NEW YORK CITY, BETWEEN TOURISM AND DIPLOMACY

Foto di Giorgio Taragnani

The adventures of the students from Fermi in New York.

by Borlovan Vlad

At the beginning of April students from Fermi and other schools around Italy went to New York City to take part in the United Nations’ project ‘Future We Want’. To do this, students all around Mantova went to Fermi to take a two-month course in diplomacy, which ended in a final simulation in Verona on March 23rd.

The actual diplomacy activity took place in the weekend between April 4th and 6th. It started in the UN headquarters for the opening ceremony, which also gave the students the opportunity to meet real ambassadors from various countries, each of them giving a speech to motivate newer generations to take part in making the world a better place. During these three days agreements were made, papers were written and resolutions were voted on to solve various world issues. The closing ceremony took place on Sunday, where the best performing ambassadors were awarded a prize for their hard work .

The other six days were dedicated to exploring New York City with trips to various places such as Times Square with its giant screens, Grand Central station with its constellations drawn on the ceiling, Central Park with its squirrels and literary walks and the Empire State Building with its dizzying heights. Also, the Public Library with the Bill of Rights and history of The New Yorker, DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) with the Brooklyn Bridge, Ellis Island with its museum on immigration and Wall Street, which we visited right when the stocks crashed.
And how not to go to Little Italy with its myriad of restaurants, then the Museum of Modern Art with Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” among many others, the Twin Towers Memorial with the Oculus underground mall, the Statue of Liberty and last but not least the UN headquarters.

Students were given plenty of freedom during these days, which might have been a risk considering how big New York City is. Fortunately, this risk was managed well by teachers Ranucci, Puviani, Ferrari and the Principal Pavesi, and students were given the choice where to eat and who to stay with, so everything went pretty smoothly. An eye to shopping was considered thanks to the presence of stores from many major companies like LEGO and Disney, especially in Times Square.

Being in America also posed a few challenges besides the use of English itself.
An example is the cost of products and in particular of water, which was even more expensive than sugary beverages.

However, this adventure in New York, for many the first time going to America, turned out very well considering both the diplomacy and tourism, and students were very happy to have taken on this challenge.