Farah, Sithis, Oliveira, Sara, Anna, Grigorii, Lorenzo, Giacomo, Eva, Pietro, Aayan, Elisabetta and Blanca. These are the names of the students who, on the 3rd of September 2018, felt the nervousness and excitement for GSO’s new school year.
We all met in the library with the professors, the staff and the house parents. There, we were given an introductory speech by the headmaster of the school, Mr Giordano Casonato, encouraging us to put all our efforts in this scholastic year.
After Mr Casonato’s speech, which was full of sentiment and expectations for this new year, all the teachers did a brief introduction of themselves and their class. Subsequently, the activities started.
If we said that the activities were amusing, we’d be lying…They were extremely fun. Not only because of the activity itself but because of the competitiveness and the team work. In CAS we played numerous games that tested our skills: for starters we had to create a giraffe out of newspapers and tape (and this giraffe had to be able to stand by itself and be the tallest).
While building the animal, more difficulties emerged from the shadows or Ms Elettra’s mind. Anyways, suddenly we couldn’t talk to each other so we had to rely on some sort of sign language, then one of our hands was disabled…At the end, all of this comical “mishaps” served us as a way of developing team work. But the fun doesn’t end there, we also had a race in which we had to move balloons between us (honestly we don’t know who cheated the most there), to move coke cans with a spaghetti (yes, a spaghetti) and create a pyramid with those cans that we would later have to destroy with rubber bands (we know it sounds crazy but when you see it, it makes sense), we had to suck through a pipe to get M&Ms, order words to make a quote, walk blinded just following non-verbal directions of the last person of the line, move water to fill a glass that had a ping-pong ball to make it pass to another glass by blowing… so many fun and incredible experiences. The things all these activities had in common: teamwork, perseverance, creativity and communication skills.
To be honest, the only part of this week that might have been as enjoyable as CAS was (Theory of Knowledge).
During the TOK activity we were brought to the park and after presenting ourselves we started a game which consisted in writing a truth, which only the person who wrote that truth was aware of, and try to guess who was the owner of each truth. This statements would vary from ordinary things such as “I have vegetarian brownies and I’m good at cooking them” or “I have four siblings” to extravagant affirmations like “I believe in the law of attraction and I know how to use it” or “Aliens exist and the United States army is planning to use them as weapons in the next world war”. After guessing who the author of each assertion was, we had to decide which of the following categories connected to the truths, whether it was: facts, nature, self and the other, time or any of the ones that we can’t seem to remember at this moment. Quite a funny way of philosophising in group while learning about each other.
To finalise this written memory, knowing that just our perspective doesn’t make justice to each individual’s view of the beginning of the year, we decided to ask our fellow classmates for their opinions on this matter. Here is the result:
I think that the first week was really nice, we met our new classmates, our new teachers and everyone was really welcoming… we started a new experience that will be really good and full of good memories. We had a lot of fun and it was also really interesting.
Sara Zecchinello
The first week was incredible. It’s not easy, but something really new and interesting for me. And it’s nice to be here, because everyone is very friendly.
Yeva Kolbina
For me the first week was a little bit harsh.
Oliveira Martaona
My first week of school went by very quickly, full of fun, excitement and curiosity for what lies next!
Farah Minwalla
I liked the first week very much because I got to know a better “family” and we did a lot of cool activities. 😉
Pietro Signorin
It was nice to get to know everyone.
Sithis Yimsamnang
The first week went really well, I found myself really good with the teachers and the students in the boarding. Lots of homework but the first days are always difficult. 🙂
Giacomo Boetti
My first school week has been quite tough because of homesickness and because of the new timetable that I’m not used to. Anyway I believe things will get better as they little by little are.
Lorenzo Turrin
For me the first week is a start of a big adventure, as start, I think, is very nice.
Grigorii Malakhov
I really appreciated our first week, was full of beautiful moments and the sensation was to be part of a big family. 🙂
Anna Cia
My first week of school was astonishing, with such an amazing and welcoming environment with breathtakingly amazing people. I am glad I had the opportunity to be part of GSO, hopefully will achieve the goal I desire the most.
Aayan Zaman
Though strenuous at some moments, it was an amazing week full of extraordinary experiences.
Blanca Sancho Ibáñez
The first week of school was amazing, I felt excited and I looked forward to starting this scholastic year at my best with all my new and “old” friends
Elisabetta Casonato
Well, after sharing our experiences we only want to thank you for your attention, and without further delay:
The End.
Blanca Sancho Ibáñez and Elisabetta Casonato
GSO students