International Education Week is one of the best weeks of the year for FLEX exchange students and alumni!  Why? Because they have a great reason to promote their home countries in the U.S. and their exchange experience back home. As it is explained on U.S. Department of State’s website: International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education and promotes programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attracts future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences.”

This year alumni were very active in promoting International Education Week. On FLEX alumni pages alone alumni posted 260 times! A shout out goes to FLEX Alumni in Kyrgyzstan and Moldova who had the biggest number of posts on all social media channels!

Here are some of the most creative and interesting posts from IEW2017:

Alumni in Estonia showed highlighted a group of people trying to speak Estonian language.  (It was not easy).  Good job Estonia!

#IEW2017

During #EEFAW17, we asked people from different countries to say 4 phrases in Estonian. Each individual had their own unique way to pronounce these phrases and it put a smile on our faces to hear Estonian spoken from them. It was an absolute pleasure to work with them all! Hope you like the video! #FLEXISIEW #IEW2017 #FLEXProgram #FLEXEstonia

Posted by FLEX Alumni Estonia on Thursday, November 16, 2017

 

FLEX Alumni in Kyrgyzstan shared a story from an alumnus’ IEW experience:

One of the most exciting moments of an exchange year and the benefits of an International Education is the opportunity…

Posted by FLEX Alumni Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, November 16, 2017

In Montenegro, alumni connected International Tolerance Day with IEW by filming a short video of people’s reactions when told that they’re beautiful.

International Tolerance Day

Today is International Tolerance Day! Our #FLEXalumni decided to spread positive messages to people in their communities. We had our wonderful alumni in Podgorica, Niksic, Bijelo Polje, Rozaje, Tuzi, Herceg Novi and Bar do different acts of kindness today to show that peace truly starts with tolerance. If we learned anything from our exchange years and international education, it is that we are all very similar and have the same goal – to be happy! We are so proud to share these wonderful reactions of people in Herceg Novi by our wonderful Теодора Вучетић. Happy International Education Week! #IEW2017 #FLEXisIEW #ExchangeOurWorld

Posted by FLEX Alumni Montenegro on Thursday, November 16, 2017

 

Flex Alumni in Azerbaijan showed how fun is to spend time with children and to include them in community projects. “Children are always very eager to learn new things!  And national costumes might spark an interest in them to learn more about your culture.”

Happy first day of International Education Week, #IEW2017 ! Share your culture, knowledge and information with people…

Posted by FLEX Alumni Azerbaijan on Monday, November 13, 2017

FLEX alumni Romania not only shared pictures with their fellow students in order to teach them about American culture, but they also showed them how to make the quintessentially American peanut butter sandwich!

Did you know? FLEX alumni LOVE sharing their favorite things from the US with everyone! Andreea decided to have fun with…

Posted by FLEX Alumni Romania on Friday, November 17, 2017

In Moldova alumni decided to show both sides of the exchange program: What it is like to study in the United States and how studying in Moldova looks from an American perspective. Take a look:

#FLEXAlumni know how it feels to be an exchange student in the US. But, is it the same in Moldova? Let's see if being an exchange student in Moldova is better ????? #FLEXprogram #NSLIY #ExchangeOurWorld #IEW2017 #FLEXisIEWThank you to NSLIY students and FLEX alumni!

Posted by FLEX Alumni Moldova on Saturday, November 18, 2017

 

FLEX Alumni in South Kazakhstan celebrated IEW with a storytelling event:

Another great social media initiative that alumni from South Kazakhstan implemented included asking different alumni who are studying abroad to post on their Instagram story for a day. This is what they also did for IEW – and this post announces it:

 

What was your favorite IEW post?