On Friday, 5 June, the Embassy opened its gates to a group of secondary school students from across Serbia who had made it to the finals of 'Hello Europe' Quiz, organised by RTS and the EC Delegation in Serbia.
Some of you probably wonder why a 18-year old would be interested in Embassy work in the first place. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of young people from the region, the only obvious link to diplomatic work is visa queuing.
Our aim this time was to give a brief and realistic impression of a wide range of the activities (political, development, commercial, project, culture etc.) undertaken by our Embassy in Serbia, and to try to explain not only what we do, but also why. Our guests were also introduced to the history of the Embassy building and some artifacts that testify to the diverse and lasting ties that have existed between the UK and Serbia for 172 years of diplomatic relations.
The Open Day invitation was also extended to three journalism students who attended an internship programme in the BBC last year, and to the winning 'Hello Europe' Quiz team from the time of the UK Presidency. Some members of this informal 'alumni' group admitted that they were pleasantly shocked with the invitation. For us, it was fantastic to get in touch again and see that just a couple of years on some of them are in position to do useful and exciting things, or are - for example - doing their studies in Warwick!
Not to make things too serious on a sunny Friday afternoon, we also arranged an informal social programme in the Embassy garden. All my colleagues who had the opportunity to participate in discussions with our guests were very impressed with quality of their spoken English, their general knowledge, and their keen interest in issues that go way beyond their local community. This leads me to conclude once again that Serbia - similar to other countries in the region - has a tremendous potential in its younger generation.
We are looking forward to similar occasions in the future, and to seeing where our quiz heroes move on to.
Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?
Posted at 10:44 10 June 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth | Comments[0]
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