10Big congratulations to our team!

The 8th grade students, Ms. Basia, and Mr. John have just returned from a three-day trip to Dębki.

On Wednesday, we gathered again for a remembrance ceremony to mark the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 the terrorist attacks.

In the calendar year 2024, we commemorate the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

Dear Parents, we invite you to the ceremonial start of the 2024/2025 school year on Monday, September 2, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. The event will take place in the gymnasium of the new building.

Our student won first place and a special award in the 5th Inter-School English Song Contest.

10We are pleased to announce the results of the National Competition "Orzeł Informatyczny"!

10We are proud to announce the finalists of the Ministry of Education English Contest 2023/2024:

Our students, as part of the Erasmus+ international exchange with Spain, deepened intergenerational cooperation for a week.

partyemoji

partyemojiDear Parents, thank you very much for your participation and generosity during the Christmas Meeting and Charity Auction.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

We have started the 2023/24 school year!

partyemoji We are proud to present the great results of our student at chess competitions.

10

partyemojiAntoher great result in the ranking!

One of the books I read over the summer was On the Road and off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon.

10Congratulations to the laureates and finalists of the International English Contest THE BIG CHALLENGE 2022.

10We are happy to present the successes of our students in the National English Contest OLIMPUS!

10We are proud to present laureates and finalists of the Provincial Curatorial Contests.

10We are proud to inform you that four students from our school, after going through numerous stages of the contest, have won the title of a laureate in the National English Olympics for Juniors.

10Another success of our student!

10Congratulations to the laureates and finalists of the Provincial English Language Competition:

10We are thrilled to announce that the following students have qualified for the final stage of the English Contest:

10We are happy to announce that our students qualified for the 2nd stage of the National English Contest OJAJ!

10We are proud to announce that our students qualified for the second stage of the Oratory Contest in English Stand Up&Talk.

10Congratulations! A student of class 7A - Mikołaj Stachowiak has qualified for the provincial stage of the Polish Language Contest! We keep our fingers crossed!

Thanksgiving 2021 was a successful, joyous, and memorable event.

10We are happy and proud to announce that the following students are through to the next level of the Ministry of Education's English Contest:

Today we are celebrating Erasmus+ Day!

10We are happy to announce the results of the final stage of the XVI Megaolimpiada of English:

10We are pleased to announce that three competitors from our school emerged winners in the 2nd edition of the "Orzeł Informatyczne" competition:

10Congratulations to the Laureates of the National English Contest OLIMPUS:

10We are proud to announce the winners of the laureate title in the International English Contest THE BIG CHALLENGE 2021:

10We are very pleased to share the news of the success of Marika Parysek who passed the state HSK1 Chinese Language Exam.

10We are pleased to announce the results of the School Recitation Competition!

10We are proud to announce the list of winners and finalists of the Great Reading Marathon, the reading competition which is sponsored by the school board (kuratorium). As every year, our students did very well.

We're getting closer to the end of the Erasmus+ project "Sense your City, Taste its Sights". Our school was responsible for 3D printing of tokens for the board game.

10On the occasion of the upcoming Easter, our talented student Olga from grade 5a prepared a video with Easter greetings on the Computer Science lesson:

Four countries (UK, Italy, Spain, Poland), 4 schools, amazing students ready for challenges... We did it! On-line! Succesfully!

10Once again, we are pleased to announce the success of one of our students. Zofia Miniatorska has qualified to the final level of the Ministry of Education Chemistry Contest.

10We are happy to announce that Mateusz Mikołajczyk and Mikołaj Stachowiak have qualified to the final level of the Ministry of Education Geography Contest.

We continue to actively cooperate with our partner schools on the Erasmus+ project "Together we write the history of the future!"

On 9th March, a congratulatory letter from Mrs. Magdalena Adamowicz, Member of the European Parliament, arrived at our school:

10Another great success in the English contests! Five out of the fifteen semi-finalists of the STAND UP & TALK ORATORY ENGLISH CONTEST are our students!

medaloThe rankings for the best primary schools in the Tri-City was published a few days ago. Our school was ranked first among the schools in Gdynia and third among the 168 primary schools in the Tri-City. This is a real honor and a huge success!

Below are some photos of our new school building. Progress comes day by day, and we are nearing completion:

10We are happy to announce that one of our students, 7th grader Marika Chaber, took 3rd place in the 5th INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE AND ARTISTIC COMPETITION "MY TOWN.”  Mr. Robert Garrett was the leading teacher.

10We are happy to announce that Antoni Piasek and Igor Kusz have qualified to the final level of the Ministry of Education Physics Contest:

10We are happy to announce that the following students  have qualified to the final level of the Ministry of Education English Contest:

We continue to actively cooperate with our partner schools on the Erasmus+ project "Together we write the history of the future!".

10We are pleased to announce that 14 winners from the American Primary School in Gdynia have emerged in this year's edition of the Polish National IT Eagle Competition!

As you know, Thursday, November 26 is Thanksgiving Day, a holiday special to all Americans and one that has always held significance for the American School community. It is a day for all of us to acknowledge our blessings and express gratitude for them. 

Congratulations to our talented students who have made it to the regional level of the Ministry of Education English Contest 2020/2021. We are the dominant force among the Gdynia private schools ! 

We are pleased to announce that one of our 8th grade students, Maja Lengier, who represented the American Elementary School has won First Prize in the “Young American Primary School” contest, and was awarded a statuette in recognition of her achievement.

We are proud to announce that the American Elementary School has successfully completed its admission period to the UNESCO Associated Schools Program. 

We are proud to announce that we are embarking on another international adventure at the American Elementary School!

This Friday was the nineteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

Internal Procedures at the American School of Gdynia with English as the Language of Instruction for the functioning of the school during the time of Covid-19 in Poland

10 We are pleased to announce the results of the Polish National "IT Eagle" online competition of the 2019/2020 school year

10We are proud to announce the results of three more English contests!

We are very proud to present so many diplomas of American Elementary School students!

10Two hundred twenty seven institutions entered the 11th edition of the Grand Reading Marathon for classes IV-VI; 2654 students and 313 teachers participated. During the school year, students read six literary items and were administered a test each month that verified their reading comprehension.

10 Winners- Mikołaj Stachowiak oraz Nina Ziemianowicz

10Another outstanding achievement of one of our students!

10We took first place among primary schools from around the province!

1A and their online lessons :)

On March 2 and 3 students from the fifth and sixth grades took part in the Gdynia Schools Swimming Championships

10Three students from our school have won the title of laureate in the Ministry of Education English Contest

10Tobiasz Kręcicki, one of our students from the 8b class, is a four-time winner in the Curatorial Subject Competitions, having won the following competitions: IT, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Language (English)

On Monday, March 9, the 1A class celebrated International Women's Day

On March 3, three students from our 7th grade represented our school in the Regional Competition for Knowledge about the Life and Work of Fryderyk Chopin, which was organized by the Music Academy of Gdansk

We are happy to announce that today, Wednesday, March 4, is Mr. Kazik’s name day

10Two students from our school won the title of laureate of the Provincial Competition in Biology: ZOFIA MINIATORSKA from class 7A oraz TOBIASZ KRĘCICKI from class 8b

We are pleased to inform you that Mateusz Mikołajczyk, one of our 7th students, became a FINALIST OF THE PROVINCIAL CURATORIAL CONTEST IN GEOGRAPHY for primary school grade students, students.

Art is a medium that a person has direct contact with at an early age, for example, through the observation of colors, the process of experiencing aesthetic phenonmena, or the awareness of the existence of various forms used in everyday life.

10Two students from our school have won the title of laureate of the Provincial Competition in the Polish Language::  ANTONINA BOJANOWSKA from class 8b and KAMIL KUC from class 8a.

Once again, our school organized the Safer Internet Day. This year, the special guest was Mr. Łukasz Badziak from the Gdańsk company   10

Using some of the money that was raised at our annual Charity Auction, we purchased two laptops and two computer mouses which were presented to the children by Kasia Pawloczenko and Natalia Maciejewska.

We are proud to announce that one of our sixth grade students, Ewa Bednarz, recently won 2nd Place (class P) in a dressage competition sponsored by Osrodek Jezdziecki Pegaz.

On December 13, 2019 our annual Charity Auction took place at the American Primary School. The Auction Commission calculated that the amount collected was PLN 37,261.00.

Tobiasz Kręcicki and 76 students from 53 schools from the Pomerania region have been qualified to the provincial finals of the Ministry of Education Computer Science Contest.

We are proud and happy to inform that the following students have scored the required number of points in order to take part in the final level of the Ministry of Education English Contest:

Last Friday, during the annual St. Nicolas Flea Market, the students of grades 0-6 collected 5378 zl 31 gr.

As we do every year, the American School celebrated Thanksgiving which fell on Thursday, November 28 this year. Again, it was a special day for us to gather, enjoy a delicious meal, and express our gratitude for our blessings.

We're pleased to inform you that from December 1, 2019 we are starting the implementation of a project financed from the European Social Fund - The Operational Program Knowledge and Education titled "International teachers mobilities as the key to the development of the American Elementary School.”

We are happy to announce the official results of the Ministry of Education Chemistry Contest. 

We are thrilled and proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Education Math Contest. 

We celebrated our Teddy Bear Festival on Monday, November 25.

On November 14, the Sports School in Gdynia held the city final in basketball 3X3 Boys. The American School was represented by Maksymilian Ostrowski, Franciszek Piasek, Oskar Reszel and Albert Szymczak.

Wiktoria Wojnarowska and Janek Wasilewski have been a dance pair for three years and are spectacularly successful. They are the champions of the Polish Children and Juniors Federation of Sports Dance 2019, and they they also received scholarships from the mayors of the cities of Gdańsk and Sopot for outstanding talents.

We are happy to announce the list of students who have made it to the next regional level of the Ministry of Education Computer Science Contest.

Marcelina Jankierska one of our 2nd grade students, took part in the inter-school swimming competition. We are very proud to announce that she took 3rd place in her age group.

Nina Ziemianowicz, one of our 6th grade students, took part in the 1800m Independence Day race.

We are proud to announce that Maja Szukalska, who is currently in our 5th grade, took First Place in the LRK round of a three-day horse riding competition that took place at the Sopot Hippodrome November 9 – 11. Congratulations to her!

We would like to take a moment to extend our hearty congratulations to our 2019 graduating class.

On the eve of National Independence Day we celebrated in our school the most important day of the year for the Polish nation and state.

We are proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Education Geography Contest: 5 contestants have made it to the next level.

We are proud and happy to announce the list of students who have made it to the next regional level of the Ministry of Education English Contest.

Our students participated in the "Zdolni z Pomorza,” a  project aimed at providing students with special skills with adequate developmental support.

As usual, we celebrated Halloween on October 31dynia

13 students entered the next stage of the Ministry of Education German Contest.

Our student, Maks from 8 grade has attended Gdańsk Model United Nations 2019 conference as a delegate of Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the Economic and Social Council.

On the first day, students were greeted with a welcome ceremony, a language class, and a presentation of traditional dances.

October 10 was a great day at our school, we celebrated #ErasmusDays #ErasmusDaysPoland

In Italy, students got to know the history of cars, Egypt, Piedmont, and the Savoy royal family, and they met Ronaldo and Szczęsny personally .

On October 16, 2019, sixth grade students participated in the School Skills Challenge 2019 project of the Marcin Gortat MG13 Foundation.

From  September 9 to 13, 2019, a group of students from grades 6, 7 and 8 went on a Polish-German exchange to Lüneburg in northern Germany as part of a project co-financed by the Polish-German Youth Exchange.

Last week, our school hosted workshops entitled “Philosophy and Art,” which were financed by funds from the National Center for Culture as part of the Culture – Interventions 2019 program.

Again this year the American School community remembered the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks that took place in 2001 in New York and Washington D.C. 

We are proud to announce the laureates of THE BIG CHALLENGE International English Contest 2019 –regional level, which was held in April in schools in Poland, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain and Scandinavian countries:

We are proud and happy to announce the laureates of The National English Contest OLIMPUS- spring session:

We are pleased to inform you that one of our 5th grade students, Nadia Domnik, took part in the FITNESS AEROBIC World Gymnastics Championships, which took place in Budapest.

Preparations for the Erasmus + 'Sense Your City' project are in full swing! Starting Saturday, May 6, we will be hosting students and teachers from our partner schools from Portugal, Spain, and Greece.

The American School was pleased to host General Mirosław Hermaszewski, the gentleman famous for being the first Pole in outer space. General Hermaszewski visited us on Thursday, April 25 and generously gave of his time.

Janek Wasilewski with his dance partner won the title of the Northern Poland Championships in Standard and Latin American Dances. The competition that gathered the best dancers from all over Poland took place on April 7th, 2019.

This year our Odessey team received 7th place in the whole of Poland.  The team had placed in the regional competition, which earned them the right to compete at the national level. 

We are pleased to announce that one of our 4th grade students, Mikołaj Stachowiak, earned 1st place in the XIV Megaolimpiada. 

We are pleased to inform you that one of our 5th grade students, Nadia Domnik, took part in VII Mistrzostwa Polski w Fitness FIT-KIDS & FITNESS AEROBIC competition. She took second place. This means that she ranks second in the whole of Poland.

We are proud to announce that Igor Kusz, a 6th grade student, has won the title of the laureate of the XIV Megaolimpiada in Science.

The American Elementary School just concluded the next phase of our involvement with the Erasmus + projects that we are involved in by hosting students and teachers from Italy, Spain, and the UK.

We are happy to announce that the laureates of the English Megaolimpiada in the category 3-4 grades (the regional level) and the category of grades 5-6 and 8.

We are proud and happy to announce that Aleksander Bojanowski has won the title of the laureate of the English Ministry of Education Contest.

We are pleased to announce that five of our class 7 students have become finalists of the Provincial Competition in German:

We are pleased to inform you that TOBIASZ KRĘCICKI, a 7th grade student, became a FINALIST OF THE PROVINCIAL CURATORIAL COMPETITION IN COMPUTER SCIENCE for primary school students.

We are pleased to inform you that our student Maja Szukalska took part in the finals of the championships of Pomerania in the jumps on the hippodrome in Sopot last weekend.

On March 13, the first English Song Competition "W world of tales "organized in cooperation with the Scientific Society of Music Education at the Music Academy in Gdańsk.

The American School is pleased to be hosting young people from Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom next week as part of one of the Erasmus + projects that our students are involved in.

We are pleased to inform you that TOBIASZ KRĘCICKI, a 7th grade student, became a FINALIST OF THE PROVINCIAL CURATORIAL COMPETITION IN BIOLOGY for primary school students.

We are pround and happy to announce that our students have won the top places in the National Contest on the Knowledge about the USA The United States Expert in both age categories. 

As a reward for the creative work that our children from the MegaMisja club did on the movie they made about interviewing the fictional character Psotnik, they were visited by the author Grzegorz Kasdepke.

From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank the American School, but especially the students and parents for the generosity of spirit that they have shown our child.

We are pleased to inform you that the student treatments have qualified on the provincial principles XIV Mega-Games of Knowledge from Mathematics:

On February 5, we celebrated the Safety Internet Day at our school. The workshop was conducted by Jarek Świniarski and Bartłomiej Maciejewski from the     10

We are happy to announce that Dagmara Poleszak qualified for the final stage of the Curatorial Competition in Mathematics.

We are proud to announce that the following students have made it to the final level of the Ministry of Education English Contest:

The first stage of the Curatorial IT Competition was the school stage for grades 4-8, the second was the district stage, the third stage will be the provincial finals to which our student Tobiasz Kręciki got.

We are proud of our student Liliana Bartołd from 1b grade, who along with her Ice Fire team won the Polish championship in Synchronization Skating 2019. Once again, we see that hard work pays off.

The last amounts have already arrived at our School Charity Auction "Good Returns". In total, we collected 50 000 PLN!

On St. Nicolas Day, December 6th, 2018, the St. Nicolas’ Flea Market took place in order to collect money for charity. This year we have collected  4509 PLN

We are thrilled and proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Math Contest.

We are proud to inform that Tobiasz Kręcicki has qualified to regional level of the Ministry of Education Chemistry Contest.

We are thrilled and proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Computer Science Contest. 

We are thrilled and proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Education English Contest: the following students are taking part in the regional level that will be held on November 30th in High School 9 in Gdynia. Congratulations!

LOGO COMPETITION to choose the VISUAL IDENTITY for the ERASMUS+ PROJECT Jeux sans frontiere (2018-2020). Free and Open to Everyone! Students, parents, teachers, community members! Take part!

Traditionally, on the occasion of the National Education holiday, the students of grade 1 are confirmed as “full members” of American Elementary School community.

LOGO COMPETITION to choose the VISUAL IDENTITY for the ERASMUS+ PROJECT “Sense Your City, Taste its Sights” (2018-2020) [2018-1-ES01-KA229-050363] Free and Open to Everyone!! Students, parents, teachers, community members! Take part!!

We are proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Education Geography Contest: 5 contestants have made it to the next level. The following students are taking part in the regional level:

Our school was pleased to host Mr. Joss Buchanan, the principal of King William’s College on the Isle of Man. On Wednesday, October 10, Mr. Buchanan spoke with our 7th and 8th grade students about the College and about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program the school offers.

We are pleased to announce that our school has received funding for the project "Our Patron: I.J. Paderewski” as part of the Bank of Ambitious Youth Program of the Santander Foundation. Paderewski was a piano master who helped achieve an independent Poland. Works on the implementation of tasks are already underway!

We are proud and excited to announce that we are starting a new international adventure at the American School!

The American Elementary School in Gdynia will also take part in the second project "Jeux sans Frontiere", which is co-financed by the European Union within the school education sector, strategic partnerships - cooperation of schools in Erasmus + (KA229).

From September 12 – 19, the 8th graders went to Malta to take part in a series of English-language classes at the A-Class English Academy. The students were joined by Mr. Stefan, Ms. Paulina, and me. It was an excellent trip which provided educational experiences in the classroom, cultural experience in Maltese society, and some good exercise and a lot of fun on the beaches of Malta. Mr.Stefan and Ms. Paulina provided excellent supervision, guidance, support, and comapanionship to the students and helped organize the activities when the students were not in school.

On September 11th, we held an assembly to remember those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.

It's been a busy start of the 2018-2019 school year at the American School.

On Wednesday, June 6, the American Elementary School hosted United States Army Major William Mercucci.  Major Mercucci is part of the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) and is stationed in Bydgoszcz. The day of his visit coincided with the 74th anniversay of D-Day, the historic day that the Allied Forces landed on the beaches at Normandy and began the liberation of Nazi-occupied northwestern Europe

We are proud to announce the top three places winners of THE BIG CHALLENGE International English Contest 2018, which was held in schools from Poland, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain and Scandinavian countries:

In April 2018, Class 5a Toruń for a day of art, culture and Polish history activities. There were 5 main learning activities for the day: a show at the Planetarium, learning about some of Toruń’s historic buildings, a guided tour of a contemporary art exhibition by “Łukasza Patelczyka Migotanie / Scintillation” (CSW Toruń), a drawing and photography project in gallery at CSW Toruń, and finally a Gingerbread-making workshop at Muzeum Piernika.

We are proud to announce the finalists of the Ministry of Education English Contest 2017/2018:

We are happy and proud to announce that at this year’s Charity Auction, we raised a total of 74,590.65 PLN.  We are also grateful for the efforts, dedication, and generosity of all of those involved. We would like to extend sincere appreciation to those moms who helped in the preparation before the event and all the work that they did during the event. 

Our main goal was to visit Frida Kahlo's art exhibition. The trip was organized for 6th and 7th graders.

Another record!
During this year St. Nicolas’ Flea Market last Friday, the American Elementary School students collected 5.816 PLN 33 GR, buying and selling their own toys, books, CDs, etc, which they had donated for charity.

We are glad and proud to inform, that Dagmara Poleszak has qualified to regional round of Ministry of Education Math Contest.

We are thrilled and proud to announce the official results of the Ministry of Education English Contest: 46 out of 60 contestants have made it to the next level. The following students are taking part in the regional level that will be held on November 30th in High School nb. 9 in Gdynia.

Many thanks to the Martin Gortat Foundation MG13 for organizing the Skills Competition for students from grades 4 – 6. This event was the first step in the selection process to determine which schools will be eligible to take part in the main competition. Over 300 schools competed. Only fifty schools have gone on to the next step (and only two from the Tri-City). We are proud that we are among those who will take part in the main competition. The motto of the competition is “Reach High,” and we are confident that our students will do just that.

The best competitor at the American School is Kamil Kuc. Kamil has a chance to represent our school at the national finals in Lodz where the top prize is a trip to the U.S.A. where he can attend an NBA game and meet Martin Gortat, one of the star players on the Washington Wizards team.
Our second place competitor is Franek Domalik from our 5th grade, and the third place competitor is Olivier Miszewski from our 4th grade.

Congratulations to all of our competitors, and especially to these three winners.

The American School celebrated Polish Independence Day on Thursday, November 9. The day ended with the presentation of a show that was performed by our 4th grade students under the direction of Kasia Pawłóczenko, Zuzia Gałkowska, Gosia Niwińska, and Basia Marcinkowska. The No-Name Choir, under the direction of Ms. Marcinkowska, was also on hand to provide the songs for the show.
The show was a spectacular success, and all of the elements were amazing: the costumes were eye-catching and authentic; the sets were detailed and attractive; the choreography was elaborate, precise, and exciting; and the acting of our young actors and singing of our singers was wonderful.
Clearly, a great deal of hard work went into making this production the success it was. Kudos to the adults and children who so generously gave of their time and talent in putting together this rousing, fun, and patriotic pageant.

This year, our teachers decided that rather than receive flowers, candy, or other gifts for Teachers’ Day, they would prefer that families donate money for someone in need.
Due to the generosity of our families, over 3,500 PLN was raised.
With this money, we purchased a laptop computer for a young boy, Nikodem, who suffers from an auto-immune disease. We became aware of this child through Fundacja Mam Marzenie.
Thank you to all of our American School teachers, families, and students for their kindness and generosity.

On October 25, the school held its First Grade Inauguration Ceremony (Pasowanie). During the ceremony, the children in Ms. Magdalena Hełminiak’s class became official members of the American School. As always, it was a beautiful event, and the young inductees were thrilled with the fact that they had reached this important academic milestone, and we were all quite proud of them.

October 31 was Halloween, and the American School celebrated in style. As always, our young people’s costumes were remarkable, and our students had the opportunity to display their imagination, creativity, and hard work. The day of tricks and treats was topped off by a Halloween Ball that was organized by our P.E. teachers.

Special thanks are extended to Mr. Stefan, Mr. Maciek, Ms. Paulina, and Ms, Danuta for making the ball a success, and also to all of the parents who helped their children with the costumes, brought in refreshments for the classes to enjoy, and for helping decorate.

In school year 2016/2017, 4A grade studeents took part in an international project regarding the Mindfulness. Our efforts and team work in the field of european cooperation have been recognized as particularly genuine and innovative. We are very pleased to announce that we have received The Quality Label for our "Open Mind & Happy Heart" project.

We would like to inform you that the Ceremony of Solemn Beginning of the School Year 2017/2018 will take place on September 4th at 10.00.

We are very happy to announce the results of ‘The Big Challenge’ International Contest in Knowledge of the Facts about the English-Speaking Countries for grades 6-5, entered into by schools from Poland, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain, and the Scandinavian countries.

‘Reading with all senses’ – was the motto of this year’s edition of the Literature Festival for Children with grades three participating. During a meeting with Michał Żołyński dressed up as a character of the ‘Czasodzieje’ book we were introduced to the characteristic features of the fantasy genre. Then, we walked to the Baltic Sea Cultural Center where, in the burgher hall, we were greeted by Andrzej Maleszka – author of the best-selling novel for children and teenagers of the Magic Tree series.

We are utterly proud and happy to share with you the results attained by our students in yet another, twelfth edition of the inter-school competition project in Gdynia under the motto: ‘Gdynia – the city which has won over my heart’. Our students won absolutely fantastic places.