HS Italy

Relax - You have a long flight ahead!

Day 1: Let's Board a Plane

Hello Parents - The Italian team are doing an Italian job and are heading towards Rome from Dubai. They will be landing soon and updates and photos will follow shortly......

Ciao! And just like that, they are there - all safe and well in Rome

Last Plane Yay!!!

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

Day 2 (Group A):Let Us Cook

After a 26 hour journey, we finally made it to the capital city of Italy, Rome. Despite being woken up at 7:30, we started eating breakfast at exactly 8:30. For Group A, the eating never stopped, as we spent the first portion of the day cooking and tasting Italian cuisine. All of us worked together to create a scrumptious lunch consisting of fried pizzas, pasta, and tiramisu. Some of us had the special opportunity to make pasta completely from scratch. While others prepared the sauces to our pasta and garnishes to our pizzas.

Today’s weather in Rome was far from perfect, yet it did not impede our joy for sightseeing. Like the Roman empire, we came, we saw and we conquered.

The Piazza Navona matched with the scavenger hunt allowed us to roam around and gather information on the square’s rich history, while giving us the chance to ask people for the reasons why they love Rome. Local resident, Giovanni said, “I love Rome, for its fantastic buildings and loving food”. We agree.

After our first full day in Rome, it is safe to say that all of us are more than content with our conscious decision to pick Rome as our experience week destination due to the unmatched delicacies and grand architecture Rome has to offer.

Lucas Logan-Varney, Tim Sanders, Ernie Wu

Day 2 (Group B): Miku and Sparticus

The first activity for today was the Gladiator camp training. We stabbed our friends ( with foam swords) and dual-wielded shields and swords, it was fun. To quote one of our victims: “True friends don’t hold back on each other.” Our next activity was Sustainable Fashion, where each group was given a sustainable development goal to model our shopping purchases after. Our group was tasked with representing Gender Equality, so naturally, we decided to nominate one of our groupmates to crossdress as Hatsune Miku. Our friend was delighted to represent this sustainable goal, and the project ended with a success. “An experience beyond satisfying to watch because it evoked something in me that I was never aware of.”” - Yoyo Tsao. his perfectly brings out the theme of Gender equality, knowing our bold approach to the fashion show successfully challenged many existing societal norms that are imposed on people. Overall, today was a blast, full of backstabbing and Miku.

Ryan Lio and Adriano Tam

Day 3 (Group A):An Ancient Adventure and Budgeted Fashion Runway in Rome

Today, group A got the chance to experience the life of an ancient Roman gladiator. After a delicious breakfast, we headed off to the Gladiator School. The first thing we did when we arrived was learn the history of how Ancient Rome became a successful and prosperous empire, along with how gladiator fights worked and all the different kinds of weapons used. After that, the training began. All of us put on gladiator uniform and used wooden swords to learn the basic attack and defence moves. Then came the exciting part where we arrived at the arena, where students role played as gladiators and fought with each other. All tired and hungry, we got a much needed lunch break of pizza while we got to enjoy the peaceful view of Rome. Overall, the gladiator school was a memorable experience, and everyone enjoyed the feeling of being transported back in time.

Lily Pan

Today we went to thrift stores to put together an outfit with a budget of 25 euros. Each group have a different topic they need to follow regarding a sustainable development goal. Each group had their own model and we got to see each model pose and hit the runway. It was a very cool and unique experience. Everyone had their own style and it was very creative.

Emily Tan

Day 3 (Group B): Clean Up and Sculptures

Today, group B went to the Borghese Gardens and we firstly did a trash pick-up challenge; we scoured the gardens to find trash and cleaned the area as we recognise the importance of caring for our environment in public areas. After lunch, we then went in the Borghese Gallery to learn about Roman art and acquired knowledge on art history; Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Caravaggio, and Raphael’s renowned art pieces were all amazing to see in real life. From learning about them in art class, we finally got to see the actual sculptures and paintings. We ended the day with dinner at a traditional roman restaurant and ate amazing tiramisu!

Thea Lau and Phoebe Ma

Day 4 (Group A): Jojo’s Bizzare Trip

Our first trip took us to the Colosseum, bringing everyone on an adventure back in history, especially when we chose to recreate an iconic moment from history, the monumental Colosseum scene from “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”. After someone suggested we “Jojo pose,” we one by one got into formation and posed flamboyantly for the camera, unbothered by the public gaze. The mind-boggling sight of our glamorous poses were comparable to the glorious figure of Colossus of Nero. We also learned about the wars between the Romans and the Dacians from the Trajan's Column. Our second trip was to the kitchen to partake in a service that involved cooking for roughly seventy Syrian refugees. Respecting the fact that experience week happened during the Ramadan, we prepared vegetable and fruit salads with hand-drawn messages for the refugees to enjoy in any future period. “Although the cooking service activity was a truly memorable and humbling experience, the satisfying feeling of a fresh latex kitchen glove on my skin left a lingering hunger that no amount of cooking can ever fulfill” - Yoyo. It was such a taxing activity that as our trip went on, we began to lose our sense of reality, heighted by everyone's fatigue. Some got tired, some could not stop giggling, and we think both of us lost our minds while writing this. Today was not just one, but multiple wild and bizarre trips.

-Yoyo Tsao and William Chan

Day 5 (Group B):

In the morning our cohort ate breakfast in the hotel lobby, and it was wonderful as per usual. After that, we departed from our hotel to a cooking workshop at 9:30 via a short walk and a bus ride. Then we arrived at the cooking workshop where we had a short introduction, before divided into two groups to prepare 3 course meal consisting of an appetiser (mini pizzas), a main course (spaghetti), and dessert (tiramisu. One is responsible for making the sauce for the pasta, the base for the tiramisu and the appetiser, whilst the other is responsible for preparing the pasta. Unexpectedly, the food that our cohort produced turned out to be absolutely scrumptious. It was a testament to our newfound culinary skills. Anyway, after that mind-bombarding meal, we walked to one of the more crowded outdoor areas for a short cultural challenge. On the way there, we got a glimpse of the culture: lots of talented musicians on the streets performing, the graffiti looking terribly good, and the energetic atmosphere of the streets As for the cultural challenge, my friend and I managed to do one question before we got intrigued by the stalls on the street. As a breather, we had about 20 minutes to roam around (writer’s personal note: huge bookstore; didn’t have enough time to peruse the shelves well) before going to a famous square where we had time to shop and roam around. Then we went for dinner via metro, where we had a pretty good dinner consisting of bread (appetiser), carbonara with pepper (main course) and some chilly vanilla pudding with lots of caramel sauce on top. The chilly vanilla pudding was generously topped with a copious amount of caramel sauce, so I ended up pouring most into an empty glass). As we were tired, we took the metro back to the hotel where we had time to rest. In short, another fulfilling day :)

Day 5 (Group A):

Today, we went to the beautiful Villa Borghese garden and helped clean up the area by picking up trash in the Rome Cleanup challenge. Although our group didn’t win, it was still really nice to be able to give back to the community. Afterwards we had lunch at the cafeteria at the Borghese Gallery

Museum, followed up by a tour of the interior of the museum where we were introduced to multiple statues and paintings. We got to learn more about how they were constructed and the meanings behind them. We continued the day by walking through the garden towards Tridente for an hour of shopping. For dinner, we had carbonara and an egg pudding, which was delicious!

Let's Eat!

Time to go sleep!

Day 6:

Dear Vatican City, we’re visiting. Where are you??

After breakfast, we went to the Fassi Gelateria and tried many different gelato flavours including fruit flavours such as mixed berries, mango, tangerine, and cream flavours such as pistachio, tiramisu, milk! We learned many facts about gelato which helped us identify homemade gelatos and how to get the correct consistency. Next, we went to eat burgers and fries for lunch. Afterwards, we went to Vatican City. Following an audio guide, we discovered the wonders of the city. For our last meal in Rome, we ate lasagna and had tiramisu for dessert!

Leanne U, Angie Fong

The Vatican City might be small, but St. Peter’s Basilica is certainly not. Despite being finished in 1506, the Basilica still catches our eyes. The beautiful tapestry matched with marble statues made for an unforgettable experience to top up this trip. The sheer magnitude of the building’s detail from the golden flowers to marble facade left us speechless and awe inspired. The Basilica was covered in all corners, with depth and levels like no other. The limited time we had left us unable to visit the top of the Basilica but nonetheless it only leaves us with more to look forward to the next time we visit. Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica are both truly special symbols of culture and history, which leaves us excited for the next experience week and what other wonders our world has to offer.

-Tim Sanders, Ernie Wu and Lucas Logan-Varney

Day 7: Good Bye Rome

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