Why Remember?

This year marks a significant important year earlier in history, the year the First World War broke out. 100 years ago, a whole world was mobilised, battles were fought, sorrow was raging and dreams were shattered. About 72 million troops were mobilised to fight, and half of the troops were either killed, wounded or prisoned. 100 years has past since our ancesters shaped the modern society, but the memories of it are starting to fade. There are not many left to pass on the story to the new generations. The Tower of London is making an overwhelming statement to the British people, and they are sending out the important message - Why remember?

The Tower played an important role during the war,  as a mobilisation and recruitment place, and a prison and executement place. Now, the whole tower is covered in red ceramic poppys.

"Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" is the name of this major art installation, and it is created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins. 888,246 ceramic poppies will fill the Tower's moat throughout August, and each poppy represents a British military fatality during the war.
Everyone can buy a poppy, donate money for their lost ones or participate to volunteer in the history in making with this installation. With the hashtag #TowerPoppies, one can follow the following reactions to the statement made. The British people are impressed, and says that the sight is breathtaking, surreal and highly moving. Every sunset, 180 new names of British soldiers is read out loud, making every poppy really represent the fallen soldiers.

Remembering this is important to pass on history, cherish the loved ones lost in battle, and know something about what we Europeans are and where we come from. To me, I believe this art installation is incredibly beautiful, and an incredibly bright idea. It really sends out a message, making everyone involved and letting the younger ones in the society participate and learn about the history. We must always remember - and reminding us can begin with only one poppy made out of ceramic.

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a mobilisation and recruitment site for troops, and as a place of execution for spies - See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/firstworldwar#sthash.HqHYWNNa.dpuf

a mobilisation and recruitment site for troops, and as a place of execution for spies - See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/firstworldwar#sthash.HqHYWNNa.dpuf

My expectations for this year

As this is my final year with English in school, this is an important year for me. English has always been very important to me, as I am a keen traveller and the language has always fascinated me. I had to explore more of the english-speaking world, so I did an exchange to Australia last year to fulfill this wish. This was a very successfull year, and I'm left with many wonderful memories and long-lasting friendships. Therefore, to still be surrounded by as much English as I can, thursdays will be something I will look forward to. When this is said, I have set myself a few expectations for this year - to make the most out of my English lessons. 

To begin with, my expectations is to keep up my level of english from my exchange year. It is highly important for me that I don't lose any of my vocubalary, my confidence in speaking english and at least some of my australian accent. It will be difficult to keep the accent - as the english im surrounded by is mostly american, but I will put in a great effort to keep this up. It is very important for me that when my friends down under Skype me, I can be able to respond just the way I used to.

In addition, I want to be able to discuss political issues, relationships between countries and social studies in a fluent way. In order to do this I will read articles in english, read news from various sources such as BBC, CNN, The Times and so on. In that way I will have information about global issues on a worldwide scale, and I will be able to draw data from these sites. Since I am also doing the subject "Politics And Human Rights", I hope I will be able to contribute to class with important information and things to discuss.

To end this, my last goal is to read more english books. This is a good way to relax and zone out, and learn english as well.

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