Dott Antonio Amalfitano, Past President of the Rotary Club Civitavecchia, in the name of the International Fellowship of the Rotarians is awarding the Commanding Officer and the Navy crew of Nave Italia with the Paul Harris Fellow medal recognition to a form of an "award for exceptional service".

Liza and Anna give the Crest of their Russian local Rotary Clubs to the IYFR. The members of the IYFR were very helpful for the selection of the applications to the YPG8.

The teens are eager to catch up on all the news they've missed while at sea.

It's the last day and everyone is hurrying to finish all the work, cleanup and discussions so that we can have a good-bye party tonight. We finish the final document (posted on the blog entry below,) clean the ship, pack and amidst it all there is a sadness that tomorrow we will all go our separate ways. The teens realize what a unique experience this has been, and now we all feel like family. We order pizzas from a local pizzaria and eat dinner out on the midship deck enjoying the final sunset of this amazing YPG8 journey. After dinner there is a ceremony, with gifts and awards given to all the teens - on behalf of the Italian Navy, and Tender To Nave Italia. As they individually receive their awards, they give their signature to the final document. Now its time to P~A~R~T~Y!

After the award ceremony, the crew and educators hosted a dance for the group on the mid-ship deck.  It was perfect weather and the sky was lit with a thousand stars.  Around midnight we all went to the starboard deck and shared some final thoughts.  Goodbyes are always hard, but educators Luigi, Ale and Ragga shared how they met each other over 10 years ago and live in different countries now but still get to see each other regularly.  

Saturday morning was bright and clear.  The Rotary Club of Civitavecchia helped us again with transporting the teens to the airport, train station, etc.  The crew spent the morning cleaning and preparing  to meet their next group of children in Porto Torres, Sardenia. 

Today – a day trip to Rome was planned allowing the teens to see some of the magnificent, historical sights of this ancient city. They had lunch and a relaxing swim at the Navy Officers Club. It wasn’t all fun and games, however. Today they were constantly revising and clarifying the points of their final documents in preparation for their afternoon appointment with UNICEF’s J8 group. The 2 groups of teens met in Rome to present their papers to each other and to discuss together the central issues they wanted to communicate to the G8 leaders. It was a wonderful experience and the teens chatted together at a reception afterwards. Both groups had done a fantastic job in presenting the major issues they feel need to be addressed. We all returned to the boat excited and energized to continue perfecting our document. Slowly but surely, it is coming together.

Educators Luigi and Ale finding a moment to "planfiy" the next session.

Group introductions

Our teens greeting the J8 members and sharing about their time on the Nave Italia.

Commandante Tedeschini presenting the UNICEF J8 with the Nave Italia crest. 

The crew of the Nave Italia hand out gifts to the UNICEF J8 participants.

The teens mingling at the UNICEF reception.

The international language of foosball.

Back on the boat, the group is energized to finlize the wording of their document.

Today we had a day trip to Tarquina to see artifacts from the ancient Etruscians, dating back to 9000 BC. We were personally greeted by Mauro Mazzola, the mayor of Tarquina.  He allowed ourgroup a free tour of the Museo Nazionale Etrusco as well as a tour of the Palazzo Comunale (the historic government offices of Tarquina) with beautifully frescoed walls dating from the 1300s. Each member of the group was presented with a book about the Etruscan history and a set of art prints of the frescoes.  

Mayor Mazzola, educator Ale and our translator/guide.

Viewing Etruscan tombs at the museum.

Taking in the gorgeous frescoes.

After a picnic lunch in a park (and a quick shoulder massage) the group began studying their final topic of the trip:  International organizations-their function, relevance and what they can/can't  contribute to our world.

Ale explaining the different types of international organizations.

Listening intently...

Afterward we replayed some of the games we played on Day 1 - the ones involving trust and teamwork.  It is clear to see that this group has connected deeply, as the amount of trust the teens share has dramatically increased.

CLara falling backwards into the arms of her team mates. 

More games of equilibrium - also requiring trust. Much improvement from day 1.

The teens were divided into the international groups of UNICEF, UNEP, InterPol, NATO, WHO, G8, G20, IMF.  Their challenge is to research the positions of their organization and tonight there will be another summit.  This time they were competing for a segment of an imaginary fund of 1 billion Euro for their organization and the groups that presented the most convincing agument for the money was awarded a segment of it.

Maila, thanks for all the encouragement you have sent us throughout this adventure. Each message means alot. Dora sends you a big hug and we all just wanted to say that you're the best!! Jenn

Watch the movie...

hoist sails.MPG (14,49 MB)

Hoisting the sails with the young people from l'Aquila!

Listen to the absolute silence ... Grazie Lor-ZEN-zo!

Group on Monte Cristo Island

   Jenn enjoying a moment of utter silence.

Hi everyone. We have left Elba Island and are opening sails toward Montecristo Island. There is no internet connection around Montecristo and we will be in the open sea for much of the time so I will probably not be able to add any new entries for the next 1.5 days.

Here Stefano and Melissa climbing the masts

Yesterday's activities consisted of: daily cleaning of the ship followed by apnea diving. After lunch, we traveled to Elba Island where we enjoyed a swim in the rocky beach waters. After a gelato, we headed into a shady grove of pines to continue our discussion of the environment. This time the discussion urged the teens to express and cultivate their own opinions of the environment and environmental policy. By the end of the session they had reached agreement on several points, which will be written into the YPG8's final document. It was amazing to see these teens speak so confidently and clearly about this complex issue. Pictured below - photos from the discussion on Elba Island.

Here is a brief interview with Antonio Sarnataro, the Nostromo, (the boatswain) a member of the Italian Navy's Nave Italia crew. Sometimes in the afternoon he has been organizing a step aerobics class on the main deck. On occasion, he has done 2 classes in a row to accommodate all the young people, educators and crew(!):

"Buon Giorno. Step class: it is one of the activities that we organize to help the teens to have fun. It's nothing more than that. It is beautiful for me to see them smiling. That gives me joy -- it's my energy."

Here below is the Nostromo who has suddenly found his second calling as ship step instructor:

Yoga & deep breathing exercises with Ale (one of the educators):

Just a note to all our blog readers: I have posted (retroactively) a number of pictures from the activities described in the first few days on board. Even if you have kept up with our blog from the first, you might want to check back on the first entries to see the added photos. And here is a photo of today's free diving session... Thank you Carlo and thank you www.katabasis.it ! Cheers... Jennifer

Ahhh - a quick dip in the sea followed by Nostromo's step aerobics class filled to capacity with the crew and the teens.

This afternoon Carlo Boscia from the Katabasis Apnea Academy arrived from Elba via rubber dingy. He gave us an introductory lesson on apnea diving (free diving). Tomorrow, if the weather allows, everyone will have the chance to try it!

This is the emblem of Nave Italia, every Italian Navy ship has one. It represents her soul. You here can see the vessel surrounded by a helping hand that represent the mission of nave Italia and you can read her motto "Sursum Corda" that means raise your hearts...

Every morning, we join the crew to help clean the ship. Pictures of these daily festivities are posted below. Spick and span!

Jackob and George in the background

Stefano

Jacopo

Tonight we held the Nave Italia's Environmental Summit. It was a great success with all the delegates embracing their assigned roles with passion. There was heated discussion and it was clear that the groups had researched their positions thoroughly. Although it seemed the group could not find common ground, during the final break, the delegates clustered around tables and began passionate informal negotiations. By the end of the break they had almost reached their final positions through compromise, savvy negotiations and pure diplomacy. These behind-the-scene events mirrored real life and was something the teens put into action out of their interest in the issues - it was not scripted in our evening's summit. Below are some photos of the summit and the participating delegates. Below are posted some photos of the Nave Italia/s Environmental Summit and the participating delegates.

This morning we began discussing the environment and global warming. We started with a scavenger hunt to build the English vocabulary of the essential terms. The teens were given a page of definitions – missing the actual term. They were divided into groups and hunted through the ship for the missing words. We watched a segment of "An Inconvenient Truth," which provided a simple yet visual summery of global warming. After that, we discussed the major entities involved in the global dialog on the environment (EU, USA G77, AOSIS, BRIC, NGOs, Business Alliance, etc.) Each group was given a fact sheet on one of the entity’s positions. Tonight we will have an Environmental Summit with the groups each presenting their position. The discussion will bring the youth to an agreement that will ultimately form the YPG8’s official position on Global Warming. This is an issue these young people are passionate about and we are all looking forward to the Nave Italia’s Mini-Summit.

Today is hot and clear. We have arrived at Elba island and are moored far enough from the island to have a beautiful view of the coast facing us. This morning we presented an activity focusing on discrimination. The method is called image theater and required the group to create an image/scene portraying discrimination. Using fellow team mates, the group sculpted the human models into a realistic, but discriminatory image. Once the mental picture was secured in the minds of the group, they re-sculpted the image of discrimination/hate into one of acceptance/equality. The act of physically changing the posture and expressions of others is a powerful reminder of how we must work to change _our_ own views (and even our posture and expression) to stop the message of hate and discrimination existing in our world. Pictured below: 3 images of discrimination and 1 image of acceptance and equality.

Activity: Spider web: The goal of this game was to develop teamwork. A "spider web" of rope was constructed on the mid-ship deck with numerous holes, some high, some low, some larger than others. All the teens were placed on one side of the net. They were given the challenge to get the entire group of 21 onto the opposite side of the net - going through the holes, without touching the ropes. They had to build a strategy considering who went first, how to put members through the higher spaces and to anticipate how the last 2 people would get through the web without assistance

Activity: Experience what it feels like to be blind and what it feels like to trust someone to "see" for you.

This afternoon we played some games to help everyone get to know each other. Goals from this session are to learn names and develop trust/ teamwork. One challenge was to put a hula hoop on the ground and see how many people we could "put" into it - meaning that at least one foot had to be _in_ the hoop and the foot outside the hoop could not touch the ground. The game quickly became 3 dimensional with several people piled on top. End result? 15 people for 20 seconds. Not too bad for the first try!

Hi everyone. The young people have all finally arrived from the 4 corners of the world. For the past 24 hours, we’ve busied ourselves settling into the boat, learning 40 new names (the young people, the educators and the ship’s crew). We are slowly getting oriented with the ship and getting to know each other – all in English, which is a 2nd language for almost everyone. Oh… and then there’s the jetlag… Zzzzzzzz. After a “buon viaggio” ceremony by friends, family, officials and organizers we finally set sail this afternoon – heading toward the blue horizon and into the arms of this adventure. For many of our group, this is the first time to experience life on a boat. The excitement and wonder is contagious. I have to say it would touch the heart of even the most rugged and seasoned mariner. We are lucky today. The sky is clear and there is wind, so we are putting up the sails immediately! Pictured below: Name Games with some group members

Ciao from the Nave Italia! I’m Jennifer, one of the educators for the YPG8 project and the facilitator of this blog. One of the goals of the YPG8 is to use this blog as a way to talk about what we are learning and experiencing during this very special voyage. You will regularly hear from me about the daily activities of the group. I will also be posting photos of our adventures. More importantly -- you will also hear from the young people who are embarked on the Nave Italia. There are no rules or requirements for what they post – our goal is simply to give you a glimpse of our adventures on the sea, some insight on the issues we are discussing and to share some of the thoughts and feelings the activities provoke. We invite you to share this experience with us and to post any questions, feedback or well wishes to the teens and the crew. Thanks for joining us. Fair seas to all.