The Adriatic Times 9 - Welcome

The Adriatic TimesOctober 2012 Nr. 90.5€

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Have you ever been in Porto just after dinner and seen the sunset, one of the most beautiful in the whole of Europe? Have you ever walked along the Rilke path? Have you ever lain on Fore lawn for a whole afternoon and forgotten about homework? Have you ever talked first with a Nepali, then with a Latino and then with a Slovene? Have you ever received a headmaster’s warning after less than a month at the college?

If you can answer more than 3 of these questions with yes then you are probably in Duino, this small, pretty village somewhere in the north of Italy.

In this edition of the Adriatic Times we are not only talking about Duino, but also about the people we are living with, the people we are going to spend the next two years of our lives with and, even if we are Secondi, our ‘fami-ly’ for the next year.

It is impressive how fast we get to know each other in this place, how fast friendships are created and destroyed again, not only between students, but also with teachers and locals, because Duino does not differ-entiate between them!

We have said our names probably a hundred times and we might still not know all of the names of our fellow students, but there is one thing we

should all share and that is the ideal-ism and spirit that makes Duino into Duino. This spirit makes Mr. Ciao say ‘Buon Giorno’ every time he sees a member of the college; it makes little, old ladies smile when you greet them on the street; and it leads to Sergio joking with you when you try to communicate with him in Italian, even though his English is very good. Let’s keep it like that. Let’s present our college as something we want it to be. We do not want to be ordinary teenagers who fail to respect other people, no matter what their age, and we do not want to put ourselves above people who are not from the college. Let’s make this year special from the beginning to the end.

In this Edition of the Adriatic Times we will look back at our summers, but also look forward to making the most of our time at the college. Let’s talk about our first impressions and talk about the most important topic: Life in Duino.

The Adriatic Times says to all of you: Welcome and welcome back to Duino!

We hope you enjoy the new format, which comes from our new editorial team.

Wanda-Maria Thormeyer,Jornalist of The Adriatic Times

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Jornalists: Sibel Spahija, Camila Ruiz Segovia, Jacob Borg, Brais Lamela Gómez, Eloá França Verona, Wanda Thormeyer, Yll ZekaDesigner: Valev LaubeProof reader: Malcolm Price

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Read the newpaper from www.adriatictimes.wordpress.comPublish your writings by emailing to [email protected]

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On Saturday 8th September and Saturday 22nd September 2012 Eunice and Maria led two visits for the First Years to Venice. Leaving the Piazza in Duino at 6.45 am the groups travelled by Gradese coaches to Punta Sabbioni, where they caught ferries to Venice. The group on 8th September con-sisted mainly of First Years with family names starting with the let-ters A to K, but in addition Matej, Kristen and I joined the visit. The group on 22nd September consisted mainly of First Years with family names starting with the letters L to Z, but in addition Agenda, Ihab, Namuun, Mike, Mike’s daughter Emma-may, our daughter Hannah, Ogi and I joined the visit. Venice is a remarkable city with so much history and culture that Eu-nice and Maria had a tough time deciding what to include in a one day visit and what to leave out. Both groups followed roughly the same plan, walking first to the gates of the Arsenale, where Eunice gave the group members a brief talk on the history of the city, leading up to the emergence of Venice as one

of the greatest trading powers of the 10th to 15th centuries. Eu-nice said that at the height of its power the Arsenale employed 20,000 arti- sans and could

launch a ship

a day. Maria talked about the significance of the accumulation of wealth by trading with other cultures, point-ing out some of the key artefacts and symbols that could be seen at the gates of the Arsenale, including the winged lion with one foot on San Marco’s book. The groups then walked round to the church of San Zaccaria so that Maria could show them the Gio-vanni Bellini painting “Madonna and the Four Saints” which was painted in 1505 and still hangs in the space for which it was origi-nally designed. The students had some time to take in the beauty of the church including the rather disturbing body of San Zaccaria in his glass encased tomb. Outside, Santa discovered a street from Riga which was part of the architectural biennale that was on in Venice this summer. On the way to Piazza San Mar-co everyone was able to see the Bridge of Sighs and the gondolas floating past underneath. In the Piazza the groups encountered some of the 60,000 tourists a day that Venice attracts, but Eunice and Maria shouted above the noise to tell students about the use of the body of Saint Mark as a symbol of the power and authority of the city, the unique role of the Doge in po-litical decision making and the magnificent church of San Marco with its

mixed gothic and byzantine style. With lunch time rapidly approach-ing, the students were sent off into the lanes of Venice to see what they could buy for their EUR 10 lunch and supper money. Dino proba-bly won the prize for enterprise by heading for the fish market near the Rialto Bridge and buying fresh fried fish from a nearby shop. After lunch, we all met up at the Ferrovia, at the other end of the Grand Canal from where we had parted. Eunice then took the groups to the Ghetto Nuovo where she men-tioned the different ethnic groups who had made their homes and

contributed to the growth of Venice, with par-

VENICE CULTURAL VISITSBy Malcolm Price

Photo: Valev Laube

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5ticular reference to the Jewish Community, who were traders, money lenders and physicians. In 1516 they were confined to one area of Cannaregio near the brass foundries and that became the Ghetto. Michal and Ella were in the first group, so were able to ex-plain a little more about the signifi-cance of this part of Venice. There was a wedding in the Frari on 8th September so we were not allowed to go in and look at the painting by Titian and the monu-ment to Canova is a beautiful rest-ing place for his heart, but we took the opportunity to rest and rehy-drate on what was a very hot day. The second group on 22nd Sep-tember were luckier and had the chance to hear Maria’s explanation of Titian’s “Assumption” before ex-ploring the church for themselves.

We were supposed to leave on the 6.45 pm ferry, and we did on 22nd September, but on 8th September a number of students became lost in the canals of Venice and did not make it back to the ferry ter-minal in time. The rest of us tried to help guide them home but it took time. One of the diversions while we were waiting was the de-parture of the massive cruise liner “Norwegian Jade” as it sailed past, dwarfing the church of San Giorgio Maggiore. In the end, we were an hour late leaving Venice and so did not get back to Duino until almost 10.30 pm. They were both long days, but I hope everyone found them to be enjoyable, with the chance to ex-perience a small taste of Venice in the company of people you will get to know much better over the next two years. Two of the lessons I

hope you learned from the Cultur-al Visit are that there is so much to see in Venice, but that it is very ac-cessible, being less than two hours by train from Monfalcone station. If you get the chance, visit again and explore it by yourself.

La partenza non è altro che l’inizio del viaggio di ritorno verso casaBy Iden Kalemaj

Departure is just the beginning of the way back home”.

This is what I read written on the walls of the magnificent Venice, while walking with a group of people I have known for only two weeks. It brings back a million thoughts and feelings. Who would have thought one year ago, that I would be here, walking through the streets of Venice, having so much fun and sharing the amazement with people I still don’t know all the names of, people from all over the world, people I already care for. Then I think of home. These days, although overwhelmed with the joy and enthusiasm of this new life, you just can’t avoid feeling the

nostalgia overwhelm your stom-ach. Your mind flies miles away seeking the memories of Sunday meals altogether around the table, summer days swimming, winter nights in front of the fireplace, hugs of comfort, conversations of advice, laughter, than packing your luggage...through tears I left them, through tears I recall them. “It happens to all of us, but soon you will feel Duino to be your home”. So I recall my new small room, waking up in my new bed every morning, walking down the nar-row streets of a friendly village, swimming in Porto, sharing meals in Mensa, eating gelato, learning new names, seeing new faces, try-

ing to adapt...it is not the conven-tional idea of home, but it is beau-tiful, and sometimes strange. I left home with a suitcase full of dreams, to go where? Wherever my heart is. Which is the way back home? I know so many people from all over the world now that wherever I go it will feel like home. So, home I left and home I found.

Photo: Iden Kalamaj

Photo: Valev Laube



With a true UWC spirit of procras-tination, I started writing this arti-cle while in Slovenia and I finished writing it in London, but still met the deadline. Being back at the beginning feels a little like being one of the young protagonists of the book and film “Never let me go” as they leave their school, in which they’ve always lived, and find themselves outside, in society, for the first time. Even the simplest things and situations become awkward; ordering some-thing at a bar that isn’t Mickeys, going to a shop that is far bigger than Tuttidi and exploring differ-ent realities. In two years, you get used to living in a nice, small vil-lage so that going back to wherever you’re from is… challenging. Life outside the college is very different, but once you acknowledge that, you also see it can be very BEAU-TIFUL. I think that in Duino you have the possibility to be who you are, how you are. Out of “the bubble” it is hard to be “as we are now, as we were not back then”. Turning the page is easy, writing a new chapter while staying true to yourself, that’s the challenge. Nevertheless, stay-

ing true to a promise you made to yourself is definitely worth it. The last words that left an impression on me are from a discussion I had late this summer with Nina; she said that we’ve left Duino, but it never really leaves us. That pretty much sums up a bunch of thoughts I had about it but could never quite put into words, the fact that we’ve all, in one way or another, changed and yes, the UWC adventure in Duino is over for us, but we take it with us, wherever we go. My opinion is that during the two years in College, no one has the time to do everything or to get to know everyone. However, what we do have is enough time to make the most of this experience. So take it as a quest for knowledge, be it about the world, about what’s different and the beauty of it, or about yourself. Make mistakes; sometimes just throw yourself into something. As long as you don’t do something irreparable, it’s part of the process, part of finding yourself. Within some boundaries, I believe it is better to have regrets about something you did in these two years, than something you didn’t do and could have done.

One last thing: during the Forum for the 50th Anniversary of the UWC (Robin, Clara and I man-aged to attend, alongside Alumni from each of the 50 generations!) I was chatting with various people and one of them told me some-thing that made me giggle inside. Before you leave the college, some people become very sad about the thought that they might never see their friends again. What he said (and even if I’ve only graduated last year, I agree from the experience that I have had) is the reality that wherever you go, you soon find the possibility to meet someone from the UWC, be it during holidays, at university or in quite random situations, to the point sometimes you even wonder whether it is too much to see them again and again, mind you I haven’t experienced this last part yet! So, concluding, simply enjoy these two years (or this year for the sec-ondi) and try to find a balance be-tween the UWC, the IB and time for yourself. I will see you at the reunion, a pres-to!

So what comes next?By Luisa Peress

By Naufal Amjad

I am he who shakes the world with his words. The very fabric of reali-ty distorts when I speak.I am a liar.So well versed in this am I that I know not where the truth ends

and where the lie starts.Going through the motions of life is barely a choice. It is a life style perpetuating want.I want.

The things I want are infinite and like a whisper that I never hear I cease the incessant voices.My head is full of voices of which none I doubt to be my own.

This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by itThis tale is for who ever happens to come by it.



7Environmental Action GroupBy Eloá, França, Verona on behalf of the Environmental Actions Group

These graphs are the results of the first two weeks of the sustainability competition. And even after a long discussion during a college meet-ing about sustainability, the results are getting worse instead of getting better.This sustainability competition should work in a way that increas-es our awareness of the issue, and at the same time shows that with a small change in attitudes we can make a big difference. When talking about sustainability, one of the most common coun-ter-arguments is that one individ-ual’s actions cannot and do not make a difference in the big pic-ture. But as UWCers, and as ideal-istic people, this is the exactly the kind of mentality that we should fight against. Because our actions are the biggest and strongest way in which we can show everyone else what our values and beliefs re-ally are; they show who we are and what we believe.

We live in a community that, at least in theory, should have living in a more sustainable way as one of its priorities, but these graphs show that our values are not yet being expressed. These numbers do not show that we are aware that our actions as in-

dividuals have a much greater im-pact on the community as a whole; these graphs do not show that we accept personal responsibility. There is only one way to show and prove to ourselves and everybody else that we are responsible, and that is: to act responsibly. As mem-

bers of a residence, as UWCers, as idealistic people, as citizens of the world, being responsible also means being more sustainable!Work to win the Sustainability Competition, discover yourself and help the College.

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Grasping what it means is a mys-tery.I am a riddle.

Try as I might I forget the clue to who I am. Just on the edge it lin-

gers maybe it shouldn’t move.Completion of a thought is a complex process I create. There always seems to be more than I can reflect.I dream.

I dream of the day my thoughts stop being lies that I use to get what I want because of a riddle I dreamt.

This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by it This tale is for who ever happens to come by itThis tale is for who ever happens to come by it.

Summer is the time of warm, sun-ny weather. A lot of people try to go somewhere south to get the best of the weather...

But… what about going north? Have you ever considered going to the land of fjords, sheep and black sand?

Iceland is a completely dif-ferent place on Earth. It is far away from civilisa-tion; there are neither snakes nor mosquitoes and having the latter in my room, I envy Icelanders a lot. Moreover, they have a polar day or you can call it the midnight sun, a phenomenon which occurs in summer months near the Arc-tic Circle, where the sun does not set. In addition, this is a land of powerful waterfalls and beautiful mountains. If you are lucky, you could even see some trolls walking around.

There is a saying: “If you get lost in a forest in Iceland, do not panic, just stand up!” Considering the lo-cal climate, trees are not high there and only 1% of the total area is cov-ered with forests. Locals are very proud of the trees because they planted them.

Talking about the weather, in July it was actually fine: raining, windy, around 10°C. I had a feeling that I was in Duino during the win-ter. Fortunately, during my last two days of staying on the island,

the sun came out; this added 7°C more! For Icelanders it was perfect weather to wear shorts, dresses and even to go swimming in the ocean. What can I say, I respect cultural differences.

Another cultural misunderstand-ing was about the usage of energy. Being sustainable as I am, I could not get used to the fact that they do not turn off the lights and let the water run for 10 minutes till it gets warm. Energy costs almost nothing because it comes from the ground. Without geothermal energy, it would be very hard for human beings to survive in such tough conditions.

Icelanders are big fans of swim-ming, not only in the ocean, but in outdoor swimming pools and hot springs. Water in the springs rang-

es in temperature from 24°C up to 47°C! As it comes directly from the ground, it smells like sulphur (rotten eggs). After a while you don’t even notice it, because every-one around smells the same.The “aroma” might be the rea-

son why this island is the most sparsely populated in Europe. The Icelandic community is not as small as ours at the college, but it is still better not to be-

have badly there, because having only 300,000 people, rumours can spread quite easily. Finally, if you lack winter cloth-ing, especially gloves and scarves, or you want to try some delicacies such as rotten fish and shark, go to Iceland!

P.S. Check the names of the volca-noes before departure! Otherwise you might not be able to tell the name of the “reason” for your de-lay...

Alls hins besta!


Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adria8EyjafjallajokullBy Anna Gams

Eyjafjallajokull- is a volcano in Iceland, which erupted in 2010. This caused enormous disruption in air travel across western and northern Europe.

Alls hins besta (Icelandic)- all the best



9In celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child, October 11th 2012By Frida Osterby Berg

You might not notice at first. You are always too occupied with everything else – or maybe you are never occupied with any-thing, which might actually be the problem. And even her, she’ll try to hide it, but just casually – after all, it’s not a taboo she’s dealing with, it’s nature. It’s her body, it’s her nature. When her mouth acknowledged Aphrodite’s wine for the first time, the word spread like rings in water. Immediately the sense of her curious trait was everywhere, both for those around her, but also inside of herself too. Did this curiosity arise from her step towards her destined identity? Or was it nailed upon her because she actually was unnatural? In the spring of her adolescence, her monthly sacrifice imposed on her

an unspoken anxiety.

When you look in through the windows today, you don’t sense any oddity about this young girl. Your eyes are drawn to her, you don’t exactly know why – she seems so at ease with herself. Not a sense of pride, not a brawling brat, but something subtle, some-thing unspoken – something within herself. Something you will never be a part of.

Then suddenly you hear a thun-dering as the ceiling rumbles inside the room where the girl stands. Fire and red-hot lava appears from cracks in the ground, before the floors open and everything slides about in an apocalyptic chaos. Her hair catch-

es fire, and she screams out in despair. You want to shout to her, but what to shout? “Take care, you’re going to die!” You cannot mouth anything constructive to her. Not even a word of comfort can escape your lips in this mo-ment. Your gaze falls to the floor, and for a second everything is qui-et. Then you force yourself to look towards the girl, and what you witness surprises you more than the previous scene of otherworldly destruction – the girl still stands quietly inside the room. She flips her hair and walks out of the door, turns the corner and disappears from sight.

Your mouth drops.

This time Duino welcomed us not only with new people and a bora but also the chance to see Radi-

ohead from only ten meters away.

It is hard to express yourself in words when there is a volcano bursting inside you.

I got the chance to shoot a hundred pictures of one of

rock’s legends and would like to share a few of those photographs with

you.

RadioheadBy Nare Filiposayan

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How do you kill someone who you don’t even know? But if you are in Jiang Hu, here is the rule: you ei-ther kill, or prepare to be killed.

Yu Qing, one of the most respected Taoist Masters of China, is sitting and drinking alone in the corner of a quiet street. Although he seems quite relaxed, his left hand never leaves his sword - he knows the rule of Jiang Hu too well. Tonight he is going to kill someone. Some-one he doesn’t even know.

It is almost the end of summer. In a couple of days, merchants will start selling moon cakes for the Mid-Au-tumn Festival, the same meaning-less thing every year for Yu Qing, a man without a home. Home? Jiang Hu is Qing’s home. Now while he is drinking, he recalls something that happened on the same day twelve years ago, before he became one of the greatest Taoist Masters in the whole Jiang Hu. On that day he was practicing a secret Kung Fu style called “Dragon on the Sea” on the West Lake, which allowed him to walk on the surface of water. Nothing is softer than water, yet it can overcome rock, just like the potential power inside his body. He felt that he had freed it, which is formless and nameless…

Suddenly he heard a mysterious song from afar, nice and graceful under the cover of mist. The lyrics were from an ancient poem: “Sure the world has some lovesick fools, but that is no matter for the wind and the moon… ” After the song

had finished, a wooden boat ap-peared. Within the boat was a girl with a silver sword, picking lotuses from the water.

What a beautiful picture.

Yu Qing was amazed. For a second he was carried away and couldn’t stand still on the surface of water. The girl heard the water ripple and panicked as she did not think she could be seen by a stranger. So she left the boat with Qing Kung (Fly-ing Kung Fu) and disappeared in the mist. Qing didn’t discover who the girl was until he recognized the sword she had accidentally left on the boat.

The Wind Sword!

The long lost Wind Sword, the sharpest and greatest sword there has ever been in Jiang Hu. The sword was believed to be held and guarded by a secret family sur-named Nan Gong. The girl who carried the sword was the Nan Gong’s young daughter Ling. The rule of this family was simple: nev-er reveal yourselves in Jiang Hu. As a result, nobody had ever laid eyes upon either the precious Wind Sword or the mysterious girl Ling. Yu Qing drew the Wind Sword for the first time and he was amazed - a sword as light as the wind - the legend was true.

The Taoist Master Yu Qing tight-ens his grip on the Wind Sword. He is not a young man any more, but his physical strength is perfect-

ly preserved after years of Kung Fu training. He has never let the sword leave his side. It is his best and only friend. He always talks to it when alone. With this weapon no one can stand in his way of achieving the highest rank in Jiang Hu.

The night screen hangs down. Qing’s bottle is empty.

- More wine.- Just a second!

The old man in the restaurant comes across the street with a new bottle of wine.

As he pours wine into Qing’s can-nikin, Qing notices that his face is half covered by messy black hair which makes him difficult to be recognized in the dark. The old man is not in a rush like any nor-mal merchant, who would like to finish work on time and go back to his wife and children. On the con-trary, he is calm and patient. Not a single drop of wine spills out of the cannikin.

The waiter turns and walks away slowly. Qing can tell that some-thing is wrong. He quickly takes out an ingot of pure silver and puts it into the wine. It instantly turns black.

The wine is poisoned.

The old man is no waiter. Qing draws his Wind Sword from its sheath in the twinkling of an eye. The old man tries to escape but


Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adriat ic Times The Adria10The Wind SwordBy Lu Ziyan



11he is not fast enough. With a sin-gle touch on his cheek, the sword tears off the skin mask which dis-guises his real appearance. Qing is surprised to see that the old man is younger than himself, probably twenty seven or twenty eight years of age.

Only one person in Jiang Hu has the skills to make such exquisite masks out of human skin - Swords-man Zhou. Zhou had challenged Yu Qing’s Kung Fu two years be-fore and was killed in the contest. Qing suspected that Zhou coveted his sword, but Zhou was in his late fifties, too old to survive the rule of Jiang Hu.

- I know you have been following my tracks. Who are you?- I am Yun, son of Zhou. - And you are here for revenge?- I mean you no harm, if you hand me your sword.

The sword. Qing knew it. Ever since others in Jiang Hu had found out that Yu Qing owned the Wind Sword, they had all wanted to buy it, steal it, or snatch it from him. He killed his opponents one by one but strangely the original owners of the sword had not approached him to get the sword back. Through all these years countless lives had end-ed at his hand but the Nan Gong had not been near him.

- What price would you pay for the sword?- Whatever it takes I will give it.- How about your life?

It happened too quickly. The young man’s blood stained the edge of the blade, with the crimson col-

our looking like roses. Darkness fell upon his eyes. They say life is passionate like summer flowers coming out, while death is quiet like autumn leaves falling down. Yet somehow it should be the other way around.

Qing hears a voice crying.

- No! I am too late…

When he turns back he sees Ling with tears in her eyes.

- Finally you show up…

He stares at her, and for a moment he sees an innocent girl singing, picking lotuses from the boat. It is not hard to recognize her even af-ter all these years. Dressed in white silk, now she looks like an elegant young woman. Though Yu Qing has pictured this meeting in his mind in thousands of versions, he is still a bit surprised. All of a sud-den he feels like singing, and the melody of that ancient poem rises in his chest: “Sure the world has some lovesick fools, but that is no matter for the wind and the moon. They were meant to last forever, but have come and gone before I knew.

- I’ve had it! How dare you! How dare you kill Yun!- He poisoned me. If I didn’t kill him, eventually he would kill me.- Poison? It is Cartilage powder which only paralyses you for one hour! Yun was helping getting back the Wind Sword that you stole from me!- I didn’t.- You took it and used its power to kill!- I only kept it for the peace of Jiang

Hu.- I see no peace in Jiang Hu. Now you have seen me. Whoever sees a Nan Gong must die. -What about Yun? He has seen your face hasn’t he?

Qing is eager for the answer and steps forward. Ling seizes the chance and draws the Wind Sword out of Qing’s hand in no time.

The blade cuts his throat. At first Qing feels nothing but simply a breeze kissing his neck. Then he falls to the ground, with blood spilling over the white dress of Ling.

- Do you still recall the day you saw me on the lake? I was too young and didn’t manage to fly far but fell into the water. I could have drowned. When I opened my eyes I saw Yun - he saved me. That was the moment I decide to break my family rule for him. When you killed Yun, you took away the love of my life. This is your price. You should have thrown the sword into the West Lake. Painful. Cold. Qing hardly sees or hears anything now. He knows he is dying. He struggles but he can no longer find any strength. It seems that the air is getting thinner. He opens his mouth, trying to say something.

Don’t you see? I kept the sword, so that I could see you again.

But no voice is heard. Silence. This is the end of summer.

SEED - Carrying rocks in Mexico

By Brais Lamela GómezIt is difficult for me to reduce the overwhelming experience I had in Mexico to a few lines, to find the right balance between information and personal anecdotes, between description of our activities and evaluation of the impact it had on me. Thus, this article will not be focused on the project, but on a really specific part of it: carrying rocks.

Oaxaca, the setting of our project, was 800 kilometres from Mexico

City, and one day after we finished our car trip to

the place we were already in the back of a pick-up truck, heading to our work place. Our

volunteering pro-ject consisted of

construct-ing

stoves and a wall for a school, which was translated into carrying rocks from one place to another. As monotonous as it may seem, carrying rocks was actually a truly rewarding experience.

As my body relaxed and got into the mechanical process of kneel-ing down, taking a rock, stand-ing up and moving the rock, my mind started to relax and calmly follow my physical exercise. As I went on, I started to do it uncon-sciously and I found I had time to daydream, to release tensions and to liberate myself from all my worries, with both my mind and body adjusted to a monotonous routine. I had time to sift through daily problems, to think about my own things. Moreover, it was really pleasant to work with the professional builders, all collabo-rating, pausing from time to time to drink a coke or eat a snack, and then coming back to the ritual of carrying rocks. Indeed, I some-times find myself at the college

wishing I had something like that, a chance to just forget about wor-ries and work to relax tension.

Of course, Mexico was much more than carrying rocks. Actually, if I had to describe Mexico in a few lines, it would be a chaotic list of things. Mexico was build-ing stones and working in an organic farm, it was also idyllic beaches and hikes in the jungle, the stomach aches, the pyramids, the Chavela Vargas’ songs and the cookies with tuna. It was the improvised music concerts with the policemen and, in the end; it was one of the most fascinating experiences I have ever had. I got to know a country (I truly got to know it, living with people there, living local traditions, going to out of the way, non-touristic places). I got to know myself a bit better and, more importantly, I learnt how to enjoy the pleasure of com-mon things, how to find peace by simply carrying a pile of rocks.



SEED - Carrying rocks in MexicoIt was a hot, hot day in a remote village in the lost mountains of Oaxaca in Mexico. There were donkeys all around us, red moun-tains all around us, and a very, very, very small community with a common surname I no longer remember. There was a single telephone, a single church, a sin-gle school and a single street on which we arrived.

And there, in the middle of nowhere, there was Augustin, Jacob and I in front of a rock pile. We had been asked to move them to the construc-tion area as we were helping with the building of a wall for a primary school. Obviously, there was no truck to do it, just a pair of partial-ly-broken wheelbarrows.

There was a hungry Jacob and a tired Camila: we had had bland cookies and Coca-Cola for break-fast after sleeping on the mucky cement floor of the primary school. And yet, there was Augus-tin singing pro-Cuba songs to the enjoyment of the masons we were work-ing with.

There was us again, three dirty exhausted UWC students learn-ing to mix cement with shovels and doing a never-ending rock carrying race. There was also an old woman in a green cap and a long cotton skirt helping to move the smaller rocks and bringing us more and more bottles of Co-ca-Cola to drink.

Then there was break time. We went up into the village to a single-room house with a smoky stove, a mom and her child mix-ing corn dough for the tortillas. There was later that night with the policemen and the only prisoner whom they thought could help to translate. And there was Jacob and Augustin playing violin and guitar for them, and all of us – Brais, Ximena, Jeanne, Pablo, Au-

gustin, Jacob and me – singing

Bella Ciao. Can you play it again?

There were many happenings in SEED Mexico. Many. It was some months ago, during the summer. There were days when we were sweaty, grumpy and bitten by mosquitoes. There were also days when we missed home, and the college, and even the IB. But, after all, I think we learnt a lot and had

time to reflect upon our real-ity, living an eye-opening

experience.

And there were the joyful memories: the swims in the Pacific Ocean, the climbing of the pyramids, the

parrots in the jungle, the colourful city of

Oaxaca, the trucks selling fruit, and the woman in the green cap telling us she would miss us when we were gone.


13

By Camila Ruiz Segovia




How a wide income gap squeezes happinessEven though Economics is a lot about the study of ways of increas-ing welfare, studies of the effects of widening income gaps in the de-veloping world often water down the negative effects of growth, claiming that the “trickle-down” effect is bound to happen at some point in the longer run (“when we are all dead” Keynes). A much more subtle argument undermining the growing income gap as a substantial threat to de-velopment is that the bulk of peo-ple in lesser developed countries (LDCs) have witnessed increasing incomes, even though much of the wealth of their countries has accumulated in the hands of a few rich people. In other words the poor have become richer, but the rich have become even richer.Nevertheless a more “obscure” negative effect is the impact of income gap widening on collec-tive happiness. It is obscure in the sense that it is difficult to establish an objective quantitative measure of collective happiness. The Idea came to me at a pre-graduation party with my schoolmates in Italy. Almost all of my Scandinavian friends were wearing the traditional graduate’s hat. One of them, from Denmark, told me jokingly that with this very hat, he can do whatever he wants to do: work in a restaurant, travel or even study biochemistry. But in that innocent joke lies the essence of a fundamental econom-

ic difference between most LDCs and some More Developed Coun-tries (MDCs); income gap “width”. In fact the differences in wages (or the Gini coefficient for that mat-ter) between the highest and the lowest paying jobs in Denmark is actually negligible compared to that in my home country of Tuni-sia. According to the CIA’s Gini Index Table, published as part of the “World Fact Book”, Tunisia ranks 63rd with a 40% Gini Index while Denmark ranks 137th with a much lower income disparity rep-resented by a 24.8% Gini Index.[1]And this fact has serious implica-tions not only on the job market structure but on the entire per-ception of one’s life. My friend would have been just fine (income wise) if he had been a waiter. For him opportunity is not a rare and colossal chance but it is the norm. Thus my friend will go on a gap year; he will work for a few months and then go on to travel and meet friends and plainly just relax. That is not the case for only my friend, but generally for the whole generation of Scandi-navians! And I hope the reader is not mistaken, the school he is about to graduate from is a mixed International Institution and yet his “ambitions”, even though open and flexible, are “easy” and simple.Now if we consider my case and that of my co-years, almost all my friends from LDCs will go on to study a “Hard” science or

course in an American College. In this we are very lucky, as the USA’s higher education system is rich and can accommodate many international students on high scholarships. This is the case for lucky elite of LDC students (because the number of talented “poor” people will always be less than the number of “poor” people selected to study in world class higher education institutions) and still the difference in life prospects and style will differ. The constant “threat” of expulsion or simple removal of a scholarship will push these students to perform as best as they can when it comes to aca-demic matters. Upon completion of their education they will have the daunting quest for a job in the country of study or MDCs in general. This quest will go beyond a simple search for the best work conditions possible; for “us” it is also about family honor, about climbing steps on the social ladder or, at the base of it, pure survival.Consider now, the overwhelm-ing majority of people in LDCs; those that were not lucky enough to study in or rather escape to an MDC. In this arena, everybody still wants and strives to be doc-tors, engineers, ministers and most likely presidents (if they are lucky enough to be in a political-ly developed LDC). Firstly, that places enormous pressure on the weak higher educational insti-tutions in LDCs. Secondly, all

By Firas Arfaoui

[1] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html



15

“technical” schools are viewed by society almost as a pre-jail school. I recall that a middle school in my native Tunisian city of Bizerte is branded with the degrading nickname of “Donkey School”. It is called this because an entire generation ago it was home to a technical school. Thirdly, at the end of the educationally com-petitive process, economies that are largely based on primary and secondary sectors are not able to accommodate the influx of univer-sity graduates. From this emerges a very peculiar form of “struc-

tural unemployment”. There are too many wannabe doctors and presidents and there are only a few posts to fill. The Tunisian uni-versity graduate unemployment figures are one of the most daunt-ing examples of this catastrophic process. Most likely the undesired graduates will end up doing the simple jobs anyway; this time around, they will be untrained and their existential satisfaction will be forever shattered. What we have here is a large number of underemployed de-pression-prone young people who

have wasted their central years in the hallways of corrupt univer-sities and that is a catastrophic result. A wide income gap pro-duces the carrot (well-paying jobs) and the stick (manual low paying labor) but this disparity is a disastrous outcome for the indi-vidual and for society, as the risk is placed on the existential wellbeing of the whole society.

(Republished from a Blog at http://a9wam.blogspot.co.uk/)

Wise planning, organisation skills and a good budget. The three vi-tal ingredients needed for one to organise something, whether it is a long weekend trip, street per-formance, project week or a seed project. As a first year, I organised both a Street Performance in my country, Malta and a Project Week which took place in Maastricht. Both were amazing experiences, ones which will never be forgotten.The Street Performance in Malta was one which turned out to be better than I could have imagined. It was an amazing opportunity both for me and for the others who joined it. In total we were 18, and we represented all the continents. We had great fun. It was six days long, with five nights spent in a four star hotel courtesy of the lo-cal community, which I must say was a very generous act. We en-

joyed great luxury, including a jet blasting Jacuzzi. Believe me, we did not lose such an opportunity. We performed in the local parish square as part of the Christmas fes-tival, which was taking place dur-ing the same week. When it was time for eating, we did not starve either. Food was provided by the local council and if not, my moth-er was the perfect substitute. She cooked mouth-watering tradition-al Maltese cuisine for the others to try. All in all, the total cost was only €130.I organised the Project Week in Maastricht with Marta (Spain) and Rima (Palestinian 3rd year). The project was 7 days long and budget wise it was very affordable. We flew from Venice Treviso to Brus-sels Charleroi Airport. During our stay, we were warmly welcomed by UWC Maastricht, and we were

hosted by them. We slept and lived in the same dorms as the UWC students. It was a great experience, since we mixed with other people at another UWC college, coming from different countries. During the week we did some social ser-vice with them, which was a com-pletely different experience from the one we have in Duino, Mon-falcone or Trieste. The rest of the time we explored and enjoyed the beauty of Maastricht.Both projects were very successful and I thoroughly enjoyed doing them. This year it is the reader’s turn, your turn, to get your hands dirty and come up with something different and exciting!

Organising Street Performances and Project Week TripsBy Jacob Borg



Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have found that commercial charbroilers — the same ones that grill hamburg-ers from your favorite burger joint — emit a large amount of particu-late matter into the air we breathe; even more than diesel engines.Commercial cooking equipment generates grease, smoke, heat, wa-ter vapor, and combustion prod-ucts, but there are very few regu-lations for restaurant emissions. In its 2007 Air Quality Management Plan, the local air pollution au-thority determined that commer-cial cooking is the second-largest source of particulate matter in the South Coast Air Basin.

“Emissions from commercial char-broilers are a very significant un-controlled source of particulate matter…more than twice the con-

tribution by all heavy-duty diesel trucks,” said Bill Welch, princi-pal development engineer for the study at UC Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-Cert). “For com-parison, an 18-wheeler diesel-en-gine truck would have to drive 143 miles on the freeway to put out the same mass of particles as a single charbroiled hamburger patty.”

A proposed control — a device that removes grease from the ex-haust and traps it in water — will be tested tomorrow, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sept. 19 at the CE-Cert test laboratory. CE-Cert is part of UC Riverside’s Bourns College of En-gineering. Researchers will evalu-ate the air stream released by the commercial charbroiler before and after they pass through the control device and measure how effective

it is.

According to Welch, the testing involves “cooking a lot of ham-burger patties” but they don’t go to waste. After the emissions test, the hamburger patties are donated to a Redlands Regional food bank.

Source: http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/8896

DID YOU KNOW??By Sibel Spahija

1. Your Burger Pollutes More Than an 18-Wheeler Truck.

One summer in my wicked, wicked life waycame like a rainbow ray,

before jumping into open spaceit had been passed away...

One day.

One summer like an Extended Essay,like

a factory day without holiday.When I realized, it was gone away,

Far, far away!

The rest small amount of busy days...Nobody says,

You are in love and I am he …he...

My wicked, wicked holidayslike,

like an old grandmother’s day.Teaching me, morally wrong and

And ethically right ways...

One day,in my wicked, wicked life way,

without pain,like a wise machine ,

I’ll enjoy my summer holidays!

My “wicked, wicked” summer holidayBy Kailas Kokare



17

How much CO2 does the building you live in give off? For the most part, mapping urban carbon emis-sions has been based on broad fig-ures that don't home in on specific buildings or streets. A computer program called Hestia can now record and map carbon emissions with a new level of detail.

The US Department of Energy measures energy consumption for each state, and many companies do their own energy usage and emissions assessments, says Kevin Gurney of Arizona State University in Tempe. But it is difficult for city planners and environmental regu-lators to know exactly where emis-

sions are coming from, because few cities track emissions or total energy usage.

To assess "urban metabolism" for three cities – Indianapolis, Los An-geles and Phoenix – Gurney and his colleagues collected public re-cords data including property as-sessments for buildings, local air pollution measurements and other information about all the buildings in each city. They then separated the buildings into categories such as retail stores, industrial plants, offices and residential homes.

Using the Hestia program, the re-searchers created 3D maps that

show where carbon was being emitted and how much. In some ar-eas, they were able to calculate the emissions from individual build-ings by assessing how much car-bon a typical building of that size and age, using a particular power source, would emit. In areas where they had less data, such as residen-tial neighborhoods, the program was able to calculate emissions within a single postal area or zip code.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22361-a-way-to-as-sess-the-carbon-emissions-of-your-building.html

The human eye can detect millions of colors and is sensitive to light and sounds. Yes, sound. Universi-ty research studies show that mild and incidental noises cause the pu-pils of the eyes to dilate.

According to David Louis’s book of

Fascinating Facts, it is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers, and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise: the sounds cause their pupils to change focus and blur their vision.

The “millions of colors” that the eye can detect are the three prima-ry colors of red, green and blue and the millions of combinations that result from these three colors. (In 1878, Ewald Hering proposed the theory that the four unique hues of red, green, blue, and yellow form

the basis of all colors.)

The eye is, of course, just a lens for the brain. You actually see with your brain.

Source: http://didyouknow.org/hu-man-eye-detects-sound/

2. There is a way to assess the carbon emissions of your building.

3. Human eye detects sound.

“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; but a single experiment can prove me wrong.” - Albert Einstein

lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student hu-man chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist ital-ian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violin-ist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violin-ist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violin-ist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover brght smile student human chocolate lover politician UWC student musician violinist pianist guitarist italian native speaker artist lover

Cont

ents

SEED - Carrying rocks in Mexico Page 12

It is difficult for me to reduce the overwhelming experience, it started in a remote village in the lost mountains of Oaxaca in Mexico.

Brais Lamela Gómez & Camila Ruiz Segovia

So what comes next?Luisa Peress

Page 6

EyjafjallajokullAnna Gams

Page 8

La partenza non è altro che l’inizio del viaggio di ritorno verso casaIden Kalemaj

Page 5

RadioheadNare Filiposayan

Page 9In celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child Frida Osterby Berg

Page 9

Venice Cultural Visit Malcolm PriceOn Saturday 8th September and Saturday 22nd September 2012 Eunice and Maria led two visits for the First Years to Venice.

Page 4

Who are you?Chocolate

lover

HumanBright smile

PoliticianArtist Musician

Violinist

PianistGuitarist

Lover

Italian

UWC student

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS GROUPThese graphs are the results of the first two weeks of the sustainability competition.

Page 7

The Wind Sword Page 10

How do you kill someone who you don’t even know? But if you are in Jiang Hu, here is the rule: you either kill, or prepare to be killed.

Lu Ziyan

PainterAthlete

Party animal

Love Duino

Enthusiastic

ReligiousPatriotic

IndividualHua Mulan

Saruman

SustainableInterested in fashion

Designer

Computer enthusiastGenius

Ginger

Blond

Native English speaker

American

The Adriatic Times Facebook poll results

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Organising Street Performances and Project Week TripsJacob Borg

Page 15

How a wide income gap squeezes happiness

Firas ArfaouiPage 14

My “wicked, wicked” summer holidayKailas Kokare

Page 16Did you know?Your Burger Pollutes More Than an 18-Wheeler Truck. There is a way to assess the carbon emissions of your building. Human eye detects sound.

Page 16Sibel Spahija

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The Adriatic Times 9 - Welcome