INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION: EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
Nowadays it is becoming increasingly popular for students to go on an exchange program. This is especially popular in Europe. In an academic educational programs, students can go abroad and study, sometimes free, if they manage to win a grant. They may study at a foreign university for a term or two, and these studies count toward their degree. This arrangement has several advantages. Students have the opportunity to practice foreign languages they have learnt at school. They meet different cultures and experience a different way of life. In addition, they learn different ways of thinking in their own studying subject and get a broader view of their issues. Finally they also meet exchange students from other countries, so they experience a really international environment. Exchange programs may be not only academic. Volunteering movement is getting a grand scale. This is one of the ways to spend holidays in a foreign country cheaply and do some kind of social work. Volunteers travel to different countries, where they participate in some team work with young people of the host country – like helping in children asylums, or doing some physical work. In Russia there are some popular projects, like helping to find and identify the remains of soldiers, killed in World War II near Perm’, participating in constructing ecological paths near Baikal Lake and some others. Besides working, they get acquainted with a new culture, participate in concerts and youth festivals. Volunteers don’t have to pay much for such programs, they actually pay only their plane fare; they live in youth hostels and can see the real everyday life of the host country, share their culture with other people and learn a lot of new things for themselves. This experience will hopefully result in a better understanding between nations.
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