The trip has come to a close and everyone is now moving on to their next adventure! Spending the past four weeks in Europe with your children has been a wonderful experience, and one that all the staff at Georgia Hardy will remember fondly. Chiara Manchia, a student on the trip this summer, filmed her time in Sperlonga on a GoPro and has compiled a video that she's letting us share with you all. Visit http://youtu.be/pilNGgDtXFQ to relive this summer and our final week at the beach!
Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Friday, 25 July 2014
Busy days...
We continue to experience fabulous weather during our week in Sperlonga. Our days are filled with class time in the morning followed by essays, projects, beach and pool time in the afternoon. Evenings bring dinner in our wonderful hotel and then usually a trip down to the small town to buy gelato and experience life in an Italian beach town. Students danced on the tennis courts with Italian families vacationing in Sperlonga on Wednesday evening and watched a fashion show in the main square tonight. It's hard to predict what will be happening but there always seems to be something interesting.
Mostly, everyone is enjoying the atmosphere and sunshine and working hard to finish ISUs and projects and get ready for the final exam on Monday. It's hard to believe that our grand adventure is nearly finished and we are making the most of every minute we have.
Ciao from all of us in Italy.
Mostly, everyone is enjoying the atmosphere and sunshine and working hard to finish ISUs and projects and get ready for the final exam on Monday. It's hard to believe that our grand adventure is nearly finished and we are making the most of every minute we have.
Ciao from all of us in Italy.
Thursday, 24 July 2014
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
Sunny Sperlonga
Hi everyone!
The group has arrived in Sperlonga and has been greeted with beautiful beaches and wonderful weather. This morning some of the students woke up at 5:30 for a sunrise run on the beach and a peaceful cup of coffee by the water. The rest of us headed to the sea for the first time this afternoon after class. Students played in the waves, played soccer with 3 euro soccer balls, ate gelato, and built sandcastles.
As has been the custom in Europe, wifi continues to be spotty in Sperlonga. Most of us have gained access on our phones, with a few lucky ones also connecting their computers. Macs seem to work better than PCs, but we hope to all connect soon. Sperlonga itself a town best enjoyed through long, sunny days on the beach and by the pool, so don't fret if your children are less in touch than they previously had been. We are all having an amazing time so far, and are ready for one last week spent studying in the sun.
Ciao!
The group has arrived in Sperlonga and has been greeted with beautiful beaches and wonderful weather. This morning some of the students woke up at 5:30 for a sunrise run on the beach and a peaceful cup of coffee by the water. The rest of us headed to the sea for the first time this afternoon after class. Students played in the waves, played soccer with 3 euro soccer balls, ate gelato, and built sandcastles.
As has been the custom in Europe, wifi continues to be spotty in Sperlonga. Most of us have gained access on our phones, with a few lucky ones also connecting their computers. Macs seem to work better than PCs, but we hope to all connect soon. Sperlonga itself a town best enjoyed through long, sunny days on the beach and by the pool, so don't fret if your children are less in touch than they previously had been. We are all having an amazing time so far, and are ready for one last week spent studying in the sun.
Ciao!
Saturday, 19 July 2014
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Photo Essay
Our English students have been reading the novel “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” over the past few weeks, and tonight they handed in their final projects on the book, which was a group photo essay assignment. Each group was tasked with capturing photos that represented the major themes and events of various chapters of the novel, and the result was a stunning group of photographs presented to our teaching staff. The book itself is a memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a journalist from France. The story describes his life after suffering a stroke which resulted in locked-in syndrome, and left him with only the ability to communicate through blinking his left eye. Writing the story took ten months (four hours a day) and eventually resulted in a number one bestselling novel across Europe. Attached is a link to a PowerPoint presentation which compiles one photo for each chapter of the novel that the teacher best feels captures the theme and/or storyline. The paragraphs that students wrote to accompany their photographs have not been included, but according to the teachers were done extremely well! Access should be public through this link (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Zg9rI7WZ0-ZFBBbURkdTBRMEE/edit?usp=sharing) but please let me know if you have any issues reaching the document!
Ciao from Roma!
Busy days in Rome
The last few days have been packed with adventure. We left Paris on our overnight train to Milan and then transferred for our trip to Rome. You may have heard the stories from the students...yes, Mr. Graansma did share his cabin with an interesting character for a short time, we did stop in Switzerland and the students did receive a 1am visit from border patrol. Possibly the most interesting part of the story is that, when we asked, our porter informed us that this was a totally routine trip. I quote "lots of interesting characters on trains". The students were great, the bunks were surprisingly comfortable and the travel was relatively quick and fun...a successful journey.
We have settled into our lovely hotel and begun to explore the eternal city. Lots of ancient sites including the Pantheon and Spanish steps, lots of shopping, our evening at the Opera and today, the Vatican. The business students did their cultural presentations yesterday on Sweden and Italy. Both groups captured the culture of their relative country perfectly and our Italian experience is mirroring the students' presentation. The main message is "be flexible and go with the flow". The Trevi fountain is under construction so we will visit the beautiful 'four rivers' fountain in Piazza Navonna. The orchestra for the opera was on strike but the performance went on and they refunded much of our money. My plan is to use the refund to pay for the boat excursion for these students in Sperlonga. This trip to visit the caves and swim in the Mediterranean is often the highlight of the trip for the students. The sets were stunning, projections of famous art work on screens and the baths, I have never seen anything like them. The singers were wonderful and English subtitles were provided. Unfortunately, this served to highlight the relative weakness in the plot. As Sarah pointed out, it only passed the Bechdel test because the two named female characters discussed a muff at the end rather than only discussing men. A fun night, nevertheless, and the walk home past the lights of ancient Rome was awesome.
We have settled into our lovely hotel and begun to explore the eternal city. Lots of ancient sites including the Pantheon and Spanish steps, lots of shopping, our evening at the Opera and today, the Vatican. The business students did their cultural presentations yesterday on Sweden and Italy. Both groups captured the culture of their relative country perfectly and our Italian experience is mirroring the students' presentation. The main message is "be flexible and go with the flow". The Trevi fountain is under construction so we will visit the beautiful 'four rivers' fountain in Piazza Navonna. The orchestra for the opera was on strike but the performance went on and they refunded much of our money. My plan is to use the refund to pay for the boat excursion for these students in Sperlonga. This trip to visit the caves and swim in the Mediterranean is often the highlight of the trip for the students. The sets were stunning, projections of famous art work on screens and the baths, I have never seen anything like them. The singers were wonderful and English subtitles were provided. Unfortunately, this served to highlight the relative weakness in the plot. As Sarah pointed out, it only passed the Bechdel test because the two named female characters discussed a muff at the end rather than only discussing men. A fun night, nevertheless, and the walk home past the lights of ancient Rome was awesome.
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