Platinum News 2010/11 Summer Edition

Summer Edition 2011
104, Spyrou Kyprianou Avenue
3076
Lemesos
Tel.: +357 22509400
Fax.: +357 22509490
URL: www.pascal.ac.cy
All praise and thanks to the contributors of our newspaper who have put in a
lot of hard work and effort…
Have a nice and enjoyable Summer Holiday!
General Coordinator and Editor: Ms Despina Mavrikiou
Journalists and Correspondents:
Teachers: Georgina Miltiadous, Despina Mavrikiou, Andria Ioannou, Marios Palamas, Nicoletta Kynigou
Pupils: Katerina Nicolaou, Maya Athanatou, Paris Makris, Nicole Avraam (5A)
Androniki Elpidoforou,
Stavrina Pieridi (3B), Xenia Pieridi (3A)
Christina Loungridou, Takis Papadopoulos, Melina Diogenous, Ioanna Georgiou
(2A)
Special Thanks to: Ms Orsolya Kyriacou and Kyriakos Antoniou
Chocolate Hearts
Ice Cream Sandwich
Coming from a multicultural background of
Hungarian/Romanian and
being married to a Cypriot
the English language has
always played a major
part in our everyday life.
Deciding on a suitable
school for our 12 year old
daughter was not an easy
decision, however, when
we visited PASCAL English
School we were instantly
impressed with the professionalism, courtesy
and guidance of all the
staff and in particular the
Director. All our questions were answered in a
professional and down to
earth manner, thus making our decision to place
our daughter at PASCAL
English School an easy
one.
This first year has been a
Summer Edition 2011
difficult one, not only for
our daughter but also for
us as parents, however,
seeing her day to day accomplishments and her
progression leaves us
with no doubt that the
decision in placing her at
PASCAL English School
was one of the best decisions we have ever made
in assuring that she will
grow up with the best
knowledge and schooling
that can be offered to her
for her future life.
On this note I would like
to take this opportunity to
thank all the staff at PASCAL for their hard work
and continued efforts
with our children.
Orsolya Kyriacou
Mother of Eleni Kyriacou
1B
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4
teaspoon salt, 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter room
temperature, 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups
sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 tablespoon milk, 2 to 2 1/2 pints strawberry
ice cream, slightly softened
Instructions:
In a medium bowl- sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder,
and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the
paddle attachment, cream butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add eggs and
milk, and mix until combined. Add reserved flour mixture, and mix on
low speed until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl with a
spatula at least once. Divide the dough in half, and shape each half
into a flat disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap, and chill until firm,
about 1 hour.
Go ahead & preheat your oven to 350 F or 175 C. Roll dough out on a
lightly floured surface; use an offset spatula to unstuck the dough
every few turns of the rolling pin. Roll dough to an 1/8-inch thickness.
Cut dough using a variety of heart-shaped cookie cutters from 2 1/2
to 3 inches in diameter, making sure there is a top and bottom cookie
for each sandwich.
Place hearts on a parchment-lined baking sheet; chill until firm, about
30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator; use a fork to prick holes all
over the surface of the cookies. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Let
cool slightly on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Using half the cookies, spoon softened strawberry ice cream about
1/2 inch thick on each underside. Place matching cookie on top of ice
cream, top-side facing out. Transfer immediately to freezer to harden;
repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve directly from the freezer.
Sandwiches can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for 3
to 4 days.
Sports Achievements
PASCAL
English
School,
Lemesos,
Mr M Palamas
has had excellent
PE Teacher
results during the
academic year 2010—2011. Pupils of PASCAL English School took
part in various competitions and
made all of us very proud with
their achievements.
During the Regional and
Pancyprian Competition, PASCAL
English School, Lemesos, won
more medals than any other
School in Cyprus.
Gold Medals were won by:
Martinos Papakyriacou (1B) 400m Freestyle
Takis Papadopoulos (2A) - 50m
Freestyle
Georgia Voniati (2A) - 200m Individual Medley
Kyriaki Stefani (2A) - 800m Freestyle
Avgoustinos Papakyriacou (3B) 100m Breast Stroke
Victoria Zavalli (5A) - 200m
Individual Medley
Adam Zavalli (5A) - 100m Butterfly
Filippos Efrem (2B) - 200m
Freestyle.
Silver Medals were won by:
Andrea Christofi (2B) - 200m
Freestyle
Maria Efrem (2A) - 200m Individual Medley
4th Place:
Artemis Voniati (1B) - 100m
Freestyle
George Ioannou (3A) - 100m
Freestyle
Excellent results were also
achieved in the Regional
and Pancyprian Athletics.
Evita Christoforou, a pupil
of 4A won the gold and
silver medals respectively in
the event of 800m. The
Evita Christoforou
same pupil also won the gold
medal in the Regional Cross
Country Race as well as the
gold medal in the event of
3000m during the Lemesos
International Marathon Race.
Congratulations to all the
pupils who have excelled, as
well as those who took part.
We hope to have similar
achievements in the following academic year.
Our capable swimmers
A Day at the Museum
The Ministry of Education and Culture
together
with
Ms D Mavrikiou Olympic Air and
Marfin Laiki Bank
organized a one-day trip to
Athens, whereby pupils were
given the opportunity to visit
and have a tour of the New
Museum of Acropolis on 4th
March 2011.
A draw took place and
twenty two pupils from
PASCAL English School,
Lemesos, and eighteen
pupils from PASCAL
Greek School, Lemesos,
were selected to attend the
programme. The children were
accompanied by Mr. Andreas
Kazamias, Ms Skevi Adamou
and Ms Despina Mavrikiou.
The cost of the trip was only
€30, and the children who went
on the trip are still talking about
a ‘lifetime’ experience.
The visit was successful, everything was perfectly organized
and the
tour was
very educational.
The children listen carefully to the Tour
Guide who is explaining in every detail
what is exhibited in the Museum
All the pupils were well-behaved
and made the teachers who accompanied them proud.
All the pupils of PASCAL English
and Greek Schools Lemesos who
visited the Acropolis Museum. The
Parthenon is at the background.
SUMM ER EDITION 2011
PAGE 2
First Aid Club
EYP Pre-Selection Day
The European Youth Parliament (EYP) is a
unique forum designed to actively engage
young people in the moulding of their future society. The
National Conference takes place at the beginning of each
academic year. EYP represents an independent educational
project, tailored entirely to the needs of every young European
Citizen. It encourages independent thinking and facilitates the
learning of crucial and professional skills.
Ms D Mavrikiou
and before attending the EYP
Day were assigned a topic to
work on, do research and
write a resolution, Defense
and Summation Speeches
and be prepared for an inPASCAL English School, Lemesos,’
Delegation,
tense debate. Our School’s
Delegation comprised the Committee on Employment and Social
Affairs I (EMPL I) and the topic was ‘With the Year 2011 being
the European Year of Volunteering, how can EU Member States
ensure
a
high
quality
of
volunteering
programmes as well as achieving an increase in the number of
citizens engaged in volunteering schemes?’.
It was evident that PASCAL English School, Lemesos,’ delegates worked hard and methodically and managed to present their
topic appropriately, answered successfully every single Point of
Information and were actively involved in all Debates.
From Left: Christos Kaimakkami, Maria Ioannou, Sofia Olivia
Agathou, Maya Athanatou, Andreas Sotiriou, Paris Makris and
Ms Despina Mavrikiou
This year, 24 schools from Cyprus have applied. Therefore,
two EYP Pre-Selection Days were organized. PASCAL English School, Lemesos, attended the Pre-Selection Day on 17th
April 2011, which took place at GC School of Careers in Lefkosia. The six delegates who participated were Paris Makris,
Maya Athanatou, Andreas Sotiriou, Maria Ioannou, Christos
Kaimakkami and Sofia Olivia Agathou and they were accompanied by Ms Despina Mavrikiou.
After a full and tiring day of Presentations and Debates our
School’s Delegation returned to Lemesos anticipating the outcome of the conference. We were delighted to find out that our
School was selected to attend the 5th National Session of EYP
Cyprus which will take place in Paralimni from the 1st until the
4th September.
Maria Ioannou (5A) doing her
Summation Speech
There was initially an Opening Ceremony and the delegates
were given instructions on how the Conference would be conducted. Each School Delegation was a different Committee
Paris Makris made us proud in Norway
Norway is definitely a
cold country, but that
is not what it reflected
during December’s
Paris Makris
EYP
International
5A
Special
Winner
Session. Paris Makris, was one of the
few that were selected amongst hundreds of Cypriot pupils who took part
in the 5th National Session of EYP
earlier this year.
Norway welcomed pupils from all over
the world with the same goal:
their voices and opinions to
set roots in the world. Every
pupil there had the opportunity to make new friends and
learn from each other,
through different teambuilding games
and Resolution preparation meetings.
During the General Assembly there
were sparks in the atmosphere. Everyone was trying to communicate their
ideas as successfully as possible. Matters were discussed with tireless motivation, but all these were suddenly
brought to an end.
When the end comes, everyone realizes
that seven days can be over without
even realizing. All the sparks and the
enthusiasm come to an
end. Goodbyes are said
and all that is left is
experiences.
The General Assembly
PAGE 7
Invitation to an International Session
EYP is indeed a lifetime experience and pupils can
gain a lot from participating. At the end of each session, an independent jury selects the best three
schools that will represent Cyprus in the upcoming
sessions abroad.
PASCAL English School, Lemesos, was one of the
three Schools that were selected this year to attend
an International Session in Germany. This is a great
honour for the School. Even though, the invitation was
finally turned down because of Internal and External
Examinations taking place at the same time, Congratulations go to the Delegates Paris Makris, Andreas
Sotiriou, Michalis Leonida, William Ehrhartsmann,
Alexandros Constantinou,
Panayiota Rafti and Stavrina
Demosthenous for their hard
work, effort and great enthusiasm.
The town of Regensburg in Germany
Nicole Avraam
5A
As newly
qualified
first aiders,
we
feel proud
to be able to
help others
if an emer-
gency arises.
Attending the First Aid
Club, we had the opportunity to receive a Certificate
by the end of the course
which not only proves our
ability as First Aid Trainers,
but also provides us with an
additional skill which is acknowledged by Universities
world wide.
In today’s
society
it
is
essen-
tial to be equipped with the
knowledge to effectively
deal with emergency situations.
We have attended seven
Club Days during which we
were given lectures on how
to act in an emergency
event. We watched educational videos and were presented with real life scenarios. We also had the opportunity to practise, each having a different role during a
drill organised and prepared
by our instructor, Mr Christopher Zenonos.
We all took an exam at the
end of the course. Being a
member of the First Aid
Club was an educational
experience, but also an
enjoyable and worthwhile
one.
Culinary Club
This was the first
time that a
Ms Andria Ioannou
Culinary
Club
was
offered by our School. The
Club was warmly welcomed
by a great number of pupils
who were all looking forward
to
attending
the
preorganised Club Days.
Pupils—members of the Culinary Club had the chance
to come in contact with
mouth-watering
recipes,
spectacular smells and of
course they all loved Rodi
Damalis, the owner of
Practising the Recovery Position
School Trip
We have gone on
many school
Katerina Nicolaou
trips during
5A
our School
life, however
the last one in particular
was something special.
It was the 24th of February,
Ash Thursday (Tsiknopempti)
and It was a sunny, warm day
when we set off to visit the
‘Star’ Amusement Park in
Larnaka. It was obvious that
all the pupils were excited as
going to an Amusement Park
was not even similar to anything that we’ve done before.
Even though, some of the
Upper School pupils
initially thought it
could be childish, as
they do consider
themselves
as
‘young adults’, as
soon as they set foot
in
the
park
they
all
felt like children once again and
enjoyed it to the fullest.
The pupils had either full access to the rides from beforehand, or bought tickets there.
There were bumping cars,
trampolines, funny mirrors and
a lot of others. Some children
chose to play board games,
while others played volleyball.
It was obvious that everybody
was
enjoying
themselves.
Once the trip was over, everyone left being completely satisfied however exhausted after a
long, fun day.
In one way or another, we all
enjoyed ourselves...
Being
creative
under the
guidance
of Rodi
‘Piatakia’ Restaurant and the
host of our Club for this year.
The experiences and knowledge everyone acquired were
something more than useful
and will definitely be handy in
the future for those pupils
who finish school and go for
Studies.
Our cooperation with Mr
Damalis was amazing and
the love and attention he paid
to our pupils was noticeable.
We all look forward to the
next academic year, in order
to continue this lovely journey
through tastes, smells, creativity, knowledge
and
magic.
The Front Cover
of Rodi’s Book
Water Competition
On Saturday the 7th May, Ms Nicoletta Kynigou
escorted 5 pupils from PASCAL EngMs Nicoletta Kynigou lish School, Lemesos, to the Municipal building to present their posters
for the Junior Water Competition.
Team A
Maya Athanatou 5A
Paris Makris 5A
Christos Kaimakkami 4A
Team B
Alexandros Constantinou
6A
Being awarded First Prize
Maria Ioannou 5A
22 schools had participated in this competition and along
with the chosen winning poster for the 100 euro prize ,the
jury had to select another five schools to have their projects
presented to them. With the decision of the Jury PASCAL
English school, Lemesos, and Larnaka, went through to the
final five! Alexandros Constantinou 6A and Maria Ioannou
5A presented and supported their project extremely well.
The mayor of Limassol, the Ambassador of Sweden the
President of the Water Board and the Competition Coordinator called out the winner – Pascal English School Lemesos!
A considerable amount of hard work was put into this competition by the pupils and they deserved to be placed in the
top five places!
Congratulations these pupils who have made the school
proud as they sacrificed a lot of their own personal time. It’s
an honour to represent your country in such a healthy competitive manner.
So, Stockholm, here we come!
PAGE 6
PAGE 3
SUMM ER EDITION 2011
PAMINA
International
Swimming
MEDI. M.U.N.
Maya Athanatou
The
6th
Annual Session of MEDI.M.U.N.
(Mediterranean Model
United Nations) which
took place on 11th—13th
February 2011 has come
to an end. PASCAL English School, Lemesos, was
successfully represented in
the Conference by a group
of people who performed
at full capacity to gain as
much as they could from it.
MEDI.M.U.N involves a
lot of thinking, confidence
and intellectual skills. It
demands innovative ideas
and critical thinking, but
most of all it involves hard
work. The pressure of
preparation is not mild; the
knowledge you must acquire should not be vague
and research should be as
complete as possible. In
order to produce a good
resolution, it is essential to
be passionate about your
topic
a n d
m o s t
importantly
do a lot
of research.
T h e
5A
March is said
to
be
the
2A
‘French’ month.
This is why our School with the
invaluable assistance of our
French Teacher Ms Vassiliki Vassiliou, organised a French Day in
March.
Christina Loungridou
It was a different day, with French
music in the atmosphere, French
cakes and sweets.
During the three breaks, pupils
and teachers had the opportunity
to taste and buy a selection of
different sweets, cookies, cakes,
macaroons. We were all really
proud of ourselves when at the
end of the day
we realized we
had managed to
sell everything.
Everyone enjoyed the ‘French Day’
Takis Papadopoulos
and would like to have a French
2A
Day organised at our School every
year.
PAMINA International Swimming Meeting
is held by Bad-Bergsabern in Germany
The money that was collected was every year in the middle of March. It is well
given to the First Prize winners of known around the world because 27
the French Competition which took countries take part. From those 27 countries there were 49 nautical clubs. Also,
place earlier in the year.
many top class countries joined, such as
Canada, Russia, France, Italy, Germany,
Anna Taveli, a pupil from 1A was
Luxemburg and many others. For Cyprus,
the lucky girl who won an amount of the Nautical Club of Lemesos and Pafos
€250. Congratulations to Anna and participated.
we are all looking forward to next With four gold medals, two silver and
year’s successful French Day.
three bronze ones and many places in the
first six athletes, the Nautical Club of Lemesos achieved to get the 10th place in
the top 10 of all the Clubs.
I received three gold medals as an individual and one bronze with the team, and as
a result I won the prize for the best athlete
of my age.
Fondue, Marshmallows
and macarons—french
sweets
Cultural Corner—Germany
Germany is a country in Western and Eastern Europe. The capital and largest city is
Berlin. German is the official spoken language.
From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents
in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been called Das Land der
Melina Diogenous
Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers).
2A
German cuisine varies from region to region. The southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia,
for instance, share a culinary culture with Switzerland and Austria. In all regions, meat is often eaten in sausage form.Organic food has gained a market share of around 2 percent, and is expected to increase further.
Although wine is becoming more popular in many parts of Germany, the national alcoholic drink is beer.
German beer consumption per person is declining, but at 116 litres annually it is still among the highest in the
world
Germany is also an industrial powerhouse. In the Ruhrgebiet (Essen, Oberhausen, Duisburg and surroundings) there is heavy industry, different car
brands like Mercedes (near Stuttgart), BMW and VW make Germany one
of the world’s biggest car producers and Frankfurt is the country’s bank
and finance centre, called also ‘Mainhattan’ (‘Main’ is a river in Frankfurt).
Katerina Nicolaou (5A) as the
Delegate of Egypt giving her
Speech
experience however, that
this conference offers to
every single delegate, the
new skills and abilities
cultivated by each participant during these three
days are so great, that offset any fatigue created
while preparing.
The first day (Friday) is
called the day of ‘lobbying
and merging’. The delegates are separated into
their General Assemblies.
The whole Conference is
divided into three GAs
which deal with different
topics: DISARMAMENT,
ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE AND HUMAN
RIGHTS.
Each GA then deals with
three more specific topics
and each delegate is requested to produce a resolution on one of them,
representing a country
world wide. The first day,
delegates of each GA
group split into teams of 4
-10 people, who had written a Resolution on the
same topic and merge it
into one final Resolution.
Despite the hard work
included in the day, the
delegates’ social horizons
are widened as they get
the opportunity to cooperate with people they’d
never seen before.
The final Resolution is
then to be debated on the
second day of the Conference (Saturday). The excitement and agitation of
the delegates fills up the
air in the room of each
GA. Sometimes agreements, others frictions…
A debating day without
attacks would not worth in
any way, and the participants make sure that they
use 100% of their knowledge and capacities to
convince the House to
vote for or against each
Resolution. After a number of Resolutions are
chosen by the delegates,
the Approval Panel makes
the final decision on passing just one of the resolutions from each GA. Competition in the 6th Annual
Meeting of MEDI.M.U.N
was exceptional but what I
have personally felt was
that whether your resolution is successful or not, is
of little significance in
front of what a delegate
could
learn
a n d
absorb
f r o m
such a
Conference.
Finally,
Stefanie Nicolaou (6A)
t h e
three
unbeaten Resolutions are
debated in front of all the
delegates of all GAs. One
of those will be the victorious one and will be finally
sent to the United Nations.
Simultaneously with the
General Assemblies, the
Security Council and the
Special Event took place. It
was our honour that Charris Nicolaou was sent as
the Representative of PASCAL English School Lemesos in the Special Mission.
MEDI.M.U.N is a Conference of unique character
because it ensures that all
pupils of different skills
and interests acquire something special. During the
debates, the average mark
of the School, the level of
intelligence and not to be
an advantage of any Delegation. While disputing,
confidence, passion, determination, modesty and
diplomacy outweigh any
superficial advantage as the
above. For this reason,
MEDI.M.U.N is appealing
to each and every pupil.
So, don’t doubt about participating next year. It is
definite that you will have
something to remember for
Lobbying and Merging
History Competition
On the 12th of April 2011,
PASCAL English School Lemesos organized
Ms Georgina Miltiadous
a History Competition on the events that shook the
world in the 20th century. Four teams
of five pupils from Upper School and
Lower School participated in this
competition.
The winning team number 2 consisted of Orestis Leonida (1A), Zoe
Papasavva (2A), Rolando Virardi (3A),
Michael Kazoulis (3B) and Maya
Athanatou (5A).
This was the first time that a History
Competition was held at school. However, it was very successful, pupils
and teachers enjoyed it and will now
become an Annual Event.
The Winning Team
PASCAL English School Delegates during
the General Assembly and Debating
PAGE 4
SUMM ER EDITION 2011
Science Fair 2011
On Saturday, 14th
May 2011,
Xenia and Stavrina Pieridi
pupils
of
3A & 3B
PASCAL
English School, Lemesos, Larnaka and Lefkosia, had the
opportunity to present their
Science projects at the Premises of PASCAL English
School in Larnaka.
Lots of hard work and enthusiasm went into the preparation
of projects for the Science Fair,
but it was definitely worth it.
We proudly won 1st prize since
we managed to impress the
judges with our Science project.
Projects on Display
A journey through
Education...
PASCAL English School and
Ioanna Georgiou PASCAL Greek School, Lemesos, organized a Com2A
mon Function—a Tribute to
the Folkloric Song.
The event was held
on 6th May 2011 at
Κηποθέατρο in Lemesos was a huge
Xenia and Stavrina Pieridi
success. It comAt the Science Fair in Larnaka—proud to
prised poems, danchave won 1st prize.
PASCAL English
ing and songs as well School and Greek
as rich audio visual ma- School pupils reciting and singing traditerial.
tional poems and
We were proud to have
songs
the ‘Folklore Society of
Lemesos’, renowned for their offer to
cultural events in Lemesos, who kindly
participated. Furthermore, Mr. Michalis
Pieris from the University of Cyprus honoured us with his presence and offered
the preface at the event.
More than 100 children participated
from both schools and a great number of
Teachers were actively involved.
The event was educational and at the
ing ‘Reflection’
same time entertaining. Upon arrival,
and enjoying every Lemesos Contestants parents, teachers and generally memwaiting for the results
moment of it.
bers of the audience had the chance to
Aristotelis Marcou, a senior pupil, taste traditional food and snacks.
dancing ‘tatsia’ showing that tradition The event was divided into two parts, the
still exists amongst young people. Ste- Introduction and Speeches in Part I and
fanos Elpidoforou with his guitar and poems, singing and dancing in Part II.
‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’. And Parents left with the best impressions
finally, the youngest ones, Olivia Nico- and the hard work and effort which was
put into preparing it were evident.
laou and Elena Petridou singing ‘When
Well done to the children who particiI look at you’, accompanied by Meropi
pated, the teachers who gave up their
Loizou and her beautiful ballet dance. time to assist and prepare the pupils as
well as Ms Despina Pieri, Headmistress
Unfortunately, there were no winners of PASCAL Greek School, Lemesos, who
from Lemesos this time. However, was the General Coordinator of the event
participating is an amazing experience ‘Ο λαός καλά γνωρίζει της ψυχής τα πάθη’
and at least, there is the opportunity to (People are well aware of the passions of
the soul…’).
take part again next year.
Hidden Talents’ Evening IX
The Hidden Talents’ EveAndroniki Elpidoforou ning has always
been a success
3B
and has become
an Annual Event, usually taking
place one week after the Easter
Holidays. Pupils always show lots of
excitement for it and it definitely
attracts lots of people.
PASCAL English School, Lemesos,
Larnaka and Lefkosia come together
and finally put on a memorable show,
a mixture of hidden talents and amazing performances.
Each ‘sister’ school goes through a
process of Auditions and Semi-Final
Competitions in order to finally come
up with the best five acts, which will
represent each school in the Grand
Final. The task is difficult and enjoyable at the same time.
This year we had Xenia and Stavrina
Pieridi with a breathtaking combination of ballet, hip hop and contemporary dance. Michalis Antoniou sing-
The Folklore Society of
Limassol honoured us
with their presence and
participation in the
School’s
Common Function
PAGE 5
Army Life
As it is expected,
most of the boys in years 5
and 6 are or will start gathering information about the
Army. It is something
Kyriakos Antoniou that you cannot influence; rumors will chase
you either you like it or not. When Ms
Mavrikiou asked me to write this article I was
very glad on the one hand since I was given the
opportunity to prepare my freshmen about what
they were going to face but on the other hand
very confused because I had no idea of what
army was back then, you see I was a freshman
myself. However, time passed extremely
quickly, now I am almost a senior soldier and
in my opinion I can tell you a few things about
life in the Army and guess what! The army sky
is not that dark after all.
The first difficulty that you are going
to face is living with a lot of people. If someone
has gone summer-camping in the past this will
help him understand, the others just endure the
shock. You may have heard that having a
housemate during your studies at the University
is not an easy thing, a lot of trust, honesty and
obligation is needed between you and your
housemate. Now imagine sleeping not in a
house but a room with not 1 or 2 but 15 to 20
other soldiers. Each person is different and has
his own catalogue of peculiarity. This can be
snoring, smoking in the room, spitting, throwing litter everywhere, not having regular baths,
refusing to do his cleaning duties etc. As one
can understand, although at the beginning these
are likely to be annoying, I can guarantee that
you will get used to all these soon enough. I
suppose it is in our DNA, human beings are
social animals and being in a society means
compromising.
Another hardship that you will have
when entering the army is the discipline. Unfortunately officers are not like teachers. If you do
not obey the teacher he may lower your mark;
if you do not obey the officer you will not see
your family and friends. As you can understand
the second one is much more direct and noticeable than the first one. Discipline in the army is
everywhere and you need to make sure when it
is the right time to break that discipline. This
takes time to learn and it is one of the greatest
differences between freshmen and senior soldiers. Moreover, a great part of the army discipline may seem unreasonable but we must not
forget that the reason that army exists, war, is
an illogical and unnatural phenomenon. So do
not complain when the teachers try to silence
you during the teaching periods or tell you to
fix your tie and cut your hair; this is a way to
develop self discipline which will help you to
get used to the army regulations.
Nevertheless, the greatest problem of
soldiers is the lack of freedom. It is my personal view that in the army one learns the true
meaning of being free and independent. It is not
so much the discipline that limits your actions
but the fact that you are kept enclosed in an
area for too long without the possibility of
enjoying some habits like going to a café with
your friends. Consequently, a lot of times you
may feel like a prisoner which is a major factor of the psychological distress that almost
every soldier feels more or less when being
inside the army camp. Additionally, soldiers
are not being limited just on the places that
they are allowed to go but also on the activities
that they can have. This is mainly due to the
small amount of free time, the psychological
tiredness and army regulations. If you wish to
do something productive during the time that
you will be in the army the best that you will
have to do is become a “dokimos”, which
means that you will have a service roughly
about 4 times a month and no guarding duties,
but to do so a lot of preparation is needed for
the exams that will take place in the period of
KEN. But even if you do not manage to pass,
if you are a strong character and determined to
do your military service in your own way then
I am positive you will find the time and the
way to do so.
It may sound strange and unfamiliar
but apart from the complications of the army
our military service might also provide us with
some extremely useful experiences and lessons.
Firstly, in the army you create a lot
of connections with various people. In this
way you learn how to deal with all these different people and thus develop a more attractive image. Furthermore these connections
might be proved very useful in the future.
Even if you just know someone by his name
due to the fact that you might have served in
the same army camp may be proved as a solid
base for the development of trust and business
cooperation between two people. In addition,
the stronger friendships might be developed in
the army. This is due to the fact that soldiers
go through a lot of obscure incidents together
which helps a lot in the evolution of trust and
understanding between them. In this way, the
military service becomes more pleasant and
appears shorter. But the army does not just
helps in the development of a social network.
Secondly, it is not a coincidence
that army is usually called a great school of
life. A lot of skills that are required in life are
being obtained through the military service.
For instance, respecting your colleagues and
superiors, taking responsibility, accepting the
consequences of you own actions, being punctual, loyal and trustworthy are few of the
qualities that one exercises while being in the
army. These characteristics are continuously
tested in the army via your daily service and
your commitment to your captain. Moreover,
in the army one is being taught how to claim
his rights, how important it is to be aware of
them and protect his own dignity. Soldiers
taking advantage of each other is
not something unusual in the circles
of the army so one needs to learn
quickly how to cope in order not to
become the victim and be considered weak and easily manipulated.
Unfortunately, these are things that
one will learn the hard way but it is
still better making mistakes during
the military service than in real life.
Thirdly, there is also an
advantage that army gives to
youngsters who have done their
military service compared to those
who been exempted. Apart from the
regulation that whoever has not
done his military service is not allowed to work in the public sector,
employers in the private sector also
take into consideration the military
service in their future employees’
CVs. Those employees who have
done their military service are generally considered more committed
to their work due to the qualities
that were mentioned before and
which are being strengthened
through the conditions that one
lives during his military duty. It
should be also mentioned that if
anyone manages to get a military
ranking this can be also seen as an
extra qualification from the universities resulting in a more attractive
student image. So in other words
the military service might become
the tool to better working and
studying opportunities.
To conclude, in my opinion army
tastes like life; sweet and sour. It
may have its challenges like everything in the world but at the same
time it can be pleasant, warm and
beneficial. Keep these in mind and
always look from the side view of
the future, good luck and I will be
waiting for you arrival.