Something about matura exam and my school. :)

MATURA EXAM
It is high time to explain what the Polish matura exam is and say something about my high school. :) So it is the most important exam for teenagers who want to study in the university  because on its results depend the kind of university in which they can begin learning.   So every student of high school in order to apply to the university have to take exam in Polish, Maths and a foreign language (the majority of students chooses English, but German, French and Russian are also popular) and they also can take exam in other subjects like e.g. physics, geography, biology, chemistry, history and more if they want but it is not necessary.  Every exam we can take in two levels – standard and extended. Moreover we have two exams in Polish – written and oral (it is presentation which should take 15 minutes, we choose theme a few months before the exam and we prepare to it. My theme was “ Siberia in Polish literature and  paintings of 19^th century.”). We also have to take written and oral exams in foreign language (it is a talk during which we have to describe a photo and answer some questions about it, we also have a talk with examiner about a particular subject like e.g. shopping, health or travelling) and we have a listening exam. 


MY SCHOOL 

I have been learning in my high school for three years and it was a nice experience. Of course at the beginning I had some problems with adjusting to living without my family and old friends because my hometown is about 300km away from Gdynia, but finally I found friends here and I got used to living in Gdynia. :) My school is quite modern – we have an online register and a few interactive whiteboards in classrooms. :) There are also two labs, assembly hall with scene where  concerts and exams take place, gym, library and reading room and more.  One lesson takes 45 minutes and breaks are various – the longest is 20 minutes and during the breaks music is played thanks to our school radio. In classes are usually about 30 people, but they are divided into two groups – one is with standard English and second is bilingual. Moreover every class has other subjects learned in extended way - I was in class with high level History, Polish and Social studies. There is also International Baccalaureate  class and Middle Years Programme class and it is why sometimes in my school  foreigners are learning  – e.g. last year there was a German  girl.  And the biggest advantage of my school is localisation – only 5 minutes to the Baltic Sea! :)

 

The motto of my school is “Vir honestus and bonus civis” 
what means “A good man and a decent citizen”.

 Next to the entrance in my school  there is a signpost – people in my school 
are ambitious, so some of them get also into university in e.g. England or the USA. :)

Canteen.

 

Places  where students can read book or magazine in silence.

The hall. In our school over 650 students are learn so building is spacious.

The cloakroom. A lot of students also have their private locker.

 

Playground.

 

This school is one of the best public schools in Poland, so there are people 
from all over Poland and they live in  dormitory which is in the same building as 
school. I have been living for two years in dormitory and this year I moved in with
 Wanda and  rented a flat. :) In one room in the dormitory three or four people usually live.

The assembly hall -all prepared for matura exam.

 

Some students are working in a lab.

My class in classroom with Japanese motives. :) 
This photo was taken during our last Latin lesson.

 

There is also a wealth of events organize in my school. We have St. Patric Day and everybody who wears this day something green doesn’t have to write any quiz. What’s more, we have also Languages’ Day, and Day of “Songs sung in English” and also in German, Russian, and French and in this singing contest there are always precious prizes (laptops and language courses).  Also “I got a talent” school edition takes place in this school. Students can also be members of school bridge class or movie making class (I was a member :)). 

 

Finally, it is how my school looks outside.

 

Some of those photos were taken by me and some are from my school's website.  :)

The papal cream cake. :)

This week I am going to complete my matura exam – I have last oral exam (presentation from Polish language) on Friday. Matura exam passed with good marks can enable me to get into University from my dreams.:) But what connects papal cream cake and matura exam? I am going to explain that now. :)

Papal cream cakes are called “papal” because they were Pope John Paul the Second’s favourite cakes. Once when he visited his hometown Wadowice (in southern Poland) he indicated the place where there was bakery in which he bought with his friends cream cakes after matura exams. Since that time it is a quite popular custom celebrated by high school students to eat papal cream cake after this exhausting for a brain time. :)

Together with Wanda we baked “kremówki” (it’s a Polish name for this cake) in the previous month. We did this quickly because we had craving for something sweet and in our house there were only ingredients for this cake. This is also why our “kremówki” didn’t look like this traditional ones which should be made from puff pastry. Here you can find a recipe for papal cream cakes. :) Bon appetit! :)

And now photos of our “kremówki”.

Still hot, but for us ready to eat! :)

You can see that we made something like a sponge cake.

But as I wrote it should be puff pastry like in this photo.

It is a papal cream cake which Wanda bought for me after my matura exam in Polish.:)

Walk on the 3rd of May -third part and last.

Next attraction on our road was “Dar Pomorza”. As you can see it is just behind “ORP Błyskawica” which is really convenient for tourists. :)

“Dar Pomorza” means “ Pomeranian Gift”. It is named like that because it was bought in 1929 from the british Baron de Foreste by the Polish community of Pomerania for £7,000, as the new training ship for the Polish Naval Academy in Gdynia. Under ship’s name is also Polish emblem – white eagle with crown on the red background.

I am not sure, but once I heard that flags on ships are the symbols of the countries the ship has visited. Anyway it looks better with colourful flags than without and I am a big fan of it!

What’s more? Hmm.. Of course we met a dangerous pirate next to the ship who…

Wasn’t afraid talking with little girl! And moreover gave her candies. Too nice for a pirate! Isn’t it?

But his behaviour is not strange when you know that he had his companions nearby always ready to help him! :)

Although on a normal day pirates keep an eye on the shop with souvenirs. :)

Walk on the 3rd of May - part two. :)

After leaving boulevard we have been passing by some stalls with toys, colourfull balloons and with candyfloss thinking what delicious thing can we buy to make our walk more and more pleasant when…

We realised that our favourite game is ready to use after the winter break! So we spent money on this and also on some postcards and that is why we still didn’t eat ice cream this year. :)

We also saw some stalls with sunglasses and it was really helpful for some people sensitive to sun, because in those days sunlight was so strong and it was over 20 °C !

Because of this weather, it is not surprising that some children were playing with water next to Gdynia’s well known fountain. :)

This fountain is located in one of the most touristic places in Gdynia – in “Kościuszko’s Square” (it is name for honour of the Tadeusz Kościuszko who led the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia) and in the same place there are also another tourist’s attractions like for example “ORP Błyskawica” and “Dar Pomorza” which both are museum ships. I have for you some photos of this ships, but more information I will add afterwards because with Wanda we are going to visit both inside in the end of May. :)

ORP Błyskawica was a Grom-class destroyer serving in the Polish Navy during World War II.

Obviously some willing people visited this museum. :) On this day access was free.

And naturally some seamen show them around the ship. :)

And at the end - windows which I like. :)

And ship's name on the hull – “BŁYSKAWICA” means lightening. :)

Walk on the 3rd of May - part one. :)

Last week there was a nice time for the most of Poles, because some of them didn’t have to work for almost 9 days! :) Every year three first days of May are in Poland free from work. It is thanks to “International Workers' Day” which we celebrate on 1st May and “May 3rd Constitution Day”. The 2nd May is an extra free day for students and some workers (depending on the place they work). :)

International Workers' Day is celebrated in Poland since 1890 and it commemorates strikes in Chicago during which peoples demanded 8 hours work day. In Poland it is tradition to organize some marches at this time and we hang flags of Poland everywhere (on street lamps or balconies).

More important and more “Polish” is May 3rd Constitution Day – our national and public holiday. On this day we celebrate declaration of the Constitution of May 3, which took place in 1791. It was second constitution in the world – the first was American. Here you can see a painting showing this event painted by famous Polish painter Jan Matejko. On this day there are also parades and concerts, unfortunately I didn’t take part in any of them, because I had to study to my final exams, but I took a walk with Wanda in order to relax and enjoy sunny weather. There were a lot of tourists on the seashore, because this year the 1st of May was on Tuesday and 3rd was on Thursday , so if somebody took leave on Monday or Friday, then they can rest all week and do some travelling. :)

Boulevard and hung flags. :)

Tree in bloom and Sea Towers in sunlight.

Flock of tourists caused good opportunity to earn some money, thus during walk we meet some:

*Girls selling nice hand-made jewellery,

*Talented men playing cello (if I’m not wrong :) ).

*And resourceful boys playing and singing in order to collect some money for spaceship as they wrote on their “indicator board”.:)

People on the beach also weren’t stiff bored, because:

There were some daredevils who tried to catch girls’ attention. :)

And volleyball lovers had possibility to play. :)