The days of hard laborious hours come to a finale in the town-hall of Voghera. We are welcomed by the councillor in charge of twinning-towns with Voghera; and although he makes a point of not speaking English since in the European Council delegates are encouraged to speak their mother-tongue; you once again realize how tasking it must be for the students, especially the Italian students, to perform these debates in English, a language not often heard on radio or tv in Italy.
It is especially during the points of information that the ice starts to break and the delegates dare to demand answers to the question-marks they have concerning the propositions so carefully constructed during the sessions in previous days! While a former EEP student, Andrea Milanese, does an excellent job chairing, Mr Mobach and I are whisked away in order to meet the mayor. We are addressed in Italian, and I feel ashamed my Italian lessons don’t pay off yet, although my Italian is certainly improving, I am even complimented for my accent (better than Di Pietro – a rather dubious compliment if you know your Italian politics).
Wednesday we get a breath of Pavia and its famous Certosa. I don’t think much needs to be said about the cultural presentation which is to follow later that evening – technology certainly gets the better of man… Oh well, let’s look at the bright side; we now have an almost complete presentation ready for when the Italians pay us a visit next year!
On Thursday morning, before we leave, we just manage to pick up the local newspaper in which the G.A. is reported It’s been a while since we were in the paper of Voghera; I think the last time was when the EEP students all cycled from the Liceo Scientifico to the city council to demand proper cycling paths – and yes, they are slowly starting to appear in Voghera with the scared cyclist braving the traffic!
After a tearful goodbye from our Italian partners– even some of the hosting parents shed a tear or two - the entire day was spent in Milan; we saw high-lights in the Brera, overlooked the entire city from the roof of the Duomo and had lunch at a neat place near one of the universities. Later we were to discover that the univeristy grounds of Ca’ Grande had an exhibition which perfectly fitted into our theme of sustainable architecture; a lovely dessert for us teachers. This dessert was topped off by the presentation which our students had prepared for us on the Brera assignment; “present your own favourite work of art”.
The weather had started to turn so we found refuge in the Castello Sforza for the presentation. The students all made quite an effort. Numerous Christian stories were recounted or re-enacted, but the prize was won by the group which actually showed its love for a painting by a modern Italian painter Boccioni. Congratulations girls! A runners-up prize was won by a group which later confessed it had made up its “Mano di Dio”, it turned out to be a clever picture of some football feat. The presentation offered numerous details, on football, not on art that was!! Congratulations boys!
We left Milan at a quarter to nine, and started our long journey back. We might not have slept in our seats, but we had all our memories to recount. Before we knew it reality hit hard; Dutch traffic jams – one of my favourite columnists dead – sixth form end-of-year onslaught at school…
Mr Mobach & I were treated to a lovely card and a gift and the sun was shining while we kissed our goodbyes. The thirty students had managed to form a true group, great to work and be with. All the investments of the past preparatory period had sowed seeds from which we reeped a bountiful harvest. We all had a worthwhile international experience which I am sure we’ll look back on in time to come. Thank you all!
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