We've spend our last day of the exchange program in another one famous city - Verona

It was a rainy day so Verona's atmosphere was supplemented by the gloomy grey colors.

After Verona we've visited the lake Garda and except the fact there was only 1 place to go because of private sectors it was very impressive

Our last day was really dark as if Italy itself was upset because of our leaving. Maybe some day we should visit Italy again.

During the exchange program we have visited Milan - world's fashion capital.

 We have arrived to a warm Milan by the train after only 1 hour of comfortable journey. We were immediately amazed by the architecture of it's railway station

We've headed to the 1 of the uncountable shopping centres of Milan. As we were going we've seen our first skyscrapers in Italy. First has reminded us "Moscow City" business centre in Moscow. Also we were amazed by the second scyscraper that was fully covered with plants

 To reach the famous Duomo di Milano we've passed trough the old castle

As we've seen Duomo di Milano we were really shocked by it's magnificent view

As we headed to railway station to go back home we've found very similar to Moscow's  "GUM" shopping centre

After a long day in such a beautiful city we've sucessfully returned back home ready for the next journey

Today we spent the day at school I.S.I.S. "Oscar Romero".

At first glance, the school seems dark and gloomy. This is due to the fact that the walls of the school were made of concrete. But when we went inside we were greeted by the school staff. We saw bright walls painted in different colors, lots of posters, motivational inscriptions and a huge portrait of Oscar Romero.

Why «Oscar Romero»?

This school is named after Oscar Arnulfo Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, who was killed in 1980 because he belonged to a militant Church, able to stay close to the most humble and to denounce the injustices of the powerful.
In that same year, this school became autonomous and practices began for the memory of this man, in the belief that  students of this school need not only a strong knowledge of school subjects, the acquisition of skills and competences. , but also and above all a solid human and civil formation based on the values ​​of democracy, freedom, solidarity, respect for legality, the elimination of all forms of discrimination, the spread of a culture of non-violence and peace.
On these valuesschool founders want to found their "doing school" and for this reason, from the a.s. 2004-2005, the day of remembrance was established on March 24, the day of the death of Oscar Romero.

The first lesson that we had was Italian language, where we have learnt how to count and basic words. But learning them wasn't difficult because some of them pronounced like in English.

After this lesson we had a break, during which we walked around the school. All the walls were covered with paintings of students. We even managed to go to the balcony and make a lot of great photos on the background of the beautiful view of the mountains.

Then we have the second lesson with Italian students, during which we had a discussion on different topics: music, films, school systems and others. Music was the most interesting one, so the teacher asked us to translate any Russian song in English and then sing it together. It was a good English practice for us.

All in all, we want to say that the school of Oscar Romero surprised us by abundance of colors. We were nice and comfortable inside. Italian is not so simple, but we were able to learn a couple of phrases and titles. We enjoy every moment and very grateful to this exchange program.

The blog was written by Maria Kolesnikovich and Maria Kuritsyna.

Our day began early in the morning with a light breakfast and an invigorating breeze that blew through the way to school.


  Having met with all the program participants, we went to the “Historiy of art” lesson, where we learned about architectural monuments in the form of buildings built by the Italian engineer Rastrelli in St. Petersburg.




Then followed an interesting physics lesson, where we conducted several experiments on the effects of high temperatures on metals.  It was clear and everyone enjoyed the process.



 Two lessons of communication in English followed.  At first, we talked with guys older than us for a year.  They discussed the differences of cultures of our countries, listened to music and shared their impressions of the school.  In the second lesson, a group of 4U joined us, in which our friends study and together we tried to teach foreigners to sing in Russian.




At 13:00 the lessons ended and we went to dinner, then went to Bergamo, or rather to the Accademia Carrara.  There we penetrated the masterpieces of artists of the Renaissance. 










Sanitized, tired, went home.  At the tram stop, we were met by the guys and their parents and drove home. So here was our day.  Interesting, fun, and most importantly with benefits.

Today began with a meeting with the school administration, where we learned a lot about the school and listened to the wonderful singing of the student. After that, we went to one of the offices and there were treated to different sweets. We also showed that Italian children the game "Flying dragons" and this game immediately caught the attention of all.

Later we had two lessons of the Italian language, in which we learned the basic words and phrases for communication. It should be noted that on this lesson we have learned to quickly adapt to the new rules of life in this country and of course school - to follow high punctuality! 

After a short break, Russian students showed the Italians a presentation about our city and school, asked a few questions to our friends about our country and received gifts with the symbols of the city of Yaroslavl for the correct answers.

Lunch at school was in the Italian style, we were served risotto, which is similar to Russian rice with mushrooms, it is very unusual! 

At 14 o'clock we had a meeting with the mayor of albino, where he told us about his city, and we in turn told him the history of the city of Yaroslavl. We gave them gifts with symbols of the school and the city. The meeting was warm and rich.

In the afternoon, we had a meeting with the mayor of Albino and we visited the ethnographic museum of Kendundo. It is worth noting that the students themselves conducted a tour of the Museum, which impressed us very much! 

After the official program of the day we had free time, where our Italian friends showed us their traditional cuisine. Everything was insanely delicious and unusual for us!