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Awesome! Fabulous! Amazing! These were words used by some of the young people who participated in the third annual cultural exchange bringing youth from the Chicagoland area and youth from other parts of the state together to learn about each other, as well as the many cultures found in Chicago. Throughout the two days of exploring, the participants got to meet new people, experience new things and travel Chicago using many forms of transportation –the subway, cab rides, bus rides and the L. Some of the favorites experiences mentioned by the participants were "the bean" and "the faces" at Millennium Park, a high rise view of the city, dinner at Giordano's pizza, delicious treats in Greektown, the view of the Chicago on the architectural boat tour, the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier and exploring the shops and food in Chinatown. If that sounds like a lot in two days-it was! Although everyone went home a little tired, everyone enjoyed the trip being packed with fun opportunities to learn about the variety of cultures of Chicago!
How can you know if an event is successful? For this experience, one of the goals was to learn about the cultures of Chicago. However, the bigger goal was to build new friendships with people you normally wouldn't have the opportunity to meet and learn about the similarities and differences you have with each other. Probably the greatest sign of success of this exchange was the friendships formed throughout the two days. At the end of the trip, young people were swapping numbers and e-mails and promising to keep in touch. They were to an observer, a very different group than the young people who just the day before responded with much reluctance when asked to join in group activities to get to know a whole new group of people. This new group of people who just a day before would have been considered strangers, they would now consider their friends.
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