) and then I realised how fortunate I am and on the other hadn’t how hard it is for other people (e.g. Redatha) to write 5000 words, and not just simple ones, in English, one of the most ridiculously irregular languages. Redatha is doing his EE on biology, so he also has to include the scientific terms, and in some ways I even feel guilty, but on the other hand I cant help where I was born and also he will always have one language more than I do.

After mensa I posted my blog and at the same time the Asians (literally, all the students from anywhere in Asia) were having their meeting for Asian week, which is coming up. I am excited. You will find out more…

I also helped with the some of the people who cook every night instead of going to mensa, and it’s a shame as sometimes I’d like to join them, but don’t really feel like asking in case we are butting in. I know a few other people who are the same, so I suppose the obvious thing to do is start another cooking group…

I felt quite disappointed with the day but as well I suppose it is good I got some time to myself and time without anything to do, simply to relax!

Before bed I spoke to Zaid and I’ve got to say it sometimes get really trying having to teach him new words all the time, and when he continuously gets the pronunciation wrong. However when I think about it, am I making any effort to learn Arabic or Kurdish? (Actually I do want to learn Arabic, and Zaid has said he’ll try to give me a few lessons). But really I know not to be so horribly selfish, and he really is learning so fast. I suppose the most annoying thing is when our cultural differences come into play (you know how you’re righting a blog, in America everyone would laugh at you, it’s true, I know what America’s like, I see it on all the films.’ ‘Zaid, the films aren’t true’ ‘But they are all the same!’ ‘Yes but they’re films based on story, not reality’. It’s interesting really, how much he has learnt from these films, and so have his peers, and what their view of the USA is. Also how he says getting homesick is silly and also he finds it hard to ask for help from people, as it is seen as shameful in his culture, so I’ve tried to help him to ask his teachers when he is stuck or at least try my best to help with his homework). Raza by now had really caught the virus (it’s officially a virus now) that I had been suffering from, so we put him to bed and then ourselves.

Monday 13^th

Even though he was ill, Raza still woke at the same early hour. He then collapsed onto the bed after his shower and we demanded that he stay there. As I went to the nurses shortly before lessons, and then went back to get him so that he could be checked by the nurse, he went off to history (doing exactly the same as I did, not wanting to miss any lessons). The advantage of my being late was that I saw a gleaming white Lamborghini parked in piazza at ten past eight, something which virtually no-one else saw (clearly must have got there after lessons began). A gift.

In history we talked about the causes of WW1, which is something we covered in GCSE, so it was more revision, but it’s always interesting getting the viewpoints of Marton (Hungary) and Onur (from Turkey), especially when we were looking at the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1870. Biology was again interesting as while we do the actual biology stuff, there is a clear emphasis on including critical theory into it. For example, we are looking at cell theory, and Mike was asking us to look at where certain aspects of cell theory have been proved incorrect (eg in that all cells don’t have a nucleus) and why some things might be thought to be correct as we don’t know any further. In our biology class we have Jonas from Colombia and I can’t begin to imagine how hard it is for him, as he speaks all but no English. However we have learnt that he has a passion for mushrooms and so Mike has (rightly so) taken a shine to him for this. It’s sad that there’s this language barrier separating him from us (as that’s how it seems) and even though we all know he is not stupid at all that’s just the way it can come across, and also we can’t find out about the mushrooms! He has a farm in Colombia, so it would be fascinating to find out more.

I then decided to write up my blog about Venice in the library (not before getting some water, to soothe my burning throat), where it’s always blissfully quiet. There, for the benefit of mum and dad, I met that cleaner who we met at Sistiana beach and reintroduced myself and she seemed pleased to see me again, which was lovely. It’s also nice to engage in conversation with people like the cleaners as really they are just as important as the academics and teachers and businesspeople in the world, as without clean classrooms, offices and meeting rooms, nobody would be happy would they?

On the way to Italian I realised I have that particular type of ill where I can taste it in my mouth permanently, which isn’t the nicest of feelings by a long shot. Italian was enjoyable as always and then English was actually a really nice lesson. We were performing our pieces from Dream of the Rood and actually through the performances the poem had a really powerful effect on me. It was almost spiritual through its religious language, and there parts of it in the middle group’s section, which really reminded me of Grampa, as we always used to go to church with him, so in that way it was really emotional. It was just a shame that one person in the third group decided to, and I hope you’ll forgive my expression here, bullshit (for there is no other way of describing it) their way through their performance, standing on a table dancing (they freely admitted after the lesson that they made it up on the spot). As me and Josh were talking abut, we’re not religious, but when an art has been produced for a religious purpose, it almost feels insulting when you devalue it.

After lunch and checked emails, I experienced ‘College Life’ classes for the first time. Basically college life is intended to be a bit like PSHE classes in the UK, with added stuff about living away from home. We basically just split into groups and talked about what had surprised us, been challenging, been a disappointment and what had been exciting in these first two weeks. We then had tutor at Lydia’s house, which was nice as we could just sit and chat as a group for half an hour about any stuff that was bothering us. Although again we were late for the assembly! Hopefully we won’t build up a reputation… After assembly Pete, the Yorkshirean English and drama teacher who is with us for a year from Red Cross Nordic UWC in Norway, gave a fascinating talk about volunteering. Obviously I am interested in volunteering but I wasn’t sure whether the talk would be relevant for me anyway as I’m a first year, but I decided to stay and listen anyway. Pete described how after graduating in English lit he couldn’t find a job relevant to his degree, so started working part time at an old people’s home. He described how here he began to realise that he could give his time to help other people, regardless of whether he got paid or not. He then spent two years teaching English in Sudan, with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), teaching English to children and also training two teachers. From then on he has spent his life working with voluntary organisations, and has more recently joined UWC (six or so years ago) and he coordinates the massive UWC volunteering programme http://volunteers.rcnuwc.no/ , which is quite impressive.

After the talk Davide and I went for a little walk to the school building to find out our Physical Activities. Rather amazingly (as I did not think I was going to get it) I have got climbing. We go every Thursday afternoon and in a few weekends we are going to the famous via Ferata in the dolomites, which should be amazing. As we neared the residence we stood outside for a bit looking over the bay of Trieste, with the lights on the boats sparkling on the sea, and Davide started talking about how he studied Sanskrit on the internet and in books for a while, and he also has knowledge (as Italian schools still dot them) of Ancient Greek and Latin. It’s admirable how he makes me think of my own language, for example asking me connections between words that I had never considered, like bullet and bulletin.

We then helped Mark, the physics teacher to set up his astronomy stuff and then went to the library where we joined a surprising number of people still working. Even after mensa they were still there, although I didn’t stay for too long. When I got back to the residence Gabriele asked if I wanted to go for a short half an hour walk before curfew, so we joined Moritz and Lorenzo and went for a stroll around the village. I did feel guilty that even though they are all Italian they were all speaking English for my benefit, although at least Italian is something I can make an effort in.

We had to ‘de-sick’ the bedroom afterwards (a result of me then Raza being ill, methinks) so opened all windows and doors. This actually led to it being pleasantly cool for going to sleep.

Tuesday 14^th

The air was gloriously cool and fresh in morning and Raza had a free first period, so we all somehow slept in until about 7.40. After a rushed shower I collected my parcel with the washing things in (I can get them here, they’re those small paper sheets that you put in with the washing to soak in any running dies when you wash different colours together, but I bought them specifically in the UK to take here, and it’s a good way to test the post) I also got a lovely letter from my step-gran, Jeanne, and it was so nice to hear from her. Italian was followed by a difficult maths lesson, although I sort of get some of the concepts, it’s just that I am being taught completely new methods (and they’re often only new to me – Tim said to the class ‘who has used this method before?’ Everyone else put their hand up) I think I’ll manage, and Davide offered me extra help any time I want it as well, which was really kind.

Seeing as I had no breakfast I went to Tuttidi (the small supermarket) and got a cheese sandwich (fresh bread and cheese, of course). Pierre, one of the French second years, was also getting a sandwich, so we sat outside in the sun, as we both had a free period. We ended up spending more than an hour talking about French, British and Italian politics, and the complications with the EU, and how France and Britain think about each other regarding the EU. It turns out that the current scandal Sarkozy is now facing is basically just a distraction by him as continual revelations were being made about Sarkozy’s party effectively stealing millions from the billionaire who owns l’Oreale cosmetics, as she is not mentally sane. France also would either prefer that Britain either gets its backside into motion and properly becomes part of Europe, or get out. I found it very hard to think of why we are, as a nation, so Eurosceptic. We also talked about how Berlusconi’s domination of the media (basically in Italy people don’t read newspapers nearly as much as in the UK or France, everyone watches TV. Berlusconi controls the state-owned TV and owns the majority of the pay TV channels. So he’s had thirty years to build up his dominance, nothing else would really point to how he could win an election with a majority after founding a new party three months before the election.

I then bumped into Gabriel where I learnt that as a Welshman, he doesn’t know the British national anthem. Oh how I long to be Scottish. Being English is so terribly boring. I told my roomi that as I am from Northumberland we have our own tartan, so they are now desperate for me to bring in a kilt. Maybe I will get one at the Christmas break…

I read Jeanne’s letter properly when going back to my room to get my books and it was really moving and so heart-warming to hear from her, also as this is exactly what I imagine Grampa would’ve done had he still been alive. English again was a really interesting lesson. We looked at a song called ‘Angelene’ by someone called PJ Harvey, but to all intents and purposes treated it as a poem. For some reason I found myself really enjoying thinking about it and then we had to speak with the person next to us and imagine how we think the song goes. Listening to it, I also really enjoyed it as a song. We then got out our song lyrics that we prepared a few days ago, the lyrics that some up your culture. I explained to Jonathon (Hong Kong) about how the North East has a very strong cultural tradition, one that is hand in hand with its working class heritage. I talked about how ‘The Blaydon Races’ is a happy song sung at the football, but also talks about a time when the people of Newcastle and the surrounding area really were ‘together’ a lot more than they maybe are now in the aftermath of Thatcher’s cultural destruction. Jonathon also showed a song, translated form Cantonese, which talks about Hong Kong and its people and its places. Seeing as Hong Kong is a very new place in its present form, there is little ‘culture’ in the recognisable form we have today. It also includes about how people in Hong Kong never sit still, and the continual destruction of buildings to make ay for new ones.

In economics we had a really interesting discussion about how pandas give us satisfaction for just being, so economically it makes sense to keep them alive. Well that’s simplified, but you get my gist, hopefully.

After mensa I helped Gabriele with English homework (finally something I can do in return!) and then relaxed for a bit. I’ve been trying to do less stuff, or at least not thinking that I should be doing stuff all the time or speaking to people, so it’s quite nice to just lounge around or do homework at a gentle pace.

The first of the creative activity taster sessions was MUN, or Model United Nations. Apparently this is quite a formal thing, and there are proper international versions of these for young people. Basically you look at the UN and its structure and activities, but also build up to host a model UN summit with local schools, colleges and people from further afield, cost limiting. Unfortunately it takes place on the same day as my service, but I can still help with eh organising if I want. After this was the taster session for current affairs. This was hosted by Eunice, the history teacher, and what you do is you sit in a circle and discuss current affairs, as well as producing a news sheet to go in mensa weekly. It was really interesting seeing different peoples’ viewpoints, especially on the Turkish referendum. Unfortunately current affairs is also on a Tuesday! Immediately after I went to the climbing store (as in store room) to get my kit sorted out for Thursday and also to check out my walking boots for the via Ferata. It turns out we have to bring as much of our own kit as possible, so we will have to try and find a way of sending my sleeping bag either in the post or by courier.

After buying another panino (sandwich), I went to the taster session for ‘Ways of Seeing’. This was a really interesting session led by Henry (the world arts and cultures teacher) and we looked at loads of different pieces of art, ranging from Damien Hirst’s diamond skull (and linked to ancient Aztec skills) and also a painting by Henry VIII’s official painter of two French diplomats, which has a skull painted on but it’s only visible at a certain language. At least Ways of Seeing is available to me, as it’s on Wednesdays.

When I got back to Fore, Gabriele asked if I want to go to an anti-Berlusconi demonstration in Rome on our first long weekend, which should be interesting if I go. Sitting in the day room on my laptop it was lovely to see Julia from the Netherlands get her box of birthday goodies (even if it was a day late) as she was so happy.

Later on in the room, Zaid was saying how he got upset as before he came to the college he thought he was good at English but now he thinks he is bad. I tried to comfort him by telling him (honestly) that really it is pretty damned good. I resolve to help him.

Buona Notte,

Robin

Saturday 11th Venezia (Venice)

Waking up at 5.55 in the morning with a cold, combined with a lack of sleep, really isn’t the best of ideas, although I suppose in this case it could be allowed. I managed to drag myself (almost literally) to the shower in order to be woken up and even after I nearly fell asleep on my bed again. After a quick breakfast I managed to get my stuff together and walk towards piazza. Somehow the time had gone, it was already 6.40, 5 minutes before leaving time, and literally they don’t wait for anyone, for example about three or four people didn’t turn up, so secondi got to go instead. We were prevented from sleeping for a while by Henry, the voice in the speakers, who was informing us that we need to get our money (as the school gives you €5 a meal at mensa when you are on a trip, so we got €10, and overall made €5, as we had to pay €5 separately, rather than just be given €5 in total, for administrative reasons. It’s complicated) and sign for it, as well as receive our itineraries. After that I slept for the whole journey, waking ten minutes before the end when my Raza informed me that I had had my photo of a sleeping me taken. Apparently it’s a college tradition. After that (and I know that Raza had been giving this serious thought for several days beforehand) he then told me how his day was going to go. For today was the day of Manchester United vs Everton, and, sensing an opportunity to watch it on a pre-UWC visit to the area on a trip with his parents (much like I did, actually, staying in Trieste and then spending a day in Venice), he had already found a bar in which he could watch the game. Oh yeah, did I mention, he’s obsessed with Man U and football in general. Anyway, Raza worked out that he could leave us during the free time, locate the bar, and then meet us at around 4 at i frari (I’ll tell you about it in a bit), where Henry would be doing one of his talks. I refused to pretend to be Raza and say his name if called on a register (in reality, this never happened, they only counted, and badly at that – it was a secondo, not a teacher – as they twice thought we were everyone even though I knew of at least three missing people. Maybe they knew too, or that’s what they’d tell me know if I were to ask them…) but I said I wouldn’t give any information unprompted to a teacher. Emphasis on ‘to a teacher’. If you’re going to go to one of the world’s most beautiful cities, one which may even have disappeared by the end of our lifetimes, and combine that with going with one of the most knowledgeable people about Venice, then don’t expect to get away it. I don’t expect he’ll be able to forget it anytime soon.

So we got off the coach and arrived into a car park as actually (and I had only found this out at 6.50 this morning) we were indeed going to get the boat into Venice. I had previously thought we were going to drive and park in one of the multi-storey car parks that sit outside Venice, so it was pleasant surprise.

The weather outside was brilliant sunshine and clear blue sky so I decided to leave my hoodie on the bus, something which I would come to regret, as you will find out. We walked to the ferry station at Punta Sabbioni and then had the 15-minute boat ride which really was beautiful, even if I didn’t know where half the places we were passing were. I suppose it adds to the mystery. Oh yeah also, the whole coach journey (or what little of it I was awake) and the boat ride, we were accompanied by literally stunning mountains on the northern horizon. I presume these were some sort of Alps, although I’m not sure, all I know is it was amazing. Anyway, we arrived literally right in the ‘heart’ (although when I say heart, maybe the place where all the tourists are must surely cease to be the heart? As there is not much soul left? Hmm…). We got off at San Zaccaria di Pieta, a relatively new boat station, which was right outside a famous church, La Pieta, which was crumbling rather. We then went and stood outside the Chiese [Church] San Zaccaria where Henry gave us a talk on the Bellini Alterpiece. Firstly, I realised that I was really cold, even though in reality it was about 25-30 degrees. Which was when I started missing my hoodie. So then I had to bask in the sun (when most of the group were sitting in the shade) like a sick lizard. In fact I spent much of Venice just simply wanting to be at home (as in Newcastle). As I said yesterday being ill is when you miss home most. Secondly, and this was properly unfortunate, I really just wasn’t able to properly enjoy listening to Henry. Whilst it was interesting, I just couldn’t properly focus (because of feeling ill), which was a great shame. However, I listened the best I could. He explained how the painting was geometrically perfect to fit in with the dimensions of our eyes and the wall, so it looks like it’s an extension of the room (or rather, huge hall). It shows the Virgin Mary in the middle with the baby Jesus on her lap (although not quite, as he is standing on one leg to show that he is both a human and part of god). Surrounding here are various Saints and when you have someone to put it (as in art) into context for you it can make things a lot more interesting. This website gives a bit of info in case you are interested http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/annienc/2009/10/the_bellini_altarpiece_in_san.html Then we then went and had a look at it inside and it was on display with such an incredible range of different paintings it was almost hard to concentrate on it. It’s hard to describe how grand and huge the inside of the church is.

After this we walked to Piazza San Marco, probably one of the most famous tourist locations in the world, where Henry showed us the only surviving mosaic on the outside of the Palazzo Ducale, and told us the story of various stolen statues from the Byzantines and the famous horses from the hippodrome of Constantinople. It was really interesting learning how much the ancient Venetians were plunderers.

We then had free time for a good two hours, so a few of us wandered in the direction of the Rialto (there are signs everywhere, half of them I’m sure aren’t real, and I’m also really suspicious of asking people for directions, as I’m sure it must be a local joke to misdirect tourists. I know I would). Eventually, me, Josh and Raza split off as Josh wanted to get lost and simply wander around (I didn’t mind what we did, as it was Josh’s first time in Venice, being from South Africa). Then at about 12.15 Raza left, giving him 1 and three quarter hours before the football, so he could be sure not to miss it. So Josh and I just wandered, got a gelato, and eventually came up to the Rialto, where we saw the true ‘sinking’ Venice, where the water was lapping over the edge (by the time we passed about 4 hours later it had already risen a good few centimetres). Just after the rialto we bought strawberry juice from a stall that I went to just a few weeks ago (Mum, dad and Jake, you’ll remember it) but unfortunately I wasn’t able to taste it because of my cold. We then went for what we thought was going to be a relatively nice lunch, as I wasn’t expecting much for Venice, due to the fact that they can pretty much sell whatever they want and still turn over a profit. However it still managed to disappoint, with the water we were offered as we sat down actually costing us €4, the coperta €2.50 each and the service charge 12%. And the pizza was terrible. It basically cost me £10 for a worse than tescos’ average pizza and half a 75cl bottle of mineral water. We got done, well and proper. You learn from your mistakes, as they say. And Peter and Joe, I didn’t realise how much free time we were going to have (as I only got the itinerary on the day) and I thought the day was going to be a lot more guided, so sorry but I didn’t bring the details of the café you talked about otherwise I would have gone there! At least we managed to get lost.

Lost in fact to the point where we almost didn’t meet up in time at one of the grand canal’s only three bridges, Ponte d’Accademia, where Henry was going to lead us on to the next part of our trip. Henry took us through a beautiful part of Venice (well most parts are, as long as you can get over the fact that most things could certainly do with refurbishment) to the church Santa Maria della Salute, literally, Saint Mary (as in the virgin Mary) of Health, which was a church built by the Venetians to thank God for not killing some of their population in one of the two worst waves of plague that hit Venice. Interestingly enough, Venice had and interesting form of government, in the form of a Doge, who was elected and then had no choice whether to rule or not, and his family could not take any form of employment, so that none of them could be bribed. Probably the best sort of leader is one who doesn’t want to be one. Although actually the Doge was generally elected from a select list of the elite, the golden book (a real thing), which was closed after too many families joined, so for a long time the elite was limited. These people held most of the power. Anyway, they decided to build this church, and they commissioned it to be large, look nice, and look nice, financially. This church is part of Slav culture, as there is a famous poem about it, as the flats of Istria were deforested (something like three million oak trees cut down) and then hammered into the marsh base to create the island that the church stands on. Because of the salt water and some reaction with the oak, the tree-trunks are effectively frozen, so pretty solid, but even so they had to build the church dome out of wood.

           

We then walked in the loose direction of the famous arsenale, where Venice’s ships were built, and there is still a naval base today. Henry showed us the second major canal in Venice, the canal Judeccha, named after the Jewish people who used to be there. Venice, as it was a major trading place, allowed most countries to have an outpost and as long as they stayed where they were put and put there own church where directed it was normally fine. Also interesting is that the word ‘ghetto’ is a Venetian word. It derives from when the Jewish people were moved to a different part of the city. We passed an area that Henry told us was, just a few years ago, unavailable to go to as it had sunk too much, but they had managed to raise it again. He thinks that Venice could be saved as sea levels are now, but because of global warming, it will disappear, probably in our lifetimes. We then met a woman who used to be the British ambassador for Rome in the 1950s (or her husband was, or both) and she is the founder of the Venice in Peril campaign (pizza express regulars should know this from that pizza where they donate money to it) and she has also been heavily involved in UWCAd. She went round each of us introducing ourselves almost like to the queen (or how I imagine the queen would). Funnily enough she’d just been in Newcastle the day before, as she’d been there for two days (I’m not quite sure what for, but she did lots of official stuff, like meeting the council, having a reception for her with the Lord Mayor at the civic centre, went to Cragside, learnt about Armstrong and his bridges, and also that he has a pump that was used in Venice in the arsenale (although obviously later on, though), so I imagine she must be fairly important. I cant remember her name… We then went to one of the only three remaining gondola yards in Venice (a world heritage site), which was remarkable to imagine that this would have been doing the same thing a thousand years ago. In fact it’s incredible to think that the whole city is pretty much as it is if not a thousand years ago then 500-600. I think that’s possibly why it’s so beautiful.

Before we met the woman I had been talking to Sandy, Henry’s wife, who used to be deputy head at the college, but has been retired for quite a while now. I told her about being not well and then I remembered (after she said ‘don’t you have any paracetemol?’) that I had two paracetemol pills left from what my roomo Raza gave me the other day, so I took them, and almost immediately began feeling better. I also said how I didn’t feel like I was properly able to contribute in lessons because of not feeling well and she said that maybe I should email Lydia and ask her to tell my teachers that that isn’t how I normally am (in the end I didn’t bother, I figured that although first impressions are important, they’re not everything).

We then went to the Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco, which was one of six scuole grande, which were sort of like members-only charitable organisations for the newly emerging wealthy middle class. This one focussed on helping the sick and providing company, and whilst there was some loose attraction to the religious aspect, it seemed that most of their work was just helping the poor and the needy. The members also looked after each other and their families when the men died. Basically, the ground floor was the simple one, even though there were splendid paintings on display. What was amazing is that everything is still as it was six hundred years ago, which is incredible, and also as Henry said, it’s only a recent concept that things have been created for art to simply be looked at. When you look at many of the old pictures in a gallery you have no idea of their true meaning as they have removed from their context. Most art was created for a purpose: in Venice’s case, to display power and to show religious imagery, to things that went hand in hand. Tintoretto was the painter of much of the paintings, and upstairs was really where it was amazing. The downstairs was public, for religious ceremonies, whereas upstairs was for members only. The whole walls and the whole ceiling are covered in enormous, gloriously painted scenes from the bible. And then is Tintoretto’s masterpiece, in the leader’s chamber, Christ on the cross. It’s the second time I’ve been to Scuola san Rocco, and especially this time I found it a really nice place to simply sit and relax, in the pleasant shade and coolness, looking at such amazing pieces of history.The old woman who had joined us also happened to be a conteressa of the society, as she has been so important to Venice.

 We then had an extra half an hour or so of free time as the church next door, Chiesa di San Rocco, although I did see it last time when we came on the pre visit as a family, but this time we couldn’t as their was a wedding. After we were supposed to go to i frari to see the famous titian masterpiece, but this didn’t seem to materialise. So we did as you do when with two Italians, a Mauritian and a Hungarian. You find a kebab shop… (Although I actually got some rather good pizza from one of the many good shops that are everywhere) And then we got another ice cream…this time I was beaten.

After the boat ride back I was talking to Mike, who is the director of studies (so in charge of timetables) as well as my biology teacher, and he’d brought his whole family to Venice as he’s just come from the UWC in Singapore. I explained how on Friday he’d sent everyone in our English class an email about splitting English A1 standard and English A1 higher level, which I was fine about, but then he moved the standard class, the one I would be in, to the same block as biology... which really didn’t make sense to me. So I spoke to him and he hadn’t realised that I was meant to be doing standard so at the moment it looks like I’ll still just be doing standard level English with the higher class. 

On the bus I remembered to get my hoodie, rethreaded the toggle pull in the hood and then went to sleep with it pulled as tightly as possible, due to the extreme cold. Raza was the opposite, finding the journey far too hot. I think it’s because we’re both ill. We got back into Duino at about 9.50, where I promptly woke up, walked past the café/bar, mickey’s, where people sometimes go for dancing on Saturdays, and went to bed. Actually, before sleeping I wrote reminders so I could write this blog, then went to sleep.