Quidditch, Real Sport?

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By Jade Olivier, Belgium

000000001Do 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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taDda9lLaE

Meet Janello Ho, EFSB Housing Director

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Tijmen’s EFSB Memories

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By Tijemn Bormans, The Netherlands

Why Zurich is one of the most attractive cities to visit

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Robin Ryffel, Switzerland

Zurich; although the biggest and most well-known city of Switzerland, it’s not the capital. Actually, Switzerland doesn’t even have a capital. The Swiss constitution considers Berne as their federal city, that’s not an equivalent for capital city, though. However, to get back to the main topic of this essay, I would like to point out the many strengths for a tourist when visiting Zurich.

zurich 1 CITY OF ZURICH

Zurich is located in the north-eastern part of Switzerland, which itself is placed in the middle of Europe. The city lies right next to the beautiful lake of Zurich, and a river called Limmat, originating from the lake, runs through the heart of Zurich; a perfect opportunity to enjoy your lunch at the bank, sunbathe all day long or just go for a swim.

zurich 2 LAKE OF ZURICH

One of the greatest things to do is without any doubt shopping. The most popular place to do that is definitely the Bahnhofstrasse. This street, translated to English Station Street, was laid out in 1867. It provides many shops, both internationally unknown Swiss clothing stores as well as shops from acclaimed international designers. It’s also the second most expensive street of the world, right after New York’s Fifth Avenue.

zurich 3 BAHNHOFSTRASSE

If you love old and absolutely stunning architecture, you just can’t miss Zurich’s old town, the Niederdorf. Literally translated to low village, it was actually the least developed part of medieval Zurich. That’s probably one of many reasons why it looks so special for today’s standards. In addition to its very own construction style, there are a lot of cheaper shops compared to the Bahnhofstrasse, and delicious restaurants. Whether you like Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Japanese or Brazilian cuisine, you will find it here.

zurich 4 NIEDERDORF

There are a bunch of other great activities and things to do, when you, after reading this essay, hopefully take the next plane to Zurich. If you are interested in sports, there’s a local ice hockey and even two soccer clubs which all three play in the highest Swiss league of their respective sports.

zurich 5 KUNSTHAUS

Zurich is also an art and education city. There are a lot of history and art museums, as well as great universities that are definitely worth a visit.

Happiness

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By: Rafaella Amorim de Souza, Brazil

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“Try to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.”

– Sydney Smith

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Does money bring happiness? Is it possible to be happy alone? Are children happier than adults? Are joy, satisfaction, pleasure and happiness the same? Happiness is the absence of sadness? Is health fundamental to happiness? Have we been born happy or unhappy? We were happy and did not know? What does the brain have to do with happiness? These are questions that positive psychology are trying to respond.

Since Classical Antiquity, Happiness has been the subject of debates, philosophical and religious reflections.  Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Carl Jung, Albert Bandura, Gordon Allport and others focused on the investigation of positive emotions. Therefore, the great contribution of Positive Psychology wasn’t to create the study of Happiness, but to have it developed on a scientific basis.

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To include the research of happiness in the field of sciences, Positive Psychology uses both traditional methods of psychological research and the most advanced process in the field of neurosciences for the study of emotions and human behavior. This is how Positive Psychology chooses the path of empirical research, respecting the rigors of scientific methodology and basing its analyzes on concrete data.

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Unlike the “smiley face” apologists, positive psychologists distinguish the importance of knowledge of dark and thorny subjects such as depression and misery for the understanding of happiness. That’s why their scientific objectivity that Positive Psychology should not be confused as the source of a recipe for happiness. Happiness is not about always being smiling but try to see the good on every bad decision, moment of sadness.

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Negative emotions are essential for us, because they shows when we need to st
op and look to ourselves, because they’re signals urging us to change what we’re doing wrong, so If you never permit your self feeling blue you will never truly know why you are sad. That’s why thousand of people don’t achieve the happiness, because they think superficially and don’t try to change what is wrong.

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Happiness is never found in materialistic things that cannot be physically possessed. The society are forgetting their bases, living their lives with no sense of control, buying everything just as excuse for trying to emerge on a social standard, that will never be reached. Therefore, happiness is priceless. It can never be purchased. Obviously you need money to survive, but you have to concentrate on what is really important for you. The life is made by small and unforgettable moments that money can’t buy.

 

 

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Summerburst

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Summerburst is a festival that takes place in Sweden every year. It is a festival for you who are over 18 years old due to the alcohol limit. Summerburst started back in 2011 and 2017 will be their 6th year. From the beginning, Summerburst was located only in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. However, today it takes place both in Gothenburg and in Stockholm. The festival itself has increased in popularity the last couple of years. Because of that, people are now hearing about Summerburst around the world. People from all over Europe are travelling to the two biggest cities of Sweden to participate in this festival.

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Summerburst are not like other festivals. In Sweden for example, we have a lot of festivals during the summer. Summerburst are not like other festivals because of several aspects. One of them is that the festival itself is clean. Furthermore, due to this, people are not camping on the festival-area. Instead, people staying in hotels or Hostels.

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So, what can you do in Gothenburg while staying there? I have only been in Gothenburg while visiting Summerburst, so I am going to focus on Gothenburg. The number one thing that crosses my mind while thinking about this city is Liseberg. Liseberg is an amusement park that is located in the middle of Gothenburg and I personally recommend going there if you have the time while visiting Sweden and Summerburst. Other places you could visit besides Summerburst is Nordstan, which is a big shopping-mal. Besides that, I recommend you to just stroll around this beautiful city. They have a lot of good places where you can eat and a lot of places to sit down for lunch.

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Summerburst itself started off as a small festival but is growing every year. More and more people are hearing about this festival and people from all over Europe is now travelling to Summerburst in Sweden. The combination of keeping the festival clean and adding big stars makes Summerburst the number 1 festival to go to. The lineup for 2017 in Stockholm (where I am going) is Justin Bieber, Axwell & Ingrosso, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman, Mike Perry and Steve Aoki. If you ask me is quite impressive? The number 1 thing that Summerburst is thinking about is quality before quantity. That is the main reasons why I keep on going back to the same festival every year.

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VIDEO               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c8Gd4LKc9Y

Amanda Svensson

 

The benefits of taking a gap year.

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Eva Selderbeek, the Netherlands.

It seems to be an increasing trend; taking a year off after high school and before starting University or other higher education. Students nowadays want to explore their options before making any life changing decisions, and because of rising wealth and globalization, this is now possible. But is this a good development? Should students indeed wait longer before starting their higher education?

The main reason why most people think it is beneficial to take a gap year, is that youngsters are given the opportunity to develop themselves on a personal level, before making any life changing decisions. Because let’s be honest, who knew exactly who they were and what they wanted at the age of 18? By taking a gap year, someone may discover they have certain skills and interests they never experienced before. Traveling alone means you have to rely on yourself completely. Going into a new environment, with people you have never met before means you have to be resourceful to adjust to the situation and make contact with others. For example, 98% of students who responded to a 2015 survey from the American Gap Association reported that the time off school helped them develop as a person, and 97% said taking a gap year, “increased their maturity.”

If you decide to go to school in a different country during your gap year, this can be very beneficial to your job perspectives. This shows that you are willing to develop yourself in different ways that the usual ones, which might be appeal to future employers. It also means you have experienced multiple types of education and different cultures. Additionally, 84% of respondents of the survey from the American Gap Association said that taking a gap year helped them acquire useful career skills, and 77% said that a gap year helped them find their purpose in life.

It is also shown that youngsters who have taken a gap year, tend to perform better in their higher education. Because these people have taken some time to sort out what they really want in life, they have proven to be more motivated to do well in their chosen education. Researchers from the American Gap Association found that 90% of students were likely to return to school within a year, and 73% of survey respondents said a gap year increased their “readiness” for college.

From my own experience, I know how beneficial my gap year is to me. I’ve been in the United States for about 2 months now, and I couldn’t have imagined how much this would my personal growth and development. My self-confidence got an enormous boost, and I feel much more independent than I did back home. Being out of my safe environment made me overcome some challenges, but has already empowered me so much as a person.

As shown, taking a gap year has many benefits. due to an increase of income in Western countries, the need for youngsters to start working at an early age has decreased. Because of this, they are given the chance to take their time, explore their options and indeed maybe take a gap year. The opportunity is there, they just hve to seize it.

 

 

 

Santa Barbara Places, I Liked Most

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Jasmin Hengartner, Switzerland

 

Most visited Place:Image result for state street santa barbara

Is State Street, you can buy there everything you want from clothes to food. I walk everyday across the State Street, but if you want to walk the hole street, you have to be sporty because its a long street. There is a little Passage called Paseo Nuevo, where are cute stores and many little restaurants. But State Street is a expensive street, if you want to safe money, you should probaply go to another one. I think the street is the most popular thing in Santa Barbara, because you can meet people and do a lot.

 

Most Beautiful Beach:

Image result for butterfly beach santa barbara

Is Butterfly beach. He is a bit farer away than West Beach, but i think it is worth it. The water is very clearly and there is more sober sand. You have more space because there are not many people. I was there for two times and i loved it. In the wate you can see some small fishes, they are very cute.

 

Best Food:

Image result for south coast deli santa barbara

The best food is across the street from our EF school and called South Coast Deli. They serve sandwiches, paninis and many salads. All food is fresh and every student from EF is going there. I think because of the cheap prices and big sizes from the meals. So you dont have to be hungry anymore.

Writing Your Own Songs

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by Vivian Grunauer, Switzerland

“You don’t need a song, you need a feeling.” This quote is one of the most important aspects if you want to write a song. You can’t just sit down on a sunny afternoon and tell yourself that you are going to write a song now. A song itself is like art. It is complex, beautiful and only the person who wrote it can understand it completely. But if a song is really beautiful, you feel like you are the person who wrote it because you have the same emotions as the writer when you listen to the song. A really good song carries you away, makes you smile or even cry. So if you want to write a song, you need to have a strong emotion or feeling you can write about. vivian

 

Did you know that more than 70% of all the songs in the world are about love? If you ask yourself why, the answer is pretty simple. As I mentioned before, to write a song you need a feeling, and love is the strongest emotion of all emotions. Everyone knows how it feels to have a broken heart or to not be able to stop thinking about this one special person. Many people are annoyed because there are so many love songs and many of them are about almost the same thing. I don’t think there is any reason to be upset because, if you are really sad and you write a song about that, it can be really releasing and helpful to get over a hard time in your life. Or maybe you feel exactly the opposite. Maybe you are so happy that you want to scream your happiness out into the wide world.

vivian 2

I have never been the kind of girl who writes in a diary. I tried to do that a couple of times but I was always too lazy to write daily. My kind of diary was my songbook. Whenever I felt like something was bothering me I wrote it into that book. Sometimes I just wrote a few words, and other times a whole text. I didn’t turn all of those thoughts into songs but all the songs I wrote had their first appearance in this little book. That’s the reason why my songs are really personal. They are my kind of diary.

Last year, I sang at our city festival with my band “Vie and We.” I had sung at this festival before, but this time it felt completely different to be on stage. On the one hand that was because it was the first appearance of my band on stage, and on the other hand it was the first time that I sang my own songs in public. I was really nervous because I knew that all the people that were listening to me that day would know some of my most personal feelings and thoughts after that performance. But it was totally worth it. To see that the audience liked my songs, that they liked my self-made little artwork, made me very happy. I hope that I’ll have another opportunity like this in the near future.vivian 3

https://video-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.3356-2/13713873_652971601520680_879089347_n.mp4/video-1468528532.mp4?vabr=255765&oh=f3ddda919c11785d07c585234fdd4d8d&oe=5789D41B&dl=1

TOP 5 THINGS

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The first thing on my top-5 list is to travel. Every time I travel and discover new places, I feel alive, much more than in my daily routine. I like to see beautiful landscapes that have not been touched by humans and to feel very small facing this work of nature. I also like to discover new cultures, new food, new ways of living. To travel is the first thing on my top-5 because I feel that I get richer every time I go to new places and that is what I want my life to look like : getting richer not with money, but with people and emotions.

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The second thing on my top-5 list is to spend time with my family and my friends. I can be an introvert who likes spending time alone to focus on myself, but when I don’t feel like being alone, I like and need to be with my family and friends. When I am with my parents, we do not necessarily need to talk, just being together is enough. With my friends, I like to go to the beach, to the cinema or to go out and party hard! What I like the most when I am with them is to laugh, because I think it is one of the most important things in life.

lysquotes-fans-family-and-friends-quotes-DkcT67-quote.jplysg

 

The third thing on my top-5 list is the sun. Every time the weather is bad, my mood is bad too, for no particular reason. I like to lay in the sun, to feel the warmth on my skin and every time there is sun I feel happy and I am in a good mood. In my country, Switzerland, there is not a lot of sun and I can really feel the impact on my mood. I might be born in the wrong country and should definitely move to California!

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In the fourth position of my top-5 list there is music. I like the kind of songs with deeply meaningful lyrics that make you feel something. It can be happiness, sadness, a feeling of revolt or a feeling of well-being. I think one of my favorite song is “Etre Humain” (which means “Human Being”), of Nekfeu, a French rapper. The song is about how it is rare today to see “a human being being human.” I feel so many things when I am listening to this song : sadness because of the hard truth that he says, but also hope to see that some people are aware of what the world has become and aware that we have to improve our behavior towards one another.lysmusic-quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iveXVBLg_PY

The last thing on my top-5 list is to read. Once again I like the feeling of escaping by reading. I can also live a whole new life without leaving my bed, or learn to know better some cultures or ways of thinking. I think we sometimes need to escape the reality and, in my opinion, reading is one of the best ways to do it, because you still have the freedom to imagine the story as you want it to be in your head. Also, when you read someone else’s biography it can help you to step back from your own life and to realize that you are lucky to have what you have. Indeed, reading can be a way to have more weapons to face the reality and the everyday problems.

lysbooks-make-you-better