Hot. Cool. Yours.

The library is buzzing with excitement over the Winter Olympic Games, which started in Russia last Friday.  While the usual controversy surrounds the competition, the fans´ enthusiasm remains untarnished, and several library users spent their break watching real-time updates from events, reading magazine articles about various athletes and discussing their respective favourite team´s chances of success.

It´s one of the times that being in an international school is particularly exciting – we may all be rooting for different teams but it´s a great way to learn about other countries and see the world from multiple perspectives.

One of the main topics of discussion seems to be Russian figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya, who at just fifteen is the youngest competitor at the Games and has, after two spellbinding performances, just helped bag a gold medal for the host nation in the team event.  Proof that no matter your age or stature (she´s just 1.57m tall), if you have the talent and are prepared to work extremely hard you can achieve the truly extraordinary.  Read all about her and the rest of the Russian figure skating team in the latest issue of Time Magazine, available now in the library.

At the other end of the experience spectrum, another talking point is snowboarder Jenny Jones who, despite being a decade older than most of her rivals, has just won Britain´s first ever medal on snow.  Her event, Slopestyle, only made its debut this year, and many thought it had come too late for Jones.  They were wrong.  So after years of working in whatever job she could find (including selling doughnuts) to support herself while she perfected her skills, her dreams have finally come true.  What a well-deserved reward for such persistence, determination and dedication.  Read more about her here:http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics-2014-selling-doughnuts-to-sweet-success--how-snowboarder-jenny-jones-claimed-olympic-medal-9117760.html

Great life lessons and plenty of inspiration from these and many more Winter Olympians… and it is still only day three!  Keep up to date with all the latest news from the games on the official website: http://www.sochi2014.com/en

Blind Date With a Book

It´s February, the month of romance, and the library has its very own set of lonely hearts looking for love from the right reader.

Instead of choosing your next library book, are you brave enough to take out one of our mystery books?  Like any blind date, you could end up with something you never would have chosen for yourself but, who knows, it might be love at first read. 

So far, fifteen students have headed off into the sunset on their literary dates.  Could you be the next to read happily ever after?

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars…” (Oscar Wilde)

 

Tomorrow is Astronomy Day at Swans, and we will be lucky enough to host a series of talks from expert Ken Campbell, as well as having the opportunity to participate in a workshop on how to make the most out of a telescope.

Here in the Marbella region we benefit from extremely clear skies, allowing us to star gaze year round without being hampered by rain and cloud cover.  And while it´s certainly relaxing and picturesque to look up at that twinkling blanket and marvel at its mysteries, it´s even more gratifying to look at them with a little knowledge of what you are actually seeing.

Your humble librarian got this wonderful shot just the other morning of what I thought was a very bright, very large star that was still visible long after the others had faded in the morning glow.  A bit of research and a chat with some of our extremely knowledgeable science faculty led me to the realisation that this is actually Venus.  Right now we have spectacular pre-dawn views of it as it wanes in the full glare of the rising sun.  Isn´t that just out of this world?

So get ready to satisfy your thirst for knowledge about the wonders of the universe this Tuesday 4^th February and make the most out of our dark Mediterranean skies.