Bienvenuto!

Welcome to my blog! I update this blog regularly, telling about my experiences during my two years at the United World College of the Adriatic. Please check out the videos above from my youtube account, and click on pictures to see them in full size.
Ciao!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

October 23rd, 2007

Zivjo!
We had our opening ceremony this weekend! As you probably know, this is the college's 25th anniversary year (along with UWCUSA) and lots of exciting things have been happening!
This weekend, the college had a ceremony in the Teatro Verdi in the center of Trieste. There were lots of speeches (in Italian and English) and various music performances by music scholars, the choir sang, etc.
Overall I thought it was quite good day. After the performance, we all had a nice lunch in the Perfettura - the city hall of Trieste. Lucy and Urska and I stayed in Trieste a while longer, and took a bus back around 5:30 that afternoon.
The international board and heads of other UWC's were all there, big news and media groups, they had flags from all the countries that students carried, I wore my cowboy costume.... I actually got a holster and toy guns that Salma had from my USA 3rd year who also had a cowboy costume, so that made my costume more fun.
Anyway, the weekend was good.
This week is quite short because we have a long weekend (no school friday) and today, Wednesday, is the Marca per la Pace to Trieste. The whole school is going to march for peace and then setup some workshops and things in Trieste. Should be a lot of fun!
Anyway, I have to go get ready for the march,
Ciao!

Friday, October 19, 2007

October 18th, 2007


Ciao everyone!
I've been so busy the last few weeks I haven't been keeping up very well with the blog, sorry!
The week after our Trento hiking trip was Latin Week.
At UWCAD each region has their own week over a two year period. This means that throughout the week and weekend, they do shows, have food taster sessions, poetry nights and parties. Latin week was really fun, I think they did a great job. I was also slightly sick however, so I got pretty tired by the weekend, and didn't really recover/rest as much as I should have! So I went on sick list (this means you go to the nurse and are approved for staying in your room and not attending classes and activities) on Monday, and it helped a lot.
On Sunday, I finally managed to get the people together for the band I've been intending to start. We got to play a while, and got a sense for what sort of equipment etc. we have, it was fun! We also played again this last Tuesday, although we've been having a little trouble getting everyone there at the same time (we're all very busy). Juoar and I are playing guitar, Vollen (not a UWCAD student, but the son of a teacher at the college) is drumming, and we have a few people interested in vocals that may switch off - Bongani (South Africa) is the only one that has joined us so far. I think it's going to be lots of fun, I love the opportunity I have here to play music so much of the time!
Anyway, taking Monday off has helped me survive the week (It's now Friday after classes are out!). I've found that classes are getting harder to keep up with now. The courses do not require huge amounts of work outside of class, but relative to the amount of free time we all seem to have, it feels like a lot.
This week (Wednesday) started our 25th Anniversary Opening Ceremony. Heads of other UWC's and members of the UWC International Board came to the college, along with 4 students form the UWC-USA campus (some of them carrying hugs and notes from home, which was great). This makes things even more exciting than usual, of course, and tomorrow we are having the official ceremony in 12 in Trieste in the main Piazza there. Tonight I am meeting the UWC-USA president, Lisa Darling, to bring her to Menza for dinner. I am looking forward to getting to speak with the heads of the colleges and the UWCUSA students, it should be really fun and interesting!
I've been hanging out with Urska a lot, and also with Lucy and Sarah some. I'm starting to feel like I know everyone at the school (even if I still don't have all the names and countries). The weather has been pretty cold mostly, but we have been getting some sun. In light of this and being sick I haven't been doing much exercise (I had to skip sailing on Tuesday, although I have continued my wind-surfing endeavors). Haven't been running or on my bike in a while, but I'm starting to feel like need to. I have been playing soccer once or twice a week, at least!
I also had a viola lesson (in Italian) that went quite well. I'm starting to a get a feel for the sound the viola can and should produce. I'm starting to practice a little more!

Anyway, I'll try keep up a little more so I don't have to summarize like this! This weekend should be eventful!
Ciao!
(the picture above was last week or two when Ingrid (Norway), Myself, and Urska (Slovenia) made dinner in Fore)

October 18th, 2007

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

October 16th, 2007


Ciao tutti!
It has been quite a while since I updated il mio blog, so lots has happened.
Two weekends ago (Oct. 6/7) I went with the school on a hiking trip to the dolomites, near Trento. I could never pronounce the name of the town we were in, so I don't remember what it was, but we were in the mountains hiking, and stayed overnight at a cottage with a group from the college and a group of Italians from a local school there. I the trip was amazing, there were beautiful mountain ranges that reminded me of the rockies at times, we had great weather (which wasn't expected) and I got to practice a little Italian.
We went on Sat. morning very early, drove about 4.5 hrs., met up with the Italian students, spent the night in a cottage after a short hike, got up the next morning and hiked about 2.5 hrs. to the top of a mountain range that was the Austria-Hungarian/Italian border in World War II, at returned to Duino by that evening (Sunday).
The trip was fantastic, it was nice to be at at least a slightly higher altitude for a while, and it was just great hanging out with everyone! We were about 30 in total: 15 UWC students/teachers and 15 Italians.


We ate lunch at this cottage above - the final destination for our hike.
To the left is the group we were with.
















Well, I have a break right now and I have to go to Italian Class, so that's all, I'll update more soon!
I'll tell you about latin week, being sick, starting my band, and meeting UWC-USA students.
Ciao!