On the road.

Day 8

Weekends

We all had different weekends.

Polina: Saturday was a great day. First of all I could sleep as much as I want. After I was taken to the supermarket where I got some Italian products for the souvenires for my parents and friends in Russia but the main event on Saturday was visiting the aqua park (AquaWorld). It is really wonderful place with a lot of slides and swimming pools, some of them are outside. Not all our group visited aqua park but in any case it was really funny. In the evening I had a dinner with my host family. Saturday was full of impressions, really nice day.

Dima: Weekends were wonderful. I woke up at 11:00. It was the first day when slept a lot. After my family and I went to Lecco, Mandello del Lario and Varenna. Most of all I enjoyed Varenna. It was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Sunday was great too. Nicholas and I went to Milan, to San Siro. We watched a footbal match : Inter against Catania. The stadium is really big and I was a bit shocked. The game was good and I enjoyed it. So weekends were really exciting.

Dasha: I woke up at 10:00 am on Saturday. It was a nice morning! After having a breakfast my exhange sister Valentina and I went to Santa Maria. Santa Maria is a small city near the city Rovagnate, where I lived. Then we went for a walk over Rovagnate. Valentina showed me her city and her most favorite places here. At the end of the day I had shopping with my family.
Sunday was an important day for our family. Valentina's sister, Maddalena, had competitions in rhythmic gymnastics. I saw an unforgettable performance. I believe that Maddalena and her team were great. Moreover, they took third place. I was very proud of Maddi.
So, weekends were really great! :)

Alena: On Saturday we visited Lecco city. I believe it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen: fresh air, clean water, delicious food and wonderful views. So, I fell in love with this city. On Sunday  I had  shopping with my family in Milan. There me and my exchange sister Sara met other guys from our group:) Moreover, we decided to go to the top of Milan Cathedral. I was impressed by the structure of the Duomo and by the view from it. So, my weekends were really interesting and exciting!)

Konstantin: The weekend was awesome! On Saturday my friends and I visited Lecco city. I was shocked by amazing view on Alps. The city located under the mountains which look like the Titans among us. We had some time for shopping; also we were at Sushi-bar.

At the next day, on Sunday, we had shopping in Milan. Moreover, we were at the top of Duomo, Milan Cathedral, we could see whole Milan, which surrounded by Alps. The view was quite fantastic!

Truly say, everybody fall in love with Italy!

Day 5. Bergamo

Friday.

In the first half of a day we had 6 lesoons and then we had a nice trip to Bergamo.

Bergamo is a cite and commune in Lombardy. 

(about 40 km northeast of Milan)

Bergamo is the second most visited city in Lombardy after Milan.

We visited the some popular places there such as Capella Colleoni and Piazza Vecchia

After our walk we had some time for shopping. 

Also, after shopping we had a nice trip on funicular.

So this day was full of emotions and I believe that we will remember it forever!

Day 4

On Thursday we had such lessons as Art History, English, Physical education lesson and Physics.

There is no History of Art in our school, so it was very exciting for us. The theme of our lesson was "The Role of the Greek Temple. The Peripteral Temple. The Doric Order". I think it was very informative for us. In addition, teacher mixed us with Italian students, it was a good opportunity to work and communicate with them.
After all lessons we had a trip to Monza.
Monza is a city and comune on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. Monza is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, which hosts the Formula One Italian Grand Prix.
We  went to Monza Park. I think it is really nice! We went for a walk over the park and Italian girls said us some words about it. It was very interesting.

Parco di Monza is a large walled park in Monza, Lombardy, northern Italy. Extending over an area of 688 hectares (6.88 km2), it is the fourth largest walled park in Europe.
The park, commissioned by Napoleon's stepson Eugène de Beauharnais during the French occupation of northern Italy and completed in 1808, is crossed in its southern sector by the Lambro river. Some one third is occupied by wood, while the rest is kept as lawn. The Royal Villa and the Autodromo Nazionale of Monza are located nearby.

After our walk we had time for shopping. Many of us have bought some things.

It was a wonderful day!

Day 3. Como.

Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.

Lake Como is the main sight of the city. Places around the lake are surprisingly scenic.

Wonderful addition to the lake is the architecture of the city, its beautiful buildings, built up over centuries.





















The town has numerous churches , gardens, museums , theaters, parks and palaces.

There are so many narrow streets, walls and towers.

One of the most prominent landmark of the old town are the three great churches: the 14th-century Duomo with statues of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger , and two Romanesque churches - San Fedele and San Sant'Abbondio.

We were impressed by this city. It is very beautiful!

Day 2. Milan

At Tuesday we visited Milan. We walked along the famous streets and places of interest. Firstly we visited Sforza Castle where we could see sculpteres of famous architects. It was very interesting. Then we saw Cathedral Square and Milan Cathedral called Duomo. We also were inside of Duomo. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, so let me describe my impressions. Milan Cathedral is really beautiful and huge. Inside it looks like decorations for a fantastic movie. Ican't believe that human could create it by itself. Later we had a chance to see one of the world's oldest shopping malls The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The most unusual thing for me was the fact that it is the street under the roof.
We saw La Scala. It is a world-renowned opera house in Milan. And of course it is famous in Russia too.
All of us had a nice time in Milan. The weather was sunny. I think it was one of the best experiences in our life. 

Day 1

The exchange program was with the students from the institution of higher secondary education "A. Greppi" in Monticello Brianza (LC) Italy. There are a lot of small villages with small population. Villages have different names but actually they look like one sweet town. From villages to the school some students go by bus, others go to the school by car. The way can take 20 minutes or 1 hour, it depends on the distance from the village to the school. For example Polina woked up at 6.30 and left home at 7.10. From home to the bus stop Polina and her exchange partner ( Martina Rocco) went by car, on the bus stop they waited the bus to the school. Katya and her partner ( Giulia Colombo ) went to school by car. They drove near 35 min. 
The school day began at 8.00. Firstly, our group was asked to visit headmister's office. From that place we had an excursion in school. Sveta ( she's from Ukraine) showed us their school. It's sooooo big! Italian pupils say that it looks like a prison (in some way it's true). The classrooms are rather big. The sistem of study is different than in Russia (at school they study 13 years : 5 years of primary school, 3 years of secondary school, 5 years of high school).At school we had a lot of Russian lessons and 2 chemistry lessons. At Russian we told about Russia, showed film about Yaroslavl, which we had prepared before the trip and had a conversation with Italian students in Russian language. At Chemistry Italian students showed some experiments.

After lessons we had time with our partners and families.

For example Katya and Nastya went to Nastya's partner Irene with Sveta to Irene's house where her mom cooked a wonderful dinner for them. Later they went for a walk, met some friends and near 6 o'clock Giulia took Katya with her to her friends. They should make a dance. So they danced and had fun. 

Polina spend time home and had a really wonderful and delicious dinner with her family. 

The day was full of impressions for all of us so we fell asleep immediately.

On the road.

So let us start.

The first day was given to Polina, Katya and Nastya to write about. It was the road to Italy with all its long time and difficulties.

Firstly, the time to Moscow took 6 hours, so we were in airport at 15:00 (russian time), then we got a plane at 18:00 at  Domodedovo. We had a trip through Berlin, where we were at 18:00 (european time) and finally got the plane to Milan at 19:00, where we landed after an hour of lovely flight. At the airport our Italian friends were waiting for us to take to Monticello Brianza, so we arrived there almost at 22:00. All in all the trip from Russia to Italy takes 16 hours of uncomfortable positions, non sleeping and laughting about the most stupid things.

We three were clever enough to take the seats closer to each other in plane and as the best friends we were always together. It was the first trip abroad that we took together. So there's a belief when you do something for the first time you have to make a wish and we made our wishes when the plane took off.

Finally, the feelings and impressions of each of us during the trip
Nastya: It was amazing. I have travelled by plane before, though, those were always the straight flight, this one was with landing in Berlin and changing the plane. I realized that plane is not something extraordinary, that it is just a public transport. The feeling was similar to one when you change the bus, if yours is not going to the place of your destination. So the thought of that made me feel, that I love travelling more than everything in this world and would love to take flights almost every day.

Polina: I have visited few countries before, but that was the first flight with my the dearest two friends and that was awesome. The trip was tiring but the time passed fastly, it was really funny. I hope the wish I have made will come true. 

Katya:  The trip was alright (we listened to music, took pictures, read and all in all had fun). On the board of airplane I sat near with Nastya and Polina. It was our 1st flight together so we took our hands, closed eyes and wished each other sth pleasent. We had to change our airplane so firstly we sat off in Berlin and then flew to Milan. When we came to Milan some Italian guys met us at the airport. Woo hoo! It was dark outside but even then we could see small streets with a lot of turns. The bus took us to school and we met our families and everyone went to their towns (Italian people live in small towns and sometimes it takes a lot of time to get from one town to another).

When the trip was over we were to meet the families and go to our houses. It was the sweetest welcome we could have. Every member of family was very happy to see us and we felt cozy.

The day was over. We were on the road thinking that it would never be the time to come back