2. The Liceo Classico “Raffaello” of Urbino also this year has organized the exchange program with the
me
“MerewadeCollege” of Gorinchem, Holland.
The students involved belong to the following classes: III C Turistico and IV A Linguistico
accompaniedby the teachers Zanarelli, Cimarelli, Betti.
th st
The first part of the experience took place in Gorinchemfrom18 Septemberto 1 October 2005 and
it has been recordedin the followingpages witnessing the students’ personal and cultural enrichment.
They have learnt to be more independent, more self confident and to accept their friends’ lifestyle
together with a new cultural environment.
Cooperation and friendship have favoured the awareness and the appreciation of the mutual differences
which are the essential qualities in order to becometrue Europeancitizens.
2
3. MEREWADE COLLEGE LICEO CLASSICO RAFFAELLO
GORINCHEM URBINO
STUDENTS’ MATCHING 2005-2006
III C
BAROCCI FEDERICA JOS WULMS
BIANCHI GRETA SJEF HOSSELET
BOINEGA LORENA MARCO HARTMAN
CASULA ELEONORA MANDY MIENTJES
CECCARINI LINDA BOUDEWIJN DE RIDDER
DE MARCO SARA KRISTIAN NARDTEN
GUERRA MARCO BARTELD DE VRIES
LUCHETTI MELISSA JESSICA HAVELAAR and MEI BO CHENG
MARINONI ARIANNA SVEN HENDRIKS
MENCACCINI LUCIA VIVIAN REIJNDERS
MENGHI ANNA JEROEN ROELEVELD
SEBASTIANI GIULIO NAWID SIAWASH
SORDONI EVA ALISSA KRAAL
TROMPKE DAVID MICHAEL DE JONG
TUPPUTI DAIANA MARJOLEIN SCHOUTEN
VANNI ALESSANDRA NADIA VAN DE AREND and LOTTE DE JONG
VECCHIETTI MARTINA MICHAEL DE VRIES
VEDOVI SIMONA NATASCHA NUIS
IV A
CANCELLIERI ADELE DEBBIE STUURMAN
CECCHINI LAYLA MARIELLE MORET and HILDE VAN ZEVENBERGEN
CICOLI MARTINA MELVIN VENNEMA
FRATERNALE LAURA ILSE MOLENAAR
FUCILI PAOLO FRANK BOS
GABRIELLI PATRICIA LINEKE BLOEMBERG
GARAVANI DEA MARJOLEIN VAN TILL
GUGLIELMI SONIA THIJS DUINDAM
GUIDARELLI LAURA MIRTHE SWETS
KOCYLOWSKAOLGA TESSA VAN’T HOF
LONDEI FRANCESCA NILLS BALJE’
MAGRIN GIULIA DJODIE OOSTERHUIS
MARINKOVIC SMILJA ANNE VAN DER VEER
PATRIZI SILVIA CAI YANG KHA
PULLO NATASHA CHI FAI CHENG
RICCI MADDALENA BRENDA VAN DONGE
ROSSI GIORGIA MARIEN PASTOOR
SALTARELLI CHIARA MARISSA SELIJ
SALVATORI ARIANNA COLIN VAN WAARDENBERG
SILVESTRINI MICHELA MANDY BOON
TANCINI AMELITA JURGEN EYSINK
TROMPKE EMANUEL VINCENT VAN HOOGDALEM
URBINATI CATERINA HILDE LEEUWIS
VICHI ILARIA MAARTJE WASSINK
JOSBERT SMITS
TOMAS DEN HARTOG
ITALIAN TEACHERS : SERENELLA ZANARELLI
GABRIELLA CIMARELLI
MARIA ELENA BETTI
DUTCH TEACHERS: IDA ZEEDIJK
HANNIE DE RAAD
3
4. DISCOVERING GORINCHEM…
There is only one word to describe Gorinchem… c!
magi
Gorinchemasleep in the morningand Gorinchemlively at night..
Not to speak of biking..
What is more exciting ,early in the morning, than going throughGorinchemon a too high bike ( at least
for us), with cold air freezing your hands and your face? It was really a bit strange for us to see so
many bikes along the roads and notice that everybody uses this means of transportation to go
everywhere…
AND NOW SHOPPING...
All together, Dutch and Italians going window-shopping looking for something typically Dutch to buy for
parents or friends, a beautiful afternoon with a fantastic ending.. an Italian ice-cream.. or rather,
somethinglike this!!
4
5. GORINCHEMBY NIGHT...
- “Everybody to the beach tonight!” -
We were happy to stay under the moon, singing Italian and English songs, trying to understand and
speak Dutch...
We were longing to go to the pub and to the disco on Saturday.. everywhereby bike!
AND NOW… CULTURE!
First to the modern Town Hall of the city welcomedby the Mayor’s speech, then to the “Gorcum”
modernmuseum,finally to the church tower.
While Giorgia and Laura were visiting the very modern museum, Giulia climbed the 256 steps to reach
the top of the tower...
How beautiful Gorinchemfromthere!
LET’S GO TO THE MILL
What’s the most typical symbol of
Holland?
Mills of course!
Indeed we saw mills on the very first
day ... After an envious visit to the
modern and well equipped Merewade
College, our partners took us to the mill
near the school where we took photos
in the middle of nature, surrounded by
canals and mills!
5
6. GOODBYE HOLLAND…
Unfortunately this experience has cometo the end
The last memorableevening at school. All together.. at the barbecueparty and then….
DISCO!!!
Everybody dancing Dutch, Hip Hop and R’N’B music.. also the teachers!!
This is our Gorinchem…
What we saw and what the city gave us will be kept for ever in our hearts!
Layla Cecchini
Laura Fraternale
Giulia Magrin
Giorgia Rossi
6
7. “The school that we love”
When we arrived in Gorinchemthe Dutch partners showed us their school. We were pleasantly surprised
because, according to us, it lookedlike an airport because it is very large and very modern. It is a three
floor building. On the first one there is a big hall with an informationoffice where the Dutch students can
ask for information about their school plans, their lessons and their teachers. There is also a snack-bar
and the lockers where the Dutch students can leave their books. On the second floor there are many
laboratories, a big library and on
the third floor there are the
classrooms. It’s a very big
building with two gyms, two
football fields and a very beautiful
garden.
The cleanliness of the school is
better than ours because THE
STUDENTS CLEAN THE ROOMS
and there is a better
organisation. The best thing that
is in the school is the dialogue
between teachers and students.
In the school the boys are left very free and they can decide their study-plans , if they want. They have
7
8. a little break of twenty minutes every two hours. But... to punish the students they must remain at school
and do more cleaning. Just think: they can go also to buy a huge ice creamin these breaks. This is
ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. We love this school because it is based on FREEDOM, PEACE and LOVE
and of course... CLEANING!
Marco Guerra
Eva Sordoni
Daiana Tupputi
8
9. What a surprise to discover that magical place!
Who would ever imaginethat a simple chain of windmills could create such a fairy atmosphere?!
A row of windmills at Kinderdijk
Kinderdijk represents the typical Dutch landscape, indeed we found a huge plain surrounding the series of
19 windmills interspersedby canals....
The sky was wonderful! It seemedeven bigger than in Italy, and even if the weather was cloudy , the
clouds made everything more charming. High grass surroundedthe windmills, and the green blended with
the sky’s shades.
In the past windmills were used to avoid flooding in the polders, pieces of land taken off the sea and
protected by dikes. The windmills pumped out of the polder the water filtering under the dike, then they
drainedit into the sea. Even if they can still work, nowadays more modernmachinery is used.
The place is called Kinderdijk because of an ancient legend telling of a lucky baby. During a flood, he
was thrownup onto the dike by a wave, so he could escape drowningto death and he saved himself.
9
10. We went for a pleasant walk along a narrow track where we risked being run over by some cyclists.
Finally that landscape was the backgroundof our photos, that will keep reminding us of this extraordinary
experience!
10
11. In Holland families are very nice, welcoming, friendly and sociable.
Typical Dutch houses
During our stay everyone did all the possible to makeus spend two wonderful weeks.
The food
There isn’t a typical Dutch dish.
Actually at homewe had the chance of eating food fromdifferent cultures, above all Chinese. The partner
of one of us was Chinese and her parents had a Chinese restaurant where she always had her meals.
There, they didn’t only cook Chinese food, but also Indian, Turkish and Mexican food. Most restaurants
are international, apart fromthose which cook plumcakes and other specialities, both sweet and savoury.
Spare time with families
During the week young people spend their evenings with their parents.
This was very unusual for us. Indeed the relationship between parents and teenagers is different from
ours: they speak more to each other and they are always on speakingterms.
At the weekendevery family helped us to have a great time.
11
12. For example Michela went to visit Rotterdamwith her partner and she found the city very beautiful and
interesting.
Most of the other students, instead, went with their partners to Efteling, a fun fair like our Mirabilandia,
and we enjoyed it a lot.
Ariannastayed with her Dutch family!!!!
On Saturday evening we also went to the disco.
WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!!!!!! !
Ilaria Vichi
Maddalena Ricci
Silvia Patrizi
12
13. 22 September2005: finally Amsterdam!!
Excited and anxious to spend a
day in this famous city, we left
Gorinchem with our Dutch
partners on Thursday morning
at 9
o’clock.
Our program for the day was
really promising: Rijksmuseum,
Van Gogh museumand then…
four hours of free time in the
centre!!
When we arrived in Amsterdam,
at about 10.30, our Dutch
partners went to visit the Van
Gogh museum, we, on the contrary, went to the Rijks, also called “ Holland’s treasure trove”, because it
is the largest museumof art and history in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately part of the museumwas under restoration and we didn’t have the opportunity to see all the
pieces that are generally exhibited.
We enjoyed it all the same: the Italian guide made things easier for us and we could appreciate
masterpieces by Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jansteen and Rembrandt, such as: “ The Night Watch”, “the
Milkwoman”amongthe others.
The things we liked most were the Doll’s house, the stately sailing Vessel at the entrance and also the
big glass elevator!!
After the visit we met our Dutch friends again and together we had our packed lunch in the park, nearby
the two museums.
We sat on the grass, by an enormous fountain, the weather was lovely, the sun was shining, the
temperaturewas really hot.. it was a perfect day to enjoy ourselves all together!!
At 14.30 we had our appointment at the Van Gogh museum: an interesting,very well organized and
completely white-washedmuseum.
It was easy to visit it also without a guide, because it was divided into sectors based on Van Gogh’s
life.
13
14. We could admire lots of paintings that we used to see only in postcards or in art books: “ The
Sunflowers”, “Van Gogh’s portraits”, “The Bedroom”, “The Potato eaters” and others.
At the end of this beautiful visit we asked our Dutch partners to take us to the Hard Rock Café (as all
the Italian people usually do) because we wanted to buy some of the typical gadgets, and then, before
starting our frantic shopping, we sat outside the Irish café to have somerest!
We walked all afternoon to and fro the most crowded streets of Amsterdamand as we were almost all
girls, we entered all clothing shops we found, while our partners were waiting for us outside, bored but
patient!!
Like real tramps we ate pizza sitting on the pavement, in front of a shop window, and at about 19.30
we rejoined the others and the teachers at the Dam.
Finally, before reaching our coaches, we walkedthroughthe red light district, a wide area where we could
see one of the most particular
aspects of the city: all those girls
showing their bodies in the shop-
windows, quite a strange show
for us!
Nemo Museum
After a 30 minute walk, we got on our coaches and we left for Gorinchem, where we arrived at 23 ‘o
clock exhausted, but happy and satisfied.
It was a fantastic day!
Martina Cicoli
Dea Garavani
Arianna Salvatori
Amelita Tancini
14
15. It’s easy for all of us to recognize a portrait of Van
Gogh because he is one of the most famous painters
of modern art, maybe THE most famous!! He was
born in the Netherlands in 1853 and he committed
suicide in 1890 when he was only 37 years old.
During the last five years of his life, he completed
more than 800 paintings.
When we were in Holland we saw about 30 of themin
the Van Gogh Museum. One of the most famous
paintings is ‘Sunflowers’: The background is light blue
and in the foreground there is a vase with some giant
sun flowers. Did you know that there are two or three
versions of the same painting? Another important
painting that we saw is called ‘The Yellow Room’. It is
a very small painting that shows the painter’s roomat Arles. Our favourite painting is ‘The Potato Eaters’
because with its dark colours it represents poverty and the suffering of poor farmers so well.
Linda Ceccarini
Lorena Boinega
David Trompke
15
16. The second day we went to Amsterdam,we visited the famoushouse of Anna Frank.
This house is located 150 meters from the Westerkerk, it is the house place where Anna Frank and her
family were in hiding during World War 2 hoping to escape deportationto the concentrationcamps.
During the visit we could imagineand feel the cold, sad and loneliness situationof Anna.
Very interesting was the momentwhen we saw the real diary of this girl, where she wrote her emotions
and everything that happenedin those rooms.
We thought that we were going to see a typical Dutch house but we discovered an empty one which
madethe visit even more touching for us.
After two years the family was discoveredand deported.
Anne died in 1945in the concentrationcampof Bergen-Belsen, only Anne’s father survived.
Lucia Mencaccini
Martina Vecchietti
Greta Bianchi
Eleonora Casula.
16
17. The trip we took by bike through the particular landscapes of the area that surrounds the town of
Otterloo, was among the things we liked most during our experience in Holland. We had to reach the
Kroller-Muller Museum, and this was fun but exhausting too, because the only way to get there was to
travel a five kilometer distance through the National Park “De Hoge Veluwe ”, by using typical Dutch
bicycles, which have very strange brakes and are for that a bit difficult to be used.
We went along the
path with some
difficul-ties both be-
cause it was quite
narrow (the risk of
accidents was
therefore very
high!!!) and we
were a large group.
Not to mention that
we were not used
to riding a bike,
even if in Holland we had to learn! However, we could admire 1500 hectares of natural and unpolluted
environment: green grass, sand and woods one after the other. Inside the park there were six points of
observation that allowed people to appreciate its wild fauna: animals such as squirrels and deers that live
there freely, but unfortunately we couldn’t see any of them. From a historical point of view, “De Hoge
Veluwe” has quite a long existence: as a matter of fact Mr and Mrs Kroller-Muller founded it in 1935,
making it accessible to anyone who wanted to enjoy a spectacular harmony between nature, art and
architecture. These last aspects can be discovered at the end of the ride: indeed, as we got off our
bicycles, we were in front of a big, modernstructure which was “The Kroller-Muller museum”, surrounded
by a wonderful and very well-kept garden.
17
18. More than 30 scul-ptures
amongthe biggest of Europe
are situated in the garden
itself and in the wood
around it, whereas inside
the museumit is possible to
see many beautiful exam-
ples of futuristic and modern
art (more than 100
sculptures) but also many
interesting pictures of such
famous artists like Van
Gogh. To end with a
personal consideration, we
would like to underline how
charmingit was for us to see a very different landscapeand last but not least how impressive it was to
admire the huge variety of works of art offered by the museum, together with the originality of the
sculptures that were in the garden surroundingit.
Paolo Fucili
Chiara Saltarelli
Francesca Londei
Laura Guidarelli
18
19. rd
On 23 September2005, we went to Enkuizen, an isle in the north of the Netherlands.
To arrive there, we went over a bridge that was 30 km long. We never saw the end!
The Dutch built somedikes to have more land to farmmany years ago.
When we arrived in Enkuizennwe went to an open air Museumwhere we could admire the life of the
th
Dutch people during the 20 century.
Here, we could see the houses of these people. Inside this museumthere were people who were dressed
and acted the life of that period, like cooking fish, playing the guitar and hanging out in typical Dutch
clothes.
There were also some shops from the 20 th century that we could visit , like the post-office, pharmacy
and somefarms.
After visiting this museumwe went, by car, to another island called Marken.
19
20. When we arrived at Marken, it was, as if we were in a story because there were woodenhouses and
they were very colorful!
We think that this day was very interesting because it showed us some typical Dutch history and
culture!!
Anna Menghi
De Marco Sara
Simona Vedovi
Lucia Mencaccini
20
21. The morning of the 29th September we left Holland to go to Strasbourg, one of the biggest cities in
France. Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace and it is situated three kilometres from Germany. It is
one of the most visited cities in Europe and it is crossed by the river ILL and surroundedby the Rhin. It
is a city full of cultural and gastronomic attractions and since the Middle Ages it has always been the
centre of commercial exchanges, in fact its namemeans “crossroads”. Strasbourg is also characterized by
particular houses in which roofs and floors are wooden.
At 18.30 we entered our hotel, a pleasant building where the owner gave us the keys to our
bedrooms... They were very nice and really comfortable. After having dinner in a restaurant, we visited the
city with our teachers and came back at about 22.00 pm. The next day we left to visit the European
Parliamentand someparts of the city like Petite France, the Cathedral and then we went shopping.
The
Petite France is a district that once belonged to tanners and fishermen and it is characterised by
particular and beautiful streets which are called after the workers’ activities. It is also rich in canals along
which you can see the famous “bateaux-mouches”, used to visit the city. Walking through the Petite
France, you arrive at the Gothic Cathedral next to which there is one of the most famous and noble
houses of the district, a rich dealer lived here but now it is the seat of a renownedrestaurant, with the
showy presence of large windowsthat once were very precious.
21
22. THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE-DAME OF STRASBOURG
The cathedral dominates Strasbourg with its height and splendour and has been on a large square since
the Middle Ages. Its constructiontook three centuries, from1176to 1439.
It is 142 high and it is characterisedby a wonderful clock.
The main façade is of a fantastic ornamental wealth and the impression of elegance comes from the
inspiration of the architects of the Gothic cathedral. Many Gothic chef d’oeuvres can be admired here:
stained-glass windows, richly decorated chapels, baptismal fonts. The astronomical clock has got a
mechanismthat dates back to 1842 and it is very attractive because it strikes the hours every day at
12.30.You can see also the different stages of life which are personified by a child, a young boy , an
adult and an old man who pass before Death. Above these people there are the Apostles who walk
before Christ. In front of the clock there are the Angel’s pillars which representthe Last Judgement.
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Strasbourg, beyond being the seat of beautiful monuments and art works, welcomes also international
institutions (The Council of Europe, The Palace of Human Rights and the European Parliament). The
choice of Strasbourg is the symbol of the reconciliation among people and of the union of all European
citizens for a commonfuture life.
22
23. The
Parliamentis an assembly of membersfrom all countries and deals with health and welfare issues,
whose aim is the Europeanunity, symbolized by the statue’s sweet embraceoutside the building.
The Parliament fulfils the function of political control on the institutions of the European Union. Its other
two powers are: legislative (the Parliament votes the European laws together with the Council ) and
balance (every year the Parliament establishes the European Community’s balance). It is made up of
732 deputies and every five years deputies are elected by universal suffrage.
23
