Festichoc- Versoix

The annual chocolate festival (Festichoc) in Versoix, is a very popular and friendly event for chocolate lovers. Chocolatiers from Genève, Valais, and nearby communities in the Lac Léman region exhibit and sell top chocolate at the Versoix festival.

The girls walked there this weekend to see it and of course, to eat some chocolate 😉

 

 

-Fotos by Esther

Versoix, Lac Leman frozen

Cold days in Switzerland, Geneva, Versoix, College du Leman… MIES 

An arctic weather system is bringing Switzerland’s coldest winter, and also the famous bise wind is expected to blow too. This will make the temperature on some parts of Geneva feel like -10 to -15, and deliver the wind’s characteristic ice sculptures, like the picture.

“The Bise is a cold, dry wind in Switzerland which blows through the Swiss Plateau from the northeast to the southwest.”

 

Coffee in Crans!

Our ski weekends in Crans Montana were extremely fun. Despite the bad weather on  the first weekend, we enjoyed fresh powder. This picture was from the second weekend, which was sunnier. My favorite part of skiing is relaxing in the middle of the mountains, with a warm drink to rest. The view is amazing there!

 

Natalia Posada

Let it snow!

This weekend, all of the boarding students went up to Crans Montana for a ski weekend. We skied, snowboarded, ice-skated and  took party in many fun activities. During the evening we had free time and got to enjoy the local restaurants. There was a lot of snow which meant skiing was canceled on Sunday, however we all had a great time and we are looking forward to return to Crans-Montana next weekend.

Karolina Sikorska

The gift of memory!

In reality, the past is forever gone,
Though it keeps coming to us,
Thus living within our reasoning
What a blessing, the gift of memory!
I do not regret retaining it in my understanding.
For I want not to be blind.
Past should never make me feel behind
Those gone days were very better,
Boarding school life I miss it further.
Being a youth was what I enjoyed
Now I confess the years were joy
Pumpkin carving for Halloween contest,
And our decorations were the finest.
I recall the Christmas dance’s arrival
Well, I’d say this is a girls rival
in fact that formal dress
You all looked awesome with no stress
Ski weekends keep us jointly
Gliding on the snow, makes this merry.
Mr. Usher, my boarding mentor
taught me how to become an angel,
Taught me how to be respectful,
 instilled the spirit of hard work to learner’s,
Excellent is what we go for to be winners.
I made international pals
Five years ago it was not easy to recall
Thank you everyone, for each days and nights,
these past events
Memory, a very gift that never ends.
-Esther-

Award Ceremony

This Tuesday during the award ceremony Mies proudly brought back three awards! Congratulations Natalia on your extracurricular and academic awards and Oyin on your boarding life award. Keep up the good work and good luck for MP2!!

-Karolina Sikorska

Merry Christmas!

Wer ist Sankt Nikolaus? – Who is Saint Nicholas?

The Historic, Real St. Nicholas
Across the German-speaking region of Europe there are many kinds of Santa Clauses with many different names. Despite their many names, they are all basically the same mythic character. But few of them have anything to do with the real Saint Nicholas (Sankt Nikolausor der Heilige Nikolaus), who was probably born around A.D. 245 in the port city of Patara in what we now call Turkey. Very little solid historical evidence exists for the man who later became the Bishop of Myra and the patron saint of children, sailors, students, teachers, and merchants. He is credited with several miracles and his feast day is December 6, which is the main reason he is connected with Christmas. In Austria, parts of Germany, and Switzerland, der Heilige Nikolaus (or Pelznickel) brings his gifts for children on Nikolaustag, Dec. 6, not Dec. 25. Nowadays, St. Nicholas (“Saint Nick”) through Sinterklaas.

 

In our House we also have a SECRET SANTA who leaves little presents in the socks 🙂

Berlin

Weekend in Berlin:

We went to Berlin and visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews,  is a memorial for the victims in the holocaust. There are 2,700 concrete slabs organized in rows. It was created by Eisenman in 1997 and he wanted to represent an illusion of instability.

Is a beautiful place in the center of the city who reminds you that we must know what had happened in the past to do not do it again. Everyone can see it and it has a museum that tells you the history of the holocaust.

Isabella Lopez

Mexican Dinner!!!

QUE PADRE = HOW FUN

Señoritas enjoying a nice meal at CDL International Dinner on Tuesdays.

Natalia:

-Literal, estaba deli!  (it was delicious)

Isabella:

– Yes, so tasty. I think “el señor” behind us loves it.

Remembering Halloween

We made a pumpkin for halloween. We had the idea of creating a pumpkin that represented our house with all of our rooms but we also put scary effects. It was a really good activity and this halloween was really fun and exciting. This pumpkin will also be apart of the house competition and we hope to win!!!

Oyin.

Villa Mies and her surroundings

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus

Why Autumn and Fall?

Before it was autumn and fall, it was harvest. While the modern names of winter and summer have been around for more than 1,000 years, the names of fall and spring are more recent—and less constant. This is partly because the two seasons were long viewed as secondary to summer and winter

Both spring and autumn used to go by different names. In the 12th and 13thcenturies, spring was called lent or lenten, while fall was called harvest. In the 14th century things got a little chaotic. Lenten disappeared around the beginning of the 1300s, and the later lent similarly vanished only a few decades later. (It survives, of course, as the name for a religious observance.) By the end of the 14th century there was no firm word for springtime: People referred to it as part of summer, they used Latin (ver) or French (primetemps), or they just made up new phrases. Harvest as a word to mean not just “a time of reaping” but also, even for city folk, “the third season of the year” lasted longer. But it was joined by autumn—a word borrowed from the French—by the 16th century.

They each initially appeared in the 16th century as spring of the leaf and fall of the leaf.

It’s a bit of a mystery why the superfluous autumn persists while analogous words like primetemps and ver have fallen out of use, but it may have something to do with the Atlantic Ocean. The rise of autumn and the appearance of fall happened around the same time as the British arrival on the American continent, and it’s there that the latter really caught on.

 

Fuerteventura

Nice day sailing in a Catamaran,

A catamaran (from Tamil kattu “to tie” and maram “wood, tree”) is a type of boat or ship consisting of two hulls joined by a frame. Catamarans can be sail or engine powered. The catamaran was the invention of the paravas, a fishing community on the Southern coast of Tamil Nadu, India.

Catamarans are a relatively recent design of boat for both leisure and sport sailing, although they have been used for millennia in Oceania.

Boarding House Meeting

Tea – Brownie – Chat.

It’s always a pleasure to talk, to share different points of view about the School and to give some “shopping list” to the House Rep.  or new ideas for activities. Welcome to our House Assembly! Bienvenue au réunion de l’internat!

Friday with friends

Last Friday Natalia and i went to Geneva with our friends, we got out of the train and took a walk, when we got on the other side of the lake we stayed on a coffee shop and we ate some cake, then we got on the spinning wheel and saw all the city from the top. after that we took another walk and sat on a restaurant name “alma” and we like it very much, we ate empanadas and guacamole. then we went back to the train station and came back home.

by: Isabella Lopez

It is all about Mies being cheerful and active! Sunday Movie”American Made”

“If you look in the credits, there is NO OTHER STUNT PILOT IN IT. IT IS JUST TOM.” Doug Liman.  The movie is based on real life of Barry Seal, cast by Tom Cruise. He was a TWA pilot who later was involved with drug smuggle in late 1970s.

He said:” something … happened to me. It really did. ”

Thankfully, “Top of your class in Civil Air Control. A pilot like you shouldnt be flying buses.Barry, you should be serving your country.”

“You are CIA?” …. “I was working for the CIA”

YVOIRE

On Sunday we went to a small, medieval French village on the other side of the lake. We went there by speed boat and returned by the ferry to Nyon. We explored the botanical gardens, ate crepes in a local creperie and admired the beautiful village.

—-Karolina Sikorska

House competition I: the Motto

All about MiEs means a lot to us. It is not a selfie sentence because it is about the world, all the people we found in our path through the spiral. The spiral (without an ending) is a metaphor about life and how we meet in Cdl, we came from different countries and for a moment in our life we rise together in Switzerland, in Mies our Boarding House. During this time we share values, and with experience we learn more. We are proud of our house and therefore it is All about MiEs!

Trip to Chamonix

We went to Chamonix on Thursday, the girls in my house and in the other houses had a blast. It was a once in a lifetime chance to see real glaciers. I felt like i was in a movie. Would love to do it again. By OYIN OJO

One day in Geneva…

01.08 pm we took the train to Geneva, it was our second day out. Our Prefect, Esther from  China, had shown us the way the previous day. Esther knows the city because she has been at College du Leman for 4 years. It was a rainy day and we headed to an Italian restaurant. Everything was very tasty and we enjoyed the evening despite the bad weather. In this picture you can see Isasbella, from Mies, with the girls from the Ecureuil Boarding House. We walked around the city until our feet hurt! Geneva, as always, was very exciting, colorful and refreshing. To be continued…  

NATALIA POSADA

Next stop… BRAZIL.

Collège du Léman is coming to Brazil- Mr. Justin Usher, Director of Boarding will be visiting Brasilia, Fortaleza, Foz de Iguaçu and Sao Paulo in the next 2 weeks.

 Brasilia  19-21 March

Fortaleza 22-24 March

Sao Paulo 25 March

Foz de Iguaçu 26- 27 March

Sao Paulo 28- 31 March

 Please contact justin.usher@cdl.ch . We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

 

RISE! Spirit ;-)

We’ve got Respect, Internationalism and now Spirit

wegotspirt

What means spirit for us?

SPIRIT

  1. The non-physical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character; the soul.
    “we seek a harmony between body and spirit”
    synonyms: soul, psyche, inner self, inner being, essential being
  2. The prevailing or typical quality, mood, or attitude of a person, group, or period of time.
    “I hope the team will build on this spirit of confidence”
    synonyms:  prevailing tendency, motivating force, animating principle, dominating characteristic

     

RISE – PART 2

8107058-il-concetto-di-fratellanza-mondiale-archivio-fotografico

DEFINITION OF INTERNATIONALISM

The principle of cooperation among nations, for the promotion of theircommon good, sometimes as contrasted with nationalism, or devotionto the interests of a particular nation.

RISE

blog-respect

 Definition of respect

  • : a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, etc.

  • : a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way

  • : a particular way of thinking about or looking at something

In our house we think we know the meaning but sometimes we struggling a bit  and everyone has to work in it all the time. No always is easy but this is the reason we are learning from others.

This is the first word from RISE, we will tell you soon the next one 😉

WELCOME DINNER

Last week, we had our Annual Dinner to welcome all the new students into our Boarding Community. Here are three new girls from our House.

welcome-dinner

Heloisa, Rafaella and Rabby.

 

Welcome ladies! Hope you have a wonderful year in our House. 🙂