For a number of years our Club, alongside each of our Pentangular partners [France (St Quentin), Belgium (Leuven), Germany (Lüdenscheid) and Holland (Leiden)] has sent two representatives to take part in the MGSE scheme. The clubs take it by turn to host the weekend. This year – following a 3-year hiatus becuse of the pandemic – St Quentin was the host. The two students, both of whom happened to be studying at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) at the time of selection, were Clara Caetao and Kristina Dimova.
Clara is originally from Angola but is currently in her 3rd year studying logistics management at CCCU, while Kristina is originally from Bulgaria and graduated from CCCU just this summer. She studied business management. Both students heard about the exchange scheme from the Business School.
After a brief introduction by Vice President of our Club, Rosemary Doyle, and PP Martin Ward, both students introduced themselves to us and spoke a little of their St Quentin experience. During the exchange they took part in a number of social and cultural activities – including playing mini-golf, touring the “Le Creuset” factory, visiting various museums and galleries, and seeing the Basilica of Saint-Quentin. They showed a nicely-edited short film that they’d made of video clips and photos from their trip – with a song called “We’re going on a trip” playing in the background!
It was clear that both youngsters had really enjoyed the exchange and the new social and cultural experiences it had to offer. Clara’s highlight was gathering together with the others at the end of the day, listening to songs and just getting to know each other. Kristina’s highlight was the mini-golf – which she described as being “very special”. Both made friendships with the eight other participants that they hope will last a lifetime. (They already have a Whatsapp group to keep in touch!)
We also hope that their friendships last a lifetime and that the cultural understanding that they have gained will help them in their future life and career.
For more information about the scheme, click here.
Picture: MGSE 2022 participants. Picture credit: Clara Caetao.
