Italy
11.09.2005 – 02.10.2005
Dear friends,
we wish to write you these few lines to share with you our impressions on the time we spent together.
There are many a reasons why we are happy with our stay in Kaliningrad.
Lessons had been thoroughly prepared and were therefore very effective and useful. We particularly enjoyed the limited number of students per class and the number of books students have at their disposal.
The tandem partners are particularly helpful and smooth the student integration in the everyday life. To be specific, our tandem partners were very nice and we would recommend them to any future Italian or German student.
We appreciated the organization of the excursions. The pace of one/two excursions per week is well tailored and it gives a nice opportunity to discover the Kaliningrad's Region.
Everybody in the school has been very kind to us in a number of situations. Only to mention a few, you helped us in having our hair cut, provided us with pictures and... many more occasions including making KBAC and supporting us in the everyday problems. By the way, we showed our parents the dvd of the Russian Choir and they were enthusiast. My sister asked me to make a copy for her. We thank you a lot for the birthday party: I (Matteo) will never forget having the Crocodile Gena's song singen especially for me in front of a real Samovar.
It is a difficult task to find things that could be improved.
We believe all students going to Kaliningrad are keen to discover the delicious dishes of the celebrated Russian "Cuisine". This is why we would recommend you to consider typical Russian restaurants for group lunches/dinners. For example, it is our belief that the restaurant "Mjod - Honey" (Lenininskji Prospekt) is the best you can find in Kaliningrad.
As it concerns the group lessons, there is one remark I (Matteo) would like to do. It is for sure extremely difficult to make a lesson for students with completely different background, personality, wishes and maturity. It is therefore necessary to make a compromise between the needs of less-prepared students and the ambitious goals of more advanced learners. Nevertheless, it should never happen that a student does not understand half of the content of a lesson or that there is any correlation between the insistence of a student and the fulfillment of his desires.
The contribution from the students is essential to keep the apartment in a proper condition. For instance, we would suggest that the students never use the washing machine when it is almost empty.
Thank you one more time for the great time we spent together, Faithfully yours, Silvia and Matteo
p.s.: I (Silvia) would like to send my greetings also to my classmate Beatrice and to pray you (Ilia) to register as many cats as reasonably possible... As a last remark, I am very grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to prove that I drive faster than Matteo on karts !