Rio de Janeiro

 

Luiza Martins, Brazil

Rio is a marvelous city in Brazil and famous for Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, Christ the Redeemer statue, Corcovado and the Sugarloaf Mountain. People there have a way of life totally different from the rest of Brazil. They call it “jeitinho brasileiro” and are very proud of that. This way of life makes Cariocas – people who are born in Rio – always think they are right.

In Rio it is summer all year long so lower degrees are rarely seen by them. As a result of this, they are always wearing flip flops and the only concern they have is if the weather is going to be good and if they can go to the beach. Because of that, Cariocas are always happy, with a smile on their faces.

carioca

“Carioca. Yes, 20 degrees is winter”

The beaches in Rio are authentic and attract a lot of tourists all year. Copacabana Beach is the most famous one and is located in South Zone of the city. This beach is known for the 4km of sand. There are still other famous beaches, like Arpoador, where the surfers like to go due to the perfect waves, and Ipanema, where usually many families are seem. Cariocas loves being at the beach while eating a biscoito globo and drinking a cold tea called matte. It’s part of Carioca’s life.praia

 

Although the weather is not good you have a lot of other options. We have Parque Lage and Jardim Botanico (Botanical Garden) where you can find a lot of places to have a picnic with beautiful trees around you.  We still have the museums with a lot of exhibitions, one of them is the Museum of Modern Arts. And don’t think that are the only things to see, there are churches, islands, and other places to visit.

Rio is a city which never sleeps, people are on the street all day and all night. They really like parties, so if you want to go to a good one, Lapa is the best place to visit while you are in the city. Around this neighborhood you can find many bars to drink and chill with friends. The architecture there is amazing and even if you go at night you can see it.lapa

 

There isn’t a city that is perfect and without problems. So, on the other hand, Rio has a lot of problems, and one of them is the inequality. The corruption is the worst thing there. Because of that, there are a lot of people living in good conditions and a good life, and others are living in extreme poverty at the same time. They call those places with extreme poverty “favela”, and the largest one is Rocinha, located between São Conrado and Gávea, in South Zone.  Rocinha’s population was estimated between 150,000 and 300,000 inhabitants during the 2000s.rocinha

People in Brazil, especially in Rio, are obsessed with football. It’s a tradition on Sunday to stay at home with the family and watch the games drinking a beer. Fla and Flu is a classic game. They are rivals and it is a beautiful game to see. The two cheering audiences are always singing for the players and it is kind of a pretty concert. But the best option is  to go to Maracanã to see the game inside of the heart of football.torcida

 

 

Rio is the city which was chosen to host the Olympic Games. It was a huge and beautiful ceremony and the entire world was talking about it. Now they are getting ready to host the Paralympic Games and do an enormous event again.

Finally, we can talk about music. There is a very particular kind of music, the Bossa Nova, which is derived from the Samba but they put more emphasis on melody than the percussion. One of the most famous songs is “Garota de Ipanema” and it was written by Tom Jobim.

Now you know a little bit more about Rio, and we expect that you want to go there to visit all those places shown here. You have to know that people in Rio are always ready to receive tourists and happy to help them.

Olha que coisa mais linda                                                   Look, what a beautiful thing

Mais cheia de graça                                                             So graceful

É ela, a menina                                                                     She is the girl
Que vem e que passa                                                          That comes and goes by

Num doce balanço a caminho do mar                              In her sweet swing heading to the sea
Moça do corpo dourado                                                    Girl of the golden brown tan

Do sol de Ipanema                                                               From the Ipanema sun

O seu balançado                                                                  Her swing

É mais que um poema                                                         Is more than a poem
É a coisa mais linda                                                              She is the most beautiful thing

Que eu já vi passer                                                              That I’ve ever seen going by

Tom Jobim

 

 

 

Santa Barbara Harbor

Larissa Kunz, Germany

If you travel to Santa Barbara, you should visit the harbor. The harbor of Santa Barbara lies at the end of West Beach on California’s Pacific coast. Almost a hundred years ago when a Santa Barbara resident wanted to keep his yacht closer to home, the harbor began.

santa-barbara-harbor

 

 

 

 

 

Nowadays it is one of the major tourist attractions in Santa Barbara including Stearns Wharf, fishing, shops, restaurants and the Yacht Club.

From there, many ships depart to the California Channel Islands. You can take off to go whale watching, rent a jet ski, a boat or charter a yacht, if your budget allows it.

whale-watching-at-santa-barbara-top

 

 

 

 

 

In my opinion,Stearns Wharf is one of the most beautiful locations in town. From the end of the pier you can see the beach with its palm trees and white beach. You can lie on the beach between Stearns Wharf and the harbor and when you look at either side you have an amazing view of the coastline of Santa Barbara.

stearnswharffile2

If you love the sea, this will be the place to go.

image8

FC Barcelona

by Jovan Dukic, Switzerland

Fc Barcelona is a famous football club from Spain. The short form is Barca. The players never would like to say they play for Spain because Catalonia has a conflict with the Spanish government. Catalonia has been looking to be independent for many years. The club was founded 29. November 1899. Today the club counts as one of the best in the world, if not the best. In Spain, Barca has the most trophies of the national cup (Copa del Rey) and they have the second most championship titles behind Real Madrid.

 

barcelona2 stadium

Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff was born 24. April 1947 and he died 24. March 2016. He died in Barcelona and the club gave him the highest honor. Johan was a Dutch professional football player and head coach. He won the Ball d`Or three times as a player. Johan Cruyff was regarded as a true football genius and he was the founder of the considered Tiki- taka. Johan has three children; he has one son and two daughters. His son leads the Johan Cruyff Foundation, who helps children in trouble.

Barcelona3 johan cruyff

 

Tiki- Taka

Tiki – Taka is a style of play in football characterized by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession.
The style is primarily associated with La Liga Club Fc Barcelona especially during the era of Pep Guardiola. The typical characteristic of this system is that the team has a lot of ball possession, between 50%-70%. If the left and the right outside linebackers run in the attack and don’t defend for this short moment, they have more players in the attack. If they lose the ball, the two outside linebackers run all the way back to their defensive positions. If the whole team changes from attacking to defending, it creates pressure on the other team to lose possession of the ball again.

 

barcelona1 tiki taka

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi was born at 24. June 1987 in Argentina. As a young guy he started his career in Newells Old Boys. This is a mid-level club in Argentina. In 2003, he left the Newells Old Boys to join Fc Barcelona. He started in the youth team of Fc Barcelona, the famous La Masia. With 16 years, four months and 23 days, old he made his first team debut. It was a friendly game against Jose Mourinhno’s Porto. In his first season he made his first record he scored 36 goals in 30 games. Messi holds the record for the most goals scored in La Liga 50, a football season 82 and a calendar year 91. After the tournament copa america 2016 he is the top scorer of Argentina he past Gabriel Batistuta. He won the Balon D’or five times you can see the picture among the article.

Barcelona leo messi

 

Writing Your Own Songs

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

7 Things To Do in Los Angles

By Emma Leboullanger (France) and Ellen Maes (Belgium)

 

1. Venice Beach

 

Venice is a residential, commercial and recreational beachfront neighborhood on the Westside of the city of Los Angeles. Venicea was founded
in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it merged with Los Angeles.
Today, Venice is known for its canals, beaches, and the circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half-mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, mystics, artists and vendors.

“I went to Venice Beach. There are a lot of little shops with nice souvenirs and it’s cheaper than in the cities! And the beach is so beautiful!”

 

 2. Santa Monica

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is named after the Christian saint, Monica. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is bordered on three sides by the city of Los Angeles – Pacific Palisade to the north, Brentwood on bbthe northeast, Sawtelle on the east, Mar Vista on the southeast, and Venice on the south. Partly because of its agreeable climate, Santa Monica had become a famed resort town by the early 20th century. The Santa Monica Pier remains a popular and iconic destination

“When you stand on the Santa Monica Pier, you feel like you’re standing on the set of Hannah Montana. It is amazing!


3. The Hollywood Sign

It’s more than just nine white letters spelling out a city’s name; it’s one of the world’scc
most evocative symbols, a universal metaphor for ambition, success, glamour…for this
dazzling place, industry and dream we call
H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D. In this place, you’ll get c

loser to Hollywood’s “biggest star” than you ever dreamed possible, from a photo journey through Hollywood history and tips on where to see the Sign, to live Sign Webcams and the latest Sign news. You’ll also learn about the people who work to keep the Sign preserved and protected, and how you can get involved.

“Seeing the Hollywood Sign makes you feel like you are really in America, close to the most famous people. It is very wonderful!”

 

4. Walk Of Fame

ddThe Hollywood Walk of Fame comprises more than 2,500 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others. The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003.

“Walking where your favourite people have walked is so amazing! You really feel closer to them and seeing their stars on the sidewalk is so impressive…”

 

5. Universal Studiosaa

Universal Studios is an American film studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, and is one of Hollywood’s “Big Six” Films Studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Universal Studios is a member of the Motion Association Picture of America. Universal was founded in 1912 by the German Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O.Baumann, Adam Kessel,  Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour. Universal is the world’s fourth oldest major film studio.

“It’s incredible to see the places where movies have been set, and the attractions are so amazing, especially The Simpsons!”

 

6. Beverly Hills

eeBeverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. Originally a Spanish ranch where lima beans were grown, Beverly Hills was incorporated in 1914 by a group of investors who had failed to find oil, but found water instead and eventually decided to develop it into a town. By 2013, its population had grown to 34,658. Sometimes referred to as “90210”, one of its primary ZIP codes, it is home to many actors and celebrities. The city includes the Rodeo Drive shopping district and the Beverly Hills Oil Field.

“If you are lucky, you could see a celebrity in Beverly Hills! All these luxurious shops are very impressive. Moreover there are all these beautiful cars on the street…”

 

7. Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory is a facility in Los Angeles, California sitting on the south-facing

slope of Mount Hollywood in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction with an excellent view of the Hollywood sign, and an extensive array of space and science-related displays. Since the observatory opened in 1935, admission has been free, in accordance with Griffith’s will.gg

“This is an extraordinary building where you can have an amazing view of the city of Los Angeles, and also of the famous Hollywood sign. I think you have to see it once”

Terrorist Attacks (ISIS)

Joana Aebi (Switzerland)

Alan Hermans (Belgium)

Smile: a video about happiness (and clouds).

By Maria Jose Zurita (Ecuador)

 

 

Food recommendations

Vivian Grunauer, Switzerland

Kayanh Lee, Belgium

Pierina Staub, Switzerland

Freddie Mercury

concert freddie

By Michela Jotti, Switzerland

Farrokh Bulsara is the real name of Freddie Mercury. Even his official passport read “Frederick Mercury.” He was born on September 5, 1946 on the East African Island of Zanzibar. He spent his childhood in India, where he attended the St. Peter’s boarding school. Then in 1964 his family moved to London where he studied graphic design at the Ealing College of Art and it’s there that he started using the name “Freddie.”

So he spent his childhood in India, where he started piano lessons at the age of seven. Everybody recognized his talent, but nobody could know he would become so important to rock history. During his life he never thought he was a great pianist. In fact, he was always afraid to play “Bohemian Rhapsody” at concerts, so he started playing the piano less and he danced more. While he was studying graphic design he joined a blues band: The Wreckage. In 1970, he joined the rock band: Smile with Brian May and Roger Taylor, but when he joined the band they changed name to “Queen.”  The last member who joined the band was John Deacon.

In 1973, their debut album “Queen” was released and it was an evolution of rock music! After that, it was history: “Bohemian queen freddieRhapsody” (1975), “Somebody to Love” (1976), “We Will Rock You”, “We Are the Champions” (1977), “Don’t Stop Me Now” (1978), “Under Pressure” (1982). Mercury revealed that three years after they began, they nearly disbanded. Brian May and Roger Taylor argued about everything and Mercury was the peacemaker. They kept going and they learned from their experiences.

During his concerts and videos he seemed like a crazy man, but in his real life he was shy and he didn’t really talk to people who he didn’t know well. People who had the opportunity to know him said that he was the kindest person they had ever known.

In 1970, he met Mary Austin and they lived together for some years, but in 1976, Mercury told her that he liked men. They always remained friends. He said she was his best friend and he often refered to her as his only true friend. In 1985, he began a long-term relationshicrazy freddiep with Jim Hutton, hairdresser. During his many relationships he did extreme things. For example, once he was on a US tour and he found out that the man he was seeing, Tony Bastin, had been seen out with another man. So he paid for a flight for Bastin saying he wanted to see him. When he arrived, Mercury told him it was over and put him on the next plane back to London. He also kept Bastin’s cat.

Hutton was HIV – positive. In fact, he infected Mercury who found out in 1987. He knew that he was dying and you can feel it in the Queen’s last album, for example, in the song “The Show Must Go On”, which describes Mercury’s effort to continue to perform despite approaching the end of his life. Hutton lived with him for his last six years and he was present at Mercury’s bedside when he died in November 24, 1991.

All around the world

Dana Lazzaro, Switzerland

Travelling is a way to see new places, learn new things and different cultures. It is a way to see different points of view and to grow up as a person. Every trip changes you a little bit, and when you come back home you’re a different person in some way.

floridaLately, I had the chance to go to lots of places with my family, because they like travelling as much as I do. Last summer we went to Florida for two weeks and we travelled around Florida so that we could see all the different cities. We saw “small” cities, like Fort Myers and Daytona, and also big cities, like Orlando and Miami. I could see the differences between those cities, the small neighborhoods with a lot of lovely houses in Fort Myers and the big ones in Miami with a lot of mansions, the small and empty beaches and the crowded ones.

I liked everything about this trip, I had the chance to see a lot and to see how real life is in the USA. I live in Switzerland and I always watch American movies or tv series, and I’ve always dreamt about going there. So this trip was a kind of dream that became true.

This year I also went to London and Amsterdam for a few days.

I had the chance to see a lot of history and museums and they were really interesting but it was also interesting to see some characteristics of the countries.

For example, did you know that in Britain all the people always stay in line on the escalators on the right side? Because in this way the people that are in a hurry can go on the left side. I was really impressed about that! I’ve also been to Italy and to the seaside of Greece , but that’s more of a relaxing holiday than a real trip.london

I would really like to go far away like in Asia or Africa to see some real different cultures.

Another way to see new places and new cultures is going abroad to learn a language.

You can learn a new language and you can actually live like a native of the place. You can change your life style for a period and I think that this is really a great experience!

I study a lot of languages at school, and I like to travel in the summer and improve my additional languages. I’ve already been to Germany a couple of times to study German and I really liked that experience. So this summer I’m in Santa Barbara for a month to improve my English.

I think that this has been a really great experience, an experience that I will remember forever!

You live for a month away from your home and you are away from your everyday problems. You live a different life and you learn new things. When you come back home you will be an improved person, and maybe you will see things in a transformed way.SB

In conclusion, travelling is a way to change your personality and it is an experience that you won’t   live again, and you will always have it in your heart, because it’s going to become a part of you. This experience is going to become something that you’ll never forget.