I-Magzz Part 2, Issue 2 Volume IV | Page 44

THE BEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO ME It’s hard to decide which thing is the best that’s ever happened to me, but I can certainly say that one of the best things was the exchange I was a part of this year. This was an exchange with a school in Singapore. Everything began when, at the beginning of the school year, we were offered a chance to visit Singapore. At first I was skeptical about going so far away, but then I decided I can’t miss this opportunity to visit Asia, because it could be the first and the last chance I’ll ever get there. Now, when we’re back from this amazing trip I can say for sure, that this was not my last journey to Asia. Before we left, I was excited to see all these amazing buildings you can see only in pictures, and a stunning beach, and basically everything connected to nature, that is different from ours. But when we came there, I learned it’s not all about the outside things and that the best thing you can experience, when you’re so far away from home, are the people. You can prepare, learn about other cultures before you travel anywhere, but it’s nothing like actually meeting the people from the other side of the world.I noticed this right away, when my exchange buddy and her family met me at the airport. They were generous and open and happy to finally meet me, that I almost couldn’t believe it. And all the way through this exchange we were meeting new people who were really friendly and nothing we could have imagined before. So because of these amazing people I can say that this exchange is one of the experiences that I’ll always remember. It was something I would like to experience again when visiting other countries.- Dolores, Gimnazija Ptuj DIARY 3/10: YEAR 1035 (An excerpt) I have been playing all day with Elsa! It was really fun, she's the only one I feel comfortable with. Everyone else is too stiff, it feels like just because I'm the kingdom's prince I can't have fun like all the ten-year-olds. I see kids playing outside all day, while I'm sitting at home studying French. My parents are generally kind to me, but my studies seem to be more important to them than to me. I have some spare time, but the other kids just seem to avoid me. I guess their parents are angry because of the high taxes so their thoughts are spreading to the younger generations.But there's one thing that cheers me up, Elsa. She's one of the maid's daughters, and sometime Elisabeth, her mother, brings her to our castle. That's one of the few connections I have with the world outside the castle. But mother promised me that it would become better soon. – William Wackeroth, Ebba Pettersons, Sweden The Nobel Prize The prizes are in mathematics and literature. We in eight grade get two assignments, where one has to do with mathematics, and the other is a story writing contest. The story writing contest is treating different subjects every year and, and this year, we wrote about friendships. We get to prepare a little bit, make a little schedular and layout over how we are going to write our story, before the writing part begins. The story is written in school, often in a assembly room room with all the eight graders in. The writing session is 3 hours long, and you get to bring some snacks to keep your brain awake. We also bring the layout. Then we sent it in to respective teachers. The math assignment is just one single task: solve this problem. The problem differs year from year and is fairly hard. But the thing that this is all about is to make it as easy as possible for your teacher to understand how you solved it, and finding the best way of solving it. You get unlimited time and this assignment is made at home. This one you sent in to the math teachers. - Tom, Ebba Pettersons