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Well, where should I start? After graduating from IBSB in June 2017, a few months later I moved to Paris to study fashion design. Speaking French has made everything easier, from sorting out accommodation (bills and rent) to obtaining a metro card, a bank account in France and health insurance. It helped me in my daily activities: like buying fabrics for pattern making and design classes, learning fashion and business words in class, doing my shopping and many more. We all know that the French love to speak their own language, so being able to communicate in French helped me solve all the daily problems I encountered. I had friends who didn’t speak a word of French and they had difficulty getting around Paris on a daily basis, because even to ask for directions, it was better to ask in French than in English – the chances of getting an answer in French were high.
I then moved to London to study something else, and 6 years later I’m still here, I haven’t really had the chance to speak French anymore, just maybe to give instructions in French to foreigners. Recently, I started teaching beginner French lessons to children, so learning the language in high school helped me find a side job.
To conclude, I no longer ended up doing fashion design or staying in France to find a job, but every year I spend vacations in France and come back to Paris to visit my old classmates, and get to know French is always very practical. So, I can say that speaking French helped me much more than my fashion degree.
This week was another big step forward for of our primary school PE teacher, Paul Georgescu, as he returns from New Zealand victorious, having successfully swum the Cook Strait. Departing the southernmost tip of the North Island from Ohau Bay, Paul began the 29km crossing early Monday morning, battling strong currents in cool 17° waters, to eventually touch the shores of Arapaoa Island, at the northern eastern most tip of the South Island in a time of 9:02:11. For Paul this was the sixth leg of the of the OCEANS SEVEN CHALLENGE, which involves crossing 7 of the most difficult straits and canals in the world:
· English Channel
· Catalina Channel
· Molokai Channel
· North Channel
· Strait of Gibraltar
· Cook Strait
· Tsugaru Strait (July 2024)
If Paul completes the final leg of his journey, the Tsugaru Strait, Japan, which he is scheduled to swim in July 2024, he will be one of the few in the world to do so – and the first Romanian – with just 27 swimmers having completed the Oceans Seven Challenge to date. In 2021, Paul was named International Swimmer of the Year at the World Open Water Swimming Association Awards, having set a new Word Record of the Ice Mile (swimming a mile in water below 4°C), having set a new world record for swimming the fastest mile in the Antarctic Circle, and winning a gold medal for the 500m freestyle at the Ice Swimming World Championships.
A huge congratulations to Paul for his incredible achievement from the entire IBSB Community – you are an inspiration to our students and to the next generation of Romanian athletes, teaching us all that with a great deal of effort, perseverance, an unwavering sense of self-belief, and a dedicated support team behind you, the almost unimaginable can become reality.
Healthy habits are the basis for success in any field, from becoming a world-class athlete or businessman to reaching your academic potential. Such habits are not magically built overnight, but require a select number of steps to be implemented most efficiently. The book Atomic Habits by James Clear outlines the four main steps required to adopt any practice, those being making it: obvious, easy, attractive, and satisfying.
Making it obvious:
The easiest way to make a habit obvious is to connect it with a pre-existing habit. This can be done through the creation of a habit stack.
With habit stacking, all you say is: After [current habit], I will [new habit]. For example:
● After I pour my morning coffee, I will read the news for 1 minute
● After I get into bed, I will read for 5 minutes
● When I start to [make myself a plate of food], I will put vegetables on first
Making it easy:
In order to build a habit, you need first to start off small and then build up progressively. James Clear uses the term ‘ Habit Shaping’ to explain how to work your way up to big goals. You simply take a goal (which we’ll identify shortly) and break it down into a series of smaller habits that will lead there. This is the case as it is inhuman to, for example, want to start reading for 2 hours if you are not used to reading before.
Making it attractive:
Humans are naturally drawn to activities that provide immediate pleasure and satisfaction. Therefore, in order to create a long-lasting habit, you should make it as attractive as possible. This can be done by rewarding yourself after completing a habit or by pairing it with something you already enjoy.
Use Temptation Bundling:
This technique involves pairing an enjoyable activity with a habit you want to cultivate. For example, listening to your favourite podcast only while exercising can make working out more attractive.
Making it Satisfying:
Clear argues that the more satisfying an experience is, the more likely you are to repeat it. This means that in order to try to pursue a habit actively, you need to make it as satisfying as possible—however, Clear cautions against rewards that directly contradict your new habit. So, ice cream wouldn’t be a good reward for eating a healthy meal. But it could be a fine reward for reading more books, making sales calls, or any non-health-related goal. You can achieve this by:
Celebrating Small Wins:
Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements, even if they seem insignificant. Celebrating small milestones can create a positive feedback loop that keeps you motivated.
Using Immediate Rewards:
Make sure there is an immediate payoff for completing a habit. This provides a sense of satisfaction and reinforces the behaviour. For example, if you’re trying to read more, reward yourself with a small treat afterwards.
Avoid Breaking the Chain:
Maintain a streak of successful habit completions. The longer the chain, the more satisfying it becomes to keep it unbroken, which can help reinforce the habit.
I wish you the best in your journey to create good habits and recommend that you read AtomicHabits in order to get an even greater understanding of the process.
On Friday, March 31, IBSB participated in an International Middle School Debate Competition, hosted by the Cambridge School of Bucharest. Both IBSB teams participating performed exceedingly well, finishing the day undefeated to place 1st and 2nd in the competition standings overall, maintaining the well-established IBSB reputation for excellence in debating.
1st Place
George V. (Y8), David M. (Y8), David F. (Y8), Luca P. (Y8), Dinu P (Y8)
2nd Place
Felix D. (Y9), Irina G. (Y9), Andrei U. (Y9), George P. (Y9), Maia B. (Y8)
Special congratulations Maia B. (Y8) for winning theBest Debater Award, with Felix D. (Y9), and George V. (Y8) officially the 2nd and 3rd highest scoring debaters in the competition.
Thank you to CSB for organising the competition and for the warm welcome and hospitality received throughout the day. We look forward to returning again next year!
There are many ways to lead a sustainable life. One that could potentially impact our planet more than others is the eating habits we have; eating organic food is an important cycle that can reduce the use of plastic, and decrease the amount of animal waste and animal abuse. In a world full of artificial tastes, unhealthy restaurants, and harmful food habits, our health is in peril, and as such it is vital to treat our bodies well and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the animals we have been intrusted to protect.
An important way we can work together as a school community and wider society to reduce animal waste and abuse, by eating bio organic vegetarian food at home and when going out eating to restaurants. Finding vegetarian and vegan, organic food in Bucharest can be challenging, but there are some great choices available.
FruFru is a restaurant that has products displayed on shelves in supermarkets. Their products have an expiration date of two days, because they are super fresh, their product ingredients are honest and clean. Their products are directly from the source, so they can control the quality, with vegan and vegetarian options always on offer, and they reuse all their products, all packaging is recycled or recyclable, so there’s little waste.
Bistro Raw & Vegan is a restaurant and market that is working on creating healthy, delicious food that can excite people, whilst working with beneficial and invigorating ingredients to satisfy the body. They wish to show that health is not a series of restrictions, a diet, or a detox program, but a tasty balance. It’s simple: you eat healthy, you feel good, the energy you receive helps you continue your daily plans with gusto. This is what these restaurants want to give to you.
Sublimme is a vegan coffee shop and restaurant, serving desserts only with vegetal ingredients, not thermally processed, which means they keep their nutrients fully intact. Their products do not contain refined sugar, but are sweetened with organic agave syrup and dates, without containing flour, milk, eggs, or gluten. The nuts and seeds that they make are also rich in fibre, protein, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and essential fatty acids. For all those who want a healthy sweet, for diabetics, for children, for those who have allergies and intolerances to gluten and lactose, for pregnant or breastfeeding women, for those on a keto diet, so…for everyone who loves sweets, this is a great option.
Sara Green, the first Fast-Food vegan in Romania, was born out of love, for children, for humans, and for nature. They want to offer gluten-free, vegan, burgers, wraps, salads, and sweets. In the centre of Bucharest you’re able to eat the most delicious foods, enjoying the rapid service as well as the wonderful flavours.
Eating healthy, reducing animal cruelty, recyclable food will create a better lifestyle for you and the rest of the world, so I hope you will consider starting now and support this great local restaurants to ensure they thrive and that more options open up.
Ariana Ciju
IBSB EcoWarrior
Congratulations to Andrei Peli (9K) and Andrei Ghita (11H) for reaching the Grand Final of the COBIS World Music Competition 2022.
Both students made it through to the final two of their respective categories: Middle School Piano Solo and High School Contemporary Solo. Results from the Grand Final will be released on Sunday, May 08.
Please join us in wishing both students the very best of luck!
This week, the students of IBSB rose to the formidable challenge of hosting the 1st edition of IBSBMUN on the main school campus.
With the clock ticking, and the winds of fortune blowing in our favour (COVID restrictions were lifted just days before the planed start of the event) the organising committee launched into action, working over-time to ensure the success of this event.
The conference, attended by approximately 100 students from 8 schools, addressed important current issues in each of the five committees (ECOSOC, UNHRC, ICC, EUCO, HSC), and start with a training session for beginners and intermediate level participants before the official Opening Ceremony,which took place on Friday, March 11th, with Her Excellency the Turkish Ambassador to Romania, Ms Aramaz, Colin Lovering, Chairman of the BRCC, and Neil McGregor, Former BRCC Chair and Current Board Member, formally welcomed onto campus as the events headline guest speakers by Head of School, Kendall Peet.
Over the course of the two day conference, committee sessions were kept engaging by introducing a series of unexpected crises (a rarity in other MUNs) in specific committees – such as the kidnapping of the Chinese delegate from HSC, a French representative getting arrested for smuggling Russian contraband, and in ICC, Putin was tried for war crimes – to successfully keep the delegates on their toes, as they tackled not only the main topic of discussions, but also had a crash course in crisis management. Added to this were fun activities such as the trading game (buying and selling barrels of oil based on news stories).
Throughout the event, the press team, representing a plethora of news agencies from around the world, reported on committee proceedings through the respective lenses of their political perspectives. To read their articles and view a selection of event photos, please visit: https://mun.ibsb.ro/blog
“Having hosted the first two editions of the World COBIS MUN in 2016 and 2018, it was clear that we had a high standard to maintain,” said IBSBMUN Coordinator Dr Blessy Savu “and the students certainly did not disappoint”.
The IBSBMUN provided the perfect platform to showcase student leadership and engagement throughout the conference, which ended with the official Closing Ceremony on Sunday afternoon, with Head of Secondary Matt Tansley inviting Eduard Iosiper, Director for EU General Affairs, and Andrei Dogaru, IBSB Head Boy (2016), to say a few words before the presentation of student awards and the closing gesture by the organising committee.
Thank you to the student organising committee, Dr Blessy Savu, the admin team, the attending delegates and chairs and staff from the participating school, the guest speakers, and our event Sponsors, Deloitte, Pro Business Solutions, and AQUA Carpatica for making this event possible.
See you at IBSBMUN 2023!
Developing effective communication skills is central to the future job market, which is why our summer school programme is not simply focused on improving English, but on developing effective listening skills and speaking confidence. Each lesson begins with a fun speaking activity, to encourage students to use English in everyday situations, with students rotating from table to table, talking about topics of common interest. What better way is there for students to regain their social confidence and improve their English speaking skills after a long period of isolation, than joining the IBSB Summer School Programme.
On April 21st, the Animal Welfare CAS Team visited the Bruno Shelter for the first time in 2021. It has been a particularly challenging year for all of us due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which affected our operations in a number of ways. Nevertheless, we have continued to work hard and move forward, undeterred by recent events, determined to still achieve our goals, and were particularly excited to be able to visit the Bruno Shelter once again.
The trip out to the Bruno Shelter from IBSB took around an hour and a half, and upon arrival we were immediately greeted by the incredibly friendly caretakers who offered us treats to give to the dogs. The dogs stationed near the entrance were some of the most friendly dogs I’ve ever meet; they were so happy to see us, and approached us wagging their tails excitedly, and played with us energetically. We even had the opportunity to interact with some of the baby goats on site- it was like visiting a small animal farm.
We then entered what felt like a small hallway with dogs stationed on either side, instead of walls. This group of dogs seemed a little more lively and less friendly, as they barked excitedly in harmony when we got too close. One of them seemed a little too friendly, very keen on nibbling at my fingers when I offered a treat.
There were many highlights on this trip, including interacting with two huge Rottweilers, who let us hold and play with their puppies. Another highlight was watching this one dog constantly bark at me, while standing on top of an old washing machine. Just ordinary dog shelter business.
Some of the other main attractions were Emma, a very friendly husky, more baby goats, a massive blind dog who acted as the shelter’s mascot, and of course, the moment when we proudly handed over the funds we had raised in the last two years.
As we walked out, I stared at the nearby lake, reminiscing on this incredible year at IBSB with my fellow colleagues, all of whom have been incredibly committed to the Animal Welfare CAS Team. For those of us in Y12 who will still be here next year, we know that the next academic year will provide new opportunities to support Bruno Shelter even more than we were able to do this year, and so we can’t wait to get started and looking forward to visiting all the new friends we’ve made in 2022.
Altay Aramaz
Y12 Bruno Shelter Team member
Community Action Service