With the aim of developing intercultural friendship, explore culture and creating better bonds between the countries, International Volunteer Exchange Program to Czech Republic took place between 12th to 26th May 2018. A group of six volunteers from Mumbai and Pune participated in the same. We appreciate AFS Czech Republic for being a great host.
Quotes by Indian Participant on Exchange Program
“The program helped me rediscover myself. Learning to adapt to new settings and lifestyles has helped me deal with my perceptions and apprehension about other culture and become more understanding.
The exchange helped drive a fact home that lot of what people do has a lot to do with where they come from. Underneath every nature or habit is an underlying truth which has come far through many years so it’s not easy to throw away old habits and learn new ones.”
“The program was both an eye opener about the culture as well as building bonds between two diverse cultures for me. All my ICL learning helped me interact and accept both varied and differing aspects of the culture during my stay and helped better my experience. This exchange also helped us as the Indian group also bond and know each other better. There should be exchanges between Czech and India as there would be much diversities to learn from in their cultures which one should experience by living it! Thanking AFS for yet another wonderful time of learning.”
“This experience opened my mind to a new way to view the world and help others see the world the way you experience it. Build bridges across cultures by creating friendships that will last a lifetime. Found the ways to connect with people from other cultures and backgrounds. Discovered new things about myself and my place in the world. I learnt how to turn challenging situations into valuable opportunities to grow and become more mature.”
“Amidst everything we experience, I realized and felt that human nature is quite same in core. Though they are blessed with many facilities, so we think that their life is very easy, but all the citizens are playing big role to maintain that and apart from that, the ups and downs of life, happiness-sorrows are same everywhere worldwide.”
“The most special moment was the time spent at home with the families of our friends. The talks we had understanding different things and viewpoints. And it was great that in few days we got a chance to stay together, all 6 of us, further fostering our bonds. The Czech visit was amazing because we went as a part of the AFS family which is a breed apart. I have come back richer, having experienced another culture, so similar yet different than ours. It’s also a country which is great place to go for student exchange, especially if you take efforts to learn the language. All I can say is a heartfelt Dêkuji (thank you) to Lucié, Jana and Marcela for making our visit so memorable. Thanks all to Stania, Edita and Petra for their part in our stay.”
“Every single day is different from another and that’s an AFS experience. I look forward to all kinds of experiences as AFS taught us ‘Nothing is good or bad, it is just different.’ I’m glad to feel the difference. I’m discovering new unexpected things every day, and it’s a learning experience. I enjoyed going through the experience and feel the differences or similarities between cultures overall.
It was really very nice experience of becoming part of Czech family and enjoy the country and culture. Thanks to AFS India for giving us this wonderful opportunity.”
“What touched me personally more deeply was the efforts of our sisters to make our exchange memorable and bond which we were able to create. Edita, my host sister is a language teacher and we exchanged many ideas about language teaching since we are in the same field. We spoke for long hours about life in general. With Petra and Stania, the bond is equally strong. We now have a home in Czech Republic and a lifelong relation with our EVA sisters. . At the end, I just wish to mention: The world is beautiful and everyone must take an opportunity to explore this world, but I will always prefer to explore the world through exchange programs as this is all about people who make this world a beautiful place! A big thank you to AFS for this opportunity not only for this EVA exchange program but for being part of my little world since 2010!!”