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Colloseum

Today we visited the colloseum where we saw where the romans used o fight. he colloseum is almost spherical in shape and we learnt that it can hold up tp 70000 people just like todays modern stadiums.While inside we saw armor that used to be used by the romans and also the bnes of animals that were killed or animals that existed during the time of the ancient romans. We left the inside and went outside where we saw the grounds where they fought.

Our guide told us that they fought because the roman leader believed in bread and games. This therefore led to the building of the colloseum. We left the colloseum and took a break in which we had snacks and after that our guide took us where Julius Cesar was cremated.We learnt that his body as moved to another place but peoplestill put flowers just to show their respect.

After climbing a mountain of stairs,we reached a tap which is believed to give out the best water in Italy and all of us got the chance to drink from it. The water was cold and tasted just like ordinary water. We then continued walking and visited Mussolini square where we were taught about Mussolinis hard work and how he built the square. We were also shown his office on the second floor in one of the buildings.

We really got to see a lot and learn a lot yesterday about Italy's ancient past and i really had fun.

Nebai Petros

Daniel

After a long flight we arrived in Rome safely. As soon as we arrived we where given a warm welcome by father and some fellow Zambians who live in Italy. They were very friendly and welcoming people, straight from the airport we came down to the hostels at which we are staying in. When we arrived at the hostels we had to get prepared quickly because we had a long day ahead of us. As soon as we had eaten breakfast and freshened up we where off to the metro station to get on the metro line which was our form of transport for the day. The first place we went to was right outside the coliseum which has been there since the time of Julius Creaser. We then took a walk through the ancient city of Rome and got to see buildings that have been standing for hundreds of years, and also got to see the fountain of Fontana De Tevi and the basilica which is well known for being a grave site for a few great Roman’s like Michael Angelo and Victoria Emmanuel II? After a long day of site seeing we decided to go rest, it was a great day and I will gladly say we are having fun.

Eurotrip - the beginning

Blog Entries:

Before the trip:
When I first heard about the euro trip, I was not interested at all mostly because I thought I was not going to be able to go due to the fact that I don't take History in IB. In January 2010 after some students decided that they were going, I spoke to one of the students, Nyankhundi about the trip. He told me about some of the places they were planning to visit. I got interested mainly because I was excited about the whole "visiting historic sites" especially in Italy and in Germany. After several attempts, my friend Nyankhundi managed to convince to come along the trip. Now the hardest part of it came…asking my mum if I could go! I expected her to say no because I need to study, but after I explained that it was an educational trip and in actual fact it was much cheaper than going by yourself, she said I could go!

Preparing for the trip:
Between the period of deciding to go to the euro trip and the actual trip, a lot of preparation had to take place from our parents, teachers and the students themselves. Firstly, a checklist had to be given out on the different activities and the different places that we were going to visit. In the end, we decided to just choose where we wanted to go when we got there (I liked this idea a lot!). The other thing we had to do was get our insurance and our visas. For me, I went to get my visa and insurance with two other students (Laura and Sula). It took us the whole day of school but it was worth because we also had fun whilst going to the Italian embassy. We were also invited to the German Embassy were we saw a fascinating video about Germany and got to ask some questions about the place. Now everything was set, we were all ready. The only thing that was missing was…28th March 2010…

The beginning of the trip:
SO exciting! I arrived at the airport first with my family there to see me off. Laura was next to come, and then the entire group arrived…late as usual! Sula, Nebai, Danny, Nyankhundi, Laura and I took pictures at the airport before we boarded the plane. Upon boarding the plane, we were all wondering who we were seating next to. I found myself sitting next to Karanfila and luckily we were the only ones on our seats…no strangers…yeah! When the flight started we tried watching a movie or reading, but it failed so we just ended up talking and laughing the whole way through. I must say, at first sight I was not impressed with the plane that we were on, but as I got used to it, it was ok. Towards the end of the flight we got tired of sitting in one place, so we started making "mini-visits" to each others seats. There was a lot of moving up and down as well as people staring but hey, we're students so we didn't mind! The first flight was really fun with a good landing (of which no one clapped for!). I'm looking forward to the rest of the trip!

Malanga

Blog entries
Sunday, March 28, 2010
8:40 PM
Background to the trip:
When Ms Nkowane first talked about the trip to Europe, it immediately got me thinking at first not about the learning aspect but about having fun with my classmates In Europe. When Ms Nkowane mentioned it to my classmates and I, all of us were really interested. Week after week, each one of my classmates due to circumstances beyond their control began to drop the chance to go to Europe. This made me doubt the possibility of the Euro trip ever happening and kind of saddened me because the chance to visit historic sites was fading away…

After intense discussions with Ms Nkowane, we decided to extend this rare privilege to travel to Europe to the other I.B1 students. I quickly sold the idea to some of my friends who I thought would be interested and so I spoke to Sula, Nebai, Daniel and the STUBBORN Malanga who took about three weeks to convince but finally I managed. Laura must take credit for enticing Agnes to sign up for the trip and she did. Splendid, the trip was on. After convincing my friends to sign up, I had to work up the courage to ask my parents who I honestly thought at first would refuse. After sweet talking my Father he agreed and he then payed the first installment. Now came the hard part, asking my parents for pocket money…

Days leading up to the trip:

After finally convincing my friends to sign up, the feeling of excitement I thought I would have was quickly disappearing. However Ms Nkowane worked extremely hard and secretively to organize the trip and because she was secretive some of the students thought they was no progress being made. We all met however a few days later to discuss the meeting. This was also the first time we met the year 10's that we were travelling with. These were:
1. Kelebogile
2. Denise
3. Suk-jin
4. Karanfila
5. and Mrs. Jessica Rae, the other teacher we were travelling with

The next step was getting the visas and organizing the insurance which was a walk over. There was no point of return after this. About two weeks before the trip, Ms Nkowane organized a visit to the German Embassy where we were advised on sites to see while in Germany. We got a chance to watch a brief history of Germany where we learnt about the Berlin wall and other fun facts related to Germany. We all anxiously waited for the 28 of March; the day we would make ISL history by becoming the first group to visit three European cities.

28th March 2010…

Surprisingly up to this day, it had not yet settled in that we were actually going to Europe. Both Malanga and I actually told each other the night before that we both felt that the trip was unreal. I arrived at school at about 12:45 and found some of the students already waiting. After a brief talk and a few pictures we started off for the airport. Laura and Malanga were already waiting for us and just like that the trip felt more realistic. After checking in we waited in the departure lounge and at about 1600 after boarding Ethiopian Airways flight number: ET0873, we finally took off heading for Rome via Ethiopia.

When we boarded the plane we discovered that we had been given seats away from each other. Ms Nkowane charmed the air hostesses into letting us seat in any seats we felt comfortable with. I sat with Sula and Nebai. On the plane, we each all had fun in different ways. We kept checking up on one other and socializing by changing seats and taking pictures. We took random pictures and ended up having lots of fun. The food on the plane was not as scrumptious as our Zambian meals however it was steal edible. The flight was comfortable and the hostesses treated us like their own children always catering to our needs.

We touched down at the Addis Ababa airport at about 20:45 Zambian time…

I’m really looking forward to the trip and I would personally like to thank God, our parents for supporting us even though we may not always be the best of children, Ms Nkowane and Mrs. Rae for making this trip possible and lastly to all my friends hope you all have fun as we tour Europe together, all the best.

Nyankhundi Phiri

Recalling old times in Berlin

Another year had began with new students in the History class of Year 10. We had completed our unit on the Peace Treaties. Now beginning a unit on the History of Germany, 1918 - 39. An interesting lesson begins with a recall on how Germany was punished at Versailles after WW1. This was followed by a brief outline of how the Germans reacted to the so called "Dictated Peace or Diktat". There were demonstrations staged by mobs and workers in Berlin.

Berlin - yes that great city with so much History. Says one student.

Then begin questions and suggestions about Berlin and finally a proposal! what proposal!

One students says! My dad was a diplomat in Berlin. We surely must go and see that city.

Another student responds: I would rather go and visit Versailles and see the Hall of Mirrors where that dreadful treaty was signed.

Oh No! exclaimed another student: I would want to go to Rome - Yes Rome - a city with so much ancient history.

Well we can visit all the three cities and satisfy all our curiosity.

This discussion took place way back in September 2009.

What began as an innocent suggestion to visit the city where her dad worked several years ago now becomes a reality as students from that class of Year 10 will be taking a tour of the three cities beginning on 28th March 2010.

The students will be writing their daily experiences about their tour on this blog.