Topic Discussion:

Sochi 2014: Is Russia Ready for the Winter Olympics?

Do your research and contribute your thoughts in the comments section! Join the international conversation! 


Topic contributed by:
Natalia
Zugerberg
Switzerland

Syria, the World and Russia

"America's War on Syria: They can start it but who can stop it?" was the headline of Huffington Post in late August.  And really - America can start a war, no doubt. Barack Obama was keen of starting a war, there is also no doubt. But, who will really profit from a war in Syria? A war to stop a war?

… Bullshit.

We’ve got several points to consider:

 - Arabic Countries are a ticking time bomb 
 - Power Struggle of the World’s major powers and change of opinions 
 - Democracy (or so)


1. Arabic Countries are a ticking time bomb

Afghanistan, late 1980s. The country is in the end of a war that lasted for 9 years and Osama Bin Laden founds Al-Qaeda to fight the Soviets, who, for some mystical reason, thought it would be a great idea to invade Afghanistan. However, barely anyone sees the connection between Cold War and Al-Qaeda and wrongly so. A small militant group is just suddenly there, building camps and gaining more and more power within the years?  Al-Qaeda today is the evil of the world, the reason for 2001, 2004 and 2005. The US started a war in Iraq to fight terrorism, almost casually forgetting that they were the country financing Al-Qaeda in the 1980s to fight the Soviets and push them out of the territory. 
This is only a small excurse into the history of terrorism. It existed before of course, but Al-Qaeda made it international. Something that before was only in the local area now became really global. Syria and not only is full of little terrorist groups that eventually would create something big, becoming a threat to the rest of the world. It may sound harsh and it is, but right now only a strong leader can hold back this rising power. This will be also later explained more in detail for point 3. The intervention of any western country will help to some extent, but I believe do in the end more damage than good. The countries have own problems and arguments, there’s no need for foreign countries to walk in. From all the protests in the past few years we saw how little it actually takes to set a country on fire, it happened in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya, in Syria and it doesn’t look like the turmoil will just stop like that. Give them even more reason to explode; they will. People die every day, but who’s the blame for it? In the end, one may say, “the government”. But at the same time remember – every soldier has a family, someone who is waiting for him to come home. 
Removing all dictators would mean the break free of so many different political groups and religious groups, which can be considered as even worse. The world is still not over the terror attacks and they won’t stop. Every government may spend millions and billions on the fight against terrorism, but wouldn’t it be more effective to try to keep it in the local area and fight it there? It is naïve to think that provoking the terror groups within the countries will stay without any consequences. To quote from a post Vladimir Putin wrote for the New York Times on September 11 2013: 
„But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government.“
How can we give freedom to something we fear the most?

Of course, there must be change in politics. But changes take time. One can’t just walk in the country and expect everything to change and people be happy. As the latest cases of Tunisia and Egypt showed, not everything is suddenly good again. People are glad they now have more power, but at the same time I know from talking to people from the countries that many of the people who wanted change can’t understand what is happening and how something so good turned into something so ugly and almost hopeless. Of course there will never be times when everyone is happy, but at the same time when a country is just divided, there won’t be peace.

2. Power Struggle of the World’s major powers and change of opinions 


Cold War is over. Or as someone from my history class said, “it never happened”. Which sounds funny is somewhat true, because technically seen; the US and the Soviet Union never fought each other. When they did have war, they supported little countries to fight against each other. And even though the Cold War is over and the Soviet Union no longer exists, the relationship between the powers is still not the best and over the last months it has gradually cooled down, with Obama quitting his visit to Russia. Nothing surprising, the countries don’t really have anything to say to each other. Syria only pointed that out once again. But Syria is relevant to both of them. Both of them want to prove that they still have the power to influence other countries and they do.
Syria, what was one a peaceful country and an example of a successful reign in the Middle East is now on fire and if things will go on like they did for the past months, there's little hope that it's going to be peace again soon. And no matter what the countries say, no smaller country can fight for that long without external influence from countries that have the weapons and money to have a war. It is no secret that Russia delivers weapons to the Syria government and they never stopped to do so, but at the same we should ask ourselves the question: “Where do the rebels get their ammunition from?” 
From the Afghanistan example above we know that the US doesn’t have a problem with supplying rebels with money and ammunitions. Rebels in Syria stand for peace and desire for freedom, but could a civil war be possible with peaceful rebels? A war always has two sides. One thing that people also tend to forget and ignore is that Bashar Al Assad still does have major support in his country. Which of course doesn't make him a better person or less of a dictator, but, and here's the BUT, there must be reason. Al Assad was seen as the liberal leader, he wasn’t even supposed to be the leader. It happened and in that time he managed to gain support. We saw from example in other Arabic countries how easy it is to get rid of dictators when they don’t have support. Al Assad is still in power.

It sounds like a kindergarten fight, but the sad truth is that the US and Russia never stopped proving something to the other party. No one has the right to carry out this power demonstration in other countries and let people die, there’s no explanation and no sorry for that. Every country has its personal interests in the Syria conflict and it’s a joke to say that the only thing you want to do is to save Syrian people. Joke in the means that it is a pure lie, although this would be the only humble cause and reason. But people and countries are egoistic. Some countries admit that, some others don’t. 
In the Middle East this interest has mainly to do with trade and of course oil. It is interesting to see how in Tunisia or Egypt no power was really interested in intervening, while Libya, that holds large oil resources, became an international interest, just as Iraq before. The logic is pretty obvious actually – support the local people, make the leader who’s having power over the oil fall and the country is in chaos. Syria is an important trading point and holds many natural resources. Would there be as much international interest as there is now if not for that?
No country can intervene without the approval of the United Nations, even though it seems like Obama wants to ignore that rule. The war to end all wars, 1914. The First World War was seen as this war. Now the US wants to do the same. Intervene, stop wars with a war. And we all know that the First World War didn’t bring any good and the Second World War broke out shortly after to end the mess the FWW left behind in Europe. Do we want the same fate for the Middle East? Do we now want to stop wars to cause an even bigger chaos and anarchy? In the World Wars we fought for ourselves, now we want someone else’s wars in our interests. 

This power struggle has effects on the population. While in 2001/2002 people were under shock and supported the Iraq invasion, now most of the people are against an active intervention of the US Army in the conflict. 60% of people were against; only 9% supported Barack Obama. Not even the assumption that the government used chemical weapons against the population could change their opinions. In Russia the opinion about an intervention is split, 35% are against; 32% are for an intervention. Currently, Russia is not involved in any active conflicts or wars. 
The UK, who has been known as a supporter of almost all US politics now refused, the government blocked David Cameron in his desire to intervene. Not only population, but also governmental opinions change. Germany, who also has been an eager supporter of the US, also starts to doubt the need of going to war. When the chemical weapon scandal came out Germany was in the middle of an election campaign. No one wants to vote for a party that promises war. Europe has good reasons in their desire to prevent a war. First of all the lives of the local population. But at the same time Europe still fights with the consequences of the financial crisis of 2008, with the labile economic system there’s no time and no money to fight wars. People now suddenly start to drift away from the US and to believe even in Putin, although he is known as the evil of Europe and Russia. 

Yet, no matter how governments and people want to prevent a war – if a country wants to go to war, they will find arguments, they will find reasons. Now we know that back then the US made up evidence of use of chemical weapons in Iraq to justify the intervention and at some point, even the most loyal people stop believing in lying presidents.

3. Democracy (or so)

Now, after talking and talking about the egoistic aims of each country, maybe we should talk about the one reason why we all want to fight the Syrian government. We want … democracy. This one great word that seems to be present everywhere. Russia needs democracy! Syria needs democracy! Each and every single country in the Middle East needs democracy! Every single bloody country on this planet needs democracy! 

… Bullshit.

No, not every country needs democracy. Would any of the modern politicians care enough to read Charles de Montesquieu’s ‘The Spirit of the Laws’, which was published in 1748 and already back then he argued that every country needs a political system that suits the country, there’s no universal ideal system. 
So, instead of living from an utopian idea of having a democracy all over the world the politicians should think about the question if a country like Syria really needs democracy. More freedom for the people? Yes, most certainly. But freedom and democracy just isn’t the same. Libya didn’t need democracy. Or as Putin said, “Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.“ 
No country has really managed it to rehabilitate. The economies crushed, trade stopped, cultural places are destroyed, which may sound as not important considering the amount of people killed, but the countries in chaos are largely countries who don’t work without tourism. If the tourism collapses, the country eventually does also. With the collapse of the leader anarchy will take over and all the different political and religious groups will take over, as discussed before. 
No glory and no democracy, to be quite honest. 
Of course people should have more rights. No one should be killed for expressing an opinion and similar. But am I right to say that people can live with that knowing the political instability in their country? Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. But people are people, give them a chance and they’ll set things on fire. 

So, the main aim of all this action, democracy, is not really achievable. Is the aim of liberation to set women back to the past with restrictions as it almost happened in Egypt? The chaos as it happens in Libya? War as it is still present in Iraq? Do the Western countries want that? Why don’t we listen to the local people of whom many asked to leave their countries alone? 
Why?
The Conclusion
You made it. You made it through pages of rants and history. But that was only a very long way to argue for a very simple point – no other country should intervene in the Syria conflict. Russia should stop weapon delivery; the US should stop supporting the rebels (even though they would say they don’t do that anyway). But at the same time the killings have to stop, there’s no way that the use of chemical weapons can be tolerated, no matter which side is using them. Every day people get killed and all we can do is to watch. Which is a sad truth, but are killings really a way to stop killings? A war to stop a war?   

They say children learn from burning themselves. It’s time that the powers from all around the world understand and learn that too. We should learn from experience, from history and use a little bit of reasoning. 
Think of the consequences. Think of the killed people now and the expected killings in the future when everything gets out of control. 
Then think again,
and again.


Natalia
Zugerberg
Switzerland

Bladesmithing: a Dying Art

Besides writing my extended essay and writing my extended essay I finally got to do something that I've always loved, bladesmithing. A lot of people don't know a whole lot about bladesmithing, if anything, and I hate to say it but it's a dying art. Heck, even the word document that I'm typing this in doesn't consider it to be a real word. Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, or any bladed weapons or tools, out of either blanks or billets of steel. Ever since my fourth birthday, the day I got my first swiss army knife, I've been immensely interested in knives or bladed weapons of any sort. This later evolved into a desire to make knives of my own (as well as some semi-psychopathic tendencies). I made my first knife with my dad when I was eight years old. I could never forget the day. I'd just gotten back from school (it was the last day) looking forward to the summer ahead which was when my dad brought an enormous contraption, called a belt grinder, home from work. We spent the next day grinding and profiling a blank of spring steel which eventually turned into a knife. Crude but functional. When I first moved to India I hadn't had the time to do most of what I needed to do much less make knives. Making knives isn't a fast process. Whether you choose to go the stock removal or forging route it requires patience above all else. You have to plan what the knife or bladed tool is intended to do then choose your steel, blade geometry, heat treat and temper conditions accordingly. This may seem complicated at first but, if you have the means, I urge you to try it. There's nothing easier than buying a knife from a cutlery store but, in my opinion, nothing compares to both making and wielding something of your own creation. This doesn't only apply to knives but most other things as well. What I love most about bladesmithing is watching a knife come to life from nothing other than a selected piece of steel. I would've really loved to put up some pictures of some of my completed knives as well as some works in progress but I doubt the camera on my ipod would do them any justice.

Varun
New Delhi 
India

Uttarakhand Relief Fund

After reading the Prime Minster’s appeal to raise funds to support the Uttrakhand flood victims in the newspaper, I was inspired to take the initiative to do my own bit.

I approached my family, friends, and my father’s business colleagues to provide monetary aid to the victims. I did this by writing a short appeal which contained information about the victims, the death toll, the present situation and problems over there which needed immediate attention. This appeal was presented to each donor and the donors were then asked for any amount of donation that they wished to donate. After visiting about 25 different donors over a period of 3 days, I was able to raise a total of Rs. 35,000. Immediately after the donations were collected, I went to the bank with my father to deposit the amount into the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). For accountability, each of the donors was provided with a receipt of the donated funds afterwards.

Having never done such a thing earlier, I felt satisfied like never before. This act would not have been possible without the support of my parents, who urged me to take up this initiative, and the donors, without whom the aid could not have been provided.

Shivanshu Gupta
Gurgaon, NCR
India

Tanzania 2013

It's August now and even though my journey to Tanzania was in June, it still feels like it was yesterday. Fernando Pessoa said in his famous work 'The Book of Disquiet': "Life is whatever we make it. The traveller is the journey. What we see is not what we see but who we are".

One can of course argue about that, but for me it is true. When the plane took off in Amsterdam in the direction of Tanzania, I didn't really know what to expect. I was excited, especially as people from our school who were on this trip before told all the time how amazing it was, and also I was nervous. You may say, I had great expectations. And yes, it was great. Maybe even better than I could have ever expected it. We were in an international school and it was almost a camp, as other schools from all over the world were there too. Berne, Cairo and two from Dubai. Our school was the smallest school, but in the end we all mixed up anyway, so the people from the camp couldn't really tell from which school we were. We just all mixed up and for me, those 10 days were probably one of the best 10 days ever. We helped in a school, painted a building, made desks, supported them with school supplied such as books and pens. We played with the kids and on other days, we went off to a village on the Kilimanjaro and helped there to plant Avocado trees.

We worked with the people and that was great. I actually became friends with people from my school I didn't like before and we saw as much of Tanzania as you could see in 10 days. We went on a 3 day Safari tour in different places, we saw native tribes, we visited a Massai village … I could go on like that for ages. But all I can really say that - it maybe didn't change my life, but it definitely made it better. As Pessoa said, it's all about how you see things. Who you are. Coming from a wealthy country where you've everything to a place where people have nothing is a huge difference, but this showed me to a certain extent how easy life can be. Free from responsibilites. Just … live. In the time I was in Tanzania I was happy. We were always busy working or talking or playing some random games. Call it back to basics if you want to. It was so different from your "normal" life, it was almost an escape. An escape where you actually do something to help other people, no matter if it's helping in a school, planting trees or visiting an orpahnage.

So before I go on like that forever- it was such a unique experience that will stay forever in my heart and I wanted to say thank you to my school and to our amazing teachers that made this trip possible.

Hugs.

Natalia
Zugerberg
Switzerland

Grown Up Choices

The Future is sometimes scary to think about. Especially when it's just about time to fly the nest and strike out on your own. It is exciting and thrilling, but you never know quite what to expect. You can never know for certain that what you are planning for your future will succeed. Nevertheless, we plan, dream and hope for the best.

Young people that finish High School in my area go on to hundreds of different occupations and lives, I could not possibly describe them all. I personally know people that want to be marine biologists, engineers, international business people, politicians, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, photographers, linguists, architects, authors, and even a missionary elementary teacher in Africa. I know some people that don’t want to go to college, and are perfectly happy to go straight into the workforce after high school. I know people that went to college, dropped out, and are now going back to school and working at the same time.

For those that do go on to a higher education, there are a seemingly infinite supply of Universities and Colleges to choose from in the US. There are of course the Ivy Leagues and other famous Universities that have gained much renown over the years, and anybody could recognize their names. There are also local community colleges, state Universities, private Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, and many more. What we all try to do is find a list of places that are good at teaching what you want to study, are on your intellectual level, and you like to be there. That last one is very important for those that plan on all four years of undergraduate college. There are places in cities, in rural areas, big campuses, small campuses, and many other factors.

Then there is the whole messy business of worrying over ACT and SAT scores, GPA, extra-curricular  applying and essays, freaking out over cost and scholarships and financial aid, being accepted into hopefully AT LEAST one college, then deciding on which one to go to that has accepted you, figuring out which classes to take and then moving into a dorm. Most of that goes on while trying to graduate from high school. I really don’t know how I’m going to survive that.

In my last post, I told readers about part of my summer college search, but neglected to mention my future ambitions with an occupation. At the moment I plan to major in Anthropology and Art History in undergraduate. My life’s goal had been to get a doctorate, but the problem presenting itself at the moment is that too many subjects interest me! Who knows, maybe I’ll get more than one degree! For now Anthropology seems a good topic to learn a lot of stuff (It IS the study of the human race after all!), and Art is one of the most constant interests of my life.

We shall see! Here’s to the Future!


Maggie
Fairhope, AL
USA

What I Want to do After High School

My dream is Journalism. I'm not quite sure yet of which kind, but definitely Journalism. Something to do with Sports would be amazing, or writing for the Times in London or New York. Who knows ;) It would be my dream and I know it's hard to get a job and be good in this area, but I'm ready to take all arising challenges.

After high school I always wanted to have a gap year, but now I think it's better until I've at least my bachelor and be 21 to do this. I want to go the UK - England or Scottland, I don't mind. My number 1 would be King's College in London, but to be accepted to Glasgow or Edinburgh would not leave me unhappy. I'm excited for college and I believe that already now, in high school and especially IB, we have a chance to be already prepared for that. In our school, we get many chances to do interesting things, which will also look amazing on the CV- and in the end, you always want to have something that will make the universities accept you and not the other person.

In case UK will fail, which I really don't hope!, I'll probably apply to the American University of Paris, as they have lower requirements and also interesting courses and it would be nice to live in Paris- I mean, why not? Sure, I'd prefer to go to UK though.

In the end of August I'm going to hit the UK and visit the 3 universities I listed above and I can't tell how excited I am. I miss London a lot and I can't wait to see my beloved Scottish Highlands again. I fell in love 2 years ago and this and the fact that UK has the top universities made me want to go there for my studies. And living in London for 3 or 4 years? I'm up to it right now.

Hugs

Natalia 

Zugerberg 

Switzerland 

When it’s Time Grow up...

Once there was a time when every father in India wanted their son to be either a doctor, engineer or cricketer. Had their son achieved any of these professions, they would be proud parents and would have the license to brag in the neighborhood. The daughters job would be to stay at home and serve her father. Luckily enough, people have changed with time and now all children have the liberty to dream and work towards their dreams. Take a random survey and you’ll find young boys and girls wanting to become interior designers, property dealers, fashion designers and myriads of other things. Now that children are free to decide their own future (at least in most households), it is their call to decide which college or university they want to go to. Thanks to IB, international placements are far more easier for indian students.

I live in Mumbai, a city filled with colleges and universities that offer courses for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After passing through high school, one would see many students taking up courses in one of these colleges however, some may go ahead and prepare for SAT’s or IELTS for a more cultural experience or in hope to find a job in another country. Although a lot depends on the financial status of their family. Those who are well off financially may dream to get a place in universities abroad such as NYU, Kings, LSE or even MIT. The others however, may try their best to get a scholarship. This creates a lot of competition amongst the youngsters in turn motivating them to work hard. Apart from studies, internships are also getting common amongst college going students in attempt to get experience and also make their résumé as attractive as possible. On the other hand, there are also a few kids who choose to drop out of college and join their huge family businesses.

I personally am hoping to get into the HR college of Bombay University to pursue a degree of Bachelors in Management Studies (BMS) and further do MBA abroad specializing in marketing. My primary plan is join my dad at Sheetal Manufacturing Company and then further develop my own projects. So this is the what the after school life in India looks like in the current years with the increasing scope in different fields as the country goes through its industrialization stage.


Parth
Aamby
India

I Lied !!!

So, I realize that I informed readers that there would be articles every month from the student editors.

Guess what?...I lied.

Exams took my coordinating tactics by surprise in the month of June, when every editor emailed me in a frenzied zombie state of test induced hysterics. In order not to burden our darling editors too badly, I gave them the month off.

So what have they been doing? Natalia finished exams and went to Tanzania. Andrea is completing her extended essay and internal assessments. Parth has exams and extended essay things to do. Leila is busy with internals and is traveling. The last time I heard from Sam he was doing exams as well.

What am I doing you ask? Since I finished the school year in May, I already finished exams. What I just finished doing actually ties in wonderfully with what next month's topic is about! We will be talking about life after High School, and I just finished a week long tour of colleges with my Mother.

We started off at a brisk 6:00AM with our lucky action figures and favorite radio station!

We ended up at the University of the South in Tennessee! We got a wonderful tour! (me on the right the guide on the left)

 

On our six hour drive to Ohio, we stopped to see Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. I also found the BEST bandages EVER at the gift shop!!!!!!

We finally got to Ohio and and Kenyon College. It is a beautiful place founded in 1824, and at the top of my list!

Next we drove to Virginia and Washington & Lee University. It is a very old and history filled place with A LOT of columns!

After that we went to Furman University in South Carolina and Emory University in Georgia! Unfortunately we neglected to take pictures there!

There you have it! That was what I did last week! This week I traveled to Florida to be with my Grandparents and cousins (They flew in from Hawaii, and I have not seen them in a year!)

Look forward to the editors talking about their futures next month, and I hope you enjoy!

Maggie
Fairhope, AL
USA

Music: A Never Ending Love

When this blog was started, I was not sure whether or not to participate. However, after taking a quick glance at the blog and reading a few posts, the choice was clear. Even after hearing that it would be international, I was surprised when I saw posts that were written by other IB students on the other side of the globe. I suddenly felt the need to interact with this international community that we are all a part of. The next step was to decide what to write about. Being more inclined in Math and Science, I saw many challenges awaiting me in the future of my blogging. After brainstorming for a few minutes, I decided that I should write about something that I find appealing. I made a list in my head, and as I did so I had a wonderful idea. I was listening to the music coming out of the speakers of my computer.

Music is a beautiful sound to my ear. It calms me in stressful times, encourages me when discouraged, builds me up before a race, starts off a morning, and tops off a great day. I listen to music on a daily basis, no matter the situation. It is one of the many things in this world that I can say I truly love. I have always had a love for music. Whether it be singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe, and AC/DC as a young child, or the present where I listen to almost anything, music has always been a part of my life. In the song “Luckenbach, Texas”, Waylon Jennings sings, “The only two things in life that make it worth living, are guitars that tune good and firm feeling women”. Music is definitely one of many things that makes my life worth living. 

I took piano for two years when I was younger. This consisted of a one year period in third grade and another year in seventh grade. From a personal point of view, I was not that bad. I learned to play by ear and by reading sheet music. At the time, I loved playing, but I didn’t, however, love practicing as much. I also hated playing classical music, which my piano instructor loved. Instead, I wanted to play classic rock. After months and months of begging, I went out of my way to buy a piano book that had classic rock songs in it. After a few more weeks of begging, she taught me how to play “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Even though I have lost most of my talent, I can still play that song just as well as I could four years ago. Now, I wish I had kept playing the piano and advanced my musical abilities. It is not too late though, and hopefully one day  I will learn how to play an instrument.

Music is a language of its own. At one point during Theory of Knowledge, we discussed whether or not music is an actual language. I am not sure if we ever reached a conclusion between all of the confusion and mind blowing thinking we did in Theory of Knowledge. However, based on my personal criteria, I would say that music is a language any day. Behind every song, there are meaning and symbols. Behind every word, every musical note, every draft, every minute put into the song, there is a purpose. Musical artists put their lives, hard work, time, and emotion into their songs. They use their feelings to create these wonderful masterpieces. At a concert I attended, Chris Cornell said, “You never know when you will have an idea. I was driving down the interstate one day, pulled over on the side of the road, and wrote this song.” He then proceeded to play “Black Hole Sun”, which is one of his best songs. It amazes me that he came up with such great work in such a place. The emotion put into a song also effects the emotions of the person listening to the song. For example, I know someone who cries every time they hear the song “The Christmas Shoes”. Music can change a mood, whether it be for the better or worst. It can relax, calm, excite, and maintain emotions.

One of the greatest things about music is a memory. Music creates memories, and allows you to relive them. I can connect different songs with different moments in my life. I can remember dancing to “Born on the Bayou” on the way to Evergreen to hunt with my dad. I can remember listening to Metallica on the way to work when I was in Elementary School, and getting in trouble for reading the lyrics and accidentally cursing. I can remember listening to John Mellencamp on the way to church. In the song “Sing Me Back Home”, Merle Haggard sings, “Let him sing me back home, with a song I used to hear. And let my old memories, come alive. Take me away, and turn back the years. And sing me back home, before I die”.

I hope that music continues to be a part of my life until my last day on this beautiful Earth. I hope that it continues to make wonderful memories, free me of stress, and give me something to enjoy no matter how I feel. As I finish this article, while listening to relaxing country music, I feel like I have made the right decision to interact with this international community. I hope that all of you, whether you love music or not, allow it to be a part of your life.


Josh
Fairhope
USA

Communities

So here I am, writing this article while sitting in the common room of my boarding school in Aamby Valley City. This is where I have been staying for the past four years (except vacations) and hence I consider this as my community. Things here are rather different from the place where I was originally brought up, the metropolitan city of Mumbai. The first time I entered Aamby Valley, it felt like I was in a foreign place. I mean, imagine moving from: 

Here

 to 

Aamby is a small place but it has its attractions. There are things ranging a town plaza to a historical fort. So here are some attractions and places that are part of my community:

Town Plaza

As a boarding school, we do not have the freedom to wander around the valley however, we have weekly trips to the town plaza. Town plaza is the main market place of the valley (although there is nothing much to buy!) but for people who miss the city delights such as branded ice cream and other food items, the presence of a Baskin-Robbins outlet and a small grocery store attracts the likes of many people.

Campfire Point

When IB really starts to play with your head, the Campfire Point is the perfect place to be at! Imagine sitting in a moderately comfortable seating under the shade with your friends and watching the lake glisten at the time of sunset along with songs like ‘Summer of 69’ playing without disrupting the calm and peaceful ambience. A pretty good stress busting recipe!

Water sports

When the valley is hit by the scorching sun, water sports is always there to the rescue. Featuring a range of fun filled activities such as jet ski, banana boat, kayaking and speed boat, water sports never fails to satisfy. The newly introduced Jet boat has attracted the likes of many students as it literally takes you for a ‘spin’ before surprising you with an unexpected splash of the cold, refreshing water. The thumping music in the arena also contributes to the high spirited ambiance found at water sports.

Golf course

They call it one of Asia’s best! Hence, the influx of tourists and some renowned golf players is inevitable. Some national golf tournaments have also been hosted in this course.

Lagoon

The lagoon is another place to just relax and chill out. The lagoon is like an artificial beach with sand and a wave pool. With things like like beach cricket and beach volleyball, the lagoon is a fun place to be at during the weekends.

Fort

The Korigad fort being five hundred years old, is the only historical place in the Valley. The  fort is a part of Shivaji’s kingdom who was one of the greatest rulers of Maharashtra however, on February 14, 1818, Col. Prother ignited the stored ammunition by means of a loose cannon and the British took over the fort.

Parth

Aamby

India

Communities

Kenya is a unique place; we have over 43 different communities each with its own dialect, customs, foods and music. These communities all have something unique and what's amazing is our ability to consolidate our unique cultures into a single national identity. The official languages here are English and Kiswahili but also Sheng is widely spoken as well. Sheng is a complex mixture of the two official languages and communal languages. It is a sort of language or languages and is spoken mainly by the youth. What’s interesting about Sheng is its lack of a dictionary and its constant evolution for example the Sheng spoken today is very different from that from five years ago. New words are created and old ones discarded all by “market forces”, kind of like in economics. It mysteriously just happens.

In Kenya, most people have two homes especially those who work in Nairobi. The Nairobi home and the rural home and most people travel back during festive season such as Christmas, Eid, Easter etc. The entire extended family gets together and as in the norm of such celebrations a goat or sheep is slaughtered for the barbeque. This is a tradition for the rich as well as the not so well off.
 
Kenyans have a lot they are proud of, for instance Kenya is one of the only places in the world where you can wake up and eat breakfast in a hotel, lunch at a Nairobi national park with all kinds of wildlife and dinner next to the beach. Kenya is the only country that welcomes tourists home as it is thought our Great Rift Valley is the cradle of all human kind.

In conclusion Kenya is an awesome place, great weather, great people and vibrant.


Samuel
Nairobi
Kenya

Communities

I have a small wooden plank balcony outside my room that my Dad built. It’s wrapped around this big tree which I can’t really decide if its an oak or hickory. I can hear all of the birds and big grey squirrels from here. I can feel the constant breeze from Mobile Bay; its still a little chilly even in early May. The occasional car meanders down my suburban street, and human voices are rare. This is a nice place to relax after school. In Alabama we have close to three weeks left of the school year. School life is hectic right now with final grades and exams piling on top of each other and clamoring for attention in your brain. Fairhope High School is a small public school. I have known most of the kids since kindergarten. I may not know their names, but they are such a familiar sight it hardly matters now. 

Everyone knows everyone else in Fairhope. The only car horns that honk are for the pedestrian you know on the street. Downtown is covered not in neon, but flowers; put there by the city for tourists and general beautification. I can think of nine different churches in Fairhope alone, and  people that go to them. I always see someone I know at the grocery store. 

Fairhope is a hot spot for wealthy retirees and young families. We just built a new Elementary school to hold all of the new school-age kids. I see them every morning walking with their parents to the brick monster that holds all of them. As for the High School, it is comparatively smaller and older than the Elementary. I don’t really know how long its been there. Most of the 11th and 12th graders drive themselves to school and as a result the morning traffic is absolutely horrific - for a little town at least. I’m not one to follow the mainstream goings ons of my school. Like all of the writers of this blog, I am in the IB programme. This just happens to be the highest diploma programme in our school, and not many people participate. I am one of 19 members in my Junior class. We have separate classes with separate curriculums. We are the nerds with our noses in books and study time on the weekends, and as you might have guessed this is not the norm for normal American teenagers, so by no means is my experience a good example of what usual teenagers of my area do. 

Fairhope is an artsy town. We are known for our annual Arts and Crafts festival (artists from all over the country come to participate), First Friday Art walks (when all of the art galleries stay open late on the first Friday of every month), many book signings at the local book store with surprisingly frequent and famous authors, and a local theatre.The community is very supportive of the school arts programs. This includes our theatre, visual arts, and band classes. There are numerous opportunities for the public to share in their students’ progress. Art is displayed at the local hospital, The band plays in Christmas and Mardi Gras parades, and our Theatre club has public showings. We are all very proud of our arts even as funding for them is reduced all around the country. 

It seems that I have run out of things to say, though I know there is more. Sometimes summaries are the hardest things to write! Have every confidence that I will return with specifics and surprises that will allow the world to become well aquatinted with Fairhope, Alabama! Goodbye for now!

 Maggie
 Fairhope
 USA

Communities

When I moved to Switzerland this summer, I of course knew it'd be different from Germany. Even though you might think the difference can't be that big, neighbourhood countries, same language, although this would be the first thing I'd like to point out. 

When I skyped with Maggie the other day, I promised her to write an article about the weird Swiss people. And honestly, I can keep my word. Look at their language- an average German person can't unterstand Swiss German. Look, Swiss Italian is fine. Swiss French, too. But Swiss German? No way. And believe me, Swiss people actually think they don't have anything in common with German language. I don't even know… 

In other terms, it's also quite different here then in Germany. They don't get German jokes (which was quite strange in the beginning) and their highway speed limit is 120kmh/h- while in Germany you have none at all at some parts of the highway.

I sound so evil. Switzerland isn't bad. They've many nice people here and I've found many friends here. Also, the fact that I go to an international school gives one the chance to get to know many people from many different countries, cultures and religions. This is completely different from what I've had in Germany as there it was a German school only. Of course, it doesn't save you from all prejudices, but it helps a lot. Also, it helps to find yourself- kind of. In Germany, everyone has seen me as something in between German and Russian (perks of being bilingual) and here it's just normal. People accept I'm only Russian with German ideas. They don't judge you because the community is international and everyone has friends from somewhere. You don't have the "one way" view people in my old school often have had. 

But then, I'm speaking of International Schools. I'm pretty sure (and I know it's that way) that for Swiss people it's not that easy to accept foreigners. It's a proud nation and I don't have anything against it. I barely get in touch with this and I'm glad about it to be honest. It's just good to be in this community where you're what you're and you don't get judged by nationality. 


 Natalia
 Zugerberg 
 Switzerland

Communities

Ecuador is a small country located in the northwestern coast of South America. Although Guayaquil is not the country’s capital, is the largest and most populated city in Ecuador. The city is located in the Pacific coast, and has a warm-humid climate throughout the entire year.

 There are public and private schools in the city, where children start pre-school when they are 3 years old, elementary when they are 6, and elementary and high school, which are unified, when they are 12 years old. The school year starts in May, and ends in February. Unlike other countries, it is usual for university students to live in their childhood home with their parents until they marry.

There are many children that don't have any access to education due to lack of funds, or living in distant locations. People living in rural areas work in agriculture and cattle, while people in the city work on office functions.

 The city has a high population of young people, where the majority is Christian Catholic. Families have an average of 3 children, and they tend to be really conservative. Citizens are really friendly, welcoming and hardworking.They usually live with their families, often with uncles and grandparents, which is really common in our community. 

Overall, Guayaquil is a beautiful city, with unique cultures, a lot of places to visit, things to do, and most important of all, pretty nice and fun people. 

Talking from experience, school life is actually really fun given the circumstances. I am in an only-girls school, where the teachers are also only-women. The school has a tendency towards the Cristian Catholic religion, which is why it has a chapel where an optional daily mass is held for the students. Unlike other countries, say USA, we can't choose our classes. Meaning that each one of us have a given classroom, where we have to stay the whole day and the teachers are the ones who have to change classrooms depending on the subject they teach. 

The relationship of the students with the teachers is really respectful, though we call the teachers by their first name, instead of the typical 'Miss' or 'Mrs.' 

Being a senior, as a tradition of the school, we get to design a hoodie that will be used by the entire senior class. The hoodie can be the color that we please, and each one of them has the name or nickname of the owner in the back; while in the front it says the number of our class (in Roman numbers) and the year that we graduate.

Some might say that being in an only-girls school is pretty boring, but I say it's just the opposite (You can't do or say everything you want when there are boys present). Of course we hang out with guys after school and in the weekends, we actually have dance parties, pool parties or go to clubs (since the legal age here is 18+)  that usually start at 11pm to 2:30-3:00 am. And they are just SO much fun!



 Andrea
 Guayaquil
 Ecuador

Life on the Hills

Parth

Aamby

India 

Introductions

I love coming back home after trips. To me it happens often, as almost my entire life is on the jump. My name is Natalia- I was born in Moscow, raised in Germany, spent some time in England and ended up studying for the IB in Switzerland.

It’s not hard to guess I’ve cosmopolitan aspirations and that’s what describes me the best. On other things, I might be very opinionated and passionate about different stuff and I like to show this. Some people may say I’m doing my thing.

That’s the part about me. When my CAS coordinator showed me this blog, I was excited. Challenges are also something I love and this is a great challenge. It’s true, being all over the world doing the same things in the IB we barely know how the other students do on other continents or even neighbour countries. I’ve no idea how teenagers do in for example the US or in other places and they barely know about us fellows in Europe. This blog is really a great chance to connect people in a different way then social networks do, as this is should be truly a reflection of our lives no matter where.

As the editor from my school I feel my responsibility to connect as many people as possible to this project and also reach out for new schools and countries, using the connections and friendships one has.

What I expect from this? Get to know new people, develop my writing, create a better idea about the IB and hopefully do something that actually makes our diploma international, breaking the limits of just our school and reaching out for more.

I’m looking forward to the collaborative work with the editors here and hopefully we can create something that is truly worth it. 


NataliaZugerbergSwitzerland 

Good Morning

I am currently seated at a school desk in Fairhope, Alabama in the United States of America. It is still early morning but the effect of my 6 am coffee is wearing off. The gentle lull of the rain outside is not assisting in my efforts to stave off sleep. It is cold in my classroom, and the air conditioners are revving in preparation for the start of a warm Alabama spring. It is just a quiet Monday morning in a quiet little town in a quiet part of the world, and for the moment I am content. Time stands still.

But what is the rest of the world doing right now? Is it hardly as quiet and sleepy as I am. What is being seen? What is being learned? What is the weather like? What is someone on the other side of the world planning to do with their day? Well, lets get that answered shall we? 

I am only one, of what I hope will soon be, many authors of this blog. It fell to me to introduce it however, so here goes: We are all students out in the world doing our best to gain knowledge. Part of this knowledge we seek is about each other. Our own little corners of the world are too small to contain our minds, so we expand. We choose to learn about each other from the words of our peers. My generation is lucky; the world is at our fingertips in a society of ever expanding technology and lines of communication. Let us put it to good use. Let us learn.

Maggie

Fairhope, Alabama

USA