Visit by the World Champion

On March 5th our school was visited by the world champion in balloon flights - Daria Dudkiewicz-Goławska, the meeting was attended by the first language class and second language and military class students. She told us about her early beginnings and experience with balloon flying. She also raised the issue of her attachment to the town of Nałęczów, where she was most successful. We also learned curiosities from her life, for example that she met her husband through ballooning. There was also historical information about the first balloon flights. We have found out what competitions are distinguished in terms of tournaments and what types of balloons exist and how much they cost. At the end she told the story of how she became a pilot and answered questions. Everyone was impressed by sporting achievements such as the two Polish championships and the aforementioned world championships. The meeting aroused interest among the students and will surely be remembered for a long time. We would like to thank Daria Dudkiewicz-Goławska for visiting our school.

Text and photos: Kacper Śniegocki and Stanisław Burkiewicz from I bL

Passion and travels

My interest in the world of fashion and later photography led me to modeling. Thanks to this passion I can travel around the world and meet different cultures and various interesting people related to modeling and more. In my short adventure with modeling I have already been on two contracts. The first was in South Korea in Seoul and the second in the capital of Japan - Tokyo where I have recently returned from. In addition to daily castings and works for various brands, in my free time I visited together with my colleagues from the Japanese agency, interesting places in Tokyo. The capital of this country is huge and colorful. It's amazing how many people live there. Of course, you can’t fail to notice these great skyscrapers, which immediately catch the eyes. I met the culture and cuisine of this beautiful country. Japanese food is delicious! I miss the taste of the traditional Ramen soup the most. An additional advantage of this trip was the opportunity to learn English - which I communicated with other models and guardians. Thanks to my trips I gain a lot of experience and new international friendships. I am very happy that I travel and fulfill my dreams as a model at the same time.

Text and photos: Katarzyna Matuszewska from I bL

Every day I’m improving different elements...

Horse riding is my passion. It is the sport thanks to which I can enjoy my time
with incredibly intelligent animals - horses. The work with horses is a great pleasure
for me. I have two sports horses on which I start during national and international
competitions. I practise six times a week. Once a week I do lounge activities. Every day
I’m improving different elements and I want to achieve a better posture on a show
jumping course. I spend a lot of time doing gymnastics in order to improve my posture
in the saddle. Apart from the trainings I have to follow my competition schedule. We
take part in competitions all over Poland. Thanks to that I make a lot of new friends, We
enjoy our company in our free time. However, we compete against each other during the
competitions.

Taking care of the horses is as important as trainings and competitions. Every
horse’s condition is regularly checked by a physiotherapist, a dentist , a vet or a smith.

Work with horses is really demanding, but for me it’s a real pleasure.

Text and photos by Wiktoria Andrzejewska (language class IIbL)

AN UNUSUAL VISIT IN NURSERY SCHOOL

25^th of October was a day full of emotions for this year’s high school graduates – Ola Kryłowska I Zosia Andrzejewska, because right after completing trial English Matura exam held the second test of this subject, because the girls went to local nursery school to share their knowledge with “LADYBUGS group”.

This unusual lesson began with a greeting with younger friends. Next, children, using pictures, learned a few words in English that were useful in understanding the fairy tale that was read later. Children, knowing these words, without a problem answered on the riddle:

“What do you think we’ll read today?”

According to the answer Zosia and Ola both in English an Polish read fairy tale – “Three little pigs”.

The meeting went on in a nice atmosphere and smiles were painted on the faces of preschoolers and high school graduates. Everyone unanimously assured that they can’t wait for the next lesson.

Text and photo from Zofia Andrzejewska (language class IIIbL)

AN UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE OF MY LIFE...

It's one o'clock at night. A warm wind is blowing from the sea, the full moon is reflected in the

turbulent water, which sound and flicker is putting me in a blissful mood. I have the

impression that I am the only human in the world. Just turn around. I have a million-city

behind my back. The lights are burning out in the retina and it seems like thousands of eyes

are looking at me. I have been living like this on the border of the worlds for two months.

People surround me during the day, at night - animals. I’m raising my ears waiting for the

signal to act. Somewhere nearby, I hear barking and I start running immediately. The light of

my flashlight directed the way the sound is coming from, is reflecting in the eyes of a big dog.

We are looking at each other until he gets that he should go. He is moving down his tail and

leaving my area. I’m turning off the light and getting used to the darkness for a moment, then

looking around. I work at night, because when the temperature goes down a bit, my pupils

appear. I am walking quietly to a big hole in the sand. The turtle inside is just laying eggs.

There will be maybe even two hundred of them. When she finishes, she covers it carefully

and heads back towards the sea. I am standing aloof, waiting for her to disappear. Over a

meter in length, up to five hundred kilos in weight. She is safe in the water, there are no

natural enemies. Those two hours spend on land are the most dangerous hours in her life.

And this life is really amazing. I feel sad when I think about how some of them end. Bitten by

stray dogs while laying eggs, sometimes only a meter from the safe sea. Fortunately, this

one succeeded. Once I found a turtle surrounded by three dogs, with an almost snapped off

paw. I arrived at the last minute, if I would have been there later, she probably couldn't have

been saved. A similar situation fortunately did not happen again. We took the wounded turtle

to hospital, where it was quickly cured and released into the sea. I wonder where she will go

now, where she has already been, how many adventures have happened to her. All I know is

that she was born on this beach. They always come back to the same place to lay eggs.

Nobody knows how and why, but it is obvious that for them we have to protect these few

unique, selected places. But it is not that simple. The sea currents bring here tons of garbage

from all over the Mediterranean, and the organization that I'm working for tries not to let some

companies to build a huge factory here. I take my bag and gloves for afternoon relaxation on

the beach. It amazes me, what you can find here: lego blocks, sneakers, dolls without eyes,

aluminum cans, banners, shaving machines, bottles, straws for drinks, snack packaging,

slippers, bones, wires, nets, ropes, disposable dishes, caps, clothes, polystyrene, boards,

inflatable toys, carrier bags and unidentified pieces of plastic in various shapes and colours.

And next to there are shells and colourful stones. And of course turtles nests. From the ten-

week nests, the baby turtles begin to come out at night. When looking for them, I walk on the

beach with a box and I light up the ground under my feet. I take every baby I find with me.

They are only a few centimetres long, but when I hold them in my hand, I can feel the

amazing life power that nature has put into these little bodies. They run around the box all

night, remembering that they must go to the sea no matter what. When the morning comes, I

release them a few metres from the sea and I go into the water and I direct a torch towards

them. They follow the light. There would be no need for me to be here if there was no city

with its lights. The moon, stars and flickering waves would show them the way. However,

people decided to overshadow the nature. Happily, my flashlight attracts their attention and

soon the waves take them. One in a thousand will reach eighteen years to become adult.

Maybe I'll be back here in twenty years and a little turtle that I led to the sea will come out as

a beautiful, strong mother?

The project took place in Mersin, Turkey, during the summer holidays 2019, as part of the

European Union initiative European Solidarity Corps for youth between eighteen and thirty

years old.

#savetheturtles

Text and photos by Zofia Hałas (language class III bL)

MY UNFORGETTABLE HOLIDAYS

DiscoverEU is an initiative of the European Union aiming to promote European culture and

train travel. It is directed to all the eighteen-year-old citizens of the Member States and allows

them to travel around Europe for up to 30 days. It was launched in 2018 and so far there

have been almost 275 000 candidates, of which nearly 50 000 have been selected.

Surprisingly I turned out to be among the lucky ones.

My journey lasted from the 9th to the 19th of August. During that time I visited Budapest,

Vienna, Florence and Pisa. That was my first time abroad and I had decided to plan and

make it all by myself, what later turned out to be one of the best decisions I had ever made.

On daily basis not only was I trying to visit the most popular tourist attractions but also to get

to know each city from the local, authentic side. Though every evening I came back to my

hostel exhausted, inside I was really happy after an eventful day. I have seen the Hungarian

Parliament Building in Budapest, visited the Sisi Museum in Vienna, taken photos of

Michelangelo’s David and the Leaning Tower of Pisa… Honestly, the list is endless.

As I mentioned before, I travelled alone but hardly was there any time when I felt lonely and

the reason of that were all the people I met. Those were the other DiscoverEU participants I

had had contact with earlier as well as some random people met at the hostels or even on a

street. I am positive that without them I experienced even a half of things that are now some

of my most precious memories.

One of the biggest concerns I had had before setting off on a journey was the language

barrier. Fortunately it turned out to be a groundless fear. Due to my constant contact with

people around me, I broke the barrier down quite fast and over time it got much easier for me

to speak English. I did my best to talk as much as I could and I believe that in such a

pleasant way I have improved my language skills a lot. My trip has made me more aware of

the importance of knowledge of foreign languages. If hadn’t known English at a sufficient

level, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish such a journey. Furthermore, it is worth to

know some words and expressions in as many languages as it is possible. People really

appreciate attempts of foreigners to speak their language, at least partly. It is a very easy

way to win their affection and make new friends.

It is commonly said that travel broaden the mind and I’m unable not to agree with it. My

summer adventure was often a true survival school that developed my independence and

responsibility. I feel more aware of the current world situation and I’ve learnt much about the

history and culture of our continent, also meeting new people and talking to them in a foreign

language doesn’t frighten me anymore. DiscoverEU enabled me to gain lots of new

experience, get to know myself better and the world and simply make my dreams about the

journey of the lifetime come true.

Text and photos by Julia Michalska (language class III bL)