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Cats: How beneficial are they for your mental health?

To cat owners and prospective ones, or just cat meme fanatics for a purrfect relationship with these superior creatures.

(courtesy of cattime.com)

Cats - our feline friends that come at a dime a dozen around Mostar - could be intricately involved in your mental health. Their friendliness (or lack thereof) has often been attributed for helping to cope with depression. While there are plenty who are keen on the growing trend of ‘prescription’ of cats for mental health issues, there are also those who don't always agree.

State university of New York at Buffalo, after a study, discerned that people who own cats are more likely to have lower blood pressure than those that do not. People with post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety can also build up emotional regulation. The purring of the puss (which incites additional gamma rays in your body) can slow down your breathing and help with anxiety, according to Shawn Simmons, headmistress of Kitty Bungalow, charm school for wayward cats.

Having a routine in your day to day life is quite beneficial for coping with depression, and the effortless structure of a cat’s routine - stretching in the mornings, asking for food, getting plenty of sleep - may help a person to create their own. There are also people whose mental illness prevents them from creating attachments and cats can fulfill their human need for touch and companionship, according to various studies. It is also said that due to their ability to lower blood pressure, their owners are less prone to strokes and other cardiovascular medical conditions.

However, researchers also argue that there are potential adverse effects brought about by owning a cat or being around them. Regarding stress and anxiety, it is ill advised to have cats around if having to take care of a pet makes one worry- risking elevation of anxiety rather than reducing it. Moreover, if someone's depression is so severe that they are not able to clean the litter box or feed the cat, having cats for help would not be the best of ideas. Cats are prone to mental health issues themselves (planning world domination must be quite stressful). These are not the only worries projected by these researchers- there are long term potential harms as well. Cats can carry a brain infecting parasite called toxoplasma which when transferred to humans can cause dementia, and in severe cases, schizophrenia. A relatively new research by German scientists and the World Health Organization shows that this parasite may cause serious memory loss- especially in senior citizens. Correspondingly, researches conducted by Huffington Post Health included data on 2,125 families within the National Institute of Mental Illness (NAMI) which showed that 50.6% who were diagnosed with schizophrenia had a cat as children.

So while the bundle of cuddles, with a natural tendency to increase oxytocin and serotonin along with dopamine in their humans, mean no harm to the human populace (all they want is to be fed and played with), they could actuate severe psychotic disturbances and illnesses. With sanitary care of your tiny treasure and regular visits to the vet, you can indulge in a mutually beneficial relationship with your cat. If you are unable to do so, cat videos and memes are only a click away on the internet.

Written by: Chhime Sherpa, Nepal, ‘18

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Are foreigners taking away our culture?

The worldwide stream of immigrants have significant impacts on nations’ cultural identities and therefore lead to some politician’s concern. We have seen the politicians tighten the citizenship laws in some countries, and it is now spreading towards other countries.

Last month the Danish government approved a proposal which said that one will not be considered Danish, if that person is not born in a western country. The politicians divided people in ‘Danish’ and ‘descendant of immigrant’. The topic created a big debate in Denmark and raised the question if  one has to come from the same culture as the one that appears in the country they live in.

The discussion raged and people were arguing whether the statement was valid or not. Alex Sabour is from Iran and now lives in Denmark. He made a video with the hashtag #IamDanish, as a protest against the proposal. In the powerful video he tells different children that they are not Danish, that they do not belong in the country. The kids’ reactions are strong and it ends with the last child who starts crying.

The Danish government sees the increasing number of immigrants as a problem. Martin Henriksen says: “There are areas with a majority of immigrants and descendants of immigrants. In ‘Dansk Folkeparti’ we see this as a problem”. The government means that the foreign cultures are dominating in these areas and they are undermining the traditional Danish culture and the government therefore sees a need to decrease the number of citizenships distributed.

The opposition states that exactly these cultural differences make the Danish society grow. Grow into a place with space for all cultures. They say that there is no exact recipe for being a Dane.

There are immigrants who are well integrated in the Danish society without losing their cultural identity, such as Sami from Syria. He came to Denmark in 2014 and has worked there for two years without any fixed salary. He put a lot of effort into learning Danish and is now close to getting a permanent job. His boss mentions that he even contributes with a lot of great cultural qualities that is very welcomed in the workplace.

On the other hand, there are also less integrated immigrants in Denmark. The government states that more and more immigrants are not being integrated and do actually keep distance from the Danish people. Alparslan is a turkish immigrant who is active within Islamic youth organisations that are against values like gender equality and democracy which are both fundamental Danish viewpoints. The government sees this as a problem with more and more people like Alparslan, who, they say, are undermining the Danish culture.

In our time there are streams of immigrants from all over the world to all over the world, therefore we see drastically more countries making same decisions as Denmark. In a country like Nepal we can also see a government that has implemented a law which says that one has to have been living in Nepal for minimum of 20 years to get a citizenship, this in order to avoid the increasing number of (especially Indian) immigrants.

As United World College students we may become a part of new cultures all of the world at some point in our lives. We can then ask ourselves: is cultural integration important when living in a new country, or is it acceptable to ignore other countries’ culture and live with one’s own?

Written by Peter Anton Borring Balle, Denmark, ‘18

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CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

On the 8th of March every year, we celebrate International Women's day. It is a globally-celebrated day, important because it commemorates all of the women’s achievements throughout the decades. We remember them and their impact on the social, cultural, political and economic spheres of our lives.

During the beginning of the Russian Revolution, women working in the textile industry started a demonstration in Petrograd on March 8th, 1917. The streets of the city were flooded with women, marching for their rights and better working conditions. After the abdication of the Russian emperor Nicholas, the women were granted the right to vote. Consequently, March 8th became a national holiday in 1917 in Soviet Russia, as in other communist and socialist countries. The United Nations adopted it later in 1975. Ever since, it has been recognized by many countries worldwide.

However, in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is not a public holiday. Despite it being acknowledged by the majority of people, the entire background and purpose of this day is unknown to too many citizens. The only thing that is regularly put in practice here is the tradition of giving small gifts and flowers to the women. This day in Bosnia and Herzegovina is also used as an excuse to go out and party. All the stores lower the prices of their products in order to attract more buyers and make profit.  People rarely remember the actual role and background of this day. They forget that this holiday is not about gifting, but about remembering the ongoing, open fight for women's rights. The history of the fight for economic and political rights and all the stories of female workers have been forgotten by now. Many are surprised when someones decides to go out, protest and organize a march regarding gender inequality. They wonder why they do it and what the purpose of all that is.

Despite all the general, global improvements, there is not much being said in schools or news about this holiday. A few days ago, a student of our school (Hana H.) organized a march together with other activists from cities around Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Out of all the newspapers, TV and radio stations and online portals, only one wrote a piece on it. People are generally not interested in this topic and they’d rather accept the 8th March how it is now, rather than trying to change its meaning. For most of them, it just one day in the year when you give gifts to women, while failing to acknowledge the actual purpose of the day.

It is only after WW2 that the fight for gender parity became a part of everyday life in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though there has been a significant improvement when it comes to the achievements of females in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is still an ongoing issue. Women started taking parts in different aspects of public life, being involved in politics, armed forces and security forces. The gender equality is still not fully accomplished but the people are striving towards having  an equal number of men and women involved in executive power and participating in important decisions.

Even though this day should act as a reminder to keep fighting for better conditions and a better future, it will take a lot of time until the change happens. And it is not only Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also many other countries that gradually forget the actual meaning behind the holiday and transform it into something completely different. Of course, there are the ones who remember and make sure that others do to. The ones who stand up and fight, raise their voice and speak their opinion. Maybe it is a small number, but that is okay. As long as there is someone fighting, it will have influence. Maybe now, maybe in ten, twenty or fifty years. But what is important is that we keep influencing others, educate them and talk to them. Only then we will see the change and start properly celebrating International Women's Day. Until then, we should just keep trying.

 Written by: Amina Bašić, B&H, ‘17

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What a break will do to you

Winter break. Or just break, considering many of us live in the southern hemisphere of this planet. Living at a college abroad can be stressful, and an official, month-long break can be a blessing after a term full of new experiences

and demanding coursework. It can also, however, coincide with the scary moment in which you realize you have to leave behind ��� even if for only a very short amount of time – people and places you learned to love, and have to go back to a world that you may not recognize or feel comfortable in anymore.

Going home after term 1 was traumatic, for me. Mostar had given me kinds of friendships that I had never imagined could exist and I was afraid to leave that all behind. I thought that leaving would mean certain change and really didn’t miss Italy; I did and still do feel bad when I admit this to myself, but I didn’t even miss my family. As the month passed though, I realized I was afraid to return for the same reason: I had spent a wonderful Christmas and New Year with my parents and sister (and who could forget Kenzie, my cute little Lhasa Apso dog!) and I didn’t want anything to be different, ever. I wanted to be cared for by my mom, to drive around and sing to U2 songs with my dad, I wanted to watch funny YouTube videos with my sis and cuddle Kenzie all day long.

That’s when I realized there was no going back. Ready or not, I had been launched, by choice, into the adult world, where I have to control my own eating, sleeping and exercising habits, do my own laundry, be responsible about dates, assignments and meetings, etc. And things back home were going to change, no doubt about it. The world would not stop as I lived in another bubble. Life would go on, as it should. We tend to think that when things change, it is an entirely external phenomenon; but our own, individual lives move on as well, just as everything else does. We become different people, and sometimes the outside world stays the same; yet we still feel as if it is the world that is changing, and not us.

This break for me has been an opportunity to spend time with my family according to our tradition. I don’t know how much time it will take for traditions to change; I know it will, and knowing that helped me savor every little moment without fearing times to come.

This will be a collection of short reflections by the Newspaper CAS’s core members on their respective breaks. Maybe you will find yourself in one of them.

- Melanie De Vincentiis, Editor in Chief at The Daily Krompeer

Before going back to Denmark I had a strange feeling. A feeling that was surprisingly painful. I realized that I had not been active when it came to my friends and family. I had lived my life in Mostar and put all my focus on it. All those thoughts came to me while sitting on the plane where I became quite nostalgic. That’s what being at 10000m above sea level does to me. I started thinking about the past year and particularly about the 4 months I had spent in Mostar, and that led my thoughts into a nervousness about my future weeks. Would things have changed with my friends? Maybe even with my close family? Would it change for the better or for the worse? I came out of the plane and had my family waiting with smiles and hugs. All good. We came home and we had family time. All good. We talked until we went to bed. All good. My family had not changed their view of me, and I had not changed mine. It was perfect.  When I thought about the Christmas party my friends had invited me to, I got more nervous. The image of me sitting alone at the dinner, with 25 people that I had slipped away from came as a nightmare in my daydreaming.

I was welcomed by 25 faces smiling from ear to ear. I went through my experiences with my friends and realized that they just did not understand. They tried, but no. Slowly, throughout the night, I managed to talk to all of them and I realized that fortunately they were the same as I had left them. They were as good as before and so was I. What I learned from going back home is that you shouldn’t worry, because you will stick together with the people that truly matter.

- Peter Anton Borring Balle, ‘18

This winter break was one of the worst winter breaks of my entire life.

A few days before the end of the first term I broke my leg in the stupidest way ever. I was reckless and dumb; I guess that some people are just born clumsy and dull-witted. The injury was so bad that I had to undergo surgery to get it fixed and I left Mostar with a huge cast and a 15cm-long scar on my leg. Those 5 days spent at the hospital felt like a century, as if the hour-hand was going backwards. On top of that, the hospital food was way worse than the canteen food; in fact, I missed the canteen food.

When I was finally able to go back to Croatia, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my chest. After arriving home I was treated like a king. Every morning my mom would knock on my door and bring me breakfast in bed with a cup of coffee. I spent most of my days binge-watching TV series  because I had to catch up with everything that I had missed. However, after a few days it felt so tedious and boring. I was stuck in my bed, unable to go anywhere because of my leg and most of my friends were either busy or were out of the country. My dog, Dita, was always there for me. When playing with her I didn’t thinking about anything, my brain was empty. She hates my crutches, though; every time I would try to go somewhere she would start barking because she probably thought that I would hit her with my crutches. Such a silly girl.

Because I was unable to go anywhere or do anything, and because most of my close friends were not in the city, I talked to my parents quite a bit. Also, I am quite sure that no one’s 18th birthday party was as lame as mine was! Because of the broken leg, I had to stay at home and I had to talk to old fashioned, not liberal guests and I had to put on a mask just to not have to explain myself to them. Why would I stress myself out and get pores because of some ignorant fools? Talking to them was quite interesting; however, I found out even more interesting and shocking things about my dad. One day he told me that he has nothing against homosexuals, how he likes our gay cousin and how gay people are completely normal to him; he did, however, mention that he believes that trans people are nothing like cisgender people and that no matter how hard they try, they will never be. I have tried to explain my views to him but he just wouldn’t listen. The very next day I found out that he supports the whole idea of the Holocaust and that he thinks that it was a good thing: I was speechless. I immediately quit the conversation and left the room. A million things were going through my head. What kind of person am I living with? Why is he so ignorant and stupid? Why could anyone with a normal, functioning brain believe that the Holocaust was a good thing?

After that day, I spent most of my time in my room and with my dog. I got quite mad at my stubborn father because no matter how hard I tried, he just would not listen to me. I started questioning the people in my life at home and even myself.

 - Mihael Dasovic, ‘18

After an exhausting term marked by endless nights filled with so much work and many assignments, I could not wait to go back home. I want to be honest with you - I did not do much this winter break. But everything that happened was exactly what I needed: relaxing nights in my cozy, warm room, drinking tea with my friends, going out on the snow and fooling around like a little child. It seems to me that I just forgot how beautiful and how important those small things are, and how happy they actually make me.

Out of all those stunning experiences, I choose the New Year’s Eve to talk about, because it’s a night that I will truly remember. I welcomed 2017 with my best friend as we were freezing outside at a Christmas market in my city. The Christmas market was poorly organized: a big Christmas tree with almost no decorations, a few stands with mulled wine and tea, and a rock band playing. Yet, I would not change it for anything else in the world.

I assumed that it would be a bad night because it was not as luxurious as some other events, but I was wrong. Initially, I did not want to go because it was extremely cold outside, and I thought it would be boring. I saw all these people travelling and going to fancy parties, and I guess I was just not satisfied with the plan I had made with my friend. Maybe it was childish and immature to make such assumptions, but I unconsciously did. And I feel bad about it now, because this extraordinary New Year’s Eve proved me wrong. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful nights of my life and a perfect way to end last year.

It was the first time after a long period that we had a program for the NYE in my city and everyone was very excited. There were a lot of people and the atmosphere was truly great. We did not care about the poor decorations or about the cold anymore. With the amazing music, fireworks and the excitement of everyone present, this New Year’s Eve turned out to be more than special. After counting down loudly with my fellow citizens, looking at the joy on people’s faces, kids clapping and excitingly screaming once fireworks began, hugging my best friend and celebrating with her, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I realized that I do not need a fancy party, nor an expensive trip and that I would probably not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed this small, but memorable event. It made me realize that this is what counts. These surreal moments that I will remember forever and that will always remind me of home are what actually matter in life.

- Amina Basic, Co-Director at the Daily Krompeer

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Nostalgia

She came dressed in blue

Waving with a silk handkerchief

I remember movies used for goodbyes

She followed me

Held my hand through every corridor

Walked me down every street of this grey town

She sat next to where I sit

Putting her head on my shoulder

Lay next to me on the cold floor every time

to stare into every ceiling that wasn't the one

Where I lay, where we layed staring at australia-shaped crack above

Wondering if we'd ever leave our small hometown.

She never left I asked her to every day and night  

My voice yelling, cracks

Can't be heard from her whispers

ignoring bitter cries

She doesn't like me making friends

Constantly babbles about the old times

Writes your initials again in the corner of a gloomy window car.

I lock myself every night

She comes and turns the key twice

Echoes the silence

Staying in the same place

But now I am staying out of goodbyes

Written by Anonymous

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20Qs with... Danijela

1)      What’s your full name?

Danijela Cetkovic.

2)      What would you like to have been called, if you could have chosen your name?

I didn’t think about that earlier; but I like my name, so I wouldn’t change it now.

3)      Where are you from exactly?

I am from Banja Luka, which is a city situated in the North-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. [...] It’s situated in Republika Srpska and I think it’s the second largest city after Sarajevo.

4)      What is your spiritual age? (The age you feel you are)

Well, I’m 29 but I really feel younger, and usually people think that I’m younger. Maybe 20 or 22. Because now - when I’m with the students all the time - I feel like I’m not much older than them. 5)      What is your favorite color? Why?

Red. Because red is the colour of love, of power and I think it’s so energetic that you cannot just pass through red colour and not see it. You cannot stay indifferent to that colour. 6)      What are the professions you have done throughout your life?

[Before this] I was working with students at university, at the faculty of natural sciences and mathematics, [specifically] in the lab. I was a biology and ecology teacher at elementary and secondary schools; I worked at an animal shelter; I worked at an orphanage; I was head of one department in a pharmaceutical company. I was also working as a waitress [for some time] because my parents owned a coffee shop, so during the week-ends I was working with them.

7)      How did you become a houseparent?

Since I have teaching experience, I applied for a housemom position at UWC Mostar. I think that it’s a good experience to work with students in this way: you are not a teacher, you are involved in their lives in a totally different way and that was very challenging for me. It’s never boring and you need to give 100% of yourself if you want to be a good role model and show young people a good direction [to move towards].

8)      How many languages do you speak? Which ones?

I speak Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian - however you wish to call it. I speak English and I understand Italian and French. I used to speak Italian but I didn’t use for a long time so I cannot speak it now.

9)      What is your dream travel destination?

Santorini in Greece. I didn’t have the wish to visit Greece but since I watched some documentaries about Greece and the Greek islands, I have decided that I will go there one day: you have those small houses on the cliffs on one side and on the other side you have the sea; it seems so inaccessible but it’s so divided, so separated from the rest of the world and for me it seems so peaceful.

10)   What is something you have always dreamed of accomplishing/doing, but haven’t been able to do yet?

Go to South-Africa to work with white lions.

11)   If you had to flee to a deserted island and food and water and sunscreen (basically anything you need to actually survive) were provided to you, and you were allowed to bring only ONE extra item, what would it be?

Probably a towel or lip balm. Can I bring the dog with me?

12)   What is your favorite singer/band?

I don’t have a favorite singer or band but usually I like [to listen to] RnB music. Do you know about En Vogue and TLC,? They were at the end of the nineties and at the beginning of the 2000s; they are two RnB music groups. I also like Latin music, all sorts of Latin music. All  the kinds of music you can dance to.

13)   Favorite author/ favorite book/series?

“Crime and punishment” by Dostoyevsky. It’s about the moral dilemma of one person: is something right or is something wrong? All of us have dilemmas in different parts of our life so I think it’s a really nice book to read.

14)   Favorite TV series? Movies?  

I like all kinds of series and movies about Robin Hood, the Three Musketeers and all those things that are connected with knights and kings and queens and represent some kind of constant fight between common people and those of the aristocratic society.

15)   Did you have any obsessions as a child/teenager? (Dinosaurs, a boyband, superheroes, etc.) Do you have a current obsession?

I don’t remember about my childhood but I’m obsessed with dogs. I had two dogs, I’m in canine society in my town and I worked at animal shelters so I’m totally obsessed with dogs, with animals [in general] but with dogs especially.  

16)   Cat person or dog person? (Or other)  

Dog person!

17)   What is your spirit animal?  

Owl, a bird.

18)   Mountains, seaside or countryside?

All of those.

19)   Rural or urban?

Rural, definitely. I was born and raised in an urban [environment] and I really don’t like it. I really enjoy the grass and trees and you cannot have it in urban [environment].

[Do you miss it here in Mostar?]

Mostar is okay, but I would really like to live in a rural environment to have some kind of ranch full of animals.

20)   What’s up next? (Future plans and happenings)

I will stay at UWC until the end of the year, until June. From January I will be the maternity cover for Ljubica, as a CAS Coordinator. After that I really don’t know if I will continue working here. [...] I really would like to do something about my research, because I have master’s degree in applied biology and when I came here I put that scientific work aside. I’ll probably go to that direction.

A personal closing statement:

I haven’t been here long - about three and a half months - but I can say that I changed a lot because I’m with students 24/7 and now I know my boundaries. Before that, I thought I couldn’t do some things, that I was not, maybe, capable or have the strength for some things; but since I have been surrounded with lot of people I have learned how to adapt to different situations and I just move my boundaries a bit more than before.

Interview conducted and transcripted by Éléonore Karen Monette, Belgium, ‘18 


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Good morning!

Who am I

And who have I become?

Or rather who was I

When seconds didn’t run;

Days had infinite skies

And the only tick and hum

Was that of my heart:

Not a well-oiled machine

With efficiency of parts

But a soul and a dream

Both sweet and tart…

 A midnight writer, a poetic human,

A ‘sensitive’ existence marked by mourning.

Tips fly and caress, trembling in fear;

Keys comfort and protect when Judgment is near.

And it waits at the corner, it waits on the tongue

Then strikes in the air and fills my lungs

And I suffocate.

 And it was never there

In the toxicity you call air

But a blade I cannot see

Prods, already inside of me!

But no, stillness on a chair

Teeth and nails still in my hair.

 Who am I? I am a midnight writer.

No spectacles or romantic twilight

Or candlelight, for that matter.

Only neon white, a desk, a wardrobe

And a ‘sensitive’ existence, deprived of its glory

Because denied a justification

And, therefore, a worth.

A midnight writer, too tired

From days of betrayal

Of its Self

To rhyme to the end

Of this Self-centered poem.

An early bird

Who has stayed up, counting all the ticks and tocks

So it wouldn’t lose its Self,

Who in the last 32 minutes has poisoned its Self

Repeatedly

In order to prepare

For that early-morning air.

 …

 Good morning!

How are you?

What were you up to last night?

Written by Anonymous, ‘17

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CAS Spotlight: The Spirit of the United Neretva

In 2006, the UWC in Mostar was founded; in 2010, we joined the “FIRST” Robotics Competition (FRC) in Israel. UWCiM, in collaboration with its students, established the “The Spirit of the United Neretva” team, which has been to FRC four times already. Students full of passion and inspiration are what has kept this CAS running for so long.

The Robotics CAS is one of the most prominent and engaging in our school. Our members and leaders spend endless hours building interesting contraptions and devices that have real world applications.. Electronics, mechanics, programming and 3D design are just some of the topics our CAS covers.

Learning how to make robots is just one aspect of the CAS, but teaching is very important as well. All of the members of the CAS are encouraged to share the knowledge they have but feel others may lack: after all, knowledge is not just about knowing something, but also about knowing how to teach something. Although reaching out to other schools has not been a priority in the past, it has started to gain momentum now.

A big part of the FRC is a concept called ‘community outreach’, and this year we have our eyes set on that. Community outreach involves not only teaching about different aspects of robotics to kids and teenagers, but organizing robotics competitions as well.

As for our plans regarding community outreach, we are in the process of organizing the First Lego League (FLL) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We feel that we can do much more for the community and teach Lego robotics in primary schools and Arduino electronics in high schools; this would open up communication opportunities between us and other schools, which could be useful for collaborations on future projects. On top of that, we are looking into some European competitions we can attend, mostly related to drones. We are constantly trying to branch out and gain new experiences.

As an active member of the Robotics CAS, I feel that we are moving in the right direction. We are not just staying in our own little bubble: we are challenging ourselves. I feel strongly enough about using my passion and aspirations in robotics to teach it to others. We are currently working with Valentina, our headmistress and CAS supervisor, to make the First Lego League a reality and we are well off with her backing us. The support and motivation we get from our leaders is what has kept this CAS going and I am fully confident in our ability to flourish this year as a CAS.

Written by Miron Banjac, BiH, ‘18

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The chosen ones

We, the students of UWC in Mostar, are the chosen ones. All of us. We are a big group of people who have been given the capability to build a UWC community with space for everyone. But what happens when we are put together? Will we be able to build a community when most of us act out of self-interest?

Here we are, the special ones. The ones that our national committees selected. A lot of us want to get a score of 40, want to be CAS and Commission leaders, and maybe even student reps. In addition to this, we, as human beings, naturally want to have as many friends as possible and to be liked by everyone. We may not actually get it all, but we want it all and we fight for it. We fight to become the best.

Of course we don’t all fight, but as an observative person I can say I have seen it happening with quite a lot of us. When I sit amongst a group of people I can always see the same two individuals trying to talk the loudest, to be the funniest, the smartest. In other terms, trying to overshine all others. One may say that this is something that I will be confronted with constantly throughout my life. That I should get used to this ‘fight’ and yes, this is how life works, this is how we get to the top, but is this how we want it to be?  

I am afraid that we will forget the essentials of our life amidst school stress. I am afraid that we will always try to compete, that we will always try to shine the brightest and that we will not remember the other reasons for which we are here. Certainly, we are here to get our International Baccalaureate, but that is not all. We are here to understand each other, to interact with each other and, most importantly, to give space to each other; space to be different and to let people live in their own way. These are some of our shared UWC values, a few of the many reasons why we signed up for these two years. How are we going to pursue these values in this late modern individualistic society that we live in today? Can we go against the norms that tell us our generation only operates towards individualistic goals or will our elite community hold us back?

I do see us experiencing a great community with more than 200 amazing people, but there are flaws. Flaws that in my point of view, could and should be addressed. Flaw: as stated before, we are mainly focused on ourselves and on how to get to the top. Flaw: we are not appreciating our environment enough. We live in a beautiful country that we can learn so much from, but we take such little part in the actual ‘local life’. So far I have not noticed any events that have significantly helped our integration in the local community. Flaw: reputation seems to play a too-big role in our everyday-life. We do things in order to achieve a better image: for example, instead of having few, real friends, it seems really important for people here to have a large, varied friend group.

On the other hand, this is UWC. There are the famous UWC values: learning about diversity, leadership and sustainability.  These are qualities that we all possess and use. They are individualistic qualities that make us expand our knowledge about ourselves and the world around us, and will probably have a huge impact on our future life. We are people who actually have the chance to get into the coveted Ivy league universities. What I think is that we could and should take more advantage of these qualities for a greater purpose. We may all be people with a great ‘fighter mentality’, and we can use it for people other than ourselves, within and outside the community. We can help the people who are having a hard time ‘shine through’,  ignite their light and make them shine. We can help the students who, like you and I, came here with the hope for self-development, instead of putting ourselves in the front every time.

UWC is an incredible opportunity that has already given me so many great memories. I am really satisfied with my life here and the people who surround me, but we have to find a balance between using our special ‘UWC qualities’ for ourselves and for others. The people I admire the most have the capability to use their energy, mentality and knowledge to lift up other people. To give space. To be a real community.

Written by Peter Anton Borring Balle, Denmark, ‘18

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

Stains - a Halloween short story

On a Monday morning, Noah was thinking about aliens.

It was 6.15 AM, and he was eating a bowl of his favorite cereal in the school cafeteria. He lived one block from school, no more and no less, and since during the week everyone left the house before he even woke up, he had decided quite a while ago that he couldn’t be bothered with making breakfast for himself; instead, he had established a morning ritual that allowed him to be at school before anyone else, so that he could pour himself a big bowl of Lucky Charms and not feel bad about it.

Noah liked being an early bird. Some people just didn’t understand the beauty of late October’s morning darkness, a darkness that tricks the body into staying under the covers for only a few minutes more, a darkness that slows thought processes with its weight and sits heavily on students’ eyelids. It was the time of budget flights to exotic locations, of undercover spies and of abductions. Noah thought about this often, especially when the lunch (and breakfast) ladies went out for a smoke and absolute silence reigned in the cafeteria.

It was during one of those rare silences that Noah was thinking of aliens, specifically about alien abductions. He thought about how long it would take for people to figure out he had gone missing if he were ever abducted, what the aliens would do to him, if the police would find his body inexplicably marked, how would they explain it to the media. Noah came to the conclusion that he would probably become a star, and perhaps a living miracle if he somehow managed to survive the aliens’ torture. He concentrated on his spoon, and imagined they were watching him, waiting for the right moment to strike.

A chill down his spine broke his concentration. He spun around to find the double doors of the cafeteria swinging, a cold wind bursting through. He waited for the doors to shut naturally, but strong gusts kept coming, again and again. Noah took this as the Universe’s cue for him to get up and head to the library: he had a Psychology test the first block and he hadn’t prepared for it at all. He quickly swallowed what was left of his cereal, took care of his tray, grabbed his backpack and walked through the still-swinging doors.

The hallway was colder than he had expected, and the wind stronger. The heating hadn’t yet been turned on and neither had the lights, so he stumbled on almost blindly, his arms spread out to anticipate potential obstacles on his path, breathing in the frigid air. Finally, his hand found the nob of what he was pretty sure was the school library. He tried to turn it: locked. Perhaps Mrs. Leadrin forgot to unlock it, he thought. It wouldn’t have been the first time. He ran his hand along the wall until he found the nob of Mrs. Leadrin’s office door. He knocked politely, then tried opening it: locked as well. His brow furrowed: it was very strange indeed for her office to be locked in the morning; there hadn’t been any sort of email explaining her absence. He hoped she was alright; she was a friendly, stout, grey-haired, middle-aged woman and Noah liked her, especially when she offered him chewing gum and cracked lame jokes about the reasons why he could have been late with returning his books, rather than yelling at him for it. Not that she could have: they always met in the library, where the sign “Quiet, please!” was bigger than the billboard on 47th Street.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a slamming door right behind him. He jumped and turned towards the sound, his heart beating as quick as a mockingbird’s wings; he could barely make out a dark shape, lingering near the library’s entrance. It was definitely not Mrs. Leadrin, as the shape was much taller and leaner; he guessed it was Mr. Allson, the technician, and decided to ask him about Mrs. Leadrin.

“Hello, Mr. Allson? Do you know if Mrs. Leadrin is home sick?”

The shape shuffled its feet, adjusted itself, but didn’t answer.

Noah continued: “I know it’s none of my business, but I just wanted to know if the library would open today.”

Mr. Allson made a kind of snorting noise, but once again remained in his place; Noah then remembered he was hard of hearing and walked towards the silhouette. Noah tried speaking as loudly as possible in an attempt to announce his presence while he fumbled with his phone. When he finally reached the figure, he found the unlock-button on his phone. The time read 6.30 AM and the lights still hadn’t been turned on, nor the heating, Noah realized as he felt a shiver run down his spine once again; he looked up into Mr. Allson’s face, illuminated by the phone’s cold blue light, and dropped the device.

Because Mr. Allson’s eyes weren’t bright green. Because Mr. Allson didn’t have dark hair all over his face and sharp yellow fangs.

Because that was not Mr. Allson.                                                                        

He ran through the hallways at full speed, away from the dark beast that he could hear was now chasing him. Heavy thumps at regular intervals echoed in the halls; gasps and moans as well. Noah couldn’t tell where he was, where it was coming from or how far it was from him; whenever he started to think he might have outrun it, the sounds grew louder once again and his heart would start a new marathon.

His pulse raced, the world around him spun. He could the snapping of the creature’s jaws, as the filthy fangs came together, anticipating the moment they would clamp down on Noah’s petite neck. Hot tears ran down his cheeks and filled his vision, blinding him completely. He burst through a random door and found himself in the well-lit girls’ bathroom; disoriented by the sudden change of lighting, he stumbled and crashed, twisting his ankle; he cried out in pain and cursed himself for it as he listened to the heavy breaths and thumps draw nearer.

He quickly assessed the situation: there was no alternative way out. The window was too up high and too small to crawl through, and his ankle was so badly injured he could not move it. He shut his eyes and started to cry, quietly and desperately, as he came to the realization of his fate. He let himself go against the bathroom wall and suddenly felt his back wet; when he opened his eyes, the entire bathroom was shrouded in a reddish haze and the walls and ground were covered in what he could only identify as blood. Noah felt a wave of nausea pass through him and collapsed, just as the creature entered the bathroom. Noah shut his eyes tight; in intense pain, with no chance to escape and somehow now covered in blood, he gave up on any hope to live. He heard the creature’s loud thumps and growls, smelled its beastly odor as it grew closer to his trembling form.  He tried to hold his breath as he felt its cold claws graze his skin, prod his flesh.

Ready to face his demise, he slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself staring at the shattered mirror.

It was nighttime. The warm yellow light from his mother’s bedside table-lamp illuminated half of his face, or what could be seen of it through the few pieces of mirror left within the frame. On the white sheets and peaceful bodies, as on Noah’s pale hands: blood-red stains.

Written by:

Melanie De Vincentiis, Italy, ‘17

Mihael Dasovic, Croatia, ‘18

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

The Kids Festival

As we all know, April fools' day is on 1st of April. But there is also one more thing important about this date. The Kids Festival took place on the same day!

It is 9 AM, the sun is already up and I can feel it on my skin. Mostar warmth and those high temperatures came back a long time ago. Although it's spring, it is unbelievably hot. I am standing on the playground behind the school and I can tell you that there is a lot of people from school here. And we are all here with one mission- to make this Kids Festival amazing! Everything around me is so colourful- balloons, clowns and paint. People are already dancing and fooling around. As much as I can see, everything is ready for our guests- the tables with painting equipment are there, chalks are on the ground, waiting for the tiny hands of those adorable creative little humans to draw with them. The guests started arriving and it's time to begin!

The festival is in its full shine. Our wonderful guests are having fun, dancing, talking, playing around, painting. The whole atmosphere is just stunning and unbelievable. Children from Los Rosales, SOS Kindergarten, Egyptian village, Radobolja kindergarten etc. are enjoying everything that we prepared for them. Some of them are playing with clowns, some of them are painting, others are playing with students or their friends... All in all, memories are being created.

This fourth Kids Festival organised by our school was something special and something to remember. The guests enjoyed many things such as painting workshops, sports activities and games where prizes were given to the participants. Many acts were performed not only by the students of our school but also by the children from already mentioned organisations. Once again, we spent this beautiful day with the citizens of Mostar and we shared the happiness with all the lovely children that came to enjoy this amazing festival!

Written by: Amina Bašić, BiH,  ‘17.

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

20Qs with... Andrew

1)      What’s your full name? 

Andrew Williams Mahlstedt 

2)      What would you like to have been called, if you could have chosen your name? 

When I was kid, I wished I had a more unique name than Andrew. The only thing that would be cool is a place name, like a mountain in Nepal maybe. 

3)      Where are you from exactly? 

I mostly grew up up and down the east coast of the US and in Central America. If you really have to put down the place that I spent the most time in as a child it’s probably Virginia. My mother is from Virginia too. 

4)      What is your spiritual age? (The age you feel you are) 

I don’t know… I feel pretty happy at 40, but I guess I joke at every birthday that I’m turning 27, so how about that. 5)      What is your favorite color? Why? 

Orange. Not sure [why]… I’ve always liked it. It’s bold and at the edge of crazy (A Clockwork…). 6)      What are the professions you have done throughout your life? 

When I was a teenager I taught tennis; I was a tennis coach. Once, in University, I worked for an insurance company, doing technical/IT support, and after college I worked for an exchange program: bringing foreign students into the US. The program that I worked for was called EF, a Swedish company. I managed the program and volunteers and made sure that the students had a good year and that the families were good and all these sort of things. After that, I worked as an EMT (a paramedic) on an ambulance and I was a ski patroller and it was one year when I did all of this. That was between 2002 and 2003 and since then I have either been in school or teaching. I worked for a film NGO for a little bit as well. 

7)      How did you get into teaching? 

I had really good teachers in high school. I think I am lucky to have had such good teachers in high school. I have always valued teaching and I have always liked working with and being around young people. In both high school and college, I worked with younger people. So, I have always kind of valued youth. I have also always been interested in education. In college, I didn’t really think about what I was going to do in my life but I have always had in the back of my mind to be a teacher at some point. It was my older brother, actually, who said “my best teachers always had some life experience before they became teachers”: they did not immediately become teachers.  So I said “yeah that makes sense, I want to do other things first”, so that’s why for about five years after University I did different things: I worked for an exchange program, I traveled for almost a year, I worked on an ambulance. I think I always wanted to teach though: I valued education and teachers. 

8)      How many languages do you speak? Which ones? 

I speak English pretty well. I also speak Spanish very well, but I would not say fluently. I have spoken Chinese very well, not fluently but almost. It is falling away now a lot; I could read and write in Chinese but now I can’t that much; I just don’t practice enough. For a little while, I could speak Portuguese as well, now I can kind of mess around. Beyond that, there are another five languages I can have bad conversations in, such as Local and Hindi. I have actually studied Italian, Tibetan, Swedish, Portuguese, and Hindi. But I can say hardly anything in Tibetan now although I studied it for a whole year. So, I can have a decent conversation in Spanish and Chinese and maybe Portuguese on a good day. 

9)      What is your dream travel destination? 

For a long time it was Turkey, but I went there a couple of years ago. I still have never been to New Zealand and Australia, the South Pacific in general. I’ve been lucky: I travelled to lots of places. I mean, I could go back to some places that I have travelled to such as Western China, Northwest China and,  if it was safer, Northern Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan, and Iran. I’d also love to go to, like, Syria... Not right now but later, when it’s safe.  I went to Morocco for a week and I’d like to spend more time there. 

10)   What is something you have always dreamed of accomplishing/doing, but haven’t been able to do yet? 

Opening a UWC in South America. That’s the biggest thing I want to do. I’ve wanted to do that since November 29th 2000. It was before I knew about UWC. [Why South America?] Partly because it’s where I grew up. I grew up in Panama for a few years and Spanish is the language that I speak the best as a second language. And [also] because I really like the culture there and I feel at home in the Latin American culture in terms of a place outside of the US. I like the landscape: I really like mountains a lot and the Andes are beautiful. The food is okay. It is also closer geographically to the US. I don’t really care that much about that. You can always get in touch with friends if you want to but it’s much easier if you are in the same time zone.  I’d also love to get the UWC out of the IB. We have to work on the parallel system (alternative diploma) for a while and then work on the recognition so we can switch over.  

11)   If you had to flee to a deserted island and food and water and sunscreen (basically anything you need to actually survive) were provided to you, and you were allowed to bring only ONE extra item, what would it be? 

[Laughter]. I love this question. It would have to be a book or maybe a book with a pen. [What would that book be?] The Hour of the Star, the book that I taught this year in literature class. That’s a book that I can read over and over again.  I also need a pen with unlimited ink, though maybe I can actually make ink from mountains somewhere in the island. 

12)   What is your favorite singer/band? 

I mostly listen to electronic music (DJs) – my favorites are Stimming, Rampue, Oceanvs Orientalis, Kollektiv Turmstrasse, Extrawelt (lots of German minimalist techno) – but, when it comes actual singers and bands, I’d go with Radiohead. 

13)   Favorite author/ favorite book/series? 

The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector, but also anything written by Virginia Woolf; she’s a British writer from the early 20th century. I can read everything by her. Then, J. M. Coetzee, who is a South African novelist... I can also read anything by him.  Salman Rushdie as well; I read his two major works. I also enjoy reading philosophy, social sciences, and history. For me, literature encapsulates all of these things. [What is your favorite history book?] I think the biography of Zhou Enlai. He is the figure that fascinates me the most. 

14)   Favorite TV series? Movies?  

The Wire and Breaking Bad, hands down. But I love Game of Thrones as well. 

15)   Did you have any obsessions as a child/teenager? (Dinosaurs, a boyband, superheroes, etc.) Do you have a current obsession? 

[Laughter]. As a child, I liked professional wrestling like WWF and WWE. I was into sports, I guess, such as professional football, college basketball, and tennis.   16)   Cat person or dog person? (Or other)  

A dog person. 

17)   What is your spirit animal?  

Turtle. 

18)   Mountains, seaside or countryside? 

Mountains. 

19)   Rural or urban? 

For a long time, I was a hardcore rural person. Then, when I stayed in India for years in the middle of nothing, I felt I kind of like cities. Now, I am a little bit a city person, but mostly I want to either live in a big city or out in the country…The suburbs are numbing. 

20)   What’s up next? (Future plans and happenings) 

I am travelling a bit in the summer. Two of my American friends are coming this summer, so I am going to stay with them for two weeks. I will also travel in Europe and go to Nepal for the wedding of one of my former students. Then, I will be back to San Francesco and spend a couple of months there. Afterwards, I will move to Colombia and figure out in November if we can raise a lot of money. 

A personal closing statement: 

I feel I am really lucky to be here. I really like my job; I have never felt there is a need for a “work-life separation.” I really love what I do and that is because of my colleagues and students. It makes it really easy to work hard and laugh a lot. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and serve you all. The second answer is that it is really up to you guys (students) especially as second years to make this place what it is. If you believe this place is good right now, then I would say do not underestimate the role that you are playing in making it like that, and continue to invest yourselves in that. I think my replacement is a very smart guy and he’s interested in UWCs. He’s an educator and he knows how to organize a school. He’s open to discussion and it is on you guys to help educate him about what UWC is.

Interview conducted and transcripted by Yahia Mouhidden, Syria, ‘17

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

The exhibition ''Anne Frank - History for today''

The travelling exhibition ''Anne Frank- History for today'' was held in Croatian centre ''Herceg Stjepan Kosača'' in Mostar from 17th of March until the 1st of April. The exhibition was about Anne's life and everything that happened to her. The students of UWCiM were part of this project and we bring you the story about it.

Anne Frank is the girl familiar to almost everyone and recognised worldwide as a symbol that represents all children victims of Holocaust. She was born in Frankfurt am Mein in 1929. Four years later, after the Anti-Jew Legislation was established by the Nazi in Germany,  she and her family moved to Amsterdam. When the Hitlers Nazi's occupation began, Frank family moved to a hiding place in which they spent two years until they were found. The only surviving member of the family was Anne's father Otto Frank.

This exhibition about Anne Frank was a part of the project called ''Historija, Istorija, Povijest- Lessons for Today'' that was organised by House of Anne Frank in cooperation with Youth Initiative for Human Rights in B&H and foundation Humanity in Action B&H, supported by the European Union.  The project took part in the whole region including Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia. The exhibition was held in 15 cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The uniqueness of the exhibition lies in the fact that the specially trained students were the educators to all visitors. They went through the training through which they gained knowledge about this topic. They were happy to transfer it to the visitors and to share with them everything they know. Here in Mostar, the students educators were our students and students of Mostar Gymnasium.

Thanks to this exhibition and the whole project, the students and young people from the region had a chance to learn and see what a life of one girl looked like and they got a chance to receive her message that is always going to stay universal, no matter time and circumstances because her message promotes humanity. And we as newspaper team and as students of United World College in Mostar that considers humanity one of the primary things in the world, are very proud of all our students who participated and we are happy to say that one more time UWCiM was a part of a beautiful project.

Written by Amina Bašić, ‘17, Bosnia and Herzegovina

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

20Qs with… Rita

1)   What’s your full name?

Rita Maria Fuchs.

2)      What would you like to have been called, if you could have chosen your name?

I really like my first name. I thought of changing my last name to “Fox” because I was a fan of Michael J. Fox. When I was younger I watched the movies he starred in and I thought it was stupid to have a German last name: “Fuchs” means Fox in German, so I used to think that if I changed it to the English version it would still be the same last name and would just sound nicer… “Rita Fox”.

3)      Where are you from exactly?

My town is called Innsbruck. It’s in a province called Tirol, in Austria. It’s close to Bavaria, it’s 2 hours from Münich and 5 hours from Vienna and it’s like half an hour from Italy.

4)      What is your spiritual age? (The age you feel you are)

I find it really hard to answer that, because I think I’m my age, but in my way, you know? Being thirty-five and me just means that I can choose to be five, I can choose to be fifteen… And sometimes I’m fifty-five or ninety-five, depending on how I feel.

5)      What is your favorite color? Why?

My favorite color is green, and I’ve  always liked green just because it’s the prevalent color in nature, where I grew up.

6)      What are the professions you have done throughout your life?

I had lots of jobs. I once worked in a hotel as a receptionist; I worked as a windsurfing teacher, as a snowboarding instructor, climbing trainer; I worked as an outdoor educationalist, so freelancing for project weeks, for example: that was my job, just organizing summer camps and things like that. I worked at different schools: I worked at an elementary school…

7)      How did you get into teaching?

I was always involved in passing on… I don’t know, [I used to] get really good at something and then get into the ‘trainer-role’. For example, when I was a kid I was a gymnast and then when I was twelve I was training the smaller kids in gymnastics. Taking on that role of a teacher is something that I [have always] really liked. I’ve gone in and out of school and I’ve been in alternative education a lot so for me coming here I really ‘coming back’ to teaching. It’s my first year teaching IB and a lot of my past experiences have had me between “do I really want to be an official teacher?” or “do I want to work with people who are learning but not in the role of a teacher?”.  I’ve made several attempts to ‘make friends’ with the role of a teacher, because it’s very stigmatized as well; back home it’s not that respected [as a profession] anymore because people say: “Teachers are the people who get paid by the State to have long holidays” and stuff like that; “You just work in the morning and you’re free in the afternoon”; there’s a lot of judgment towards teachers and it’s negative, so standing up and saying: “No, I am a teacher and I believe in what I’m doing!” is difficult… Also because I don’t always believe in the school system: I believe in learning.

8)      How many languages do you speak? Which ones?

Seven. My mother-tongue is German and I speak English, French, Spanish, Italian… I learned Hindi and I speak a little bit of Local (I’m in a Local ab initio class).

9)      What is your dream travel destination?

I would like to go to New Zealand. I’ve postponed travelling to New Zealand for twenty years. I’ve always wanted to go there; I was planning to do a gap-year there but [the plan] never materialized. I still haven’t gone! Maybe because I want to spend a long time there and I don’t want to go there in winter so this means going during our winter holidays, and I hardly ever have long winter holidays.

10)   What is something you have always dreamed of accomplishing/doing, but haven’t been able to do yet?

Well, have children. You know, give birth… to life. To witness that miracle of life… I think that’s pretty special.

11)   If you had to flee to a deserted island and food and water and sunscreen (basically anything you need to actually survive) were provided to you, and you were allowed to bring only ONE extra item, what would it be?

Probably a hammock.

12)   What is your favorite singer/band?

Well, I’m into music for dancing and I listen to a lot of electronic music, so I don’t really have a favorite singer or band… I can listen to anything.

13)   Favorite author/ favorite book/series?

There’s an Austrian author… Christoph [Ransmayr]… I’ve read a few of his works. He’s contemporary and he’s amazing. He wrote a novel that is written in poetry (1): it’s all in stanzas. It’s a travel novel, and you forget that you’re reading something in stanzas because it flows so well. It’s a story about two mountaineers, two brothers, and one of them dies on this trip to this unknown peak in the Himalayan mountains. I read another one by him that was completely different (2) … I think that really impressed me, especially coming from contemporary writing. It has an impact.

14)   Favorite TV series? Movies?

I don’t watch TV: I haven’t owned a TV since I was fifteen. I like TedTalks… But I watch a lot of movies! [My favorite one is] Delikatessen, it’s a French artsy-fartsy movie from back in the 80s: I think it’s just awesome.

15)   Did you have any obsessions as a child/teenager? (Dinosaurs, a boyband, superheroes, etc.) Do you have a current obsession?

I collect things. I mean, I don’t actively collect things, but I pick up stones and seashells and little things… I like geometric shapes and patterns and I think seashells are just easy to collect, and of course they’re also memories of holidays at the seaside. Every once in a while my mom would throw out all the stones that I had collected, which is really sad. She also threw out my stamp collection, I actually had quite a big one. I tried to retrieve it a few years ago but when I asked her about it she told me she had just chucked it.

16)   Cat person or dog person? (Or other)

Cat person.

17)   What is your spirit animal?

A monkey!

18)   Mountains, seaside or countryside?

All.

19)   Rural or urban?

Well, more rural really. I haven’t lived in a very urban place because the city where I come from is just as big as Mostar and it’s not really… urban. But I haven’t really lived in a very rural place either. Part of my dad’s family comes from the countryside and yes I stayed there over the summer but being very far away from a place where you can buy fashion [items], go to the movie theater… I don’t know if I would miss that.

20)   What’s up next? (Future plans and happenings)

I basically just figured out what I want to do over the summer, and I’m back here next year… I’m doing my examiner training to become an IB Examiner. […] I want to do it for Biology because I find it quite useful to know how people are supposed to give answers while I’m teaching a curriculum.

Please give a personal closing statement:

[Since coming to UWC Mostar] I’ve done a lot of things that I was very afraid to do before. I’ve become very courageous, and also I sleep less and work more than ever before: if I survive, it’s going to have a positive impact [on me]! I think that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and it also helps you understand what you’re looking for better. If you find that things aren’t ideal you can say “okay, I chose this, it’s not ideal, it’s very overwhelming and the next time I choose to go somewhere I want to go where I feel less overwhelmed”. It also helps you focus. Sometimes challenges are good: they put you back on track.

Best quote from the interview:

“I really enjoy my Biology HL block because people are just so, you know, THERE; I say something and then… THEY THINK ABOUT IT! And… THEY HAVE QUESTIONS!”

Read by Rita:

1. Christoph Ransmayr, Der fliegende Berg (Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 2006)

2. Christoph Ransmayr, Die letzte Welt (Nördlingen: Greno, 1988)

Interview conducted by Yahia Mouhidden, Syria, ‘17

Transcripted and edited by Melanie De Vincentiis, Italy, ‘17

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

International Education: but at what cost?

An opinion

Wanderlust. “A very strong or irresistible impulse to travel”, according to urbandictionary.com; a desire that seems to be felt by a great number of people, especially by us hipsters of UWC. Much like appetite, though, it requires funds to be satisfied.

I understand what wanderlust feels like and how living in the middle of a foreign country with people from all around the world can partially fill the void. For this reason (amongst many many others, but that’s beside the point) I applied to UWC, and being here has made me very happy and I’m very grateful for the opportunity I have been given. So far, so good.  HOWEVER, the experiences I’ve had here until now have made me realize mainly two things: first of all that the websites are always prettier than the real thing (jk, Mostar is great, but just remember this while looking up Universities online) and second of all that ‘international experiences’ come with a price. Let’s look at some numbers. UWC Mostar’s annual tuition fee amounts to about €15,000, which is equivalent to about $17,000 right now (the cheapest of all UWCs) and, believe it or not, that is almost $4,000 above the world’s average GDP per capita as estimated in 2013. This means that if someone is earning just the average monthly wage by the world’s standards and their child is not offered a decent scholarship to even the cheapest UWC, then that boy/girl will not be able to benefit from this particular ‘international experience’, no matter how deserving and open minded and smart he/she is.

It’s not an isolated case. Our peers from THINK Global have to pay a $79,000 annual tuition fee, not counting the cost of “[their] own transportation to and from each THINK Global School location at the beginning and end of each term”. Only the average person living in one of the top four countries of the GDP per capita rankings makes more than that in a year. And let’s not talk about the various summer programs forwarded to us by our University counselor because she knows it will look good on our applications, even though an ‘Experiment in International Living’ may just make our wallets lighter and our student loans at college a little heftier.

When people try to reply to my criticism they often state: “Yeah, it may cost a lot, but it’s worth it.” I answer: that’s not the point. The point is that these schools and programs offer diversity as a part of the experience, but how can there be real diversity when only a small percentage of the student body comes from an underprivileged socioeconomic background? At times it seems to me as if these few people were planted amongst the majority just as a reminder, as if to say remember how disadvantaged some people are, as if it were a life lesson, as if these boys and girls could help being - to hell with political correctness -- poor.  This is not the promotion of diversity, this is not a realistic representation of the world.

Or perhaps it is. But it most definitely is not the way to bring to life the idealistic representation of it that is promoted on the pretty websites we visit.

I understand schools and programs don’t run on air, but there are ways to give a chance to all deserving applicants, without considering their economic impossibilities, for example by erasing the fixed-tuition system and making every family contribute what is within their possibility of contribution. This is already done by some National Committees at the end of the UWC Selection process, and alongside full scholarships and donations by particularly wealthy individuals committed to the UWC movement our schools should be able to function properly while actually creating a diverse environment, maybe with less students but certainly for a good reason.

These are pure speculations. I am not an economist nor a social scientist, but when I notice something, I write about it. The next time you come across a colorful school website celebrating internationality, culture and diversity, ask yourself “but at what cost?”; then, reread this article and let the numbers slap you hard across the face.

Written by Melanie DeVincentiis, Italy/USA, ‘17. 

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

No guts to look

Thursday, 25 March, 2016. 17h. Café Primavera (MOSTAR)

Today another gypsy child, or how we call them here “ROMA kid”, approached me. I have seen him before, he looks familiar. He must be seven or eight-- I don’t know. I have stayed away from him many other times but today it is been pretty impossible. This time, I haven't had the chance to flee, he has come up to the table where I was studying and he has curled up on the floor, on the opposite corner of my table. He has curled up with a pizza piece on his hand, hiding from the waiter. He has snuggled up and his mouth has spitted "polja marka, molim!" (Half a mark, please!). After a minute, I already felt like shit so I had no other chance but to pick up my wallet, take half a mark and give it to him.

 As I finished, the waiter noticed the kid's presence and he tried to make him out of the café as the kid asked him for money. As far as I can make, the kid has refused. I heard him sobbing to the waiter to give him money but I haven't had the guts to look at the scene. When the waiter fed up —once the kid was outside but willing to come back in— the waiter has spilled water from a glass to keep the kid away. I haven't dared to look at the entire scene because I keep on covering up all the things that make me feel miserable about this country. Every day we see them, they ask us for money, we ignore them and think ourselves strong. Every day, I find them when I'm walking with someone down the street. When that happens, I don't feel that bad about ignoring him. Today he approached me when I was all by myself. Today it hit me.

I complain, you complain about the life you lead; he… he does not complain, he doesn't even try; he simply accepts mendicancy as part of his daily life. In the meantime you and I look at him, or most of the times thanks to the insensibility gained throughout our stay in Mostar, we ignore him. Sometimes I feel shitty about being part of this utopic, privileged UWC movement. I look at myself and I know that I will never do anything else but writing about what I saw today. Not you, nor me have tried to look at this problem’s root. Instead, we have used sticking-plasters. A lot of Konzum sticking-plasters, which are pretty useless when what is needed is a structural change. Today is one of those days in which I feel miserable for being part of a movement whose principles I’ll never get to achieve to their fullest. Today is one of those days when I feel disgusted of knowing how fortunate I am. Today, that kid who won’t probably make it further than the next trash container, hit a nerve. And I call myself poor— today I feel disgusted of being rich.

Structural problems. Photo credits to author of the article. 

Written by Luis David Molina Rueda, ‘16, Spain. 

[thedailykrompeer-blog]

The reader: a book review.

Boy meets a lady? Damn. I have read books where boy meets a girl, boy meets a boy-Maurice, and even where man meets a girl- Sorry, if I love you. But what’s this? I thought the book wouldn’t surprise me, they said it was heavily sexual and I would like it. But to be fair, it was rather philosophical on sexuality. It is not boy meets a girl. It is a 15 year-old meets a middle-aged lady. And she nurses him, they love each other, he makes love to her, he reads to her, he bathes with her and they escape together like people in love do. However, if that wasn’t enough, it turns out to be that the lady is a nazi. So, what? The boy remains traumatized for the rest of his life and grows up to send recordings of himself reading her favorite books and sending them to her, to jail.

I think I’ve never read anything like this. There might be a thousand stories about boy meets a girl, but the amount of books where boy meets a lady is probably scarce. I’m rather certain not many people captured the philosophy of such an outrageous relationship the way Bernhard Schlink did. Definitely, a must-read for people willing to challenge their stereotypes, emotions and morality. So astounding that by the end of the book, you stare at the ground and stop to deeply reconsider who you are. That’s what The Reader by Bernhard Schlink does to you.

Written by Luis David Molina Rueda, Spain,’16