Cultural Connections Project 1: Global Collaborative Project (Video Synopsis)
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Cultural Connections Project 2: Scripted Duologue (GoAnimate)
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Cultural Collections Project 1: Swedish Culture Map (Google Maps)
- Training Map, NCSU, Wolves
- Sweden Map
Cultural Collections Project 2: Tour Guide (History Pin)
Cultural Collections Project 3: Swedish History (MyHistro)
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Cultural Collections Project 4: Curated Collection of Objects (Voicethread)
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Cultural Reflections Project 1: The Last Word, Swedish education articles
Enter reflection here...
Enter reflection here...
Cultural Reflections Project 2: Swedish Book Club (GoodReads)
Repost GoodReads review here...
Repost GoodReads review here...
Cultural Reflections Project 3: Travel Writing (Blog)
When visiting Stockholm, Sweden, there is one story that tourists will have memorized by the time they depart and this is the story of the Vasa. No matter what tours you attend in this beautiful and historic city, the Vasa always seems to be brought up in presentations and conversations. This can seem a little confusing at first considering it is one of Sweden’s biggest, and most humiliating, failures. The Vasa is a Swedish warship that was built between 1626-1628 because the Swedish King, Gustav Adolphus, wanted to prove to Denmark, whom they were currently at war with, and the world that Sweden was the most powerful nation with the most powerful military. The way to prove this was to do something that had never been done before, build a ship that had two rows for guns. Although, King Gustav must not have been a very good architect because the ship ended up being too top-heavy and sank twenty-five minutes into its maiden voyage thus resulting in the big fat failure.
When you first hear this story, you can’t help but laugh. Two years of building a magnificent, powerful ship that was supposed to intimidate all who encounter it and one gust of wind knocks it over. Plus, its sister ship was finished soon after and all that needed to be added to the width was a total of one meter of wood, but I digress. As you stroll around the Vasa Museum though, you realize that this was actually a great tragedy for the country of Sweden and that the King essentially tried to sweep under the rug. He literally ordered the masts the be cut down once the boat was fully submerged so no one could see it in the Baltic Sea. You also learn that sailors were not the only ones on board, but women and children too because the sailors were allowed to bring family and friends aboard for the maiden voyage celebration as the entire country of Sweden sat along the shoreline. Apparently, the captain of the ship was even aware that it was too top heavy after conducting a test on the boat, but was too afraid to tell the bossman, King Gustav, thus ending the lives of thirty innocent people: sailors, women, and children. And do you know who was held accountable for this tragedy? No one. Not a single person because it essentially led back to King Gustav and his poor planning of the ship and do you really think a King is going to sentence himself to death?
Below the main exhibit in the Vasa Museum are the skeletal remains of 17 people that were found preserved with the Vasa when it was salvaged in the 1950s; 13 sailors, 2 women, and 1 child. Scientists were able to study these remains and figure out the their age, height, diet, and medical history. They lay displayed with fake names attached to the glass cases and models of what their faces might have looked like surround these cases. Scientists believe that the 30 people who died on the Vasa were all trapped in some way on the ship as it was sinking because they were located on the lower levels.
So if you ever get the pleasure of traveling around Stockholm, be prepared to hear this story retold over and over again. The story of the Vasa will always be a humiliating one and will generally give people a good chuckle every now and then, but it is also a story of tragedy because many lives were lost and no one was held accountable for their actions.
When visiting Stockholm, Sweden, there is one story that tourists will have memorized by the time they depart and this is the story of the Vasa. No matter what tours you attend in this beautiful and historic city, the Vasa always seems to be brought up in presentations and conversations. This can seem a little confusing at first considering it is one of Sweden’s biggest, and most humiliating, failures. The Vasa is a Swedish warship that was built between 1626-1628 because the Swedish King, Gustav Adolphus, wanted to prove to Denmark, whom they were currently at war with, and the world that Sweden was the most powerful nation with the most powerful military. The way to prove this was to do something that had never been done before, build a ship that had two rows for guns. Although, King Gustav must not have been a very good architect because the ship ended up being too top-heavy and sank twenty-five minutes into its maiden voyage thus resulting in the big fat failure.
When you first hear this story, you can’t help but laugh. Two years of building a magnificent, powerful ship that was supposed to intimidate all who encounter it and one gust of wind knocks it over. Plus, its sister ship was finished soon after and all that needed to be added to the width was a total of one meter of wood, but I digress. As you stroll around the Vasa Museum though, you realize that this was actually a great tragedy for the country of Sweden and that the King essentially tried to sweep under the rug. He literally ordered the masts the be cut down once the boat was fully submerged so no one could see it in the Baltic Sea. You also learn that sailors were not the only ones on board, but women and children too because the sailors were allowed to bring family and friends aboard for the maiden voyage celebration as the entire country of Sweden sat along the shoreline. Apparently, the captain of the ship was even aware that it was too top heavy after conducting a test on the boat, but was too afraid to tell the bossman, King Gustav, thus ending the lives of thirty innocent people: sailors, women, and children. And do you know who was held accountable for this tragedy? No one. Not a single person because it essentially led back to King Gustav and his poor planning of the ship and do you really think a King is going to sentence himself to death?
Below the main exhibit in the Vasa Museum are the skeletal remains of 17 people that were found preserved with the Vasa when it was salvaged in the 1950s; 13 sailors, 2 women, and 1 child. Scientists were able to study these remains and figure out the their age, height, diet, and medical history. They lay displayed with fake names attached to the glass cases and models of what their faces might have looked like surround these cases. Scientists believe that the 30 people who died on the Vasa were all trapped in some way on the ship as it was sinking because they were located on the lower levels.
So if you ever get the pleasure of traveling around Stockholm, be prepared to hear this story retold over and over again. The story of the Vasa will always be a humiliating one and will generally give people a good chuckle every now and then, but it is also a story of tragedy because many lives were lost and no one was held accountable for their actions.
Cultural Reflections Project 5: Impressions of Sweden (Meme Generator)