By Romina Wicki, Switzerland
Beautiful street art, glorious atmosphere, delicious food and volunteer work to a benefit Children’s Creative Project; this is the iMadonnari Street Painting Festival. This festival is once a year and a really popular event for children and adults. In this article I will give you an impression of what this festival looks like.
At the Old Mission in Santa Barbarathe Madonnari (ital. street artist) festival took place for three days . The area in front of the Mission became during these days colorful by the work from street artists. Only with chalk the artists created beautiful pictures on the floor. The pictures are as different as the artists. Some of them are Christian figures but there are also nature impressions or portraits. This Italian festival is a benefit project for the Children’s Creative Project, which is a nonprofit art education program. More than 50,000 children and over 100 schools are supported by this project.
Before the festival started, families, companies or a private person could buy a square for an artist. When you bought a square you had to find an artist. This artist started his artwork at the beginning of the Madonnari Street Painting Festival. The artists have time during the festival to finishing their work. With only the use of chalk, the artists accomplish beautiful street art. When the iMadonnari Festival is over; the artworks are still on the ground and disappear when it will rain the next time. It’s also really interesting to visit the Mission after the Street Paining Festival when there aren’t so many people. So you can enjoy the artworks at rest.
During the festival a lot of people visit the Mission. It’s a really popular event in Santa Barbara and the near area. Adults and children visit this festival and enjoy their time. The atmosphere in front of the Mission is busy. People observe the artist, marvel the street art, discuss the impressive work, enjoy the good weather and spend time in the park next to the Mission.
Next to the Mission, you had also the possibility to engage the other senses. There was an authentic Italian market and supplies for the street art paintings. A lot of voluntary workers spoiled the visitors with delicious food. For the appetite there was a great choice of Italian food, drinks and desserts. You could enjoy pizzas, Italian sausage, seafood and gelato (Italian ice cream). So you could enjoy your meal in the park with local live music.
My impressions:
I was a voluntary worker at the Madonnari Festival and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. The people were in a good mood and the artwork was extremely impressive. It was a great experience and a lot of fun to volunteer with classmates and local people. This was a joyful day with some new and interesting impressions. I’m so happy that I was there.
Not many, apart from people who lives in Sweden, will know about this city. As one of the oldest cities in the country and the highest ranked university, the city is characterized by the many students who lives here. Only one hour by car from the town I’m from, It’s in a perfect location with its proximity to the second biggest city in Sweden, and Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. And also I won’t have any difficulties with visiting my parents often.
As many others, I have always wanted to live in London. My whole life has revolved around London for as long as I can remember. I had paintings of the city hanging on my wall and I made one of my walls to look like a brick wall with an old subway clock hanging on the wall to resemble King’s Cross.
Four years ago I spent four weeks in Sydney all by myself. More exactly without my family and with classmates, but let’s say for the sake of the argument by myself. I had an internship there and that meant that I had to live there for a month. I was only 16 years old, but it was by far one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life. I grew so much as a person, and I was able to do that because of the beautiful city.
New Zealand has always attracted me ever since I saw the Lord of the Rings movies. The landscape blew my mind with the majestic mountains and the blue sea. I’ve only ever heard of three cities in the country, and that’s Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. I did some research and Auckland was always rated as the best city to live in. Located on the Northern Island, it has the best beaches. I first thought of Christchurch, but when I read about the frequent earthquakes, I changed my mind.
I’ve never thought of Amsterdam before I went to Santa Barbara. During my stay here, I’ve met many wonderful people who came from the Netherlands. All they said was that I would love Amsterdam. What really makes me want to live there is the similarities between Sweden. The standard of living is practically the same, and the city itself seems amazing. The fact that there are more bikes than people also makes me want to move there this instant since I’m always on my bike.
Do you know the movie, Harry Potter? Do you know the game of Quidditch? Yes, you can play this sport in the true life. Some explanations: How do you play this sport? “To score points, chasers or keepers must get the quaffle, a slightly deflated volleyball, into one of three of the opposing hoops which scores the team 10 points. To impede the quaffle from advancing down the pitch, chasers and keepers are able to tackle opposing chasers and keepers at the same time as beaters using their bludgers—dodgeballs—to take out opposing players. Once a player is hit by an opposing bludger, that player must dismount their broom, drop any ball being held, and return to and touch their hoops before being allowed back into play. The game is ended once the snitch is caught by one of the seekers, awarding that team 30 points.”[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quidditch_(sport)]. Don’t believe you can fly on broomsticks! You have to run with it between your two legs. It’s difficult, but, with a little bit of exercise and training, it becomes easy. What equipment do you need to play this sport? Is it a physical sport? Quaffle (from volleyball), bludgers (from dodgeballs), snitch (from tennis ball), brooms, hoops. It is a physical sport because it is a mix between different sports: basketball, volleyball and American football. Where is this sport from? Where was the first team in the world? Sure, this sport comes from the movie Harry Potter and the origin of this movie is British. So the first team to play to this sport were British people. The sport was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont (USA), by Xander Manshel and Alex Benepe, who later became the first commissioner of Quidditch. So, this sport is 12 years old. It is now an international sport, played around the world: in Europe, in the USA, Australia and China. Each year there is an international competition and this year it will happen in Oslo in Norway. About my experience? I have already played this sport when I was studying Dutch in Antwerp before to come in Santa Barbara. I played this sport with my host-family in one of the best clubs in Belgium: Dodo’s. I played it for only 4 months and a lot of people told me that I was really good at this sport. Now I’m going to Oslo inside the Belgium’s national team of quidditch to play a very big competition: international competition (I think). At the beginning, to run with a broomstick between my legs was really strange and really ridiculous, but everyone runs like this so I did the same. I felt better because I saw that everybody looked ridiculous to run like that but it didn’t cause any problems for anybody.
CITY OF ZURICH
LAKE OF ZURICH
BAHNHOFSTRASSE
NIEDERDORF
KUNSTHAUS
I think that everything I have listed will become positive aspects of all my trips to introduce me to the best view in the culture of the various countries. In a solo trip you don’t have any commitments, distractions. You are alone and you must listen to yourself. There are only your own requirements that take you to capture the happiness of being with yourself. Every fear builds a path of growth and change. To do this you will need to face your fears and difficulties. You must not be afraid of the changes and challenges that you encounter, but only with your personal power will you find ways to overcome them.
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