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Since the 8th of February, a family in the city of Puerto Montt, located in the southern part of Chile, is living a real nightmare. The southern part of that country is known by its many stories and legends, like: El  Trauco, a beast that kidnaps women, take them to the forest, to finally leaves them pregnant, or El Caleuche, a haunted pirate boat, with a ghost crew. The local people say that if you see it, (happens rarely) bad lucks comes into your life.

Mostly of the southern citizens know this story, but ignore them. It was a real surprise when this family in Puerto Montt called the police officers with a haunted house problem. The police in Chile, called by the name of Carabineros de Chile, came into the house and reported: windows broken when they entered, flying furniture(See the Conjuring if you don’t understand that expression), and a burning mattress when the house was empty(they saw the smoke from outside). Of course, the police officers left the house immediately after these events. The Captain of the Puerto Montt police station said to the media that it was a “diabolic presence”.

The local citizens, terrified about all these events, called a priest for him to bless the house and repel all the “dark forces” that wander around the house. One of the kids living there entered with the priest to the house and recorded a video of a furniture suddenly falling down just in the priest location. Hopefully, they noticed and successfully dodged it (Watch the video). In the recording you may see the priest terrified about all those paranormal issues and refuses to make any declaration after he finished the job.

 
The police officers, once outside, made the 100% sure declaration that the house was haunted. Also, they testified about things very similar to the video of the furniture suddenly falling down: flying knives chasing them, furnitures burning alone, etc. The press media arrived to the place of the facts, and now it is known around all of Chile and every part of the world. Even here in Santa Barbara, California, I have hear classmates talking about that, not only Chileans, even Europeans!.

These events happen rarely but, make us think about their probabilities of being true. There will always  be sceptical people who do not believe in that, but the videos and the testimonies prove they are there. Its your choice to believe it or not. Personally, I’m a Catholic person, so I believe in demonic presence and also in the demons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC59xEdWMCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgykLkjYz6I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2SwOGHfLw

By Gioia Mathis, Switzerland

Food is a very important thing for me and for most people because, to stay healthy and to have energy, we have to eat good quality food which are rich in vitamins. This means if we want to have a happy life, we have to care about our food ,but that’s not easy and we have to educate ourselves about how to eat healthy and to care about what we eat and where it comes from, and that is often the problem. We need to learn this as children and it is good if the parents care, but often they don’t. So we have to be taught at school, but sadly most countries don’t offer this kind of education. The US, for example, barely does this. Only a few schools teach their students the meaning of good and healthy food. Switzerland in contrast, really cares about it and also where food comes from. We are taught what is healthy for our bodies and what is not. So we have to learn about different kinds of sugar, salt, proteins etc. that we need to consume to be healthy. We have to take at least two years of cooking lessons as well.

Compare the meals between Switzerland and the US:

Breakfast:

This is a typical Swiss breakfast. It’s made of yogurt, fruits and oatmeal. It is very simple but it is delicious and it makes sure that we have enough energy to start our day.  You can add any time fruit you like and maybe some cinnamon.

This a typical American breakfast made of eggs, French toast, pancakes, bacon and French fries. It may look amazing but it is, for sure, the wrong way to start a healthy day. It is made of fat, sugar, and high calories.  Fat and sugar are really bad for the heart and too much sugar can cause diabetes.

Lunch/Dinner

This is what a lunch in Switzerland could look like. It is made of Roesti, a typical Swiss meal made of fried, thin sliced potatoes. Together with meat and a cream sauce it is a perfect and quite healthy lunch, but often Swiss people don’t have enough time because the lunch break its quite short. So instead they eat a salad or a sandwich and the dish on the picture is called “Zueri Geschnetzeltes”. They eat it on the weekend, so there is time to enjoy this delicious meal.

This is the most common lunch for an American. It is made of oily fries and burger with a lot fat. This is the cheapest and fastest option that’s why most people choose this as their lunch/dinner.

Maybe this looks like a cliché that everybody just thinks that Americans eat a lot of junk food, but sadly this is the most common meal in the US. The reason is that healthy food is very expensive and fast food is the low-cost option. All this unhealthy food causes diseases and a lot people suffer from diabetes or become overweight. That’s why I think it is so important to teach children what is healthy and what is not, what causes people to gain weight or develop different kinds of diabetes. They need to grow up having a healthy relationship with food.

I don’t want to offend anybody. I’m talking in general terms but it is no secret that American people suffer much more from diseases caused by unhealthy food than people in Switzerland.

Federico Rossetti, Italy

1-FOOTBALL’S ORIGINS: CHINA OR ENGLAND?

In 2600 b.C in ancient China we have a first form of football, it called “tsu-chu”. This term means leather ball, that derive from animal skin. This game was part of military training, this needed physical efficiency of soldier. Football as we know it today was born in England in 1863 with birth of Football Association, with this one born modern football.

2-FIFA’S BIRTH

In 1904, thanks to 7 nations (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Danimark, Sweden, Spain and Holland) born in Paris the most important association of Football, the FIFA. The founders idea was to make global football, with the same rules worldwide. Infact before this creation matches were only friendly, after they form most important competitions, perhaps world cup for nations and other competitions for clubs like UCL.

3- SAME RULES WORLDWIDE

In football’s field play 11 players for every teams, so 22 in total. The field is rectangular, the width can change from 45 to 90 meters and the length can change too: from 90 to 120 meters. While players challenge in field there is also a Referee that its task is to judge their behavior with yellow and red cards. Yellow card is for light contrasts and the red is for most dangerous contrasts. If one player takes 2 yellow cards they correspond to 1 red card, in this case player must go out the field, he is expelled. Match is divided in two half, every of this during 45 minutes for a total of 90 minutes.

4-TODAY

Football’s world today is characterized by teams who have huge monetary resources, for example Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain. The most titled club are Real Madrid and AC Milan but the first one it’s been elected like a “Team of 20 century”. National who have more world cups are Brasil (5), Italy (4) and Germany (4).

By Katarina Todorovic, Switzerland

Do you want to get a tattoo? Maybe here in Santa Barbara? But you don’t really know what you want? Let the following six tattoo styles inspire you!

1. Traditional:

The so called American Traditional or Old School style is the oldest style in the modern world of tattoos, as we know it nowadays. It is known for its solid black outlines, a limited color palette and less detail. Usual traditional imagery includes roses, hearts, nautical, eagles, skulls, butterflies and women’s heads. For this kind of tattoo you can go to any tattoo artist because it obviously isn’t a style which is hard to tattoo on the skin.

2. Realism:

That is a tattoo that looks exactly like it would in the real world. A fine art skill, realistic tattoos done well look like photos or portraits on the skin. Here it is important to have a good photo reference and pick a skilled, well-known artist. Nowadays every artist has a Facebook or Instagram account where you can have a look on his work. Pay as much as you can for a tattoo of this kind because you definitely get what you pay for! Cheap realism or portrait tattoos look terrible. See the difference below:

3. Watercolor:

This style is currently very popular. Watercolor tattoos mimic an experimental artistic process by using splashes and streaks of color to give the impression of paint being used on canvas or paper. The watercolor effect can be all-encompassing to the design, with no line-work or other styles, but it can also be combined with realism or solid outlines, to form just the background or foreground of a tattoo. Often bright colors are used and themes of nature. Like before: be careful while picking an artist.

4. Tribal

This is the oldest tattoo style from ancient times. Nearly always black, often using symmetry and geometrical design. Sometimes un-detailed with block black lines, or utilizing delicate detail and precision. A good artist will carefully design a piece to compliment the shape of the body, like this one.

5. Dotwork

Dotwork tattoos are one of the most intricate styles.  Complicated geometric images are created with nothing but dots. The tattoo artist must be very patient and very talented because he has to place every dot in the right place. Many dotwork artists have also abandoned the tattoo machine and are performing hand poked tattoos. Dotwork tattoos are a style on their own, and the shading you get through dots is almost 3D. You can’t get that kind of shading with any other method. The dotwork technique is used especially for geometric tattoos, religious and spiritual tattoos, but mostly for mandalas.

6. Japanese

The Japanese tattooing is one of the most sacred tattoo arts. Detailed designs often cover large areas of the body such as the back or the arm. This tattooing style follows a very strict set of artistic rules: positioning, imagery used, direction, color and more, all adhering to the ancient traditions. Imagery includes cherry blossoms, koi fish, lotus flowers, dragons, war dogs and Geishas.

Hopefully this article inspired you for your first or next tattoo if you were planning to get one, educated you a bit if you weren’t interested in tattoos before, and helped you not to have a prejudice against tattooed people if you had one because each tattoo has its own story, meaning or reason behind it.

By Jesper Daniel Nils Falk, Sweden

Humans have somehow always been fascinated with other people’s private lives. Mankind’s curious nature has a monumental part to play in this, but, when it comes to public figures, such as celebrities and politicians, the thirst for information is a notch higher.

There is a range of different pros and cons when it comes to the question, should politicians specifically have their personal lives exposed? The fact that they are being paid by your tax money means that their lives are more scrutinized. You do want to know what you “invest” your money in, yours, your kids and the country’s future is in the politicians’ hands.

There is also the issue of how the politician might behave during private occasions, how they handle certain tough issues that could surface, what they spend their salary on can be used to foresee how he or she might handle future crisis and sensitive decisions. Do they break down mentally on the smallest of obstacles? Do they spend their money on wasteful and unnecessary luxuries? Do they tap into governmental funds for their own desires? These are questions that might instigate theories of conspiracy or other harmful rumors if not answered and swept under the carpet.

As with everything, there are two sides to this debate as well. If the politicians life should be as exposed as those of celebrities such as movie stars then there is the chance that the politicians might lose focus on what’s necessary. Imagine having a camera documenting every move you make when you just need some time to think before making difficult decisions. Imagine having someone investigate what you spend your earned money on, or, for example, how you cope with the loss of a family member or something just as simple as criticizing your diet.

However, in countries with freedom of speech and press, reporters and investigators need to apply some pressure on politicians to let them know that they are in fact watched being with every step they take. Since corruption levels and other devious tactics are still high around the world, it’s good to know that there are still some people that dedicate their lives to root out dishonesty and crime in the political sector.

There is always the possibility for abuse of the freedom of press. Documenting every single move politicians make might affect them negatively even though the politicians are doing their job effectively, or, on the other hand, they are living a superb personal lives but are not so competent leaders.

There are a lot of hefty arguments asserting why the public should have access to a politician’s private life, if he divorces his wife or cheats, will he destroy the trust given to him by the country and do the same to the country? A considerable amount of incidents that occurs in a politician’s private life can be reflected directly in his actions as a governmental figure.

We also have the fact that the more voters know about their candidate, the more likely will they trust him. Imagine standing in the polling booths and deciding between two candidates that you only know through the media, who spent the most money on public relations and commercials, then you might regret not pursuing facts and finding more information about each one.

Additionally, should every little mishap in the past be brought up to determine who’s appropriate or not? “He skipped class in 8th grade. That’s not the president we want!” This could be a thing you might hear from people who are trying the very hardest to find dirt on the candidate they don’t like, overlooking the fact that the candidate in question might have done years of humanitarian work and solved a world crisis.

There are in fact very few politicians with immaculate personal lives, so why do we feel the need to find and display every single misdemeanor?

After all, politician’s are mere humans, not more, nor less.

By Janelle Ho, Housing Director