International Education Week 2020 - Creative Writing Competition

As part of the International Education Week, 16-20 November 2020, the FLEX Alumni community organized a creative writing competition in English on:

"Write a fictional story that highlights the importance of International Education”.

The competition attracted the interest of many young people who sent their own stories through which they expressed their views on how being in contact with different cultures, lifestyles and ways of thinking can affect a person's life. A committee of alumni read the entries with great interest and decided on the three winners.

Below you can read the stories that won the competition. Congratulations to all the winners!

School Melting pot

by Dimitra Papalexi

Aydan was walking down the corridor when she saw her best friend Αyanna smiling and waving by her side. She went closer, hugged her and she noticed some beautiful white pearls around her neck.

“Good morning! Those pearls look amazing in contrast with your skin. You should wear them every single day.” She said.

 “Thanks a lot, my father brought them from Casablanca. Nice handkerchief, red looks good on you. Are you ready for Religion Day? I am not sure if I can really explain everything about Anubis.”

“The presentation, my team made, is perfect. Bulut called his grandma who told us lots of details about Allah, so it came out really good. Don’t you have an exchange student from Cairo on your team?”

“Yeah, we do and he helped a lot. Wait, does Bulut’s grandma talk to him? Since when?”

“She loves him and she didn’t have a choice but to accept his preferences.”

“I am so glad to hear it. He was very sad.”

“Well, not anymore. Did you go out with the new student last Sunday?”

“Yeah, we went for sushi. She is from Japan, but a really good job was offered to her father, so they all moved here. I invited her to have lunch with us. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not! And maybe it’s a good chance to learn Japanese.”

“You wanted to start Chinese, didn’t you?”

“Well, I wanted to, but since I will start hanging out with a girl from Japan, it’ll be a great opportunity to learn Japanese. Shall we start together?”

“Well I would like to, but I’m learning Spanish and I don’t want to study two languages together.”
“Well, maybe 4 languages are enough for now. We should hurry up, the presentations will begin any minute now!”

The freedom of loving the world

by Ilianna Stavropoulou

It is crazy how ten months had passed just like that. How it was time for him to get inside that cold airplane again, but this time, for good. His hand was placed on the handrail, but his legs were completely paralyzed.

Ben from 304 days ago, would have been the happiest man on earth -he wanted to go back so bad. He had a calendar counting down the days for his return, but he stopped updating it after his second month there.

What happened to him?

Home didn’t feel like home anymore, at least not his only one.

No!

He could not be thinking of those things… He loved his family, he missed his friends, though he felt like he had somehow betrayed them. If they knew, if they found out that he, their son, their little boy had been holding hands with another boy, what would they say? If somebody told them how much his views of the world had changed, what would they think? He was so different but so himself at the same time.

That journey of self-discovery and acceptance, the bad moments that felt like the world when they really weren’t. The world! He had seen such a small and yet such a large part of it. A feeling of wisdom had now engulfed him. It was not superiority, it had nothing to do with that.

Suddenly, he felt like he could make an impact. It was the first time that his desire to change the people around him didn’t spring from some deep selfish sentiment, but from his wish for them to feel the freedom he was feeling.

The freedom of loving the world.

“Sir, could you please move?”. He looked up at the ramp and with a smirk on his face, he embarked.

The narrow-minded student

by Efthalia Moutsou

“It’s a waste of time anyway. I don’t get why you even bother, Zelda.” said Scott addressing to his friend, holding between the tips of his fingers a piece of paper and letting it fall to the floor.

“Come on! Wipe that disdainful look off of your face. This is an excellent opportunity!”

 He scoffed at her.

“Just imagine experiencing a different culture, coming in contact with people unlike us!” Zelda explained excitedly and picked the sheet off the floor. “Apply just for fun and if you get selected, you will be thanking me!” continued the girl.

Scott contemplated the sheet once again. It read;

STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM APPLICATION FORM

“Okay. I’ll give it a shot” replied the young student, yet he still regarded the idea of an exchange program as a bootless errand.

The selected students would be sent to spend a whole year in Germany and Scott’s mother pointed out to him that it would be the perfect chance to practice his skills in German. His class’ teachers never skipped to comment on how much the students would benefit from the different styles of education they could only experience there.

As time passed, Scott would take part in projects, take tests, write essays and suddenly the program didn’t seem a wild goose chase anymore. He was now very intrigued.

At last, after months of preparing the results were positive for the youngster. He got accepted and flew to Germany to his host family. On calls with his friend he would express his thrill to her.

“Zelda, everything is just as people described it. I want to stay here forever!”

Years passed and this experience still had a special place in his heart. Not only did he develop as a character but he saw professional success after his studies, since all of the skills he gained during his stay were very attractive to employers.

Needless to say, he never underestimated such opportunities since then and always seized them.