Monte Cristo:  blue, clear sky,  sea – brilliant and crystalline, but above all- a silence that I’ve never heard before. It almost seems illogical to use the verb “to hear” when you speak of silence, but it is accurate.  By now our ears are used to continuous sounds from the frantic life of the city and for me to be able to listen to total silence, interrupted only by the crashing of the waves in the distance and the songs of the seagulls, was a unique and unforgettable experience… exactly what has been demonstrated during this entire voyage.  In fact, we don’t have technology or books  that can teach us about other cultures in the same way that we discovered them during this trip. Besides the happiness to have had the opportunity to be here to help make a concrete change in the world,  I have enriched myself culturally  as well as personally during this journey.  This voyage is more than a trip in a sailboat.  It represents something more profound:  a trip inside myself that makes me understand I don’t need a life of constant stimulation in order to find the little moments of happiness. Above all, I see that with hard work and a good feelings toward everyone – despite nationality or race - we can reach brilliant results as a group.  Perhaps it is this that we should write at the end of the document that we’ll share with the leaders of our society and to the world. 

Melissa (center) with George & Anna

Hello! My name is Anna, I am 16 years old and I live in Perm (Russia). So this is the first time I am writing in a blog, but still it seems to be very interesting. Yesterday was really a great and delightful day, because yesterday we had a discussion on the topic of environmental problems (global warming, greenhouse effect). We were divided in 7 groups. I, Niklas and Clara represented European Union. Before the conference we had some time to prepare for the presentation of our opinions, so we searched the Internet for some information. You know, the most funny thing was that we started searching in English, so that we all 3 can understand. But eventually we came to a decision to find information in German and Russian. And, to tell the truth, that was more effective, cause we found more tables, graphics and facts. All in all we prepared very well and I think our presentation was great. I liked the discussion really very much. Firstly, we all are interested in environmental problems. And secondly, that was really very exciting to play a role of the diplomats and to represent the opinion of EU. I hope in next days we are also going to have such conferences and debates.