Trips

SEK Les Alpes is a cozy school of the SEK group of international schools, offering the same program as all schools of the group, but exclusively for students of 13-15 years old. The school is located 1000 meters above sea level in a small French mountain village of Saint Nicolas, next to the famous ski resort town Megeve.The very location of the school is its main highlight, giving students a great opportunity to practice many kinds of active sports and attracting ski lovers. Since the opening of the winter season, students go 3 times a week (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday)…

My visit to the boarding school SEK El Castillo in the north of Madrid took place in the fall of 2022, during my stay in Spain on the program to protect Ukrainians from war. SEK International Schools are well known in Spain and Europe and rank high in the rankings due to the high performance of IB graduates. Every year, 4-8 graduates of the Spanish schools of the group score the highest score of 45, while about 20% of IB program graduates across all schools score at least 40 points.SEK El Castillo was the first to offer the IB program in Spain in 1977 and was one of the first schools…

Natalia Goncharova, Russian artist working in the technique of the avant-garde. Was born in Tula, Russia, in 1881, into an aristocratic family.Goncharova has done a tremendous amount of work, crossing the boundaries of art and design. Before the first world war, she lived and worked in Russia, then in France, creating pictures. prints, was an Illustrator, designer of clothes and costumes for the Russian ballet.At the exhibition in Tate are shown early works of the artist, including the famous painting "Peasants picking apples."In the early works of creativity Goncharova…

In 2005, I planned a trip to USA where we wanted to combine business meetings around USA with visiting of our Work and Travel program students in North Carolina and a family in Los Angeles.Back then, we were not very experienced travelers, and 16-day trip to US where we had to visit 9 cities, became quite a challenge to organize.  I made a very busy schedule, organized all business meetings, booked all hotels and cultural visits and decided to reward myself with a beautiful new red suitcaseThe more I planned this trip, the more challenging it became. It all started…

There is a difference in the knowledge of a new country and a new culture when you travel alone or in company. Traveling with someone, you give some of your attention to the person. When travelling, I have noticed how distracting even taking photos might be. When I look through the camera, I cannot see the whole picture, only the fragment that I try to capture. As a result, I look at the trip through the photos and do not always recognize the place.Only if you decide to travel independently, without a friend, a family without organizing your trip by a travel agency or host, only then can…

This story, which I write, sitting in front of the window of my country house's bedroom, began three years ago and started because of this house.In early 2015, when Ukraine was in the war, people were frightened, the economy collapsed and property prices plummeted, I decided to invest all my savings in a suburban house near Kiev. At the same time, I had been dating for 2 years with a foreigner, an Irish citizen, who, as he presented it to me, gave up a good job in Paris and came to me in Kiev to build our relationship. There was a war in the country and I was busy with trying to save…

Spain is my favorite country.

Four seasons a year Spain is the best place for recreation, traveling around the country and outdoor sports, both in the mountains and in the sea.I like the Spanish temperament and the rhythm of life, I like noisy Spanish cityies where the noise level is the highest in Europe and not only from transport but from conversations. I like Spanish, where there are at least and 15 tenses of verbs with different ending in genders and singular or plural, but knowing 100 words you can easily support any conversation. I like Spanish cuisine and wine and only…

Switzerland - the most comfortable country for children to study abroad

I guess I have visited a lot of countries! After 50 countries, I lost count of how many. But there are favorite countries that I come back to every year, no matter how much I travel. One of the most popular is, of course, Switzerland. For me, everything is the best here: climate, nature, architecture, people, cuisine.This list can be developed indefinitely, describing the wonderful scenery, warm and Sunny summers, snowy mountains, welcoming hotels, world best watches, chocolate, and much more. To come here…

THE UNIQUENESS OF THE COUNTRY AND MY IMPRESSIONIreland is called the emerald country for the dazzling greens of her landscapes. From Cork on the South to Belfast on the North and from Galway on the West to Dublin on the East, your gaze draws by so similar but at the same time unique landscapes..Over there, sunset rays, beyond the turquoise dunes, which lies the vast waters of the Atlantic, illuminate the trunks of the centennial forest.And again, the road dives down the emerald hills, where lazy sheep are scattered.And on the top of the next hill, you once…

AUTUMN TOUR OF THE IRISH SCHOOLSIt is September and that means it's time to hit the road.Tomorrow I am leaving for Ireland again to visit schools around Dublin. Irish schools are little known to our families. This is due to the fact, that are not many Irish schools, which allowed accepting students from outside the EU, and they are reluctant to new cooperation. Usually, it is very difficult to establish cooperation with them for the agency outside the EU countries. You might find very little information in Russian about Irish schools. Since there is little information, people…