I'm a EU Member

When I had my first history class this year our teacher wished us “Happy new year” and said that from 1 January we are considered European citizens.
One of my schoolmates replied that we had been Europeans since ever.
I consider that what my colleague said has a deeper meaning than what we may think first. Despite the fact that Romania is part of East Europe, our history is linked to the history of the other European countries. There is a bond between all of us. We all depend on each other in some sort of way.
Despite that we are the same there are some big differences.
Romania was considered a country with many problems and now, that we are EU members, we “share” our problems with the rest of the EU contries. This is not seen with “good eyes”. We have already had a bad image and this is going to haunt us many years from now . And it’s sure that after all the actions we have made our history is going to be like a scarf .
We have made some big mistakes that only the time is going to erase or maybe we are convicted to carry our burden for good.
I don’t consider myself an outsider and we, the Romanians, shouldn’t consider that we don’t have the European qualities.
We bring something that the others don’t have: a long lasting tradition, we love what we have and we are not going to change just because the others want us to.
We have the courage and the passion which our Roman forefathers left us as our inheritance. This is something that money and time can’t change.
We are outsiders in some points of view because communism has left a big and ugly scarf on all the Romanians not only on the image of the country.
Our only chance is to get rid of all those memories and start thinking in a more positive way. We have to change our way of thinking, of acting because what we say and do now is going to have after-effects in the future. We don’t have the right to put in danger the next generations and we must try to leave behind us something good, which deserves to be appreciated.
Regarding what my schoolmate said we had our rights before becoming EU members but now we don’t have to beg for them anymore.
We must stand upright.
Many Romanians are seen with respect and have changed the course of history in many ways.
Time can judge us, not humans!

Anda Sas
11th E

This project...

...as to the ways in which this project helped us, I'd say that 10 lines...or even a whole page couldn't catch the essence of what this project truly means to all of us, who are involved in it..

It is that strong emotion in our souls that makes it so special...breaking time and space barriers, meeting new and fascinating people, encoutering interesting civilizations and learning about tolerance and understanding the one that's close or far from us...

In my opinion, these are the most important facts that enriched our souls and minds since we've been in this project.

Here is where we first came in contact with the idea about diversity in a unite Europe, here is where we opened our hearts so that outsiders have the chance to become insiders.

It is also true that-through working for these essays- we improved both our vocabulary and grammar.

But still, I think that the things that make this project unique are the ones I underlined above..and those were not said for a good mark, but they came from a deep place in my soul. And I'm sure all of you feel like that, too.

So we thank you, teacher, for giving us the chance to be a part of this!

Alisia Muresan

12th C

_________________

I'm sure that all have improved their English skills.

Writing and reading messages in English was very useful.

I'm more self confident and I don't always think that others can't understand me when I speak in English.

Now I feel relaxed when I need to make a comment during my English lessons .

I have also got more attached to some of my schoolmates who aren't in my class and during the project meetings I've made a lot of friends and also 3 best friends .

I feel very proud of myself that I'm in the e-group and that participate as active as I can.

I hope you all feel the same.

Anda Sas

11th E

Opinions on the project

The Borderline project helped me very much.

The project meeting helped me, because:

• I learnt how to present a project in front of an audience
• I learnt new things about other countries
• I made new friends
• I enlarged my cultural background
• and the most important thing is that I improved my speaking skills because of the face to face communication.

The messages we sent to the e-group helped us improve our writing skills, and of course when we read messages from the e-group we improve our reading skills.

The most important thing that we learnt was how to write an essay and how to communicate via the Internet .

It is also very important to find out that physical borders between countries do not mean spiritual borders.

Madalina

9th E

___________________

First of all I think that the Socrates – Comenius project Bordeline helped us understand that the people across the borders are like us, all with their habits, problems like ours and that the borders don’t make any difference among us.
Trough this project, we all learned some new things about the foreigners, about their countries, their habits, their life in general.
I am happy because I met some of our partners and I think that I improved my speaking skills in English during the project reunion where I talked to the girls from Italy.
I also think that this project was a chance for us to enlarge our cultural background.

By participating in the project activities we improved our English skills and we learned how to write an essay.
In addition, we improved our reading and writing skills in English through the messages sent to the 9th form E e-group and the borderline_students group.
It helped us correct some mistakes and taught us how to keep in touch with other people via the Internet.
I think that this will help us in the future because in our days almost everything is based on English and computers (Internet).
Finally, I hope that in the next projects, more people will be involved and they will take advantage of it because it is really worth it!

Xanta Lukacsovits
9th E

Insiders vs Outsiders

I think that we, the Romanians, are more appreciated as insiders .
When we were outsiders, how many people, said good things about Romania, how
many of them thought at Romanians as ordinary people, not as gypsies
or disabled people, that bring illnesses and …who knows what
else in their countries?
None... or maybe there are few exceptions, but I think that most of them did not have a very good opinion about us, as OUTSIDERS.
And why?
Because we don’t own the best place in Europe?
What about today?
Today, when we are part of the European Union?
They have to treat us better, because that’s the most important RULE
"Equality" among countries, right?
In my opinion it is.
I am glad, indeed, that we are part of the European Union, but..i don’t know how easy it will be for us to get used to it. Because we have advantages,
yes, but disadvantages too, many disadvantages, and I think that
"older" people, know them better than us .... SO...How will Romania develop
from now on?

Andreea Bindea
10th C
_________________

The Romanian Government has started the collaboration with the European Union since 1995, and considering that it took us 12 years to join the Union it kind of leaves a bad impression to the others and also the illegal Romanian workers who went to the western European countries to work had also left a bad impression on our country.
So, as outsiders we felt left out of the "European Family", but now, maybe with hard work, we can prove to all that doubted on us, that we represent an important part of Europe!
I personally can't say how I feel as an insider because Romania has been a member of the EU for only 13 days. But I am convinced that step by step in the nearby future we will erase all the bad words about our nation!
Finally I will end by quoting Traian Basescu, our president:
"It had been hard, but we finally reached the end of the road. It is the road of our future. It is the road of our joy," and adding that this is exactly how every Romanian should feel!

Visovan Arthur
10th form

Opinions on the Borderline Project

Well, I have learned a lot from this project.
Of course the main thing was improving my English, and we also learned how the others live, how they think, how they get dressed, how they understand etc, so many things that we have seen, and understood through this project.
I am a bit sad because I have noticed that the girls from Italy haven’t joined the
e-group, and we haven’t had the chance to talk to them and to receive
their impressions and thoughts about all the "Borderline Project".
But I am glad, very glad that I participated, and I hope that there will
be other interesting projects, even though I will never forget this
one.
I was also surprised when I saw how many children took part in
it, and I noticed that only at the end of the project. Anyway, it was
a great experience and I think the Best ever.

Thank you teacher for making this possible.

Andreea Bindea
10th C

My English skills

Well, in my opinion all the "Borderline project" helped us in different ways, but especially with our English, because we had always learnt this foreign language at school but we had never been able to put into practice our skills in English, until now!
All this experience with foreign students from all over Europe, made us realize that we still have a lot to learn, all of the students including me, sorry...especially ME!
......
Arthur Visovan
10th form

I am glad

Well, I am very glad that we are now part of the European Union, even
though I don’t know how easy it will be for us to get used to their
life style, because we all know that we have to change a bit our life
style too.

In my opinion we have always been part of Europe, but now,
we all are a family, a powerful one, and that’s the difference.

And I
think that it is a good thing for us, and I hope that our future will
be better than the present .

I really wish that.
As to the facilities offered by the European "Family"

I like most the fact that we can travel easier, only with the ID.

That’s what I have always wanted to happen.
Of course, we have a lot of advantages, but we have disadvantages too.
I am proud that we have passed the gateway to the European Union.

Andreea Bindea

10th C

New EU Member

Romania has become full EU member on January 1st 2007.
How do you feel about that?