Before going on exchange to Russia, my expectation towards Global Citizen Programme was positive yet limited. Photos of returnees having fun with foreign interns and participating in global village insufficiently built up my impression towards this meaningful programme. Honestly, I didn’t have any further idea about how the programme will bring to its goal – to make an impact on a foreign community as well as on the intern himself. After spending my summer in the woods around the heart of Russia, I am now confident to tell my own definition of Global Citizen.

 

Under the project Sunshine, I worked as a camp counselor taking care of a group of 22 children and also as an English teacher in the 3 sessions of summer camps around Moscow region. Children stay there for 2-3 weeks while their parents are mostly at work during summer. In the camp, we took part in outdoor activities such as horse riding, crossbow, and also prepare for indoor performance once every 3 days with children. Staying together for such a long period of time, I built unexpectedly strong bonding and close relationship with both colleagues and children. Before and after my internship, I also got the chance to explore Moscow and Saint Petersburg with the help of my Russian host family, who are two young Moscow siblings living on their own.

 

These acquaintances helped so much in making my first exchange experience the best one ever. My first days in Moscow were nice and easily adaptable as it is one of the biggest cities in the world with the most widely-covered transportation and vivid lifestyle. As a big city dweller from Hong Kong, I could quickly find myself familiar with the rhythm and faces of Moscow people. Language might be the biggest challenge in my journey, as English is just so not popular that it was by luck if you could communicate in English with Moscow people or not. As soon as I modified my expectation that I would not be understood solely in English, communication with locals no longer was a problem. It actually brought me extra fun to learn and practice a handful of basic Russian with children in camp afterwards!

 

There is a saying in Russia that one cannot judge Russia by Moscow, as it is almost a separate country in terms of its culture, economy and people. The longer I stayed in the city, the more I realized how inadequate I learnt about the place. Global Citizen is the best way to cultivate one’s global mindset as the country I’ve been to, is now connected to me for a lifetime. Concluding my experience, I am aspired to the one who can change wherever I am. It is the most important quality that a world leader should possess - to believe in our impact.