Published in Pyhäjoki

december 2012Design & layout Sofia Pakkanen

ANOTHER ROUND OF FRESHMEN PLEASE?!

For one night only its time to say goodbye to textbooks and hello to a night you’ll never forget!

So here we are again, another annual freshman prom for one of the best high schools in Romania. As part of tradition the school prom will take place in the biggest and liveliest club in Bucharest: Bamboo, open for one night to the lo-cal high school to celebrate their time in school, the success’ they’ve achieved and also to have a good time with their friends as part of a thank you from the school. Once the party had gotten into full swing and everyone began to socialise you could definitely tell that the atmosphere was going to be electric. There were mirrors everywhere and flashing lights and to anyone whose a freshman this clearly WAS the place to be. The only difference to the prom was that the school got to share the experience with different teachers and students across Europe who have stayed with host families due to a Comenius project aiding students to gather more cultural information and life experiences.

If you were to ask any fresher what is the most anticipated part of the night - they would all answer: watching the contestants perform and compete for the title of Miss and Mister! Pairs of contestants compete to be the best and show off their talents either as a pair or an individual member of the competition. This talents consist of expressive dance, singing, playing an instrument or dra-ma.

Most acts received an amazing response and was appreciated with open arms due to their expressive emotions and also personal thoughts and the ideas they were trying to communicate. However due to the nature of some of the acts and behaviours that we saw on the stage in front of us not everyone shared the same ideas. Due to the fact that Comenius took part in this event we wanted to get an inside view on how the other teachers felt the prom was deemed acceptable and

whether they agreed with the behaviour witnessed on stage.

With no surprise at all the Romanian staff appreciated the talents that the schools students were showing off to potentially win one of the titles up for grabs, but in comparison most teachers agreed that there was a lot of cultural differences and they felt that their celebrations were very different to their own. Whilst talking to some teachers involved in the project, they expressed that they believed that the behaviour and entertainment of the night was very hard to watch due to the nature of some acts and their ages however they also expressed that it didn’t bother them due to cultural differences.

Over all it was a really good night and everyone seemed to have fun, both stu-dents and teachers. With an impressive atmosphere, flowing drinks and regular breaks for dancing we must admit it’s a night that we wont be able to forget any-

By: Somer Fufalko (UK), Bog-dan Miron (RO), Teodora Agarici (RO), Alina Iacob (RO), Marina Marcu (RO), Ahmet Ceyhum Ersan (TR), Hanna Makinen (FI)

time soon. It was definitely an experience worth taking away from our visit to Romania.

At the end of the day it is all meant to be a bit of fun and not to be taken so seriously but where do you draw the line on fun?

Q: How did you feel during your performance?A: I felt really great due to the audience being supportive and joining in with the songs. Also, I find the freshmen audience a lot more exciting than what I thought.Q: Were your performance needs met by the organizers?A: Yes, the performance needs were met and I am very grateful to the organizers for the effort put into the Freshmen Prom. The expectations I had before the Fresh-man Prom were average, but when I got there, I was proven wrong by the flawless organization.Q: What’s the difference between performing at a Freshman Prom and a regular con-cert?

Inspired by his father who was a musician, Alex Ve-lea became one of the most popular pop singers in Romania. His show had put up an incredible atmos-phere for the students, due to his unique dance moves well-known by many and vocals that inspired the youngsters to party. Luckily for us, he gladly an-swered a few questions that we had about the Fresh-man Prom.

The Freshmen Prom through the eyes of Alex Velea

A: At the Freshman Prom, the younger audience are more open-minded during the performance when singing and dancing, and seems to be more energetic. I en-joy performing to the audience of such an event.Q: Do you have a message for the members of the T.I.M.E. Comenius Project?A: I wish you a very good school year and good luck with your pro-ject. I was glad that I could help you.

‘Hello Vlad, I would like to congratulate you on tak-ing part in the contest, in my opinion you did very well and it was a shame that you didn’t receive a title to take home with you. How did you feel about the judges deci-sion?’ V: The judges’ decision was fair. The only thing you can do is accept their decision. You can’t complain; they are always right. Was it worth taking part in this event? V: Of course it was. Who wouldn’t want to appear on Bamboo’s stage, to show off on the catwalk in front of so many people watching your every move? And adding the special treatment you get the month before the prom, the whole experience turns into something great. How confident did you feel in the competition? V: The confidence and expectations are useless. You just go on the stage and do your best, hoping that your per-formance will be impressing. But the final decision is not yours, so you have to be prepared for losing, no matter how hard you’ve tried. Was it important for you to win? If so, why? V: Maybe winning is important, but more important is to remain the same after its ending. A ribbon and a title shouldn’t change your personality. all the participants; you can’t modify them. As I said, you have to do your best and hope the crowd will be on your side. How would this affect your social and school life? V: If this contest will affect my social and school life, I hope it will be in a good way. Although I don’t think so, because all the attention will be focused on the winners. What advice would you give to next years` contestants? V: Dear future contestants, even though you haven’t got a cool talent/attitude, lots of popular friends, and a well built body, you could still try. But you have to be pre-pared for losing. If you can’t do this with dignity, you’re

Relating to the previous article debating on whether the events during the event were deemed acceptable. We decided to follow it up with an interview with a runner up to see if he could enlighten the situation on how important these events are.

WHO’S THE REAL WINNER IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS? - VLAD CAZACU

just an ordinary freshmen and a real loser.

What factors do you think you could have improved on to have given you a better chance for winning?V: The chances are the same for all the participants; you can’t modify them. As I said, you have to do your best and hope the crowd will be on your side. How would this affect your social and school life? V: If this contest will affect my social and school life, I hope it will be in a good way. Although I don’t think so, because all the attention will be focused on the winners. What advice would you give to next years` contestants? V: Dear future contestants, even though you haven’t got a cool talent/attitude, lots of popular friends, and a well built body, you could still try. But you have to be prepared for losing. If you can’t do this with dignity, you’re just an ordinary freshmen and a real loser.

By: Somer Fufalko (UK), Bogdan Miron (RO), Teodora Agarici (RO), Alina Iacob (RO), Marina Marcu (RO), Ahmet Ceyhum Ersan (TR), Hanna Mäkinen (FI)

VOX POPULI

1)The atmosphere is very hot and the disco is big. The structure of the disco is really fancy and also I`ve found that Romanian girls are very hot.2)We don`t have a prom back home. The italian parties are different. The thing that is different is the music because it is too commercial and kind of ridiculous. It`s also different because we don`t have parties connected with the school.3)In my opinion the artists are ridiculous and I didn`t like the music.

Alessandro Faggi(IT)

1) Honestly, it is a quite monotonous atmosphere to me as I don’t enjoy the noisy music and the smoke I’ve found here.2) We don’t have a Freshmen Prom in Poland. The only school event is the prom at the end of the school year yet even that is smaller than this one. In the opening of the prom, the guests dance on traditional Polish music, fol-lowed by all types of modern songs that I’ve heard here as well.3) As I mentioned earlier, I don’t listen to this type of music therefore I’m not really finding it a pleasant experience.4) I liked Carina Onofrei’s moment the most – the one who sent the blue lights all around the club.

Justyna Parzonko(PL)

We have interviewed students from Italy, Slovakia, UK, Turkey, Poland and Finland on what they think about the prom which they took part of. We asked them the following questions: 1)What do you think of the atmosphere at the prom?2) Do you have such an event in your school? If yes, how is it in compari-son to the Romanian prom?3)What is your opinion about the artists?4) In your opinion, who should win the competition?

1) Great, I have never been to a place like this before.2) We have something similar, the senior prom, but it is more private. There are only teachers and students invited, all of them coming from the same class, to-gether with the parents.3) I have really enjoyed Corina’s performance. She was great. She knows how to party…4) The show with the lasers. (Ca-rina Onorfei, 1st place)

Tomas Skokna (SK)

1) I dance, it’s really fun. I enjoy it.2) We have this dance, but it’s a whole different thing. If we would have a party like that in Finland, it wouldn’t work. You have to be 18 to go in the pubs and so on.3) I was actually having conversa-tions with all romanian people so I didn’t pay attention to the music.4) I didn’t follow the talent show because it was more important to get to know other people.

Hinni Viirret (Pyhäjoki-FI)

1) The atmosphere of the prom is a lot different to what I’m used to.2) The prom is wilder and has less rules.3) I’ve really enjoyed listening to Corina.

Somer Fufalko (UK)

1) The prom is good. The only thing I don’t like is the music be-cause it is quite loud for me. 2) Yes we have, but our prom is not that kind of party, it’s more like a classic ball.3) They were ok , but I know some better artists.4) I didn’t watch all of the com-petition because I was with my friends.

Sofia Nuhkola (Lammi-FI)

How would you rate the prom on a scale of 1-10 and why? 8-9, because the contest was created more like a show, not like a competition itself. So, as a jury, it was quite difficult for us to concentrate on the individuals, because we tended to see the whole image of the participants. They were more like a team, than opponents so i think i would have changed something here. However, the show was very entertaining, but they had to insist on the contest. The performances were not very well linked among themselves and this might have been an issue.

Do you think the standard of proms improves each year?Every year, the perspective of the prom, the theme and the organizers change, that is why some differences appear. I believe our high school has a reputation to maintain, so the stand-ard is always very high. What are the disadvantages or problems when organising a prom? The main disadvantage is that there were over 20 organizers, so the communication was very scanty and they all had many ideas. Another problem was to find sponsors, whose promises weren’t materialized.

What do you think of the talent challenges this year? There were many great moments, but three of them really caught my eye. For example, there was the lights show, the piano performance and the ballet.

What is your overall opinion about the prom? It was definitely a success for everybody involved in this event; it was an outstanding show, very carefully organized and I congratulate our stu-dents for their effort showed not only during the preparations, but also during the night.

I DO NOT DANCE

We were lucky to have a chance to make an interview with an ex-student of “Gheorghe Lazăr”. She is Dana Rogoz, who is a Romanian actress. In order to come to this prom, she had to change her program. It was good for us to have an opportu-nity to compare the previous proms and the new ones. We thank her that she did this for us!

Why did you agree to take part in this comitee to-night? I was invited by one of the organizers on my Face-book page because I studied in Lazăr and because I was part of the organizational committe just like this one. I know how hard it is and what problems may appear and how hard the singers accept the invitation. So I rescheduled my program for at-tending this prom. We know you studied in Lazăr. What was the prom like in those days?

I didn’t graduate that long ago, but honestly, it looks like you are more mature when it comes to this kind of events. We used to be very chaotic. And yes, it was just as crowded as now, only that the music was worse. The “Miss&Mister ” contest had 7 parts. I think that you found an innovative method to present it.

What do you take into consideration when you vote? I have multiple sections: catwalk, dance, talents. I will also take into account the opinion of the pub-lic. But it will be hard, because the girls are really good and they are also beautiful and talented. But I wait for the individual audition, because in group they all do a very good job!

We interviewed Mr Honey about his per-formance with Corina.

What made you decide to go up on stage? I don’t think i decided to go on stage, I very kindly volunteered by other staff to go on stage and because obviously they were wanting somebody from the party and noone else was willing to go I thought its only best that some-one should go, and that was me.

Is this something you would usually do? No. I do not dance. I do not enjoy dancing because I know that I can’t as was demonstrated last night. I can’t dance.

After your performance do you think you have a future in show business? (Mr Honey laughs for 10 seconds) I think X-factor is going to look out because I will be the next big thing, I think not.

What did you say to Corina? Was that her name?

Nothing, I don’t think I said anything to her because if she asked me questions I didn’t un-derstand what she was saying. So I just looked blankly at her and then the microphone was thrust into my face so I just said what I said.

Do you think your stundents will see you differ-ently after last night?

I think that anytime a teacher can be seen out-side the classroom by students is good because it makes them appear more real, it makes them seem more than just a teacher in a classroom as all these things there has to that fine line be-tween being seen as somebody that is respected and responsible and seeing as a figure of fun and I hope I just about managed to get on the right side of that line last night.

By: Ryan Martin, Laura Mihaila, Zuzana Jelcicova,Simona-Maria Mafteuta, Diana Ursuleanu,Essi Kestilä, Michele Cacciapuoti, Maria Ologeac,Cristina Discultu

Interview with Vali BârbulescuHave you ever been to a freshmen prom after you finished high school?Yes, I have been there many times, most of them as a presenter.

Can you name three criteria according to which you would choose the winner?There are more, but if I have to pick only three they would be: spontaneous, charismatic and of course, last but not least; body language.

What do you think about the theme chosen for the Freshmen Prom?It was a cliché, but it offers a wide range of choices for the contestants and the organizers.

What is the difference between your prom and the prom of today?There are more people, more singers and it is more celebrated, but the beauty of it stays the same.

What do you think about the way the prom was organized?It was well organized, but with a few gaps that haven’t been attended to. For example, one of the singers, Corina, was half an hour late, which meant I had to entertain the audience on the spot. This wasn’t very good, as it had a knock on effect throughout the evening.

If you were to give a mark between 1 and 10 for the prom, what would it be?I think it would be around 9 because it was a very enjoyable night, but the mistakes took one point off the overall score.

“I don’t particularly like loud music, people drinking alcohol or smoking, but I thought that the musicians were OK.”-Justyna, Poland

“It was a great experience! There were lots of lovely people and good music!”- Viivi, Finland

“I didn’t really like the prom! It’s very different from the ones back in Brit-ain and I prefer them to these ones.”- Somer, UK

“I liked the party because the music, atmosphere and location were good.”-Osman, Turkey

“The things that I liked most were the location and shows.”- Alessandro, Italy

“It was a great atmosphere. I liked being in a big club because I have never been to one before.”-Zuzana, Slovakia

“The prom was the best in the country, just like the school is.”-Sabin, Romania

Unexpected guest in Corina’s performanceOne of the famous artists invited to perform on stage for the Freshmens’ Prom, pop singer Corina started the show with some of her well known songs such as “A ta”(Yours).After having invited some stu-dents to dance with her, the “munky-funky” diva turned towards the Comenius Pro-ject’s table and asked for one the teachers to join her dance. Nick Honey, the Robert Pattin-son Academy’s vice-president, was unanimously chosen to climb on stage.

The climax of the hilarious mis-understanding was when the singer requested Mr. Honey to tell the young audience a mes-sage. Not having understood what he was supposed to say he kindly replied “Good evening ladies and gentlemen!” . “It was the first thing that came to my mind” claimed the teacher after leaving stage. Although it was an amusing moment and the crowd was cheering Mr. Honey, he felt quite embarassed. “It is not my cup of tea to be the center of at-tention.” he explained during his interview.