Home

I arrived back in Homer for my winter break two and a half days ago after months of anticipation, now I miss Mostar. Being home has been amazing, it feels so good to be with my family again, I have missed them more than I ever thought I would, I feel like a puzzel piece just put back into place. This place on the edge of the sea brings me so much joy, skiing durring slow orange sunrises, snowy moonlit walks with shooting stars. I am so glad to be home. But I find myself saying "Oh I left that at home... I mean at school" Although I have really missed Alaska over the last four months I have build a home for myself in BiH, and I realize now being away, that I really love it there aswell. The people the country the school have all created this unexplainible world which I am now part of. I know Alaska will always be my home, but my puzzel piece fits into the picture of UWCiM as well, it has become part of who I am.

American Cultural Week

American Cultural week: Monday 11/27- Sunday 11/28

a chance for the the American students to share north and south america with the fellow students. Tuesday tie-dye, Wednesday Campfire (done a little differently), Thursday THANKSGIVING! Saturday Latin american Cooking and dancing, Sunday american Breakfast!

(below are pictures of all... since I can't figure out how to put captions :))

Wednesday night I found myself walking down the street wearing a backpacking backpack full to the top with ingredients, (struggling a little under the weight). After dreaming Wednesday night, of trying to roll out pie crust in a room full of UWC students and family members where kids were climbing on the crust, I woke up and got back to work. We searched the city for turkey, hauled 20 lbs of potatoes to the residence, and bought another backpack worth plus as much as 2 of us could carry in our hands of groceries. We were preparing to cook for over 100 people from over 21 countries.

We started cooking at 3:00, peeling and peeling potatoes, mixing up vats of cornbread and banana-bread batter (we had to multiply the recipes by 10), chopping fruits and veggies for salads. The six American students along with helpers from Turkey(my roommate), Austria, Germany, Hong Kong and other countries, along with the amazing kitchen staff who kept us from burning anything helped supply us with ingredients, equipment, and knowledge, had filled up the tables with food by 7:30 when the feast began. There where mountains of cornbread, more mashed potatoes than I've ever seen, curries from Singapore, pies, cakes, stuffing, cranberry sauce made from dried cranberries (no fresh or frozen to be found), fried fish from China, and so so much more!

Preparing and cooking had been slightly stressful and a lot of work, but seeing everyone, from so many countries excited to celebrate this holiday made it more than worth it. Being able to share something important to my culture with my new friends and classmates made me more excited about thanksgiving than ever. We ate and smiled and talked about what they are thankful for and then compared our food babies.

I am thankful, thankful for out differences and our opportunities to share them, for all the people who have made my life rich and full.

Trip to Switzerland

With a week off of school I decided to visit some friends who are also living in Europe, Kaya(with AFS) Kyle(living with family in Germany) and Carla (a previous exchange student to homer, now back at home in Switzerland.

After waking up at 5:30 am, taking a bus 4 hours to Split, Croatia, then a plane to Germany, then another to Zurich then a train to a smaller town in Switzerland I met up with Kaya. It wasdark when I arrived in Switzerland but I knew I must be in the alps because I saw an illuminated church that looked

as though it was floating in the sky, I awoke the next morning to find myself surrounded by snow topped forest covered mountains. Kaya lives on the side of a now snow covered mountain in a old wooden house surrounded by fields and cows and other cute little houses and other snow covered houses. her host family was incredible, also hosting me and sharing with me traditional swiss food. the best was the breakfast; dark bread with nuts and whole grains inside (something I have yet to find in Bosnia) with butter from a local farm and home made grape jelly.

I realized, as she showed me around her house that it was the first time I had been in a house in 3 months, it felt so good to eat food made with love and watch siblings play and tease each other. the families the snow, and the Christmas decorations all made me excited for the holidays to travel back to Alaska and be in my own home with my family :).

After spending a few days living in what felt like a fairytale world at Kaya's house I traveled by train to visit Carla in the north western part of the country. I had never traveled so much by train and the precision of the time astonished me. when meeting up with someone"I will meet you in the Olten train station at 3:21 or 3:26" or after sprinting down a mountain to a train station for

10 minuets "oh, it's only 10:41, we have plenty of time, it doesn't leave for another 2 minuets" where as in Bosnia or Homer almost everything is 10 or 15 minuets sloppy.

the part of the country where Carla lives is less mountainous but no less beautiful, all the houses have a charm to them and the rolling hills of fields and forests make you feel like you are on the page of a story book.

Seeing my friends again who where all going through something similar to what I was but also very different we where able to relate and compare cultures and experiences. We spent nights lying in bed after playing "ligretto" a swiss card game just talking about th

e world and ourselves and if and how we where changing and growing. Spending time with old friends in a new place and exploring a new world was strange but also so nice.

after 6 days of paradise it was time to come home, back on the train, the plain the bus, and as I traveled home to Mostar I started to get excited, and homesick for my new home, and friends and family which are now becoming old and familiar.

Enjoying Sadness

The UWC experience is one of not only joy, new friends, awesome opportunity, and amazing adventures, although it does contain all of these. It also contains homesickness, loneliness, struggles, self questioning, unexplainable sadness, and stress, all of which I have been experiencing on and off in the last two and a half months.

Today I found a new way of looking at the feelings these hardships create. I was eating lunch with an Austrian girl who had graduated from UWC in India in 2005 and we where talking about how fast the experience is going, how sometimes I feel like I just arrived yesterday. She understood completely, also having gone though the UWC experience and gave me and my class mates the advice to savor every moment because it will be gone before we know it. She said to even savor the bad moments "Cry your eyes out, then go back to laughing,". At the time I didn't think much of it, it seemed strange to enjoy a bad time and it felt hard to believe the experience would pass that quickly.

It only took three hours till my perspective had already changed (time is a strange thing). School was over, I had a lot to study, it was p

ouring rain, my umbrella was not where I'd left it, I couldn't find a friend I was supposed to meet, and all of a sudden I just felt a rush of frustration, stress and loneliness. I just felt down. So I tried to enjoy it, I thought about the feelings I was feeling and tried to enjoy them, because I knew, that like everything else they would pass.

I made myself enjoy the rain drops hitting my face on the walk home, enjoy the feeling of having a lot to do, enjoy being by myself, and enjoy the aching somewhere in my chest.

Before I got home I couldn't stop smiling, I wanted to hug the strangers on the street, I was practically dancing!

Enjoy the sad feelings, because like everything else, they will pass.

my room... a place I have experienced ups and downs.

Halloween!

Halloween is not celebrated here, but at our school it is an excuse to dress up, put some creativity into making a costume and going out and dancing and having a good time. At 9 am I stopped by a market to see if there where pumpkins, only squash. At 4 pm I met up with Sara, another American first year and we went shopping for costume parts, scarf, pantyhose, sparkly traditional shoes that remind me of a fairy. 5pm building fairy wings –hangers + pantyhose + pink paint. 7pm getting dressed and also outfitting others, swapping wardrobes since each of us has only part of our own with us. After some makeup, hairspray, tons of safety pins, some running and costume swapping later, pus in boots, witches, ninjas, fairies, Shrek, evil clowns, shot up hooligans, and mad scientists left the residence. We walked 20 minutes to the party receiving many odd looks from the people on the streets. The party was held in a basement of a restaurant and was decorated with candles and little orange pumpkin shaped lights. We danced and danced sometimes in character, sometimes not. It was really cool the see the amount of effort and creativity put into each costume, especially with limited resources and local language skills, we were all able to come up with something to celebrate a holiday not celebrated in this country.

In contrast All Saints Day is very much celebrated here; you can see a shine to all the tombstones in the cemeteries. Candles and flowers are being sold all over on the streets and then are bought and place on the graves of loved ones.

Meeting Shelby Davis

When he walked into the meeting room full of students from our school an applause broke out that went on much longer than most applauses do. This man not only paid for me and the 5 other American students at our school but also two of the local students along with the university scholarships of many of the graduates of UWC Mostar. I was very excited to meet him and speak with him, and have an opportunity to thank him for the amazing experience and opportunity he is giving me. For a couple days before meeting him I had been thinking of what to say, how to express my gratitude. But when I sat down to have lunch with him, the other Davis Scholars, his wife, two of the previous presidents of UWC New Mexico, and some faculty in the school cafeteria; I felt that conversation flowed so smoothly. I did not have to think about how to express myself, I was just able to. He explained that he thinks of the money he gives to students, not as a gift but as an investment, he is investing in the future. This inspired me. It gave me even more the desire to do something great with my life. Besides serious conversations about the future and opportunities, we also talked about local foods, homesickness, living abroad, and I discovered that he has a daughter with a place near to Homer Alaska. It’s a small world. Overall it was great to meet the person investing in me, and to be inspired by this great generosity, it made me see this experience though new eyes and kept me wanting to take full advantage of every opportunity given to you in life.

Community Care Day

One of the other CAS's I'm in, besides my core CAS is Environmental Council (an ecology group). the leader, Hilary (my second year from Oregon) organized, with the help of the rest of the team, Community Care Day. This was a day when everyone came together and cleaned up trash from the city. It was advertised around the city that we would meet in certain areas of the city that especially needed cleaning and pick up trash for several hours. When the students arived in one of the areas, it was already completely clean already. Another oginazation had seen the posters and orginized themselves! Another area where we were working at is a huge memorial park for the soldiers who fought in the 2nd world war, called the Partisan's Memorial, which hadn't been maintained in a really long time and is mostly a party place, or so it seemed by the number of beer bottles we picked up (literally thousands). This place was so covered in trash, at one point I stood in one place and filled up a garbage bag within arm's reach. We worked in two parts of the park, the area you see in the photo, and then a reflecting pool that was full of floating bottles and plastic bags. Once I started cleaning it was so hard to stop, and even though at some points it seemed like there was just way too much to even make a difference, in this memorial, or this city, or this world, all the trash we are creating is just overwhelming! But after looking

back at an area I had cleaned it felt so good. now that small place is a better place in this world.

In total about 12 of us collected over 130 bags of trash just from this memorial park alone... here you can see them and the dupster behind which used to be empty. Here are some shots of one of the areas we cleaned

BEFORE & AFTER

CAS

Part of the UWC curriculum is CAS which is like co-curricular activities. CAS stands for Creativity, Action, and Service, so every week we do activities that fit into one of these groups. We have our core CASs which we are required to attend and then you can also go to any to any other ones that fit into your schedule and you have time for. My core CASs are Refugee camp, Hiking and cycling and Fashion.
I didn't sing up for fashion, fashion is is the last thing I think about, especially since I came here and where whatever is most comfortable. When I herd I was in Fashion I just laughed and was like what the heck, I might as well go and just see. So I went and found out that it is more like sewing which was more interesting to we so I'm just going with it and seeing what happens, I'm hopping we can make ridiculous costumes out of recycled materials to promote recycling so that's a bright side :).

here's what we made last week! haha ... I wish

Refugee camp is a refugee camp about an hour out of Mostar with people still without homes because of war 18 years ago. What we do is go to the camp every Saturday and play with the children there for a couple of hours, teaching them games and a bit of English, and they help us with our local language. We are also working on getting hot water heaters for them for when winter comes, and also cleaning up a room where the kids can all play inside. The kids are all really helpful and fun, it's nice to play with some younger kids, since at school I'm only with kids my age. I'm also really enjoying trying to learn the local language and communicate better with the kids.

Here is a shot of the kids tackling one of the other UWC students.

Hiking and Cycling is incredible ... every couple weeks we will be going on hikes, we've only gone on one but it was amazing because I missed the wilderness, I missed being blown away my the size of the mountains and lying in complete silence, only listening to the wind in the leaves. I do not mind this city, but I miss the out of control peace of the wilderness.

(Photo by Jess)

so theres a bit of what I've been up to, not quite like xc skiing and playing base in the orchestra, but I'm happy with the changes and I'm enjoying trying new things (even fashion :P )



above: before and after pics of an epic ruby match (also a CAS)

Praying

Last week my room mate Merve from Turkey and a volunteer teacher who is also Muslim took my second year Hilary from Organ and I to the Mosque for the last prayer of the day. Since Barium when I fasted for a day with Merve I had been wanting to go to the mosque and check it out.
I was doing my homework when Merve reminded me we where going in 15 minuets and so we rushed upstairs and she taught me how to clean myself before praying. washing hands, face, ears, mouth, nose,feet and arms three time in a specific order and always using the right hand. After being cleaned we put on our head dresses that covered our hair and neck and put on lose fitting covering clothing.
We then walked about 4 blocks to one of the closer mosques. On the way there my room mate said to me, "I know you may not believe in 'God' but when you are in the mosque just think about a higher power and feel them."
"I belive in God" I responded "I'm just not religious"
We entered the mosque with our right foot first and then removed our shoes for the prayers. the men where in the front, and we lined up in the back. With the prayers in Arabic the leader spoke we moved from standing to pressing our foreheads to the carpeted floor and then back up again. I did not know what these movements or words meant, but moving in synracy with so many people in a place of worship felt very powerful. I prayed to God or a higher power that people of all religions could try to understand each other, and find there similarities and respect their differences.
At the end of each prayer we faced our right shoulder, and then our left shoulder saying peace to the spirit that writes down all of our good deeds on our right and the spirit that writes down all the bad deeds on our left.
On the walk home Hilary who is Christan and Lela (the volunteer teacher)talked about how although they reached their god in different ways they prayed to the same god. They spoke about how any Christan who wishes death upon Muslims is not a true Christan and any Muslim who wished death upon a Cristan is not a true Muslim. And how the war here in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not abide to any of the religions participating.
Living my whole life with out belonging to a religion the whole experience was very opening for me, to participate in the Muslim prayers and to debrief about how going to the mosque made us feel with people of different religions, I was able to understand better the importance of spirituality and of being open to the ideas and beliefs of others.

A day without vision

From 9:00 to 4:30 I spent wearing a blind fold. Today in our school it was a kind of blind awarness day and the biggest challenge was to spend the whole day with out vision. I perticipated thinking it would be somthing fun and intresting to do. It wasn't very fun, not knowing where I was, bumping into people, asking for help to do the simplist tasks and sitting in class feeling helpless as the teacher kept refering to somthing written on the board.
But it made me realize what so many people with diabilities go through every day! And when I took of the bandna I felt so lucky that I could take it off, that I could see, hear, walk, speak. I have now an even more hightened respect for all the people who can not do these thing we take for granted everyday. I want to write more... but I hve to catch up on the homework I got behind on when I couldn't see. :P

Rafting on the Neretva

On sunday a group of us meet at the school at 8:00 to go on a rafting trip. Besides the fact that we where rafting and that meals where includid I had no idea what was going on. We waited for the van eating paistries from the bakery looking at the sky. Big grey clouds where rolling in and the bits of blue sky wher becomming less and less.
After a hour or so bus ride in winding narrow mountain roads we arrived in a beautiful tiny village on the side of the river. It was so nice to be in the country with green trees and bushes and little stone houses I felt like I was in a fairy tail. BUt the best part was that there was fuit growing on the trees and littering the ground around us; plums and apples and a red berry that tasted like beats that we latter drank the juice of. We walked a few minuets from where the van dropped us off to the house of the guide where we where outfitted in halarious wet suits, fed coffie and juice and instructed not to fall in love with the "skippers" that would be guiding each of the rafts.

On the drive up to where we started rafting it started to rain, and then pour, sheets of water where sliding off the van and we joked that we could just raft down the road. Thunder and lightning greeted us as we got out of the van and sprinted to a lodge where they fed us grilled fish, fanta and bread for lunch. I couldn't resist the plums outside just sitting there so Hilary and I had to go outside and pick a whole bunch share with everyine.


It was still pouring down rain when we got into the rafts and launched into the river. There where 5 to 6 of us in each raft with the sexy skipper in the back steering. In the clam areas we spashed the other rafts with more water and in the rapids we paddeled hard and held on tight with our feet. the trip was two hours long and we floated though amazing canyons that had underground rivers comming out of the sides of them, and beautiful vallys full of almost Dr. Suis looking vegetation. the pouring rain, and claps of thunder added to the adventure and the mist added another demention to the seanery.


when it was over a few of us went for a final swim (we just couldn't get enough of the water ) then we walked back up to the guids house and his wife had perpared a an amazing meal, thanksgiving stats, of traditional food. There where onions and bell peppers stuffed with gound meat, spinich burak pies, cooked vegtibles, rice, potatos, and chicken. we where also given a tast of rakija, a traditional drink that our host had made himself from the plums.
After we where stuffed full of food we where each given a bottle of syrup to make in to the juice that tasted like beats, and we got back on the bus and snuggled up fo the ride home :)

Simple Things

As I start to settle in to a routine and I no longer feel as though I am in a whirlwind of new faces, places and expectations I am able to find the simple things that make me better and bring them into my life: Tape to hang the pictures of home around my room, mountain roads to run on, an extension cord so I can plug in my computer and work on my desk, granola to eat with yogurt for breakfast instead of bakery foods. These things remind me of home and make me fell healthier and stronger and more like who I am. I never thought A roll of tape could do that, but it's amazing how proud you can be to buy a roll of tape when first you have to find a store that sells it, and then you ask for it in a forgein language and then you understand the amount the clerk asks for. And even more amazing how happy it makes you feel to be able to use it to put up pictures.
Running is also been a been a big part of my life in the last week. Getting away from the busy groups of people and doing something independent is one of my biggest motivations. After that is my ability to explore the streets. Mostar is a big enough city that at some points I wonder where exactly I am, but it is small enough that you can never actually get lost. the city is surrounded my small mountains on all sides, so if I just start running up into a neighborhood, soon I am able to look over the city. Looking down over the city gives me a sense of accomplishment and independence.
It is the simple things that are making the life here...my life.

Photos!!!

Here are pictures of My trip to Dubrovnik. The one of the bridge is actually in Mostar it is a very famous, beautiful and old bridge :)... Uploading pictures finaly worked! enjoy.

Trip to Croatia

This last week we had Thursday and Friday off because of Bajram the Muslim Holiday. And so we took advantage of the opportunity and traveled to Dubrovnik a city on the coast of Croatia about 3 hours away from Mostar. The trip was amazing, wandering the old city built over 1400 years ago, swimming in the Adriatic sea, spending time getting to know the kids I will go to school with the next two years of my life. Of course, being my first independent vacation it was a little stressful and there where some opportunities to learn from, but over all it was an incredible trip. When I returned to Mostar and my residence, that sometimes seems stinky, dirty, crowded or even lonely, I felt at home and I realized I had missed the city and living space that only weeks ago had been so foreign to me.
p.s. pictures to come... me and technology are fighting, I am losing

Today was the first day of classes but because of my Schedule I only took two classes, and two hours of each. the schedule here is very complicated. I take 6 different classes, three of them, (the higher level) five hours per week and three (Standerd level) three hours a week. Only every two weeks dose the schedule repeat. right now it is very confusing but I'm sure soon I will figure it out and it will be the least of my worries.
For my birthday today I celebrated by baking Chocolate chip cookies with my second year, Hilary from Oregon. Finding the ingredients and substituting everything and not having the correct mesuing utensils or cooking sheets added a challenge but also more fun. Nobody here had had home made chocolate chip cookies before so it was fun to share that amazing pleasure of life :).
Here are some pictures of a field trip type thing we took to Kravica. Swimming in the waterfalls was an amazing experience I can hardly describe. I felt as though I was drowning as I swam underneath the pummeling water, but coming out on the other side and watching the water fall though the sunny misty air put me in a fairytale word, and made me forget all things hard or painful. I hope you all enjoy the photos. <3

Settling in :)

It is my 5th day here but it feels like I have been here weeks. My are full of exploring the city, meeting people and doing school activities. this week is introduction week so we are choseing classes and getting settled in before we actually star school the 1st. In the mornings I usually eat some figs from the fig tree outside of the residence and then I just enjoy the last bit of morning coolness before the heat of the day.

I am getting to know some other students and really enjoying my time here, I am also excited for classes to start. I am really excited about the varity of classes offend and the style of teaching which is more discution oriented and class sizes which are 5-17 students. I would write more but I just wrote a whole post that got deleted so I'm kinda ready to get off the computer. but I do have somr photos :)

of my friends: Cloudia (Spain) and Lucia (Belarus), the veiw from a school window and our school.

In Mostar

The morning of the 24th I lugged my suitcase weighing exactly 23 kilos up the boardwalk at my home. After a 35 min flight to Anchorage, a ten hour flight to Frankfurt, a 2 hour flight to Sarajevo and a two hour drive to Mostar, I arrived at my new home. I was insisted to let the group of other students to carry my bag up and led to my room where a singe "Welcome Margaret to UWCiM" lying on my bed. From what I can see of the city out my window it is beautiful and reminds me allot of Cochabamba Bolivia. I love it here so far and I can't wait to start my first day. The next couple days will be an orientation and then I will start school the 1st.
Thank you everyone for your support <3

I'm ready

Everyone I see lately is asking me questions about the adventure I am about to embark on. "What language will you speak?" "Are you scared?" "Are classes taught in English?" "What are the politics like there right now?" "Will you be able to ski?" "Do you have a host family?" but the question I am asked most is "Are you ready?". I'm not ready. My things are still thrown about and I haven't started packing there is still a long list of things I have to buy, do and pack. But inside I'm ready. I don't speak Bosnian Croatian or Serbian, I am scared, I know very little about the politics, I don't know it I will be able to do the things I currently enjoy doing. but I am ready to go out there and give it my best. I am ready to find the answers to all my own questions.

Up Until Now

Last fall I started to apply to a school Juniors and Seniors called United World College. There are about 12 UWC campus' all over the world. Each campus has around 200 students from all over the world who live together, study together and learn from each other about different cultures and counties. The school year is very similar the the schedule here, and the students return home for summer break and Christmas break.
In February I heard I got accepted for an interview. After the interview I waited in suspense to find out if I get in or not until April 20th. I was sitting on my couch watching weeds home sick when I checked my email. I knew when I saw and e-mail from 'The Admissions Office' that I was about to find out more or less how I would spend the next two years of my life. My hand shaking, I opened the message and read that no I was not accepted, nor was I rejected. I was on the waiting list... more waiting.
I was in May I got another e-mail telling me I was accepted to UWC-Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was so excited I got in, but I knew very little about the place... I still don't know all that much though I have done some research.
So now I'm in, and I am trying to find out as much as I can Bosnia and Herzegovina. I'm thinking a lot about what defines me as a American and an Alaskan and thinking about what I can bring to the school to share about myself, my home and my country.