Semester at Sea Fall
2006 Voyage
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TABLE
OF CONTENTS
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By
Allie D'Amanda
I
read about the ethnic conflict between Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, and
Slaves, and
I was ready to meet people in As I stepped off the ship, I found myself wrapped up in the beauty of this dream-like place and those images and stories of war faded from my mind. I walked past buildings with bullet holes, war-time graffiti, and broken windows without even stopping. I was seeing this country but I wasn’t looking. It wasn’t until I was riding with my friends in a car with a local college student named Irena with her friend Mike that I felt the words from class take shape. Mike was driving and they seemed to have a connection, maybe friends, maybe more, I couldn’t tell. We all sang along to a tune on the radio and chatted about how our trip around the world has affected us and what we look forward to when we go home. I guess I was feeling unreserved at that moment, and I asked her why our professors warned us that we might see ethnic conflict, because I hadn’t seen anything at all. I might as well have slammed the car’s breaks because the halt in conversation was daunting. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. I thought to myself. She must have seen the redness flow to my cheeks because she said aloud, “it’s O.K.” It’s funny how young people can make light of a situation that has caused so many people pain and suffering. But it is also an aspect of life that we cannot live without. If we were to live in a world laden with negativity and conflict, how would we survive? How does anyone cope with strife in his or her own life without an element of humor? Yet, we must not go about life ignorant, naïve, or forgetful of the destruction and evil war yields either. Instead of looking for answers in order to legitimize (intentionally or not), something as horrific as war, wouldn’t it be better to look to the future with a smile and hope for peace? |
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