MEREWADE COLLEGE – GORINCHEM

LICEO CLASSICO RAFFAELLO - URBINO

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The Liceo Classico “Raffaello” of Urbino also this year has organized the exchange programme with the

“Merewade College” of Gorinchem, Holland.

The students involved belong to the following classes: III C Turistico and IV A Linguistico

accompanied by the teachers Zanarelli, Cimarelli, Betti.

The first part of the experience took place in Gorinchem from 18th September to 1st October 2005 and

it has been recorded in the following pages witnessing the students’ personal and cultural enrichment.

They have learnt to be more independent, more self confident and to accept their friends’ lifestyle

together with a new cultural environment.

Cooperation and friendship have favoured the awareness and the appreciation of the mutual differences

which are the essential qualities in order to become true European citizens.

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MEREWADE COLLEGE LICEO CLASSICO RAFFAELLOGORINCHEM URBINO

STUDENTS’ MATCHING 2005-2006III C BAROCCI FEDERICA JOS WULMSBIANCHI GRETA SJEF HOSSELETBOINEGA LORENA MARCO HARTMANCASULA ELEONORA MANDY MIENTJESCECCARINI LINDA BOUDEWIJN DE RIDDERDE MARCO SARA KRISTIAN NARDTENGUERRA MARCO BARTELD DE VRIESLUCHETTI MELISSA JESSICA HAVELAAR and MEI BO CHENG MARINONI ARIANNA SVEN HENDRIKSMENCACCINI LUCIA VIVIAN REIJNDERSMENGHI ANNA JEROEN ROELEVELDSEBASTIANI GIULIO NAWID SIAWASHSORDONI EVA ALISSA KRAALTROMPKE DAVID MICHAEL DE JONGTUPPUTI DAIANA MARJOLEIN SCHOUTENVANNI ALESSANDRA NADIA VAN DE AREND and LOTTE DE JONGVECCHIETTI MARTINA MICHAEL DE VRIESVEDOVI SIMONA NATASCHA NUIS

IV A CANCELLIERI ADELE DEBBIE STUURMANCECCHINI LAYLA MARIELLE MORET and HILDE VAN ZEVENBERGENCICOLI MARTINA MELVIN VENNEMAFRATERNALE LAURA ILSE MOLENAARFUCILI PAOLO FRANK BOSGABRIELLI PATRICIA LINEKE BLOEMBERGGARAVANI DEA MARJOLEIN VAN TILLGUGLIELMI SONIA THIJS DUINDAMGUIDARELLI LAURA MIRTHE SWETSKOCYLOWSKA OLGA TESSA VAN’T HOFLONDEI FRANCESCA NILLS BALJE’MAGRIN GIULIA DJODIE OOSTERHUISMARINKOVIC SMILJA ANNE VAN DER VEERPATRIZI SILVIA CAI YANG KHAPULLO NATASHA CHI FAI CHENGRICCI MADDALENA BRENDA VAN DONGEROSSI GIORGIA MARIEN PASTOORSALTARELLI CHIARA MARISSA SELIJSALVATORI ARIANNA COLIN VAN WAARDENBERGSILVESTRINI MICHELA MANDY BOONTANCINI AMELITA JURGEN EYSINKTROMPKE EMANUEL VINCENT VAN HOOGDALEMURBINATI CATERINA HILDE LEEUWISVICHI ILARIA MAARTJE WASSINK

JOSBERT SMITSTOMAS DEN HARTOG

ITALIAN TEACHERS : SERENELLA ZANARELLIGABRIELLA CIMARELLIMARIA ELENA BETTI

DUTCH TEACHERS: IDA ZEEDIJKHANNIE DE RAAD

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DISCOVERING GORINCHEM…

There is only one word to describe Gorinchem…magic!

Gorinchem asleep in the morning and Gorinchem lively at night..

Not to speak of biking..

What is more exciting ,early in the morning, than going through Gorinchem on a too high bike ( at least

for us), with cold air freezing your hands and your face? It was really a bit strange for us to see so

many bikes along the roads and notice that everybody uses this means of transportation to go

everywhere…

AND NOW SHOPPING...

All together, Dutch and Italians going window-shopping looking for something typically Dutch to buy for

parents or friends, a beautiful afternoon with a fantastic ending.. an Italian ice-cream.. or rather,

something like this!!

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GORINCHEM BY NIGHT...

- “Everybody to the beach tonight!” -

We were happy to stay under the moon, singing Italian and English songs, trying to understand and

speak Dutch...

We were longing to go to the pub and to the disco on Saturday.. everywhere by bike!

AND NOW… CULTURE!

First to the modern Town Hall of the city welcomed by the Mayor’s speech, then to the “Gorcum”

modern museum, finally to the church tower.

While Giorgia and Laura were visiting the very modern museum, Giulia climbed the 256 steps to reach

the top of the tower...

How beautiful Gorinchem from there!

LET’S GO TO THE MILL

What’s the most typical symbol of

Holland?

Mills of course!

Indeed we saw mills on the very first

day ... After an envious visit to the

modern and well equipped Merewade

College, our partners took us to the mill

near the school where we took photos

in the middle of nature, surrounded by

canals and mills!

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GOODBYE HOLLAND…

Unfortunately this experience has come to the end

The last memorable evening at school. All together.. at the barbecue party and then….

DISCO!!!

Everybody dancing Dutch, Hip Hop and R’N’B music.. also the teachers!!

This is our Gorinchem…

What we saw and what the city gave us will be kept for ever in our hearts!

Layla Cecchini

Laura Fraternale

Giulia Magrin

Giorgia Rossi

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“The school that we love”

When we arrived in Gorinchem the Dutch partners showed us their school. We were pleasantly surprised

because, according to us, it looked like an airport because it is very large and very modern. It is a three

floor building. On the first one there is a big hall with an information office where the Dutch students can

ask for information about their school plans, their lessons and their teachers. There is also a snack-bar

and the lockers where the Dutch students can leave their books. On the second floor there are many

laboratories, a big library and on

the third floor there are the

classrooms. It’s a very big

building with two gyms, two

football fields and a very beautiful

garden.

The cleanliness of the school is

better than ours because THE

STUDENTS CLEAN THE ROOMS

and there is a better

organisation. The best thing that

is in the school is the dialogue

between teachers and students.

In the school the boys are left very free and they can decide their study-plans , if they want. They have

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a little break of twenty minutes every two hours. But... to punish the students they must remain at school

and do more cleaning. Just think: they can go also to buy a huge ice cream in these breaks. This is

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. We love this school because it is based on FREEDOM, PEACE and LOVE

and of course... CLEANING!

Marco Guerra

Eva Sordoni

Daiana Tupputi

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What a surprise to discover that magical place!

Who would ever imagine that a simple chain of windmills could create such a fairy atmosphere?!

A row of windmills at Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk represents the typical Dutch landscape, indeed we found a huge plain surrounding the series of

19 windmills interspersed by canals....

The sky was wonderful! It seemed even bigger than in Italy, and even if the weather was cloudy , the

clouds made everything more charming. High grass surrounded the windmills, and the green blended with

the sky’s shades.

In the past windmills were used to avoid flooding in the polders, pieces of land taken off the sea and

protected by dikes. The windmills pumped out of the polder the water filtering under the dike, then they

drained it into the sea. Even if they can still work, nowadays more modern machinery is used.

The place is called Kinderdijk because of an ancient legend telling of a lucky baby. During a flood, he

was thrown up onto the dike by a wave, so he could escape drowning to death and he saved himself.

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We went for a pleasant walk along a narrow track where we risked being run over by some cyclists.

Finally that landscape was the background of our photos, that will keep reminding us of this extraordinary

experience!

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In Holland families are very nice, welcoming, friendly and sociable.

Typical Dutch houses

During our stay everyone did all the possible to make us spend two wonderful weeks.

The food

There isn’t a typical Dutch dish.

Actually at home we had the chance of eating food from different cultures, above all Chinese. The partner

of one of us was Chinese and her parents had a Chinese restaurant where she always had her meals.

There, they didn’t only cook Chinese food, but also Indian, Turkish and Mexican food. Most restaurants

are international, apart from those which cook plum cakes and other specialities, both sweet and savoury.

Spare time with families

During the week young people spend their evenings with their parents.

This was very unusual for us. Indeed the relationship between parents and teenagers is different from

ours: they speak more to each other and they are always on speaking terms.

At the weekend every family helped us to have a great time.

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For example Michela went to visit Rotterdam with her partner and she found the city very beautiful and

interesting.

Most of the other students, instead, went with their partners to Efteling, a fun fair like our Mirabilandia,

and we enjoyed it a lot.

Arianna stayed with her Dutch family!!!!

On Saturday evening we also went to the disco.

WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!!!!! ! !

Ilaria VichiMaddalena Ricci

Silvia Patrizi

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22 September 2005: finally Amsterdam!!

Excited and anxious to spend a

day in this famous city, we left

Gorinchem with our Dutch

partners on Thursday morning

at 9

o’clock.

Our program for the day was

really promising: Rijksmuseum,

Van Gogh museum and then…

four hours of free time in the

centre!!

When we arrived in Amsterdam,

at about 10.30, our Dutch

partners went to visit the Van

Gogh museum, we, on the contrary, went to the Rijks, also called “ Holland’s treasure trove”, because it

is the largest museum of art and history in the Netherlands.

Unfortunately part of the museum was under restoration and we didn’t have the opportunity to see all the

pieces that are generally exhibited.

We enjoyed it all the same: the Italian guide made things easier for us and we could appreciate

masterpieces by Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jansteen and Rembrandt, such as: “ The Night Watch”, “the

Milkwoman” among the others.

The things we liked most were the Doll’s house, the stately sailing Vessel at the entrance and also the

big glass elevator!!

After the visit we met our Dutch friends again and together we had our packed lunch in the park, nearby

the two museums.

We sat on the grass, by an enormous fountain, the weather was lovely, the sun was shining, the

temperature was really hot.. it was a perfect day to enjoy ourselves all together!!

At 14.30 we had our appointment at the Van Gogh museum: an interesting,very well organized and

completely white-washed museum.

It was easy to visit it also without a guide, because it was divided into sectors based on Van Gogh’s

life.

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We could admire lots of paintings that we used to see only in postcards or in art books: “ The

Sunflowers”, “Van Gogh’s portraits”, “The Bedroom”, “The Potato eaters” and others.

At the end of this beautiful visit we asked our Dutch partners to take us to the Hard Rock Café (as all

the Italian people usually do) because we wanted to buy some of the typical gadgets, and then, before

starting our frantic shopping , we sat outside the Irish café to have some rest!

We walked all afternoon to and fro the most crowded streets of Amsterdam and as we were almost all

girls, we entered all clothing shops we found, while our partners were waiting for us outside, bored but

patient!!

Like real tramps we ate pizza sitting on the pavement, in front of a shop window, and at about 19.30

we rejoined the others and the teachers at the Dam.

Finally, before reaching our coaches, we walked through the red light district, a wide area where we could

see one of the most particular

aspects of the city: all those girls

showing their bodies in the shop-

windows, quite a strange show

for us!

Nemo Museum

After a 30 minute walk, we got on our coaches and we left for Gorinchem, where we arrived at 23 ‘o

clock exhausted, but happy and satisfied.

It was a fantastic day!

Martina Cicoli

Dea Garavani

Arianna Salvatori

Amelita Tancini

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It’s easy for all of us to recognize a portrait of Van

Gogh because he is one of the most famous painters

of modern art, maybe THE most famous!! He was

born in the Netherlands in 1853 and he committed

suicide in 1890 when he was only 37 years old.

During the last five years of his life, he completed

more than 800 paintings.

When we were in Holland we saw about 30 of them in

the Van Gogh Museum. One of the most famous

paintings is ‘Sunflowers’: The background is light blue

and in the foreground there is a vase with some giant

sun flowers. Did you know that there are two or three

versions of the same painting? Another important

painting that we saw is called ‘The Yellow Room’. It is

a very small painting that shows the painter’s room at Arles. Our favourite painting is ‘The Potato Eaters’

because with its dark colours it represents poverty and the suffering of poor farmers so well.

Linda Ceccarini

Lorena Boinega

David Trompke

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The second day we went to Amsterdam, we visited the famous house of Anna Frank.

This house is located 150 meters from the Westerkerk, it is the house place where Anna Frank and her

family were in hiding during World War 2 hoping to escape deportation to the concentration camps.

During the visit we could imagine and feel the cold, sad and loneliness situation of Anna.

Very interesting was the moment when we saw the real diary of this girl, where she wrote her emotions

and everything that happened in those rooms.

We thought that we were going to see a typical Dutch house but we discovered an empty one which

made the visit even more touching for us.

After two years the family was discovered and deported .

Anne died in 1945 in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen, only Anne’s father survived.

Lucia Mencaccini

Martina Vecchietti

Greta Bianchi

Eleonora Casula.

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The trip we took by bike through the particular landscapes of the area that surrounds the town of

Otterloo, was among the things we liked most during our experience in Holland. We had to reach the

Kroller-Muller Museum, and this was fun but exhausting too, because the only way to get there was to

travel a five kilometer distance through the National Park “De Hoge Veluwe ”, by using typical Dutch

bicycles, which have very strange brakes and are for that a bit difficult to be used.

We went along the

path with some

difficul-ties both be-

cause it was quite

narrow (the risk of

accidents was

therefore very

high!!!) and we

were a large group.

Not to mention that

we were not used

to riding a bike,

even if in Holland we had to learn! However, we could admire 1500 hectares of natural and unpolluted

environment: green grass, sand and woods one after the other. Inside the park there were six points of

observation that allowed people to appreciate its wild fauna: animals such as squirrels and deers that live

there freely, but unfortunately we couldn’t see any of them. From a historical point of view, “De Hoge

Veluwe” has quite a long existence: as a matter of fact Mr and Mrs Kroller-Muller founded it in 1935,

making it accessible to anyone who wanted to enjoy a spectacular harmony between nature, art and

architecture. These last aspects can be discovered at the end of the ride: indeed, as we got off our

bicycles, we were in front of a big, modern structure which was “The Kroller-Muller museum”, surrounded

by a wonderful and very well-kept garden.

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More than 30 scul-ptures

among the biggest of Europe

are situated in the garden

itself and in the wood

around it, whereas inside

the museum it is possible to

see many beautiful exam-

ples of futuristic and modern

art (more than 100

sculptures) but also many

interesting pictures of such

famous artists like Van

Gogh. To end with a

personal consideration, we

would like to underline how

charming it was for us to see a very different landscape and last but not least how impressive it was to

admire the huge variety of works of art offered by the museum, together with the originality of the

sculptures that were in the garden surrounding it.

Paolo Fucili

Chiara Saltarelli

Francesca Londei

Laura Guidarelli

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On 23rd September 2005, we went to Enkuizen, an isle in the north of the Netherlands.

To arrive there, we went over a bridge that was 30 km long. We never saw the end!

The Dutch built some dikes to have more land to farm many years ago.

When we arrived in Enkuizenn we went to an open air Museum where we could admire the life of the

Dutch people during the 20th century.

Here, we could see the houses of these people. Inside this museum there were people who were dressed

and acted the life of that period, like cooking fish, playing the guitar and hanging out in typical Dutch

clothes.

There were also some shops from the 20 th century that we could visit , like the post-office, pharmacy

and some farms.

After visiting this museum we went, by car, to another island called Marken.

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When we arrived at Marken, it was, as if we were in a story because there were woodenhouses and

they were very colorful!

We think that this day was very interesting because it showed us some typical Dutch history and

culture!!

Anna Menghi

De Marco Sara

Simona Vedovi

Lucia Mencaccini

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The morning of the 29th September we left Holland to go to Strasbourg, one of the biggest cities in

France. Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace and it is situated three kilometres from Germany. It is

one of the most visited cities in Europe and it is crossed by the river ILL and surrounded by the Rhin. It

is a city full of cultural and gastronomic attractions and since the Middle Ages it has always been the

centre of commercial exchanges, in fact its name means “crossroads”. Strasbourg is also characterized by

particular houses in which roofs and floors are wooden.

At 18.30 we entered our hotel, a pleasant building where the owner gave us the keys to our

bedrooms... They were very nice and really comfortable. After having dinner in a restaurant, we visited the

city with our teachers and came back at about 22.00 pm. The next day we left to visit the European

Parliament and some parts of the city like Petite France, the Cathedral and then we went shopping.

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Petite France is a district that once belonged to tanners and fishermen and it is characterised by

particular and beautiful streets which are called after the workers’ activities. It is also rich in canals along

which you can see the famous “bateaux-mouches”, used to visit the city. Walking through the Petite

France, you arrive at the Gothic Cathedral next to which there is one of the most famous and noble

houses of the district, a rich dealer lived here but now it is the seat of a renowned restaurant, with the

showy presence of large windows that once were very precious.

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THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE-DAME OF STRASBOURGThe cathedral dominates Strasbourg with its height and splendour and has been on a large square since

the Middle Ages. Its construction took three centuries, from 1176 to 1439.

It is 142 high and it is characterised by a wonderful clock.

The main façade is of a fantastic ornamental wealth and the impression of elegance comes from the

inspiration of the architects of the Gothic cathedral. Many Gothic chef d’oeuvres can be admired here:

stained-glass windows, richly decorated chapels, baptismal fonts. The astronomical clock has got a

mechanism that dates back to 1842 and it is very attractive because it strikes the hours every day at

12.30.You can see also the different stages of life which are personified by a child, a young boy , an

adult and an old man who pass before Death. Above these people there are the Apostles who walk

before Christ. In front of the clock there are the Angel’s pillars which represent the Last Judgement.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Strasbourg, beyond being the seat of beautiful monuments and art works, welcomes also international

institutions (The Council of Europe, The Palace of Human Rights and the European Parliament). The

choice of Strasbourg is the symbol of the reconciliation among people and of the union of all European

citizens for a common future life.

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The

Parliament is an assembly of members from all countries and deals with health and welfare issues,

whose aim is the European unity, symbolized by the statue’s sweet embrace outside the building.

The Parliament fulfils the function of political control on the institutions of the European Union. Its other

two powers are: legislative (the Parliament votes the European laws together with the Council ) and

balance (every year the Parliament establishes the European Community’s balance). It is made up of

732 deputies and every five years deputies are elected by universal suffrage.

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Adele Cancellieri

Sonia Guglielmi

Smilja Marinkovic

Michela Silvestrini

Emanuel Trompke

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