During the lock-down due to the situation with COVID-19 a group of local volunteers joined a virtual exchange with world Chicago youth diplomats.
On 25th of April we gathered 34 participants on the online virtual exchange. On this virtual meeting the volunteers had a chance to present their cities through presentations that they prepared, and we also did a Q&A round after each presentation. After this the group was split in groups of 3 persons where they had the chance to discuss different topics of interest but as well as the current popular topic about the situation with COVID-19, the online lectures and what were they doing in their free time during the quarantine. We ended this exchange with a short quiz with basic questions about the topics that were presented during the first part of the meeting.
At the very end we got an idea from the participants to organize another virtual exchange, but also the youth diplomats shared interest to join our online book club. So during the next month we will have another online meeting together.
We asked some of the volunteers to share their impression form the first meeting:
‘This was my first virtual exchange with people from North Macedonia. I initially knew very little about North Macedonia and Kumanovo but after the exchange I learned so much about the place and definitely want to visit! I loved meeting students from Kumanovo and am excited to do more virtual exchanges (like the Girl Up book club) with the Kumanovo students.’ – Sonam Rikha
‘This was my first virtual exchange with someone from America, and I really liked this virtual exchange. What I liked most is that I learned something new to do in quarantine, and I learned how a normal day of a teenager looks in Chicago. I can’t wait for another virtual meeting like this, and I want to make more exchanges like this.’ – Artin Rexhepi
