The nightmare began at 9:45p.m when the 490 foot cruise liner was four miles off course navigating through shallow waters of 100 feet. It suddenly hit a rock, tearing a 160 foot gash at the bottom of the ship and then allowing gallons of rushing water to enter the vessel. Around 9:50p.m. the ship’s crew members made an announcement warning passengers of the incident. However the Coast Guard and other rescue teams were not notified of the incident until 10:45p.m., approximately one hour later. Senior, Jordan Bluehdorn, said, “I was horrified of the incident and how it was handled. The captain was a coward for abandoning ship and leaving the passengers.”

Many passengers from the cruise line reported that the whole scenario was similar to the Titanic. Thankfully, out of the thousands of passengers only a handful of men and woman have not been accounted for. The passengers also have said that they were never properly trained on what to do in the situation that occurred. Senior, Sammy Gabrelcik, said, “When I’ve been on a Cruise Line before the first thing the crew members do is show you what to do, in case of a fatal incident. It shocks me how that never happened and how there was utter chaos.”

The ship captain has been charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship by authorities in Italy. For a Captain of a 490 foot cruise liner to be off course so far is baffling. He made unapproved decisions therefore causing  a giant rock to gash the side of the ship. Senior, Logan Fornes, exclaimed, “I’m glad he’s getting charged with manslaughter. It’s what he deserves for putting all those innocent people at risk.”

Rescue teams continue to search for lost passengers. The rescue search was stopped for a few days due to harsh weather. The Coast Guard was scared that the extreme weather would alter the ships position, thus moving it towards deeper water. Another serious matter is that the Coast Guard is continuing to solve the problem of getting rid of the thousands of gallons of gas underneath the water. There have been many lives that were taken from this incident, and hopefully nothing like this will happen again.

President Barack Obama arrived in Hawai’i, causing many roads and places to be shut down. This caused a problem for many drivers, but primarily the ones who needed to go to town. Others, mostly the residents in Kailua, felt almost no change at all. “The only way I could tell APEC was here was the news and the smell in the air. It was not a big problem for me. It seemed to be a lot of talk, and not a lot of stuff happening,” said senior Nick Blondeau. Senior Natalie Strong says she did not even notice the convention as well, “The entire thing didn’t really bother me. It’s like it was never really here.” While some took no notice to the change, others had their lives changed in a much more serious way. An innocent life was taken by Christopher W. Deedy, an APEC official. Kollin Eldert was shot inside of a McDonald’s by an APEC security guard. Many residents were troubled by this event, and protested.

With all of the negativity that came along with APEC taking over Hawai’i, we can only hope that whatever happened inside of those doors helps the economy. Because many different topics were talked about between the leaders, the only thing people can do now is wait and see the aftermath of this convention.

Hawaii is a prized destination for everyone, especially for our foreign exchange students. “I go to the beach, and have hiked Diamond Head,” said senior Lucia Ongay Irisam.  Going to the beach and hiking seem like everyday activities to the students at Le Jardin Academy, but Lucia had never experienced them before.  Kids who grew up in Hawaii take things like this for granted.  After a long week of school, students take pleasure in laying back and relaxing amongst their group of friends over the weekend.  “I enjoy hanging out with my friends and going to parties,” said junior Ignacio Garcis.  Just like here on Oahu, kids in Spain also enjoy the company of their peers without the presence of adults in a carefree environment.  Although Le Jardin Academy has students who are from thousands of miles apart, we all relate well in a number of ways.  The students at Le Jardin Academy are happy to welcome these five new exchange students and look forward to creating memories with them over the course of this school year.

First: Hollywood. This fabulous place, center of many studios and the biggest movie industry on the planet, has a great impact on the way that cinema is perceived in America and, thereby, in the entire world. It is impossible to find a place like Hollywood in Europe, which marks the biggest difference between the two situations. Hollywood is like an automatic gun: shooting out quick-fire movies and European movie industries simply cannot compete. With all the people working in the studios or in the areas connected to them, Hollywood can be considered a world apart, concentrated on film production. It is for this reason that the Americans have a different perception of the “cinema” itself. As Barry Norman, famous English cinematic critic, said “the main issue is that Hollywood regards the cinema as a business, while European film companies tend to consider “the film” as a real piece of art”. Interviewed on the same question, Science teacher Mike Morrison said that “American cinema is more aimed toward entertainment, like the Transformers saga, for example. European cinema, on the other hand, is more artistic and dramatic”.

American film corporations invest millions of dollars in a movie to earn even more money, while Europeans generally have a much lower budget. As a result, American films are full of amazing visual effects and high-definition images while European films will generally aim to a more intense plot and a deeper message. “I don’t like American movies too much” said junior Romane Mossa, exchange student from France. “They tend to exaggerate the reality. It’s just not natural”.

In Italian cinema, for example, the actual dissimilarity can be found in the environment where the cinema was developed. Theatre, dramas and most of all the Neo-Realistic current have affected the way of making cinema in Italy: the main features are fewer mediums, less money, but more significance in the message of the movie.

However, it should be said that the globalization has now brought together the two worlds and mitigated the differences. It’s for this reason that we can now find tons of these new movies, called generally “pop corn movies” in America and “cinepanettoni” in Italy: less complex (often superficial) films produced just to attract a lot of people in the cinemas and to earn more money.

This is not the first time that young American women have disappeared on or around Aruba. One of the most highly publicized disappearances is the case of Natalee Holloway, a 17 year old high school graduate who was going on a three day class trip to celebrate graduating. Holloway went missing on her last night in Aruba, May 30, 2005, after dancing at a club with her friends. Holloway supposedly left the club with a man named Joran Van der Sloot, who said that he dropped Holloway off at her hotel with the assistance of his friends Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. When questioned later, Van der Sloot said that he and Holloway had gone to a beach and Holloway had a sort of epileptic attack. Holloway then died on the beach. In a statement Van der Sloot later retracted, he claimed that he had a family friend help him “dump the body”. Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers all got off without jail time.  Aruban police said there was not enough evidence or information to hold any of them. With recent discoveries, Holloway’s case has been reopened to investigate a piece of a jaw bone (which was proven to not belong to Hollway) and the photographs of unidentified remains on the ocean floor off of Aruba. “Not knowing is the daily torture,” said Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway in an interview with CBS. Natalie Holloway has been missing for six years.

Before the case of Natalee Holloway, another girl went missing in the areas surrounding Aruba.  Amy Bradley, a 23 year old college graduate, was going on a cruise with her mother, father and brother. Bradley went missing from the ship on Mar. 24 1998, around 5:45 am.  The Bradley’s searched the ship inside and out to no avail. The ship docked at Curacao and the Bradley’s searched the whole island, contacting the embassy and the FBI. Unfortunately Bradley was nowhere to be found. The Bradley’s had many helpful tips on the location of Bradley, but they have yet to find her.  Bradley’s photographs have emerged advertising prostitution, leading officials to believe that she has been sold into sexual slavery.  “I miss her while I’m doing the dishes, while I’m in the shower,” Said Bradley’s mother, Iva Bradley in a documentary aired on “Vanished”; a television broadcast that brought awareness to kidnappings and disappearances. Amy Bradley has been missing for 13 years.

Many connections have been made between these three cases, most commonly being the fact that all three cases were young, attractive, American women who had gone on vacation in Aruba, an island located in the southern sea of the Caribbean, north of Venezuela. It is one of four countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is densely populated with over 103,000 people. When interviewed, Anita Valentine of Kaneohe who has been to the Bahamas with her daughter, son, and husband said “[The Bahamas] was beautiful, gorgeous; but as a mother with her daughter, it wasn’t that safe. I wouldn’t let my daughter walk around alone, especially a teenage daughter. It just doesn’t feel safe…, just the way the local men looked at women, just standing around staring at you. It felt like someplace that you wouldn’t want to be a woman alone.” However when her daughter, Taylor Valentine of Kaneohe, was interviewed, she felt differently. “I was surprised by how isolated the islands were and how there were hardly people on the islands, except for in the main towns… We were mostly by ourselves. We only went to the towns twice and everyone seemed really friendly,” she said. There has been talk about boycotting Aruba for safety concerns, and when a third party, Lesley Barina of Kaneohe who has never been to the Bahamas was asked, she said “No [we shouldn’t boycott] because that is the people’s decisions and they can take the risk to go, or not go. We should protest the Aruban police department, but we shouldn’t boycott going there. That is people’s own right.”

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On top of the damage caused by the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, four different nuclear reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant are experiencing problems. Of the four reactors at the Fukushima energy plant, all of them seem to be undergoing some problems coupled with leaks of spent fuel containment pools. The pools are used to house spent reactor cores. Since the situation has gotten out of control, different sites have had explosions on one of its containment buildings after a buildup of hydrogen gas. The reactor core was briefly exposed allowing radiation levels to climb far above legal levels, however they quickly dissipated. Concern has been mounting due to faulty cooling systems. Normally, there are checks put into place to stop such a meltdown from occurring. However all of the backups need power which the tsunami has destroyed. By meltdown, what is meant is the fuel rods inside of the reactor core vaporize due to intense heat and release radioactive gas. To combat these problems the Japanese officials have been pouring seawater by hand, spraying it from fire trucks and dumping via helicopters onto the crippled plant in an attempt to keep their cooling stations operational.

The damage did not stop at the physical however; many of the Japanese people didn’t expect the water to reach as far inland as it did. Although tsunamis are a common occurrence in Japan, they rarely ever reach more that 2-5 feet. This massive wave reached more than six miles inland and completely shattered their sense of security. The Japanese economy also suffered. Besides the estimated $150 billion in property damage, the Japanese national stock market dipped by 6%, while large corporations such as Sony, and Toyota stock value dropped by an average of 9% over the past few days.

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Unfortunately, the devastation didn’t stop in Japan. The tsunami traveled around the pacific rim devastating the western coast of the U.S., Indonesia, Taiwan, South Big island and Kahalui on Maui, central America and Chile all experienced waves averaging around 10 feet. Harbors across western Canada, United States, Central and South America all suffered from the tsunami ranging from 3-12 feet. Luckily, though, no deaths were reported. However considerable damage was done to boats, harbor facilities and beach front homes.

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We all extend our greatest sympathies. Our hopes and prayers go towards out eastern neighbors.

When asked about the climate in Greece, Logan notes, “It’s way more humid here, it rains more and it doesn’t get cold.  In Greece we have massive dust storms that blow up from Africa.” Rebecca states that in Finland it gets as cold as negative five degrees in the winter time. When asked about traditions all three mention the sport of soccer. Differences between the people here and at home were also contrasted.  Jamie says, “They play a lot more sports here, people can drive at 16, and a different language.” I guess we don’t realize how lucky we are that we get to drive at 16 years old, since Europe has to wait till 18.

When they were asked about Hawaii’s environment, all mentioned the beach and water. “I like the environment; hiking, swimming, the beach, all the stuff you can’t do in Finland because it’s so cold.” Another significant difference is dinner time. “We eat dinner really late at night,” says Logan. Jamie and Rebecca concur with this as well.

Despite now living in America for the time being, they still all hold their traditions strongly and miss their country greatly.