Van Gogh Halloween 2017

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By Muhamet Shala from Switzerland

It took me about three weeks to finish my blazer with the «Starry Night» on by back. It was a lot of fun painting it and wearing it at Halloween. I woke up at 6 am to finish my make up and hair.
When I arrived at school, i was amazed by the costumes and how people put a lot of effort in their Halloween costumes. Some of them were really creative, spooky and sometimes really funny. You could take pictures with your friends, eat frozen yogurt or simply dance to the music outside. While everyone was having fun, the teachers started to dance the «Thriller Dance». After that, they called the students who wanted to attend the costume competition. Roos from the Netherlands won the 1st prize, I won the 2nd place, Lisa won the 3rd place and so on. Roos was so kind and swapped her camera with my prize.

After 1 pm, we had lunch and went to State st. Some people thought I was the Statue of Liberty, which was very funny because Van Gogh is very famous in my opinion. I took so many pictures with strangers and saw the craziest costumes. For me, it was an unforgettable experience since we do not celebrate Halloween as an actual holiday as here in the United States.
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Starbucks

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Heloise Hartman from Belgium
Lola Ketelslegers from Belgium

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Our Day at Six Flags

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Stella Pioli from Italy

Bart Rooijakkers from Netherlands

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Santa Barbara Sailing center

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Emma Andersson, Sweden 10/26/2017

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Social Behavior USA vs. Europe

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Britt de Gier from the Netherlands

Muhamet Shala from Switzerland

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Art, Food, Fashion.. Everyone Can Find His Passion in Milano

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By Irene Colombo, Italy.

“Charming” is the best way to describe Milan: a metropolitan city, the capital of fashion, a wonderful place to admire the neoclassic architecture and the best city to taste typical Italian food. Milan is a big city situated in northern Italy, county seat of the region of Lombardy. It is the second most populated city in Italy with more than 1.3 million citizens. It is full of attractions and things to do for tourists as well as for local people.

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The city center is amazing and, if you are an art lover, you must come and visit it. You can see the “Duomo”, a huge Catholic cathedral built according to the Italian gothic style; it took more than six centuries to complete the church and lots of famous architects and painters like Leonardo da Vinci and Donato Bramante contributed. The Dome is open almost every day and you can go inside and admire the beautiful columns and the altar and, if you want, you can also take the elevator to go on the roof and enjoy the view of the city and to look at the so called “Madonnina”, a golden statue of Maria situated on the top of the church. A curiosity about the Dome is that above the altar there is a little box which contains one of the nails with which Jesus was crucified.

Another wonderful example of inspiring architecture is represented by the “Galleria Vittorio Emanuele”, a covered passage built in the 19th century to connect the Dome Square with the famous “Teatro Alla Scala”, one of the first theatres built in Italy and one of the most well-known theatres in the world.

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Italian food is renowned all over the world and if you have a good appetite, Milano is the perfect place for you. There are lots of good restaurants in every corner, some of them are quite cheap while others are expensive, but believe, me they are definitely worth it! A really good area where you can find restaurants, but also clubs and bars that have happy hours every day or where you can hang out at night, is “Milano Navigli”. It is a zone situated a little bit outside of the downtown center, but it is really easy to reach, even with public transportation. This area takes the name from the canal that passes through it and it is a really typical part of the city.

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This beautiful city is also known as the capital of fashion. Everyone wants to go there to go shopping because a lot of famous designers are Italian and they all have their boutiques there; it is also easy to see models walking around the city. The best places where you can go shopping are “Via Vittorio Emanuele” and “Via Montenapoleone”.

Every year in the beginning of October we have “Fashion Week”. During this period, there are parades everywhere all over the city and lots of stars and famous people come to Italy to join the event. I personally love the Fashion Week because, if you walk around in the streets, you can feel that there is a special atmosphere and in particular there is one night, the Vogue Fashion Night Out (VFNO), where all the shops are opened until midnight and there are “fashion” parties in the nightclubs.

As I showed you, Milan is a really beautiful city. There are lots of people living there and sometimes life can be a little bit chaotic, but I love the fact that I live in a city that has every kind of attraction. There are friendly people, amazing shops, delicious food and such a lively nightlife; so if you come to Italy, you need to stop in this city and enjoy all the experiences that it offers!

Wanderlust – the Need of Travel

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Stella Pioli, Italy

I love to travel. Don’t you love that feeling when your first waking thought is, “Oh, yeah…I’m going somewhere today!”?. My parents and grandparents always told me to explore the world, because if we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.

 

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A word that we always hear more often is “Wanderlust”. For those who don’t know what it is, it means a strong desire for or impulse to travel and explore the world. It may reflect an intense urge for self-development by experiencing the unknown, getting to know unfamiliar cultures, ways of life and behaviors, or may be driven by the desire to escape. For them, it’s not only travel, but a challenge; they explore places where they are likely to be pushed out of their comfort zones or encouraged to take risks.

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Not everybody is meant to travel. There are some people who never feel the urge to leave the house. Staying in the city they came from, hanging out with the people they have known since they were kids, sitting on the same the couch, and staying in the 360 degrees that immediately surrounds them: they’re happy with that. A lot of people in this world don’t see the point of travelling, and most say it’s a waste of time, money, or it’s scary to travel to places that are far away.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” – Saint Augustine

Then there are the rest of us: the people who can’t sit still and always keep their passports on them – just in case. In fact, if we did not love to travel and explore a new culture we would have never taken this trip to Santa Barbara. It doesn’t matter if you stay for 4 weeks or 9 months, you had the impulse to travel, you were bitten by the travel bug. We are still finding and preparing ourselves for school and career. The skills and experience we gain from traveling abroad gives us life-long personal benefits as well as a leg up in the professional world.

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But have you ever wondered why some people need to travel more than others? For those people, it becomes one of life’s essential needs, as important as food and shelter.

Well, a study shows that such behavior traits with a gene variant known as DRD4-7R, which is thought to be present in around 20 % of the population. Some have even nicknamed it as the “wanderlust gene”. DRD4 is a dopamine receptor that helps control the levels of dopamine in our brains. The 7R allele is associated with increased risk-taking, curiosity and various psychiatric disorders including ADHD, alcoholism and drug dependency.

 

The Earth is filled with infinite experiences, wonders and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Imagine, camping out underneath the aurora borealis in the Canadian tundra or hiking through the Sacred Valley of Machu Picchu. I believe that a lot of education is experienced in a classroom or through a textbook, but it isn’t nearly as fulfilling or effective as traveling the world.

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We are inspired to live better, to be happier and to give back to those in need. Our lives are defined by experiences. The greater the number of experiences, the better the definition of life becomes.

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough” – Mae West.

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Being A Military Wife

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Heloise Hartman, Belgium

An army wife: ” An emotionally strong and independent woman who does what is necessary to care for her family. A very devoted wife who is proud of her army husband.”

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Would you be able to assume this responsibility?

We always speak about the difficult life of a military man, but what about the family who is left behind?

I am 18 years old, I come from Belgium and I’ve been dating a military man for a bit more than one year. His father and his older brother are also in the army, so I have many experiences on which I can base myself.

The army is not the same in every country. Now, in Belgium and in a big part of Europe (Spain, France, United Kingdom, Germany,…), even if these countries aren’t in war, we have a constant danger because of the terrorists.  We can relate no less than 8 attacks in 2016 in Europe (including 2 in Belgium), and already 20 attacks in 2017, only in Europe.  Because of this constant fear all the citizens have, and the fact that less and less people want to enter the army, our Belgian soldiers have to pass minimum 6 months every year far from their family, protecting the big cities and the big events of their country to which they promised loyalty. Can you imagine passing your birthday, Christmas or any important day without your family, without your parents, your wife or your children only because of your job?

Being a military wife means being able to do everything a couple has to do, but do it alone. That contains being able to keep the house clean, being able to use some tools to repair everything, being able to educate the children, to make them take their bath, to cook for them every day and as well to help them with their homework. But also being able to explain them where their dad is, why he is not here, at home, with us… It’s a lot of responsibilities and you can never give up.

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But it’s also missing him a lot, being worried every day because you know what can happen, and you can’t do anything. When they have to go far away for a mission (in Mali, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Gabon…) you can’t know exactly where they are or what they are doing. You sometimes stay during many hours in front of your phone, waiting for a small message just to know he is fine. Sometimes you don’t have any news during many hours, or many days.

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But instead of that, we can be proud of them and of all they accomplish. Not everybody can say that their husband is totally devote to his work. That they are risking their own life to save the one of hundreds or thousands people they don’t even know.

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Healthy Japanese Food

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By Haruka Toyoda, Japan

Japanese can live longer than the other nationalities. Actually, we have research.It says the average lifespan for Japanese men is 80.79 years and for Japanese women is 87.05 years.This could be the longest lifespan around the world. Why can we live so long? Because we eat healthy Japanese food which is an intangible cultural heritage.

First, I want to introduce the structure of Japanese healthy food.We always have 4 kinds of foods. It called ‘1 zyuu 3 sai.’ That means soup, rice, one main dish and two small side dishes. To tell the truth, we don’t count rice.This photo is the typical breakfast.There is soup, 1 main dish(fish),2 side dishes(egg and green one) and rice.If you eat this, you can get all nutrients you need.This soup is called miso soup which is made of soy so also this is healthy.
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Next, I’ll introduce SUSHI.This is the most famous Japanese food around the world.Our country is surrounded by the sea.So we eat fresh fish.Most of Japanese like this. Actually, real sushi doesn’t have avocado.It’s rare to see sushi with avocado in Japan and I have never seen a California roll in Japan.But I like this kind of sushi.

Finally, I want to tell you about Okinawa where the person who had the longest lifespan lived.Okinawa is located in the western  Japan.It has a  beautiful ocean and delicious food.The most famous food is called  Goya.It tastes bitter but it contains a lot of Vitamin C.The weather is warm through the year.And old people normally work at their own farm and grow vegetables.The secret to living a long time is to be active and eat healthy food.

Let’s eat Healthy Japanese Food!

 

A Peak Into The Family Business

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Bart Rooijakkers  (The Netherlands)

“What else are you gonna do all summer?” Is what I heard every year before the vacation. From my family who was trying to persuade me to work for the company during the summer. Despite my protest, i was actually convinced every year.

From the day i turned 9, Working in the family company became a regular thing. My family has a bulb farm, They farm the bulbs other companies use to grow flowers to sell them. The whole family regularly worked here to help out, and earn money on the side. Although i was never really big on the work, It was always a good time working with my nephews and nieces. We used to have a lot of fun just messing around, This, however, resulted in less work being done.

 

Rooijakkers Breezand B.V was founded in the year 1906, The first bulbs were harvested by my great-grandfather Henk Sr. In his years of being in charge, he made a simple small-town bulb farm into a Multi-national Allround the year farm. Then after he passed away My Grandfather Jacob Rooyakkers Took the reigns, he had a big part to play in the expansion of the company. In 1991 he, Along with another dutch Farmer named: Jan Van Der Wereld, Became partners in the Sun Valley Group. A group of farmers/businessmen that work around all across the world.

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Jacob (Left) Jan (Middle) Leen (right)

 

 

 
Currently, Rooijakkers B.V has business with a lot of different partners all around the world. The biggest business is with The United States, However, there are farms/Partners in: Kenia, France, and Canada aswell. In The United States. Somewhere in the 90’s, the 3 partners decided it was time to expand their business into another branch: Real Estate. They bought all the ground in a small town. They rent these houses to people who live there. This makes for good business. however, the costs were high aswell, Because a lot of buildings needed repair/work done to them.

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When my Grandfather started getting of age, He asked his Sons/Nephews To help him run he company. Which they did, The “Board” now consisted of: 3 Brothers (My Uncles and Father), And 3 Nephews. They ran the company for several years until for personal reasons 2 of the nephews stepped out of the company. After this it was just: My Grandfather, the 3 brothers and 1 nephew. in 2010 My grandfather passed away, this led some tragic problems. 4 years after this the company was now run by: My father, my Uncle and the nephew. As it currently still is.

 

as of my own experience with the company, Although i did not like the work. I am glad i worked in the company for all those summers. As it has shaped my personality and thoughts in a big way. I stopped working for the company in the year 2017, because of school and different personal reasons. i will always remember the days in the glaring summer sun, and these are the memories that remind me of home. Although it’s good to be here i miss the sight of the fields full of flowers.

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