Do yourself a favor: Ignore all of the negativity in these posts

     I could write pages and pages about why not to take Euro, but I could also write ad nauseum about reasons to take Euro. Overall, I believe that the class is beneficial to all who take it. I have enjoyed various aspects of the class, including the atmosphere of the classroom, the content we learn, and how Salz is on your side. Inside the classroom, Salz rarely lectures. We oftentimes have our family circle discussions, where everyone's voices are heard, and we can talk about the topic at hand, mostly without Salz's intervention. This is great because it allows our minds to grow as we learn, for probaly the first time in our education process, how to think and work independently of a teacher's direct input. On top of that, we cover events from 1450 AD till the present to prepare for the exam, with the addition of the Renaissance. We learned how different historical events prompted or led to others, and many tidbits of interesting information that I will likely never need in my adult life.  Mrs. Salisbury is also always on our side. If there is a lang project due the same day as a reading check, she is willing to push it back a day or two, schedule permitting. While all the aforementioned is well and good, the class is not what I would consider "fun."
      I do not believe there has ever been a time that I truly looked forward to B period this year. The work is demanding, and we rarely had days where we didn't accomplish something in class. The pace of the course is grueling, with there often times being between 20 and 40 pages of reading due each week. While this mayn't seem like much, the textbook is truly awful to read. You might not understand what I mean now, but try and read a chapter in one night and you will share in my hatred of the "History of Western Society" textbook. After taking the course, the biggest dislike I have from it is the lack of clarity in some of the project assignment sheets. I literally sat and read the Wiemar republic project assignment for a half hour straight, and still had no idea what to do. The silver lining of this is that if you email Salz, she is often very helpgul in helping understand what the assignment is asking. 
     In terms of improving the class, I have a few suggestions. One is to post grades more often, and another is to have more grades for the course. It is a little annoying to have only five grades in Plus Portals, over a month into the quarter. Another improvement would be more of a focus on Period 4. After the exam, I feel as if I was well prepared for everything before 1815, and adequately prepared  for the 3rd period. However, I do not believe that I would have a snow ball's shot in Hell at passing a test based on the Russian revolution, and I am thankful that it was not present in great detail on the exam. Also, I do not believe that the summer work on "Sophie's World" was helpful in any way, shape, or form. I don't remember it at all, besides it being an abysmal read. That said, the Summer work for Machiavelli's the Prince was very helpful, and I am gald that I was forced to read such a well known piece of literature.
      I have a few tips for surviving AP Euro. The first, do not read too deeply into these blog posts that you are reading. I believe that my classmates and I are probably being harsher on the class than is fair, because we have taken the exam, and want to be done with school, yet we are still being forced to do work. In terms of  the class itself, I am going to give you two pieces of advice. The first you will read, agree with, and then utterly ignore, and that is to not fall behind on your readings. Playing catch-up in this class is quiete difficult, especially if you work or play a sport. Do not wait until the last night to do your readings either, do something you never have before, and PLAN AHEAD. On Sunday afternoon, put your phone away and maybe take a chapter of Euro notes, so you don't have to take the notes, study for a chem test, and write a lang essay all on thursday night. My final piece of advice is this: have FUN with the class. Justin Cardoza and I had fun with the blog posts. When you post, you generally have to comment on other peoples' blogs as well. Justin and I would painstakingly search for every possible error the other made, and roast them for it in the comment. But, to be clear, we were very cordial about it. Justin commented the following on one of my blogs, so you can see what I mean:
 Dear Mr. Ciolfi,
After carefully reading your piece, deciding which ways i want to make you cry tonight, I have came to the realization that you think the average I.Q of the reader is that of a dead cat. Sir, you do not need to explain what an absolutist state looks like, a pre-schooler can deduce that information, making your first paragraph utterly useless. Now, onto the actual content of your piece, which shows your lack of competence. First off, you mention that Louis XIV had these people to do tasks for him, but never explain how that helps the country as a WHOLE. I see you mention that it helped stabilize France, but how can these ideas help some other country? I was disappointed when you didn't give any other examples, I figured that Mr. 97 in AP chem would be able to come up with at least one other example. However, the part of your blabber which actually surprised me was the fact that you mention Absolutism was superior because the ruler could help to unify the country, which I actually would tend to agree with myself. In addition, I have to admit defeat in that you actually made a concise argument in that arguments between the Crown, and Parliament caused constitutionalism to be a huge mess, even for countries like England. Altogether, your arguments seem fairly strong, it is just to my concern that you treat your respective audience with at least some slight intelligence. However, if you make arguments like this, maybe you can achieve at least a 3 on that AP exam.
-Thanks for your time
-Justin C

To be clear, despite how awful my blog may seem from this comment, I did get full credit for it. As long as you still do what you need to in the comments, Salz lets you have some fun with it, as Justin and I do.

Good Luck on AP Euro this year!

-Tommy Ciolfi