Last week we focused on what qualities we look for in a friend when we meet new people.

Positive friendships are an important part of the journey to adulthood. They help children and teenagers learn important social and emotional skills, like being sensitive to other people’s thoughts, feelings, and well-being.​

Healthy friendships and relationships occur when both people:

• Care about each other.
• Understand and respect each other and are responsible for each other.
• Solve problems together and communicate with honesty.
• Share at least some of the same goals and values.

In this second week, we want to focus on the type of friends we are. What do our friends think of us? Is there anything we can do better or improve to be a better friend to our friends?

We asked our girls to ask their friends these questions and reflect on the answers they got.

We can’t wait to share the videos with you in the next couple of days!

Best,

María and Lina.

As you might already know, last week we had a huge snowstorm and the girls didn’t want to miss the opportunity to play in the snow, making snow angels and snowmen.

Ana Sofia and Mia, two of our lovely Ecureuil Annexe neighbors, came to the house and asked us to go and play with them (we couldn’t resist, who doesn’t like to play with the snow?).

As you can imagine, we ran to put on our ski clothes and head out of the house.

   
Best,

Maria and Lina.

This weekend was the first one we spent on campus after the holidays (and the only one we will spend on campus this month… more news to come soon!).

Although we haven’t had snow for almost a week now, the weather didn’t want to give us even a minute of sun. But if you think a grey cloudy weekend can stop our girls, you really don’t know them.

As per usual, Akmaral enjoyed practicing tennis, but this weekend it was time to make up for all the weekends she didn’t practice tennis over the holidays and she decided to play twice!!

Sofiya had a blasting experience playing Laser Tag in Olympus. It was a hard battle where all the students were very well prepared and trained. Her team lost but that’s not the most important thing, since she had an amazing time and enjoyed meeting other students for this brave fight.

Last, but not for that less important, Kseniia decided to change activities for a weekend and enjoyed a nice and quiet Stretching and Relaxation session, where she listened to some music with her friends while making sure to stretch and be conscious about the movements she was doing.

Everybody is back in the house enjoying the last few hours of the weekend, getting ready for a new week and a new weekend… where we will be going to Leysin for our first Ski Weekend of the season!

Best,

Maria and Lina.

Coming back from the holidays means we now introduce the third pillar of our Wellbeing Program: Building Positive Friendships and Relationships.

In this new chapter, we are going to work with our girls on how to recognize healthy patterns in our friendships, what values we look for in our friends, how to be a good friend, and how to detect red flags in friendships, among others. We want to make sure have the tools to identify what good friends are made of.

For this, we asked the girls what they look for in a friend:

• Loyalty
• Respect
• Love
• Support
• Make me feel safe

Best,

Maria and Lina

As CDL tradition dictates, once per month we shall reunite in our home to have dinner all together. Tonight we also welcomed our Annexe neighbors, Defne, Mia, and Ana Sofia, to meet them formally, as we will be spending time with them in our lovely house.

We hope everyone had a lovely dinner.

Best,

Maria and Lina

What a crazy (but amazing), last 24 hours we had in Geneva. It started snowing yesterday before noon and it only stopped today right before 11 am!

Being inside the house, cozy with our fluffy pajamas seeing snow for hours was a lovely winter image we all had in mind before coming to Switzerland. When we woke up this morning there was snow everywhere. We had to make our way jumping (very carefully) to make it to the gate.

Our girls didn’t want to miss the chance to enjoy a snowy but cold day, and they spent most of the evening outside with their friends.

Kseniia invited some friends over to have a VERY SAFE snow fight in our garden. After they were finished, they came to the house to get warm with a nice cup of tea Kseniia prepared for them.

Best,

Maria and Lina