New Portena is a big, comfortable and spacious house with a small paved square and a fountain behind it. Compared to other girls’ boarding houses, New Portena remains my favourite. All the surrounding views from the windows are picturesque, just one glance out of the window will cheer you up. We are never bored. Here we have our own small library, a TV, a Nintendo Wii, an elegant piano and soft sofas stretching along the living room edges.
But anyway, New Portena is NOT just a building. It is also a community consisting of
32 wonderful people of different ages and nations, various appearances, characters and souls. Living here is a rare opportunity to observe different cultures and traditions and also to learn new phrases in other languages. It is a great experience, which can help you in learning how to get on and to make compromises with other people. It enables you to solve problems and avoid conflicts.
We also have three kind and friendly house parents in our boarding family. They look after us and they are truly concerned about us, if something is not right. We can ask them for help for any kind of reason. You can always talk with them if something/ someone is pulling you down. Of course they can be strict, but only when it is justified.
We all love each other just the way we are, that’s part of being a community.