Time Zones

Sitting in this airport dealing with so many time zones it confusing here it goes.

Right now it is 4:49 AM in Washington DC
                     10:49 AM in Mostar, Bosnia
                     11:49 AM in Egypt (Fiona)
                      1:49  AM in Portland

Right now my body is telling me it is almost 11 AM, but it is way earlier here in DC and even earlier in Portland, I might be a bit discombobulated for awhile.  And my watch, computer and cellphone are all on different times....
Plus I'm calculating times for Chicago, Qatar, and Mumbai...could it get even crazier? :)

Adventures in an International Airport

Hey Everybody!

I'm sitting here stranded having an adventure in the Washington D.C. airport in the middle of a huge winter snowstorm.  :)  If I wanted snow for Christmas I sure got plenty of it! 

Dane is lying in front of me on one of the baggage carousels asleep, and she is such a cute shminkus.  We spent a great night with a wonderful family in Sarajevo - classic Bosnian hospitality, with kava and caj.  Then in the morning they drove us to the airport, first the Dutchies for their early flight, and then Dane and I at seven to catch our connecting flight from Sarajevo to Vienna.  The airport in Sarajevo was operating, but we were nervous flights would be canceled due to the snow there as well as the fog, but we made it into the air and on our way to Austria safely and on time.  Thank goodness!  It was beautiful seeing all the mountains from above with snow covered peaks.

   I started reading my first book of the trip, "The Bridge Over the Dhrina" and after living in BiH it gives a very interesting, more ancient, historical perspective to the conflicts and divisions within the Balkans.  The author  Ivo Andrić won a nobel prize in literature for this book.  Just in case you wanted to know ;)  Anyways, it was a 10 hour flight from Vienna to Washington D.C. and it went well until we got to the Eastern seaboard where it is currently a raging snowstorm, which is dumping maybe a foot or two of fresh powder snow all over the city.  I sat next to a really interesting guy who is building the new US embassy in Sarajevo.  He told me lots of stories of his travels around the world first with the navy, and now as a private government contractor.  Besides a lot of experience traveling all over the world, he told me a lot about the fraud and waste involved in government projects that are not properly managed.  This starts a complete conversation about governments, corruption, and then of course the next question - how can we solve it?  The same principles apply to any project, if it is well organized and managed a project is more bound to be successful than one that is thrown together, especially if each person knows what they should do, and what is expected of them.  This applys to UWCs, to NGOs, to governments, to everything.  One lesson that I am debating in my head is what Barbara told me right before I left for Kosova, "Don't be a candle that burns at both ends."  What is the tipping point between excelling and doing a lot of things and doing too much!  It is easy to want to do more than is possible at UWCiM because there is so much potential and passion.  

    Back on topic, we were barely able to land in D.C. because the snow was falling thickly and the wind was blowing quite hard.  The scrapers and trucks and workers couldn't keep the runways clean and the planes de-iced.  I found out later that our flight was actually not supposed to leave from Vienna, but I am glad that it did - even though I am not home to Portland, I am at least back in the US and across the Atlantic Ocean.  We landed, but weren't able to escape the plane for an hour, and when we finally did we had to wait for our baggage for an hour to an hour and a half.  Well, when we finally got that we had a mini celebration, then went to brave the news about our flights to Oregon and Michigan.  Turns out all the flights for the rest of the night were canceled and the airport was officially closed but all the people who are stranded are allowed to spend the night here.  It is quite a nice environment, everybody is really friendly.

    I got REALLY lucky!  I have a guardian angel, because I went to reschedule my flight for as soon as possible, and originally the guy said unfortunately the soonest he could get me a flight would be on Wednesday the 23rd.  I was close to losing hope, but he kept on looking and I was praying and crossing my fingers and he really wanted to help me get a flight sooner.  Thank goodness he kept looking, because he somehow found me the last ticket for a flight to San Francisco at 6:45 Sunday (this) morning and then FINALLY a flight to Portland at 10 AM (but you need to take into account the time difference.)  So since about 7 this evening I've been hanging out in the airport.  Everybody is really friendly here, because we all a common bond - we're all trapped here trying to get planes to where we need to go.  There are lots of international travelers trying to get to foreign countries.  Right now its just a little past midnight, and I am sitting with a group of students studying at universities in the US, but originally from Qatar, and I also had a conversation with several guys from Mumbai who are trying to get home to the sunshine.  A girl named Zainab  And several young guys in the navy who don't have very much experience.  Ratatoui is playing on a laptop.  Christmas jazz music is playing in the background.

    So many questions are running through my mind right now, as I go through this transition back home I'm really reflecting on the past five months.  I'm noticing many differences between the US and Bosnia, and Europe.  Things that I wasn't even conscience of before.  I need to think about this a little more and then I will add it :) 

   Now I need to sleep myself on the carousal, pray that I can leave in the morning as well as Dane!

Love,

Hilary  

I woke up this morning in Kosovo and it was snowing!

Good Morning Everybody!

I'm in Kosovo right now for a two day Social Issues conference directed by the American School in Kosovo.  The school is located in the capital city Prishtina - and this morning we woke up and a blanket of snow covered all the rooftops and the ground and flakes are still gently swirling down :)
     It is beautiful, and reminds me of all the Christmas feelings :)  To everybody back in Portland, I hope that you are also enjoying your winter storm that blew in!  I hope that it doesn't last a week, because in exactly a week from today I AM COMING HOME!  At the beginning of the year Christmas seemed like an eternity and it literally feels like the time has passed in only a few days.  Although I do not want to leave Mostar, and all the amazing new friends and family that I have there - I am really looking forward to coming home.  Because there is no place like home for the holidays.
    The conference here is very interesting.  Students from all over the Balkan region are doing research presentations on social issues in their region.  Shaked and I did a project together titled, "Educational Reforms in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina."  We had a successful presentation yesterday, even though there were minor technical difficulties with power stopping several times.  The educational system in BiH is a central topic of discussion, especially at UWCiM because it is very segregated and georaphically separated between the three ethnic groups (Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs).
   While in the conference,  I realized that these presentations are great - but what really needs to be done is to take the suggestions each of these students make to improve the situation AND PUT THEM INTO PRACTIC.  Students are not too young to make a difference.  So, even though plans are still in the pre-infant stage I want to organize a youth conference with students from all ethnicities to come together and discuss how the education system can be reformed.  Hopefully we could cooperate with the OSCE, and there would be presentations, debates, and most of all lots of discussion - finally concluding with some sort of unified statement about what students think about Educational Reforms.
    I also learned a lot about the history and current affairs here in Kosovo.  This state only gained independence from Serbia in April of 2008, but Serbia and several other countries still do not recognize its indepdence.  The US has played a huge role here over the years, first when President Wilson created Albania and then secondly, and more recently when President Clinton saved Kosovo in 1999.  Because of this people here I can truly say are obsessed with the US.  They have a street named Bill Clinton street.  They have statues of US presidents.  American flags fly from flag poles.  And students dream of studing in the US.  The majority of people speak English and people know the current affairs and history of the US really well.  The capital city Prishtina is an interesting mixture - trying to be "American" but it is also very undeveloped and run down in many ways.  Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe.  But there is a sense of optimism running through the people here.  Even though currently there are many trials, economically and political corruption, they still have a lot of hope for a better future.  Now we are going on a tour of Prishtina to see the historical sights, like the Newborn sign, and Bill Clinton street and then off to another day of Presentations.
   I am here with Shaked my roomy from Israel, Isabelle my good friend from Holland, Ana Filipovic from BiH, Marko from BiH, and two teachers Mr. Raymond Lewis (Economics teacher from Wales) and Dzenan (pronounced Jennan) the history teacher from BiH.
   Last remark, Happy 17th Birthday Fiona!  I wish you all the best, Hilary motto - dream big, and then turn those dreams into reality :)

Yours Always,

Hilary

The First Day of December

December 1^st, 2009

First off, I cannot believe how quickly the days, weeks, and months are flying by.  Even the days seem to zoom past in a second, but when I look back it seems like much more time has passed than actually has because each day is jam packed with work, school, friends, amazing conversations, projects, dreams, goals, and most of all Adventures.

                This past week has been especially adventurous, because first I was in northern Bosnia and Serbia with Milica and Shaked, as I said before and now I am finishing my third day in the Open European Debate competition.  I didn’t believe that I could say this, but each day here is even longer than days back at school, because there are no breaks.  Most of the day we are either debating or preparing for the debate, and during the mornings and evenings we are still thinking about the motions.

                Each morning I am waking up at six o’clock to arrive at school by seven, because that is when classes for my host sister Oana start.  I attended German classes this morning, and ironically they were debating in class – about whether to extend the school day, because classes end a little after noon. 

Each morning there have been organized activities for the debaters to do, as well as prepare for the two upcoming debates in the afternoon.  This morning was a lot of fun for me, because a group of ten or so people were invited to go to a local bakery and learn how to make and bake pretzels.  So, we watched the bakers operate all the fancy equipment that mix and cut the dough into equal pieces, and then we rolled and twisted the balls of dough into pretzels!  Then we coated them with butter and salt crystals with another machine, and loaded them into the huge ovens to bake for only 12 minutes before they popped out hot, delicious, and golden brown.  Yummy!

Yesterday morning, we attended the famous Christmas market in the center of Stuttgart.  It is a beautiful place because the huge square in the center of the city is filled with booths selling gifts, ornaments, food, and a large fresh vegetable market with all sorts of oddities.  I felt my Christmas spirit begin to glow, and to my dear family and friends in Portland, I cannot wait to decorate the Christmas tree with you, bake cookies, make gingerbread houses, spend time with family, go adventuring, spend time relaxing with friends, eat our traditional seafood Christmas dinner, and find a special way to show my loved ones that I care.  In Mostar, the Christmas spirit isn’t as evident because half of the population of Mostar is Islamic and they do not celebrate Christmas.  But, still it is around the corner, there is a lot to happen in the next twenty days before I finally arrive home.  And I am focusing on living in the moment, because I really do cherish each moment because I am so thankful and always curious about something new.

Then the rest of the day, until eight o’cock tonight was consumed with debating, first preparation for the debates, and then the actual debating.  The two motions for today were:

THBT = This house believes that….

THBT…ferocious animals should not be kept as domestic pets.  (Opposition)

THBT…profit-making dominates healthcare.  (Proposition)          

The great news is that all three of us, Ingrid, Marius, and I learned from our mistakes yesterday, and really improved our speeches for today.  And we won BOTH debates!

Once again, tomorrow we have two more debates, the first one is an impromptu debate, so we receive the motion one hour before to prepare, and the second motion is THBT people are too quick to applaud Obama.  So tonight I need to collect all the information together and write the outline of the debate.

Basic format, for each team there are three speakers, each speech is eight minutes, and then the 4^th speech is a reply speech of only four minutes.  My forte is the third speech because it provides the majority of the rebuttal – and I get to be fiery and passionate and prove that opposition points are completely wrong.  Dad, I completely attribute my great debate skills to you.  Our debates throughout my life made me prepared for even the hardest most experienced opponents.  You would do very well, of this I have no doubt.

This evening, after returning home I ate a delicious Romanian meal prepared by my house mom.  Then with Oana’s German speaking skills we called my distant relative Dieter (my Grandpa’s 1^st cousin?) who lives in Stuttgart, to say hello and see if he wanted to meet.  It worked out very well, and he is planning to come to my host families home tomorrow evening after I am done debating!  I really hope that it goes well, I’m very excited to meet him.  Also, I hope to get in contact with my Grandmother’s best childhood friend, who also lives here.

So, big day for tomorrow – I need a little bit of rest J

Good Night and the updates will continue.

Yours,

Hilary Anna          

I am thankful because….

I am very blessed.

I am at a debate competition in Stuttgart right now

                I have wonderful teammates, Ingrid Fiedler (USA) and Marius Kat (Netherlands)

                We won our first two debates, and we learned a lot of lesson from the two that we lost.

                Our preparation went well tonight, so we should have a strong base tomorrow.

                Stuttgart is a beautiful city, I especially love the Christmas Market it is really bringing the holiday cheer.

I have a surprise from my roommates waiting at home, and they refuse to tell me what it is. (Torture.)

SHAKED AND I WERE SELECTED TO PRESENT OUR RESEARCH PROJECT IN A CONVERENCE IN KOSOVO on the 11^th and 12^th of December at the American School of Kosovo.

                Our project is: Education Reform in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina

I had a wonderful vacation and Thanksgiving with Milica’s family and Shaked in North-Eastern Bosnia.

I am surrounded by people that I love, and that I know love me, a deep love, not an artificial one.

                Little things makes this evident.

                Sometimes I don’t know how to show them how much I completely appreciate their influence and presence in my life.

WE WILL HAVE FIRST YEARS NEXT YEAR  (attached is the short letter from our headmaster with confirmation)

Dear students

I am pleased to be able to inform you of the following:

Last Tuesday, after two days of extensive meetings in Sarajevo, the Executive Committee of the UWC-IBO Initiative authorized me to begin the process for the enrolment of a fifth generation of between 80 and 100 students for 2010-2012.

This is excellent news although a major funding challenge still lies ahead of us. I have already made provisional offers of 100 places to  National Committees, and will be following up on this with a firm notification of our intention to them after 15 December.

Best regards

Paul Regan

And the amazing thing is that this list could on for pages, I could write for ages about what has happened in just the last five days.  I arrived here yesterday but it seems like it has been a week.  There are so many insights, things that I have learned, people I have met, new experiences.

I traveled here all by myself on a bus from Belgrade, Serbia – and I’m trying to communicate in so many different languages and cultures.  I would never have believed everything that the Man up above had in store for me even six months ago.  I didn’t know that I was accepted into UWCiM six months ago.  Yesterday was the 3 month anniversary of my official life as a student at UWCiM, because on the night of the 29^th of August, 2009 was my first night staying in my dorm room.  So much has happened since that night, it is a legitimate usage of the word EPIC.

               

 Gute Nacht,

Hilary

A Day in the Life

Today as I was walking back from Old Town right after school I had just finished putting up posters for the Community Care Day that I helped to organize this Saturday, I saw a boy.  He was standing in front of the Mosque, he was probably seven, or eight years old, and he was singing.  Actually, chanting, he was singing the verses of the Koran in the most beautiful voice that I have heard in a long time.  He had mastered all the small nuances of the rhythm and I could hear him singing before I could see him all the way down Musala street.  There were people gathered in clusters listening to him.  He didn’t seem like he was begging, because he wasn’t holding his hands out, and he didn’t have a cup.  In fact, as I walked past he boldly stared me straight in the eye, as his voice smoothly transitioned to a new verse.  I was reminded as I was walking quietly through the streets of Old Town how different Mostar is from Portland.  I looked up at the cross towering on the hillside.  I listened to the chatter of local, which I can’t understand yet.

                It is one of my major goals in the next few weeks to really work on learning local.  There is a great website called www.serbianschool.com that outlines a series of lessons that really helped Andy to learn the local language.  I really admire his talent for languages; he is able to have conversations in local – an invaluable skill.  (As well as speaking French, English of course, and he is learning Arabic from Mustafa)  Hussain, my co-year from Baghdad is also teaching me Arabic.  I know how to say hello, how are you?, I’m fine, and tell people that he is my Iraqi brother.  The wealth of languages here at the college and the desire of students to learn them is amazing.  Ab initio classes are for beginners, and so far we have ab initio Hebrew, Russian, and Spanish – all taught by fellow students I might add.  People can be seen walking to class singing a song in Hebrew or local, greeting a fellow student in Arabic, and then saying good night in Russian, Hebrew, local, and ubbi dubbi.

                Leah and I were having a conversation, about a week ago, about the unfairness that most students have a language which the majority of other people don’t understand, so if they want to talk privately with their parents, or other people from their country they can.  Unfortunately, Americans are at a disadvantage because we speak English as our native language (most of the time I am very thankful that English is my native language) – so that is when Leah and I decided to learn ubbi dubbi.  It is a language first proposed by the tv show Zoom.  Basically, you add the syllable –ub before each vowel pronounced in a word.  For example to say, “Hi my name is Hilary.”  I would say, “Hubi muby nubame ubis Hubilubaruby.”  It is tedious to type, but after several days of practice we are becoming quite proficient.  Conversations are a bit slower, and words such as ubunduberstubandubing (understanding) are tongue twisters, but we are getting better each day, and most importantly people can’t understand us!  Finally, there is an “American” language J   This is a tradition that will hopefully continue here at UWCiM. 

                Last comment before I finish reviewing for my physics test tomorrow – today was a great socc—oops Futbol game.  I am still the only girl that persistently comes on Wednesdays to play with about twenty guys, but it is a lot of fun.  I am gradually proving myself, today especially I played really well defensively.  People are split into teams of five and play, the winner stays on the field while the next teams rotates onto the field from the bench.  Whenever I do a move, or tackle a guy all the other guys on the bench whistle and clap it is pretty funny.  At first I felt pretty inferior, because a lot of the guys are really good at Futbol, but with some coaching from Andy and lots of encouragement from three guys named Mustafa, Almedin, and Ivan I am improving quickly.  It is a great sense of camaraderie on the field, competitive, but a ton of fun.

Within the next couple of days my two main focus’ are the Community Care Day and finishing my research project for a social awareness conference in Kosovo.  Good luck to all the people who are applying to colleges right now!

That’s all for now folks!       

Laku Noc from Hilary

Did I ever mention life here is really busy? :)

....Well if I didn't then I will tell you now.  From the minute I wake up in the morning at 7:03 a.m. until the minute my head hits the pillow and I fall asleep at midnight every single second is occupied by something.  Now this might be a slight exaggeration - but it is very slight, because even if you have a minute when you are bored then you think of something else that you need to do.  Saying all that, this environment is one of the most stimulating and interesting places to live, and along with never being bored there is never a dull moment.  I really appreciate the initiative that the majority of students take here to be involved, and I am always impressed by all the inspirational and creative ideas - if there is a will there is a way, and if there is a problem there is a solution.  Now I just need to find the time!
     The reason why I am writing this blog entry is to apologize to all the people who would like to hear more about life here in Mostar.  I have come to realize that staying in touch with all of you back home is part of my responsibility about coming here, (after the fact that I just want to hear from you) because if I don't then only I benefit from these experiences, but if I share them with you I hope that in some way you can enjoy or learn from my insight into life here.  All the time I think of things that I want to write and that I want to share, but things always keep interfering or I just don't make the time to sit down.
     Now is a precious moment because I am the only person in my room.  It is close to a miracle, I love having three roommates, but that means that at any given time it is probable that you will find between five and fifteen people in my room, studying, talking, laughing all sorts of stuff.  If you know me, you know that I love being surrounded by people, and that I love talking and listening and having great conversations etc - but when I need to sit and write a blog post it is a bit difficult to concentrate.  (I escape when I have to do homework or else it would be impossible.)  One lesson we all learn here from experience and survival of the fittest is how to concentrate with loud noises and conversations and who knows what else happening all around you.  Some people promise they could work through a hurricane - I'm not thaaat good, but I'm getting better every day.
   So, my goal is to begin to make time at least once a week to write in my blog for all of you to read - but first I have A LOT of catching up to do.  I have been here longer than three months now, as hard as it is to believe, and I haven't seen all your smiling faces for three months!
   To give you a little appetizer of what I am eventually going to write about, starting from the beginning:
              Introduction Week
              My first opinion of Mostar
              Homesickness - the Challenges and How I over came it (Dad, Mom, and Serena I love you all
                     and I hope I am making you proud.)
              I want to give you a short introduction to the people who I live, work, play, and study with.
              A video tour of Mostar (currently in production, I'm still an amateur)
              Cooking in Mostar (quite difficult - but Leah and I have had some great successes)
              My CAS Activities (Creativity, Action, Service)
              Futbol (Soccer) Rugby
              Swimming in the Neretva
              Climbing to the Cross
              My first train ride to Sarajevo
              Biking to the Cross
              Legendary hiking trips with Raymond and co.
              Shaked & My Lists - "Before we Grow Up!" and "Been There, Done That"
              How much I miss drinking Milk and eating Bananas
              How I'm learning local
              Going to church
              Going to Italy!  And UWC Adriatic (my first official trip all alone)
              Environmental Project
              Classes
              Community Care Day
              Recycling Program
              Halloween in Mostar
              Celebrating Chinese moon festival
              Running around Mostar
              Amazing cabbies
              Adventures with my roomies
              How proud I am of my sister  (She wrote a song called the Amazing Race, it's on youtube, search
                        Amazing Race, by Serena)
And the list can go on and on and on :)

So just to give you an idea of what I have to by Sunday night: (this is a little above normal)
             3 Physics Lab reports - two physics, one chemistry
             An English Essay about idealism and realism in the play A Streetcar Named Desire
             An Economic Practice Internal Assessment about Scarcity
             Kosovo Conference Research Project
             Physics Test
             Organize Community Care Day
             Work on Environmental Project STELLA model
             Read a Kite Runner
             And countless other smaller tasks...
I'll stop procrastinating now, and get to work, and once I accomplish all that my next goal is to update this blog, asap it will be moving to a new home, but I will inform you when that occurs.  Next I need to write and upload pictures of Italy.  Next, I need to finally answer all my facebook messages, to everybody who is frustrated with me I humbly apologize, I cannot keep track of everything all the time.  And like I said there is never a dull moment.

Let the Adventure continue...

Love from Mostar,

Hilary
            

Florence, Italy

   Good Morning from Florence, Italy!  This is Shaked's and my third day on the road by ourselves :)  We drove from Mostar to Zadar, Croatia on Thursday evening the 22nd of October 2009 with Leah, Isabelle, Andy, and Nicolai where we parted ways and they drove on to Venice (hopefully) and we stayed the night in a youth hostel to catch our plane to Pisa the next day.  All the girls in the back learned to make friendship braclets and then we curled up and slept for some of the drive along twisting mountainous roads of Bosnia.  The theme song of the car ride was "Tonight's gonna be a good night!" and oh it was amazing indeed.  This is the first time that Shaked and I have both traveled by ourselves and it is epically amazing!  (They told us at the hostel that we were the youngest people to stay there haha)

Preliminary disclaimer:
     For all the parents reading this, the trip is going amazing and very smoothly.  We haven't had any problems or complications.  We have stayed at really great hostels in Zadar and now in Florence.  Don't worry!  There comes a time when we need to spread our wings.  Be proud of us because you have taught us so much about life and traveling and now we are finally old enough and mature enough to put everything you taught us into practice.  Mom and Dad I love you!

    Friday morning we woke up at our hostel located right next to a pretty marina on the Adriatic and headed out to adventure.  We caught our one and a half hour Ryanair five euro flight from Zadar to Pisa and then took a bus about an hour from Pisa to Florence.  We arrived in front of the train station around five o'clock in the evening.  It was pouring down rain, so our first purchase were two umbrellas which have become our fashion statements - but rain couldn't stop us from exploring!  We found maps at the tourist office and started on a trek to find our hostel for the night.  We showed up in front of Plus Florence and it is great, I would definitely recommend it to anybody traveling here.  (We also stayed at one in Venice during the summer.)  After checking in we headed out again to see the Fortezza da Basso which is a palace about five minutes walk from the hostel.  There is so much more to tell...but we want to head out this morning to see the whole city - Florence in one day, is it possible?  Yes we can!  The iternary for the day includes the Duomo and the Uffizi and as many other places as possible!

The adventure continues...
Love,

Hilary

350

UWC 350 Initiative

Meet the Students at an Integrated Bosnian High School

 Article from the Bosnia Daily e-newsletter.  

  Meet the Students at an Integrated Bosnian High School 

And you thought your high school cafeteria was tough

By Nicole Itano

GlobalPost

     The Mostar Gymnasium, a bustling high school of  50 students, lies at the crossroads of Bosnia’s divides. Located on a boulevard that once served as a front line between Croats and Muslims during the country’s brutal 1990s war, the brightly colored, recently renovated building stands out among its neighbors, most of which are still in ruins. But it’s not the discordant splash of peach amid the rubble that makes the school conspicuous here - it’s that inside, Croatian and Muslim students attend school together. Fourteen years after the Dayton Peace Agreement ended the war,  Bosnia’s children are growing up more isolated from other ethnic groups than even their parents did.  The war largely succeeded in separating the country’s three main people, Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks.  But the peace cemented those divisions into law.

Touchy Subject 

     According to the Dayton constitution, nearly everything in Bosnia is divided along ethnic lines. The country is partitioned into two largely autonomous entities.  The country has three presidents, one from each group, and a parliament in which Croats, Serbs and Muslims each have a third of seats.

   Education is a touchy subject for all three of Bosnia’s peoples, each of which interprets the past through the lens of old grievances. Culture, history and even language have been imbued with the politics of difference. Officially, there are even three languages in Bosnia: Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, although everyone can understand each other. And every parent, in this country, has the right to educate his child in his own language.  "I was optimistic about the future, but as long as the schools are separate, the problems will not stop," said Branka Barac, a Serbian English teacher at the Gymnasium, herself a graduate of the school before the war, when it was named after a famous Bosnian Serb writer. In Mostar, a  city still divided into Muslim and Croatian sides, the Gymnasium is the only mixed school. After the war the school - by then renamed for a Croatian priest - had only Croat students who attended lessons on a single floor of the building, then still in ruins. In 2004 it was renovated with donor money and began accepting students from both sides of the city. What Side Are You From 

     But even here, the integration only goes so far: there are two separate curricula for Croatian and Muslim students. But sports, school activities and a few classes, such as technology, are combined. On the school’s third floor, the United World College high school, which shares the building, has students from all three of Bosnia’s groups drawn from around the country, as well as ones from around the world. But it is run by a private foundation - which offers its select students free tuition - and instructs students in English using the International Baccalaureate system.
    Darija Coric, a second-year Croat student, had never gone to school with Muslims before she came to the gymnasium.  Now, she said, she has Muslim friends and even knows of a few relationships that cross ethnic lines. But she’s never been to a Muslim student’s house and says she doesn’t like to go out at night in the Bosniak half of the city.  "I would like for Bosnia to be united and everyone to be equal, but I don’t know if that’s possible," she said.  "Even when I introduce myself and say I come from Mostar, people ask what side I’m from."
     But Armin Pekusic and Voljen Gubeljic, who became friends at the school and are now finishing their last year, said their time there has made ethnicity less important.  "We thought when we hung out with  each other there would be problems," said Pekusic. "But we found out it was easy."

Slow Progress

     The current principal, Bakir Krpo, is a Muslim who graduated from the school when Bosnia was part of  Yugoslavia. He said that during the war he was imprisoned in a camp by one of his former students, a Croat, and for a while, he despaired that Bosnians could live together again.
    "We thought, ’were we bad teachers that our students could behave this way?’ But now there are friendships, dating. They’re on the debate team  together, the newspaper," he said.
    He had hoped that when the Gymnasium proved integration worked, other schools would follow. But so far, it remains the only integrated public school in the country. And politicians sometimes talk about closing it. Only time can heal Bosnia’s wounds, Krpo said.
     "In essence, I’m an optimist," he added. "But it will be very slow. I don’t think I will live to see it. Maybe my grandchildren."

Grace like Rain

Raindrops are fallin’ on my head…

Da da da du-da du-da-da daaaa..

Da da du-da du-da daaaa…

                I woke up this morning to the pounding pitter-patter of raindrops on the tin roof, my window was open and I could feel the cool, clean air filling my lungs.  For a moment I thought that I was back in Portland, because so many mornings I would wake up to the same peaceful  canon and lie in bed and think, or read, and enjoy a steaming mug of hot chocolate or tea.  Mom would always come to wake me up with something soothing to drink to start the day.  The thunder from the dark clouds over the cross is booming now, but the rain is abating to a light pitter-patter pitter-patter.  The cars are driving through the puddles, splashing the water on wayfarers hurrying along under umbrellas. 

                Leah just walked into my room as I was staring out the window, we are getting ready to go to church about a fifteen minute walk away.  I am finally going to use my raincoat and my boots.  I have reveled in the beautiful sunny autumn weather until now, but I love the rain.  And like a true Portlander I can smell it coming, and the anticipation is wonderful.  This is actually the second time that it has rained since I have been here in Mostar.  The first time was several weeks ago and Shaked and I woke up and ran down the stairs and out into the  rain and danced until we were soaked, the water streaming down our faces, our wet hair flying as we twirled.  The clouds are grumbling again.

            A moment of contemplation, Portland, my first home I love you, you are dear to my heart.  All the people at home you are irreplaceable.  But Mostar is now my second home - a place for my UWC family.

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me

Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

United Words

    This website is a link between all the UWC schools, with articles, comments, pictures, videos, and insight from students.  It was created in 2007 by UWC Atlantic.
    Here in Mostar we have a links group that supports connection between all the UWCs.  I firmly support this connection, the more support that we give to each other, the more ideas that we spread, the stronger our movement will become, we must live United!
     There are some exciting opportunities this year to enhance our inter-college relationships.  For midterm break Isabelle, Leah, Shaked and I are traveling around several cities in Italy, and then stay in Duino for a couple of days at the UWC Adriatic with the hopes of forming connections with their college and sharing our ideas from the environmental project.  Also, later this year Isabelle is hopefully setting up student exchanges with other colleges for a month.

http://interuwcmag.wordpress.com/

UWC Venezuela Article

This is an article that Andy and I wrote for the UWC Venezuela student magazine concerning the environmental project that we are spearheading here at UWC Mostar.

UWCiM Environmental Project: iM Green

We are putting into action a student-lead initiative at the United World College in Mostar, aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the school.  The goal of the environmental project is to increase our school’s long-term sustainability and to conserve both natural and economic resources by reducing excess energy and resource usage.  Though green projects are becoming quite commonplace around the world, this is something very radical for the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is still recovering economically from the wounds of war. Therefore, up until this point, attention to and legislation concerning the environment have been almost non-existent.

                Beginning with fundamental projects such as changing light bulbs, composting, and reducing waste greatly diminishes the impact of our school’s carbon footprint.  Many people are unaware of the huge impact that these seemingly menial tasks can have.  Therefore, our hope is to raise community awareness, in collaboration with the Ecology Group, locally as well as in the whole country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Previously, this took place in the form of paper collections for recycling and local garbage pick-ups.  We received tremendous appreciation for our work as well as many volunteers who jumped right in to help us.  Now we hope to expand these projects and start new ones to continually embrace our responsibility for the stewardship of our planet. 

We have both short term and long term initiatives. We are implementing many of our projects immediately; however, more drastic measures must be taken to accomplish our goal of becoming self sustainable.  The best way to become completely sustainable is to fully utilize local resources, readily available in your area.  In our case, we are blessed (and sometimes burdened) by exorbitantly strong winds (called the “Bura”) in this mountainous region of Herzegovina. It is our hope to employ this resource to our advantage by generating renewable wind power to support the energy needs of our school. That is to say, our goal is to create Bosnia and Herzegovina's first sanctioned wind-power generator. It is projects like this, which are daring yet attainable, that can really truly combat against environmental degradation and act as a role model for the beautiful vicinity in which our school is located.

                Furthermore, this month has seen a movement throughout the UWCs to support the 350 initiative, which emphasizes the growing necessity to protect the environment and consciously reduce harmful emissions into our atmosphere.  350 is the calculated limit, in parts per million, of carbon emissions that can be released into the atmosphere before we cross the “threshold” of irreversible climate damage.  This underlines the importance of projects like UWCiM's which, together with others, can protect our precious environment.

                In the spirit of the UWC movement, we hope that our project will inspire other UWCs to initiate or continue their own environmental projects, and that an exchange of ideas will develop between the colleges, so that together, we can significantly reduce the harmful impact on our home. 

Simply Part 1

Mostar, Bosnia - six months ago I could not have located this city on a map, and now it is my second home, I don't believe that it is a coincidence that I am here, too many pieces of this crazy puzzle that we call life have fallen together in perfect order.  This first month at the United World College in Mostar has come full circle.  I started out in a completely new place, meeting entirely new and different people from all over the world, memorizing so many names and places back on August 28^th the first day of our official introduction week, and now I just greeted my co-year from Iraq named Hussain Aziz, who just arrived here in Mostar from Baghdad several hours ago.  First, I came here with no idea what to expect, and now I am introducing another individual to life here in Mostar.

On one hand my time here thus far seems like the blink of an eye, but on the other looking back so much has happened that it is incredible that it has been squeezed into the space of only a little more than a month.

Before I begin to relate all the amazing adventures, struggles, challenges, and new friendships, I am going to tell you a little bit about our specialized vocabulary here at UWCiM.  Since there is such an assortment of languages, we start to use a little bit of everything.  (Unfortunately, my English vocabulary and writing skills are decreasing, because the majority of people here do not speak English fluently, so their vocabulary is limited, but everybody is learning)

UWCiM Dictionary

            UWCiM – United World College in Mostar

1^st year (firsty) – students who are in their first year of the college

            2^nd year – students who are in their second year of the college

Note: If somebody refers specifically to “their” first or second year, it means from their own country.  My second years are Andy Hemphill and Leah Reynolds from the US.

Co-year – somebody who is the same grade as you

            Note: My co-years from the US are two girls named Ingrid Fiedler and Dane Jones.

Local – the language that we speak within the college.  Here in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are technically three national languages, Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian but they are the same except for a few exceptions.  We refer to it as local to avoid bias for one language.  Holding on to the minor differences between their languages is one example of the divisions that still exist between the ethnic groups here even so many years after the war.

Musala – one of the two college residences (my home) It is located next to Musala square, only two blocks away from the Neretva River on the East Bosniak side of Mostar.  It is approximately a seven-minute walk from school, which is very convenient with so many different activities happening at all hours of the day.  In addition, it is about a ten-minute walk to Old Town.  About half of the students live here, in a three-story building.    

Susac – the other college residence (with the blue roof, which is visible from almost every high point in Mostar) A long walk from school and from Musala, almost 25 minutes, but it has a great atmosphere.  Also a great destination for runs in the evening.  (On average, it takes about 11 minutes to run there, 30 minutes of socializing, then 10 minutes to run home before you are late for curfew)

Curfew - During the week, all students have to be in their rooms by 11 o’clock, on the weekends people over 18 can stay out until midnight.

Canteen – we have three canteens, one in each of the residences, and one at school, where we eat our meals and general centers of social life.  In Musala, especially people are always in the canteen cooking, eating, talking, playing music, chess, or studying.

Spanish Room – the center of college life, when the school first began four years ago all classes were held in this one room.  Now that we have expanded, it is our assembly room and the main study room during the school day.  It is on the third floor of the school.  Everybody goes in and out of the Spanish Room at least four times per day.  It is the heartbeat of academics and activities at the school.

The Library – It just opened a few weeks ago for the first time, and it is my oasis for studying and quiet solitude.  It was just remodeled and it is a beautiful, but small space in the attic of the Gymnasium.  Skylights let in streams of natural soothing light, and the big desks and study spaces allow me to spread out all my stuff, collect my thoughts and work hard.  Nobody dares to say a word above a whisper for fear of breaking the hallowed silence in the room.  The bookshelves are half-empty, but soon they will be filled.  All three schools in the Gymnasia share the library, but it is still a well-kept secret because very few people take advantage of the study space.

Velic – a house converted into more classrooms and office space right across the street from the Gymnasia.  All languages are taught there as well as some psychology and history classes.

         Gimnazija Mostar – Officially titled the Mostar Gymnasium.  This one building houses three separate schools.  UWCiM on the top floor and the labs on the second floor, and two national schools, one Croatian, and one Bosniak (Muslim).  Just as this country has three official languages, it also has three separate school systems – each learning according to their own individual curricula.  UWCiM is the first integrated school system in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina – teaching students in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian.  The building itself was just refurbished last year by a generous grant from the Council of Europe Development Bank to restore it to prewar conditions.  The building architecture is a classic example of Austro-Hungarian influence in the decades before World War I.    

Neretva – the river that flows through Mostar.  When the city was originally built, the river was necessary for trade in the southern region of Bosnia (back then referred to as the Ottoman empire) It also flows through Sarajevo from the snowcapped mountains to the north.  Now, it provides hydroelectric power – but it is quickly becoming polluted from sewage waste.  Protecting the Neretva River and its environment needs to become a priority.  During the first weeks of hot weather, it was a refreshing treat to go swimming.    

Croat – Hrvati are one the ethnic groups within the Balkans, and one of three constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  They speak Croatian and are primarily Roman Catholic.  The western side of the Neretva River is known as the Croatian side.  (The school is located on the front line of the fighting during the war.  Susac is also on the Croatian side.)     

Serb – are another of the ethnic majorities within the Balkans.  They are traditionally Orthodox Christian, speak Serbian, and write principally in Cyrillic.  They are not a majority in Herzegovina in southern Bosnia, but are a majority in the Republica Srpska in northern Bosnia near the Serbian border. 

Bosniaks – are the third primary ethnic group in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  They are characterized by their connection to Bosnia historically and their Islamic faith.  Bosniaks live primarily on the eastern side of the Neretva river, where Mosques are abundant.  Musala is also located on this side.  The differences between the two sides of the river are subtle until you become aware, and then they are startlingly obvious.

Bosnian – refers to the overall national identity of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  When people formally introduce themselves, they first say their ethnicity (Croat, Serb, or Bosniak) and then say that they are Bosnian.

Roma – The Roma people are known in the US as gypsies.  They live throughout most of Eastern Europe as primarily nomadic people, moving from camp to camp depending on the seasons and resources.  In Bosnia and Herzegovina many Roma are treated very badly, because during the war many of their identification papers and proofs of citizenship were destroyed, so they are denied many of the basic rights that are available to citizens, such as education, housing, financial aid, healthcare, and jobs.  Throughout the city, mostly around Old Town, some of them beg tourists and the people of Mostar for money.   

IB – International Baccalaureate, the curricula that all UWC schools follow.  www.ibo.org for more information J   

CAS – Creativity, Action, Service – part of the IB diploma requires all students to do at least one activity in each of these categories and log a certain number of hours over the two years.  I am doing as many CAS activities as possible; if it were possible, I would really enjoy doing all of them.  There is not a single activity not worth doing.  My core CAS activities are creativity: Model United Nations, MUN, action: Futbol, service: ecology group.   

House Mom – Her name is Sheila and she takes care of our residence.  She is strict and does not understand very much English – but we are all alive so far ;)

Head Teacher – Mr. Paul Regan is the head teacher of UWCiM.  His role is similar to a principal, and he makes all executive decisions about the college.  He is a very distinguished and intelligent man, who is very supportive of us as students and truly wants to keep building our college.    

Boom!  Roasted! – a phrase used when somebody gets majorly burned

BiH – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Roomies – roommates, mine are the best in the entire world (Shaked from Israel, Milica from BiH, and Maida also from BiH)

University vs. College – here University refers to that period of school after high school, College is the equivalent of high school

Futbol – soccer, as you probably know Futbol is a huge deal in Europe, and especially here in BiH and even more so in Mostar.  In Mostar we have two teams, Zrinjski and Veles, and the two support groups are the Ultras and the Red Army.  Zrinjski is the Croatian team from the West side (and they were league champions last year.)  Veles is from the East Bosniak side.  Tonight they had a match against each other and it is considered dangerous to go near the stadium because fighting regularly breaks out, and there are swat teams on the streets.  People here take their Futbol seriously!  (Don’t worry it sounds more dangerous than it actually is.)

Celsius, Kilograms, Liters, Meters (cm, km) – all the units that I need to use here, because nobody knows about Fahrenheit, pounds, gallons, and miles 

CIA World Factbook: Bosnia and Herzegovina

If you are interested about Bosnia and Herzegovina check out this website with very informative explanations and statistics.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html

Mighty Mighty Mostar

Every where we go, (Every where we go)
People stop and ask us (People stop and ask us)
Who we are (Who we are)
And where do we come from (And where do we come from)
So we tell them (So we tell them)
UWC in Mostar (UWC in Mostar)
Mighty Mighty Mostar (Mighty Mighty Mostar)

Contact Information

Hilary Johnson
United World College in Mostar
Spanski Trg 1
Mostar 88000
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Introduction

Hello! Or as is commonly heard around here, Dober Dan!

     I am now in my third week of traveling around Eastern Europe with my family, and it has been a whirlwind trip.  We have visited nine different countries: Holland (our flight connected there), Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, and today we are finally headed to my final destination Bosnia.  The cities that we have visited include: Munich, Regensburg, Prague, Ceske Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest, Ljubljana, Venice, Split, Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, and finally soon to come Mostar.  To say the least this trip is incredible - before this I had never left North America, and suddenly I have been thrown into living history here in Europe.  I will include much more detailed stories of all the adventures!
     By the end of this week I will arrive at my school the United World College in Bosnia and Herzegovina located in Mostar.  Quite a few people have no idea where Bosnia is located, (and some have even confused it with Botswana)  So this is where it is:

             And this is Mostar.  As soon as I arrive I will include lots of photos of the actual town and my school. :)
   The United World Colleges program is a worldwide international initiative, whose mission states that "UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future."  UWC encompasses twelve colleges on five continents, all teaching the IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma.  If you want to know more about this awesome program the website is www.uwc.org.   And this next link leads to a description of my school in Mostar.  Click on Me! :) For everybody at home in Portland, I don't feel like I told you enough about what I would actually be doing in Bosnia - and honestly I didn't know that much myself, so I hope that these descriptions give you more of an idea :)
     Ahh, there is so much to say, and so little time.  I just want to say that I am very lucky and feel very blessed to count so many people as close friends, whom I can trust and who make life absolutely amazing.  A part of me is made of all of you.  No words can express how much you mean to me, if there is anything that you need always feel free to ask me, I will do anything that I can to help.  And please write or skype me!  To all the people in Mostar that I am going to meet, I am incredibly excited - this is going to be a once in a lifetime adventure that we will share together :)  Many prayers and may you be blessed.

Love,

Hilary