By Harry Kremmydas and Ian Nikolopoulos

Located on the shores of the Ionian Sea, the city of Patras in Greece comes alive each year with a burst of colors, music, and fun celebrations during the Patras Carnival. Known as one of the largest and most vibrant carnivals in Greece, this annual event has deep-rooted cultural significance.

History and Origins

The Patras Carnival, often referred to as the «Apokries» in Greek, has a history dating back centuries. Its origins from ancient times when people celebrated the arrival of spring with lively festivities. Over the years, the carnival evolved from various cultural influences, including Venetian, Ottoman, and French traditions.

Highlights of the Patras Carnival

Grand Opening Parade: The carnival begins with a grand opening parade that takes place through the streets of Patras. Impressive floats, colorful costumes, and enthusiastic participants create a memorable spectacle. The parade is a feast, where people from all over the country come to attend.

Masked Balls and Parties: Throughout the carnival season, Patras hosts a series of masked parties. These events provide an opportunity for our locals and visitors to try costumes and masks, immersing themselves in the festive atmosphere. The lively music, dancing, and joyful laughter create an unforgettable experience.

Satirical Floats: A unique feature of the Patras Carnival are the satirical floats in the parades. These floats often feature political and social judgment, providing a platform for the community to express their opinions and engage in discussions about current events. It’s a lighthearted yet impactful way to address serious issues.

Traditional Dances and Music: Traditional Greek dances and music are necessary to the carnival celebrations. Local dance groups showcase their talents, performing traditional dances that have been passed down through generations. The rhythmic beats and spirited movements add to the overall festive atmosphere.

Burning of the Carnival King: The termination of the Patras Carnival involves the symbolic burning of the carnival king, known as «Carnivalos.» This ritual signifies the end of the carnival season. It’s a spectacle that draws large crowds, with fireworks lighting up the night sky.

The Patras Carnival is more than just a series of events it’s a celebration of community, culture, and the welcome spirit of the people of Patras. Whether you’re drawn to enjoy the colorful costumes, the lively music, or the rich traditions, the carnival offers a unique and unforgettable experience for all who participate.

By Danae Ikonomopoulou

Doctors without borders is: a national medical humanitarian organization, founded in 1971 by a small group of French doctors and journalists that provides care to people excluded from health care, to victims of violence, Doctors without borders help to all sort of crisis including war, natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics and refugees, mainly in African and Asian countries that are lacking basic necessities.

War
Conflicts “offer” nothing more than unhappiness, poverty, injuries, sexual violence, and of course death…
The organization provides medical care to combat zones with their supplies trying to prevent the risks of outbreaks.

Natural disasters
Due to natural causes such as fires, earthquakes, tsunamis a lot of people lose their homes and are unable to have access to safe water and health care services.
At those difficult time Doctors without borders are the first to provide life-saving medical care.

Epidemics, pandemics
Third world countries suffer from varieties of infectious diseases that can actually be controlled and prevented from massive spread such as cholera, embola, yellow fever.
Although these diseases are treatable some countries around the world that live in poverty, have limited access to health care.
Volunteer doctors set up temporary facilities to treat patients and run vaccination campaigns, rapid adapting to the unique needs of different communities.

Refugees
For the reasons mentioned above millions of people are forced to leave their homes and live under awful situations.
The “angels” doctors as they deserve to be called, conduct rapid needs assessments, providing services such as nutrition, water, vaccination and of course accommodation to the displaced people.

Volunteering with Doctors without borders

Volunteering with Doctors without borders is hard and exhausting but it is also an unforgettable experience.
Volunteers are from all kinds of places around the world and from different ages.
The staff consists of experienced doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses.
Psychologists, social workers, physiotherapists and occupational therapists are much needed.
Also, non-medical staff are of a high significance like managers and technicians.
Volunteers need to have both educational and social skills and qualities.
As for social skills, they need to be hard-working, caring, patient and physically and mentally strong. They need to be social, cooperative and willing to take initiatives.
Being a volunteer is hard but the benefits are much more important.
The feeling of being helpful and offering the best you can to other individuals is said to be the best wholesome feeling by all the volunteers.
Doctors without borders constitute the most effective and active association for peace and health to the whole world.
We only ensure our fellow healthfulness giving practical and actual support to them.
Doctors without borders is a non profit organization by courageous and kind people that without making any discrimination put others above themselves and are ready to sacrifice their lives.
They deserve every recognition and admiration from the public and they are the living example of what being a human really means…
Respect to those heroes!

Sources:
• SDO_DMYP_00287_Medium.pdf (teipel.gr)
• https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9decins_Sans_Fronti%C3%A8res
• https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%93%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%84%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%AF_%CE%A7%CF%89%CF%81%CE%AF%CF%82_%CE%A3%CF%8D%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B1

By Zoe Drouka and Katerina Apostolopoulou

Nowadays, the feeling of being caring and thoughtful about others is being evaporated. There are plenty of people who are in need. This is the reason why some citizens claim that volunteering is a responsibility people have to take on.

To begin with, charity contributes in citizens to becoming more warm-hearted and better humane people. In addition to this, through volunteering people and especially teenagers are educated to appreciate and be thankful of what they have. Moreover, volunteers do not expect to be rewarded with money, but they are pleased with the feeling of helping people who need human support. Furthermore, volunteering can improve students’ applications in order to get accepted from the best universities. As a further matter, volunteering increases self-confidence since it provides a natural sense of accomplishment. Last but not least, volunteering promotes human solidarity and the spirit of living in an individualistic society is being demolished.

In conclusion, volunteering has a very positive impact in our lives. Volunteering can be considered as an opportunity for people to see a new prospective of life. For all the above reasons, people should be more willing to volunteer.

This article presents the project work made by students of our school that this school year have been Junior Ambassadors in the «European Parliament School Ambassadors» programme.

What makes the EU stand out?

By Philip Antonopoulos (C Class)

The European Union upholds certain key values. These values are a substantial part of the European way of life. For this reason, they are promoted in each member-state and guide all decisions made. A major part of the EUs outreach to the community is espousing these ideals, thereby creating a united Europe.

The first chapter of EU values relates to the governing system. To begin with, one of the aforementioned values and one of paramount importance is democracy. After all, a democratic polity is one of the criteria that must be met so as a country be considered for European membership. More specifically, this strong commitment to democracy is at the core of all things European and may be what makes the EU unique in the world. Moving on, another essential ideal that radiates throughout EU life and politics is human dignity. In Europe, human dignity is an inviolable axiom, which has to be respected, safeguarded, and which constitutes the basis of all rights. Moreover, a direct result of human dignity is freedom. In the EU freedom is very prominent, because of the freedom of movement through member states; other freedoms that every EU citizen has are those of thought, religion, assembly and private life; all of which are protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EUCFR). Lastly, the rule of law, a further EU value, is the groundwork for all decisions made.

Another chapter of values is that of human rights and equality. To begin with, equality is a fundamental EU ideal. The EUCFR states clearly that every person has equal rights and is equal before the law. All types of equality (e.g., racial, gender) are represented in EU law. Although in the racial and gender cases, total equality does not exist, great strides have been made in recent years. Furthermore, human rights, a subject that greatly concerns Greece (Migratory Crisis), are also one of the EUs principal goals. The EU is one of the few systems in the world that gives so much gravitas to human rights; for example, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) law-scheme and the help given to Greece during the migratory crisis among others. Another example of the importance given to human rights is the European Court of Human Rights, which guarantees that the member-states follow this EU goal. Thus, it is evident that the EU project holds a great many ideals that define our modern society and that every country in the current era should possess.

To conclude, the EU is a haven for all its citizens as it promotes freedom and social equity, but it still falls behind on some matters. That is why we should all work in unison in order to ensure that Europe follows a liberal and solitary stance in an always-changing world.

European Values

By Chris Galanis (C Class)

European Union has secured a lot of important values for citizens of Europe. These values are common in all countries that belong to the EU and are an essential part of the European way of life.
First of all, one of the most respectful value in EU is democracy. More specifically, every European citizen can be politically active, having the right to stand as a candidate and to vote in elections to the European Parliament. Freedom gives to citizens the right to move and resides freely. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, protects individual freedom, for instance, the respect for private life, the freedom of thought, the right to believe in any religion, the assembly, the expression and the information access.
Equality is about equal right for all citizens before the law. Equality between women and men bolsters all European policies and it is the basis for European alliance. Also, one of the principles that the EU is based on, is the rule of law. Law and justice are upheld by an independent judiciary. Court of Justice, whose judgements, have to be revered by all.
Last but not least, human rights, constitute another significant value. Human rights are protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. These cover the right to be free from discrimination based on gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The right of the protection of your personal data or the right to get access to justice.
Likewise, the European Parliament has organized, in seven political groups, each of which expresses a different political affiliation. In my view, the most common my attitude is the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance(EFA).
I believe that all groups are useful and can be helpful for the best living conditions in the EU. Albeit Group of the Greens/EFA cares about environmental justice and protects the fundamental human rights.
Particularly, nowadays, climate change has concerned scientists a lot. Pollution caused by industrial waste or vehicles is one of the factors that greatly worsen this phenomenon. If this stance continues, we will put a lot of species in danger, even ourselves. Thus, I think, Group of the Greens, can find ways to limit environmental pollution. That is because Greens have already started to take action against the environmental change. They are informing people to help, through campaigns for recycling or reforestations and they are encouraging countries to use alternative ways of energy, as well. Whatsoever, they have a lot of things to do, in the future, in purpose to benefit the EU.
Additionally, the Group of the Greens deals with the protection of basic human rights. Even most countries of Europe are highly technologically advanced, thus, they are dealing, more or less, with social problems. Equality between men and women, or sexual harassment, or solidarity citizen’s freedom, illiteracy, or the care of refugees, are some of the difficulties that the Group of the Greens is trying to overcome.
In conclusion, the European Union values, like democracy, freedom, equality, rule of law, are respected and protected from all EU’s countries and they are part of their way of life. Also, I believe that Group of the Greens is a very valuable political group because it gives a priority the environmental justice and the protection of fundamental human rights

Crossword

By Anna Papachristou (A Class)

By Lioliou Anastasia and Dimitris Iliopoulos

Nowadays, people, especially the young ones, tend to waste plenty of money on unnecessary things such as clothes and entertainment, without thinking about the consequences.

To begin with, it is fair to say that everyone likes buying new clothes or having a great time with their friends, nevertheless, there must always be a limit. For example, they need not buy new outfits every single week or hang out with their friends almost every day. They have to realize that these things are useless, so they should not waste their income in order to obtain them. However, we have to admit that not all adolescents adopt this kind of behaviour.

Furthermore, they have to consider people who are in need. Young people should bear in mind that there are millions of people who do not  even have the basic necessary things to live on, while they spend their money on unnecessary stuff.  Even though most teenagers buy inexpensive but fashionable clothes, we definitely have to take this problem into consideration.

To sum up, as far as we are concerned, we have to limit these “bad habits” and take into consideration that there are more important things  to worry about than spending our money unecessarily.

By Ellie Sotiropoulou

Our color’s perception may differ from person to person. It might be that my red, is actually your blue but you know it as red since this is how everyone else called it growing up!  So, let’s explore the science behind colors, starting with how we can see in the first place. The eyes are one of our primary sensory organs that allows us to see. Eyes collect light from the surroundings and process the information, then send it to our brain. The light gets filtered by the iris, goes through the crystalline lens and focuses on the retina. Photoreceptors located on the retina -rods and cones- work on shades, colors, shapes and size of what we’re “seeing”. Finally, the retina works on converting the wave lengths into information and sends them to our brain via the optical nerve. The brain creates the picture, which makes us realize that it’s not the eye but the brain that creates the image.

The possibility of two people seeing different colors is explained by what is known as “color perception”. Color perception is the capacity of your eyes to receive information from light. This concept has its origin from several theories. According to the trichromacy theory, three independent channels convey color information, derived from the three different types of cone cells in the eye. Another leading (and known as opposing to trichromacy) idea is the Opponent Process Theory. The theory suggests that our ability to perceive color is controlled by three receptor complexes with opposing actions. These three receptor complexes are the red-green complex, the blue-yellow complex, and the black-white complex.

Stepping away from the scientific analysis and entering the philosophical field, this topic is a great example of a quale. Quale, or qualia in plural are defined as individual occasions of subjective, conscious experience. Another example of a quale could be a cook that will not feel the heat that we feel when holding a hot frying pan because a cook is used to and has to hold a hot pan daily.

So, knowing that our vision is basically a transmission via our optical nerve, can my red by you blue and vice versa?

From this inspection, it becomes evident that putting a label on something eg. colors does not change its quality or the way we internally perceive it. In modern society, labels are used as a form of prejudice or discrimination against certain groups of people. From skin color, to appearance, to sexual orientation, to religion. And every time we use one, we risk spreading it to others who might hear or see us do so and adopt that same label for the thing or person in question.

Labels are inflexible. People very much are not. Labels indicate the “them”-vs-“us” dynamic, superiority or inferiority complex and a subjective point of view. Why categorize people in this way? Can’t people just love people? Shouldn’t we just live in a post-label world? And all of that, because someone’s personality, worth and overall quality is most certainly not determined by a sum of letters.

By Nikoleta Karadimitropoulou

The shocking number of animal cruelty cases reported every day is just the tip of the iceberg—most cases are never reported. Unlike violent crimes against people, cases of animal abuse are not compiled by state or federal agencies, making it difficult to calculate just how common they are.

Reasons for Abuse

There are many different reasons why individuals abuse animals. Animal cruelty covers a wide range of actions, so one blanket answer simply isn’t possible. Each type of abuse has displayed certain patterns of behavior that we can use to help understand more about why people commit the crimes we encounter today.

Help end cruel animals tests

Dogs, cats, rabbits and many other animals still suffer pointless and painful procedures in the name of product testing. Some will undergo irritancy tests that cause severe chemical burns to their sensitive skin; others will be forced to ingest harmful chemicals that can lead to fatal poisoning. To study the “effects’, animals are often left to languish for days without pain relief. This tells us nothing about toxicity to humans. As a consumer, you have the power to help end this cruelty.

Animal Abuse & Pathology

• Brenda Spencer, who opened fire at a San Diego school, killing two children and injuring nine others, had repeatedly abused cats and dogs, often by setting their tails on fire.
• Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler” who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats in orange crates and shot arrows through the boxes in his youth.
• Carroll Edward Cole, executed for five of the 35 murders of which he was accused, said his first act of violence as a child was to strangle a puppy.
• In 1987, three Missouri high school students were charged with the beating death of a classmate. They had histories of repeated acts of animal mutilation starting several years earlier. One confessed that he had killed so many cats he’d lost count. Two brothers who murdered their parents had previously told classmates that they had decapitated a cat.
• Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates before turning their guns on themselves, bragged about mutilating animals to their friends.

If you spot someone harming an animal, don’t stay silent – there’s an easy way to tell the authorities.

Animals need your help!

By Christeli Paraskevi & Paraskevopoulou Konstantina

Many countries which have scientists and experts on space exploration spend a lot of money on equipment, rather than for other, more important reasons.
Firstly, space is something that makes many people want to see it with their own eyes: different environment, different natural resources and different ways of living. Astronauts travel and explore so we learn more about it, and may be able one day to see it and live there ourselves.
Secondly, astronauts need a lot of money for their food (their pills), their equipment (so as to be safe and have oxygen to breath) and their shelter (bathroom and space to sleep). Also, they have to gain some money because by travelling in space, they put their lives at risk, so they have to be sure that they leave behind something for their families if something happens.
On the one hand, space exploration is useful and interesting, but on the other, it costs money that could be spent in a better way and provide their country with more goods. In countries like the USA and Russia, there are many people who starve every day and faint in the roads. Important organizations which help them cannot feed all those who come every day and beg  for food.
Also, people with no money live in the dirty roads, with mice and other dangerous animals which can make someone go to the hospital. Illnesses are around, people die and noone stands by them or lend them some money. They are helpless and their country is not able to help them in any way.
To sum up, money could be spent in better ways like feeding the world or finding them a place to live. Money should not be spent on space exploration because countries have more important problems than to see the space.