Clara, Rachel & Janneke

Hello again, my name is Rachel. Yesterday the YG8 held a role-play summit. We all played different parts representing different groups of countries. We decided all the groups would not deny climate change (Global Warming). We realised that although solar patterns can define global warming, there are still other factors to influence it. For example CO2 and other green house gases. We discussed how humans can prevent the damage we are currently causing, by carbon taxes, carbon trading and renewable energy. Each person makes a impact big or small to Global warming and everyone needs to take action.

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.

Ciao! My name is Amy Wipfler, I live in the Californian Silicon Valley, and have recently turned eighteen. After a morning of pastries and strong coffee, we started the day with a rigorous cleaning, which I believe will be one of many more. Having completed our chores, we held a series of meetings, both indoor and outdoors, as we continued to approach Elba Island. As we discussed issues related to diversity, I felt that we began to create closer connections, as previously we had only dealt with superficial facts such as favourite foods and our desired super hero. Because we were finally thinking about and discussing with each other the major problems surrounding discrimination, we were able to actually connect to each others backgrounds and situations at a deeper level. The next activity that defined my day involved a swimming adventure. Many of the other members of the group had been itching for the last thirty-six hours to jump from the very tip of the bow into the Adriatic Sea. However, none of these eager adventurers were able to perform this feat during this swimming session. You may think that this would be the end of all swimming for the day, as did I, and I had noticed music coming from the mid-ship deck, so I went investigate. It turned out that approximately a dozen of the ship’s crew were doing an aerobics workout to music. As I was a fan of the songs being played by the aerobics instructor, and I had little else to do, I convinced Clara to join the other crew members with me for the workout. It was extremely enjoyable, and since we had entered the workout halfway, the instructor offered to extend it for another half-hour. I found at the end of the half-hour, was that the captain had offered to allow all of our group who had performed aerobics to be able to jump off the tip of the bow. Only three of us had joined for the second half, me, Clara, and Antonio. I figured that I may never again have the chance to jump fifty feet safely from a ship ever again, and so I decided to go for it. What an exhilarating feeling! I had never before realized how easy it is for your body to change its form as you drop fifty feet with gravity tugging, and so the landing in the water was much less than perfect. While the back of my knees may sting for the next day or two, I wouldn’t have exchanged that feeling for anything. We then feasted on pasta and chicken for dinner, and it seems that the crew have a surprise for us this evening (I think I know what it might be, but no comments now). All in all a very full and fun day, sure to be followed by many others. Signing off! Amy

Hi, name is Alex, I’m 15 years old and I am from the U.S.A. For the last two days, we have been confined to the boat with the amazing crystal blue water just tantalizing us all. Today for the first time, around four o’clock - we were finally given the privilege to plunge into the crisp but refreshing water. This was a much needed break for everyone from the stuffy cabins. But don’t get the idea that this trip is a bunch of kids messing around on a boat. We have all been chosen to represent our countries and ideals through thought-provoking debates. Today was first day in which we have moved beyond getting to know and trust each other to learning about each other’s opinions and possibly challenging them. Our focus for today was discrimination around the world and how we can prevent and cure it. The way that we go about discussing these topics is not one that you would call conventional but it easily involves everyone and creates creative flow that broadens our range of thinking. Today we started our discussion by making a list of how people are discriminated against around the world and we started to create still-scenes of how we envisioned each act of discrimination. After sharing our scenes of discrimination and some critiquing, we began to make scenes of how we can abolish these atrocities and begin to embrace everyone as an equal human. Even though we did not engage in debates, this activity helped us to wrap our minds around what problems we are going to debate and solutions to those problems. After a quick break to relax the mind and body we dove into a somewhat “heated” discussion over specific scenarios and certain places of the world that are still subjected to major discrimination. Today was an especially good day for me because on top of having a great day swimming, I have a great sense of accomplishment that what we are doing during these two weeks _will_ make a difference and hopefully mark the beginning of a better & brighter world.

I’m Melissa and 16 years old. I live in Rome but I’m Italo-Brazilian and I am very proud to represent Brazil at this grateful project. Today we climbed up over the net to the first seat of the main mast. It is 17 meter high. The view up there was just wonderful. For me it was very impressive that even the disabled got enough power out of the group that they climbed up there. During the morning we had our first discussion about the G8 topics. It was about discrimination. I liked that the educators presented the topic in an unusual way because they made a game out of it. It sounds stupid but with the game it was easier to talk about this topic which is very difficult and complex in the reality. That made it easier to talk about it in the discussion later. Now to the awesome part of the trip with a sailing boot. We stopped today close to the Coast of Elba Island. So we were allowed to swim the first time after the departure in Civitavecchia. I even jumped of the railing of the Bow. IT WAS 5 METER HIGH!!! After that we were lying in the sun and just enjoyed the time on the ship. But the best thing since we departed is the relationship to each other. We are coming from all over the world and just know each other for 2 days but we have the same goal: We want to change the world to a better one.

Ciao! My name is Rachel and I live in the UK. Apologies for the late start (I was in the ‘right part’ of the sea, just waking up at 3.00 in the morning for my flight obviously meant I needed to retire to my Cabin, which I’m sharing with Anna, who is one of the Russian members of the group) First things first: I arrived in Italy around 9 or 10 or 11 maybe…still adjusting to the one hour time difference! The group trickled steadily into the airport over the next few hours, and I decided I might need an Italian phrase book, so bought one from the shop…have not yet opened it and am getting by on my Spanish. Language is a big element of this trip. The Americans, other Brits and I are highly advantaged, and everyone else is amazing at English…why is Britain so behind on language? On the first day, we played a few name games. They were all really great ways to learn people’s names, but admittedly I still have problems pronouncing a few. We also made personal passports… which lead me to learn how many people are ‘Passionate about Cars’. Today was pretty busy too, the press were running around taking many pictures under the sweltering heat! We also played a great game. I got to sit on top of many peoples arms. Okay, so you must be thinking ‘What?!’ But really I did, We all had to fit inside a hula hoop and there are 20 of us. We used trust and balance by everyone having a partner, holding their wrists and leaning far outwards. The only place I (‘a small and light pizza’ according to one of the educators) could fit was sitting on top of everyone’s arm. Another task was leading a partner blindfolded around the boat… much easier said than done, but again the game helped build trust and team skills that we very much need to sail this boat. The boat itself is beautiful and I have so far not experienced much sea-sickness (*Touch Wood* of which there is a lot of, some of which I have polished. Wooop Shiny!) Got to go now