Europe unit blog reflection

       These past few months have been extremely informative while learning about the course of Europe. When first learning about Europe we discussed the growth of Modern Nations.  We took a lot of notes throughout these months, and I learned many things about this section.  I learned about the landforms, rivers, economics, and much more.  The last event that our class we took notes on was World War Two. After this we were assigned 2-3 partners to work on a presentation.  There were many topics that we could choose from to do our project on.  My particular group chose to research and construct a 'play' about the Bosnian War.  During this project there were many conflicts we had to overcome.  First we had to figure out who, was doing what... At many times I felt frustrated with my group, but quickly we figured out that we all had to work together.   From scene one to scene four we included many details about the event that occurred in the years of 1992-1995. Although we were pressed for time and we had some trouble with editing our clips on iMovie, we eventually got it done.  Overall, Europe was an eventful time period and I now have a much bigger understanding of everything that happened back then.  I am excited for what we will be learning next in my Social Studies class at Carolina Day School.

Party Planner Bosnian War Script

Script:
Scene One
Serbs march around Sarajevo, putting up barricades.
Muslim Citizen: What are you doing?
Radovan Karadzic: We are not going to accept an independent Bosnia-Herzegovina. Let this be a warning.
Muslim Citizen 2: Why are they setting up barricades? ( asking curiously)
Muslim Citizen: About a month ago, on February 9th, Bosnia and Herzegovina sent a referendum to the government, but the Serbs rejected it. We had voted for our independence, but the Serbs boycotted it. Then Herzegovina and Bosnia decided to become independent from Yugoslavia. Now the Serbs are setting up a siege around the Muslim area of Sarajevo where we live and are determined to do “ethnic cleansing.”
Muslim Citizen: We must protest!
Citizens start walking around
Citizens: Down with the barricades, we are unarmed. Down with the barricades, we are unarmed.
Serb Officers are standing all around.
Muslim Citizen 2: Sarajevo’s completely surrounded by Serbian officers. We’re trapped.
Muslim Citizens go in box house. Serb officer throws shells at the house. Citizens go to sleep. After waking up:
Zlatko: Every night I watch the fiery trails of the grenades as they scream overhead on their way to destroy all of the trams and buses of the public transport services. Then they hit the milk distribution centre, the maternity hospital and the “Vijecnica,” our great, beautiful library where a hundred thousand volumes are reduced to cinders.”
Citizen: Yeah, who would’ve thought that in this quiet village, that here we stand,in 1992, being shelled constantly almost everyday.
Serb officer cuts wire
Citizen: Look! The Serbs are cutting the electric lines so we don’t have any electricity.
Zlatko lies down and stares at an empty cup.
Zlatko: For days there has been no running water. It rained yesterday, but many of us didn’t think to collect the water in pots and buckets. How would we think of collecting rainwater, after so many years in which water ran from the tap? But the next time it rains, if it does, we’ll know what to do.
“Window” breaks in cardboard box house
Citizen: It’s been so cold now that it’s winter. Since we’ve been constantly shelled, many windows had broken, so the cold has seeped into our house. Our neighbors have started making wood-burning stoves and wood has become really high in demand. I counted all the cupboards in the apartment; there are dozens of them and all made of good heavy oak. They will last each for two days at least.
Citizen leaves house and come back with a cardboard box. It’s a UN aid box.
Zlatko: Oh look, we got an aid package from the UN. Inside are 6 cans of beef, 5 cans of fish, 2 boxes of cheese, 3 kilos of detergent, 5 bars of soap, 2 kilos of sugar and 5 liters of cooking oil. All in all, a super package. But I bet you had to stand in line for four hours to get it. Thank gosh we have fresh food again. One’s hair stands on end at the thought of sitting down and facing a bowl of the same old ‘naked’ pasta or rice yet again.



Scene 2:
Croatian soldiers throw shells at buildings
Citizen 1: What’s going on?! (The citizen exclaims worriedly)
Citizen 2: It’s the Croatian Defense Council! They’re attacking us! (Citizen 2 informing other citizen)
Citizen 1: Of course it’s the Croats. They hate us because we live on the Eastern part of Mostar, and they live on the Western part, but for some reason our headquarters are on their side, in a small building complex called Vranica. ( She says angrily)
Citizen 2: Yeah, They’re part of the HVO forces. They’ve been involved with mass execution and ethnic cleansing in Western Mostar and have helped shell Eastern Mostar.
Citizen 1 picks up a radio
Citizen 1: Listen! It’s Radio Mostar! We need to hang a white flag outside of our window!! ( exclaims helplessly)
The two citizens hang a white flag outside of our window.
Citizen 2: Thank goodness we were prepared for this.  (says nonchalant)
Croatian soldier puts up a sign on the Western side of the city and throws more shells at the East side. Destroys cardboard house and bridges.
Citizen 1: Oh no! The Croats have taken over the Western side of Mostar and have basically destroyed the East side too! ( exclaims wildly)
Citizen 2: Goodness! Look at all of this destruction! They have destroyed the Carinski Bridge, the Titov Bridge and the Lucky Bridge as well!
Croatian soldiers throw more shells
Citizen 1: It’s crazy. Who would’ve known that earlier this year, May 9th, 1993, our lives would be changed forever.
Citizen 2: I know. Now we’re in September. Our army tried to launch an operation called Neretva 93 against the Croats in order to recapture areas of Herzegovina. Unfortunately, the authorities ended up stopping it because I guess they were going to massacre Croats living in Grabovica and Uzdol.
Citizen 1: Even after months of trying to repair the damage, it looks as if this terrible event occurred yesterday. ( says sadly)  
Citizen 2: I know.... The Croats didn’t just destroy our lives, but our pride too. (inspirational)

















Scene 3:
Jimmy Carter: There has been so much conflict between the Serbs and Bosnian Muslims that is has become unbearable. On march 3rd, 1992, Serbs, laid siege on the Muslim areas of Sarajevo. On January 9th, 1993, Serbs shot the Bosnian prime minister, Hakija Turajlic. On February 6th, 1994, a mortar exploded in a marketplace killing 68 people. What’s next? ( annoyed by all the events)
Assistant: So what do you plan to do Mr. Carter?  (asks hopefully)
Jimmy Carter: As Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States, I am going to help make a peace-agreement between the two.
Assistant: Are you sure that they will be ok with this?
Jimmy Carter: Positive. Believe it or not, I actually received an invitation from the Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic, inviting me to come here to Yugoslavia. The truth is, I don’t want to be the negotiator, but do hope that my visit will help open the mind of these people, and so that they can accept my Contact Group’s ideas as a basis for further improvement.
Jimmy Carter walks out of the room and consults an official and they make the peace agreement. He walks back into the room.
Assistant: Are you all finished sir?
Jimmy Carter: Yes. I have helped with the agreement. I also asked Radovan Karadzic to make a pledge to reopen the Sarajevo airport, to have a cease-fire all throughout Sarajevo, to release Muslim prisoners, to allow movements of U.N. convoys and to finally begin honoring the basic human rights. The cease-fire is to start 72 hours after I leave and will last for a total of four months.
Both men walk out of the room.
Both men come back into the room.
Assistant: It has been almost four months since you made that peace-agreement.
Jimmy Carter: It has indeed. Unfortunately, it did not last the full time.
Assistant: What happened?
Jimmy Carter: My dear friend, it officially ended on May 24th. Apparently the Serbs refused to take their weapons out of Sarajevo, so NATO launched an attack on their ammunition depot.
Men leave the room












Scene 4:
Men arrive in the room.
Official 1: The war is done. Here I stand today, December 14th, 1995, with all of you in this lovely office in Paris, ready to sign the Dayton Peace agreement, which we originally formed on November 21.
Official 2: We have finally come to an agreement to end all of this. I was so happy when former US president made the peace agreement between the Serbs and Bosnians, and got vastly disappointed when it ended because the Serbs refused to take their weapons out of Sarajevo. I am glad that this one will be permanent.
Official 1: Yes. As you know, a couple of weeks ago, November 27th to be exact, President Clinton sent 20,000 troops to Bosnia in order to prepare them to make this peace contract. As of right now, NATO has also sent 60,000 troops to make sure peace is kept. There is currently a cease-fire going on there.
Men sign the Peace Agreement
Official 1: There we have it. The Bosnian War is officially over.

Virtue

    Sometimes it is hard to find someone who shares virtue.  Someone who will stand up for you and be loyal to you as a friend.  Virtue to me explain the rare elements of beauty and integrity.  It is about being true to yourself and to your friends.  You don't think about what others will think of you, you think about the welfare of your friends and always staying loyal to them.  If someone does not respect what you have to say then it's not worth your time to convince them to see what you see.  Some are scared, mad, and sometimes even happy when they confront someone.  I think when people stand up for their friends it shows true virtue.  When you do stand up for someone I think you are staying true to yourself and your friends at the exact same time.  I am very fortunate to have such great friends who share the rare balance of virtue.

Romeo and Juliet Reading Strategies

Summarize- when I read Romeo and Juliet, the one strategy I used profusely was Summarize. William Shakespeare is a very complicated and deep playwright, so it is hard to read his plays, and be able to take in everything thats going on. At the end of every scene, I would go back, and try remember and organize the scenes in my head. It really helped with breaking down the play to my level of reading. about  use  

when your:  


Inferring- The strategy that I used when reading Romeo and Juliet a lot was inferring. I used it when I was trying to figure out the words William Shakespeare used, I compared his words those of this century. I would find one of Shakespeare’s words and search it and find a word I knew to take the place of the word I didn’t know. By doing this, it helped me understand the story better and I was able to follow the dialogue easier.
A good strategy to use when reading Shakespeare is:  when you find words like:  you connect them to words like:

Context- While I was reading Romeo and Juliet, it was extremely hard to figure out what William Shakespeare was trying to get across to the reader. What I did to help understand it better was to look at the sentences in context. If a word had an exclamation mark after, i realized that a subject was saying something bold or exclamatory to the other subject. by doing this, it helps your further understanding words that are not accustomed to you.

When you have difficulty reading Shakespeare's writing use:  

to better understand:   in a :