Costa Rican Students Write Blogs About Life in Europe

In a competition called El Blog de la Unión Europea (“The European Union’s Blog”), prizes were given to fifteen Costa Rican secondary students on Wednesday for their efforts in an online diary competition. The Ticos were awarded with language and computer course grants, European culture books and CDs. Their accounts recounted the tales of European life and all its idiosyncrasies, from the points of view of young Latin Americans and their experiences on the continent.

The Costa Rica education competition was opened at the end of August 2008 and ran for a month. The objective was for the young Ticos to discover, learn and share information and opinions about the European Union (EU) and their member countries. This was to be presented in the form of an online diary, otherwise known as a blog. The vision was to unite the EU, its countries and citizens with Costa Rican school students. It was organised by European embassies with offices in Costa Rica: Germany, Spain, Belgium, UK, France, Poland, Czech Republic and Italy.

The students had to work in small groups and were able to write about themes and concerns relating to the EU that impassioned them: culture, relationships between Europe and Central America, politics, economics and so forth. The only stipulation was that each blog must include a post entitled Mi Pasaporte a Europa (“My Passport to Europe”). This could include their interests for travelling, studying and learning foreign languages. They were ultimately judged by their writing quality, originality and presentation style by specialists of the Ministry of Public Education, EU representatives and various sponsors.

First prize was won by Sofía Leser D’ambrosio, María Rodríguez Porras and Ximena Mairena Ortiz from the school Colegio Humboldt with Nuestros Conocimientos Europeos (“Our European Knowledge”). In their “My Passport to Europe” entry, these students wrote: “it is important to know those who shaped the history of that continent, for example, the great painters: Da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Donato di Betto Bardi, Raffaello Sanzio, amongst others.”

Second place was awarded to Bairon Pérez Cerdas, Lizeth Vega Vindas, Ronald Alberto Valverde Venegas and Julio Matarrita Sibaja, from the school Colegio Científico de Costa Rica with Unión Europea (“European Union”). This group asserted that they “would like to get to know this continent through its historical and cultural wealth from the Medieval Ages, and the incredible ruins and castles in Europe”. Additionally, they characterised the EU countries as possessing excellent education centres, in which they combine “ancient traditions with education demands”.

All winners will now attend a prize ceremony on Oct. 23, 2008 at the Omar Dengo Foundation, and first place winners will be invited to a lunch organised by the current French Presidency of the EU.

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Filed under: Travel on October 24th, 2008