When Paul VI High School freshmen Melissa Richards and Sarah Bonaffini visited the Balkans on a cross-cultural project last March, they learned a few things from their East European friends, with whom they had been conversing with for months already via e-mail and Instant Messaging.
Melissa and Sarah discovered that teen-agers from both continents had some similarities — like the movie "Bruce Almighty" and the musical duo OutKast — and some differences — they didn't like peanut butter.
"They tried it but didn't like it," said Sarah.
Despite the likes and dislikes, both sides appreciated the opportunity to pave the road toward cross-cultural understanding. Melissa and Sarah, along with Paul VI computer teacher Barry Bitner, went to Macedonia from March 29 to April 7 to meet with their e-mail buddies and attend a conference on breaking down cultural barriers among the different nations.
The trip was part of the School Connectivity Project, a program run by the U.S. State Department and administered by Catholic Relief Services. Paul VI was the only school from Virginia and one of 16 American high schools paired with 75 Balkan schools in the cross-cultural exchange. The project's aim is to foster cross-cultural communication and ideas through the Internet.
"I liked meeting all the people and interacting with them and talking with them," Melissa said.
THE STUDENTS who traveled to Macedonia were among the many Paul VI students who participate in an after-school club in which Paul VI students "talk" with other students at the Balkan high schools via the Internet.
Although some students sent occasional e-mails, others were more involved in their communications. Sarah had made a Web site which converted the metric system to American measurements, and included information about her family, friends and interests.
The Web site was itself Sarah's ticket to the Balkans — out of all the other American high schoolers participating in the program who made a Web site, she won first place in content and design. Because she won, she was able to visit Macedonia.
"She really gave it a flavor of the way this thing is supposed to work," said Bitner.
Melissa had also made a Web site, and was the school-appointed student delegate to the conference in Macedonia.
When Melissa, Sarah and Bitner arrived in Macedonia's capital, Skopje, they had three days to acclimate before they would move to the conference site at Lake Ohrid, which is located in the southern region of the country.
In Skopje, they got a taste of what they would do at the conference by working to design a travel brochure with other students their age at Georgi Dimitrovo High School.
"It was one on one. You could talk to people," Melissa said. "It was pretty exciting to meet them, because you had been talking to them online."
In addition to working and having lunch with the students, the three also took tours of the city and met with Macedonia's minister of education, who had spoken to them in Macedonian.
The Paul VI students observed that the teen-agers liked to wear bright clothing, perhaps to contrast with the drab, Communist-era building.
ARRIVING AT Lake Ohrid, the Americans met students from Kosovo, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the other American students.
"We found out people in the Balkans were really shy, so we had to go out of the way and introduce ourselves," Sarah said.
At the conference, they learned that some of the students did not have computers in their schools until the U.S. State Department provided them with some. Despite having no equipment, they still learned about computer science.
Bitner roomed with a Balkan computer science teacher he had been corresponding with regularly. They had exchanged pictures of their families over the Internet. Since they knew already what the other person looked like, they didn't have any trouble finding each other.
"We immediately smiled at each other and went into a bear hug," Bitner said.
At the conference, Bitner and his students participated in some group exercises aimed at breaking down cross-cultural barriers. But they also found plenty of time to "hang out" with their newfound friends. They talked about how they lived, what they did on the weekends and what music and movies they liked.
"I think what we all discovered are teen-agers are teen-agers are teen-agers," Bitner said.
ONE FRIEND, Besir, offered to take Melissa and Sarah clubbing, even though he had just met them.
"They're very friendly. And the thing I walked away from was, I was very impressed with the teen-agers," Bitner said. "If this is a cross-section of teen-agers in that area, the Balkans are in good hands for the future."
Although the three have been back in the States for several weeks now, the School Connectivity Project will still continue. A two-year program, the project has also involved Lauren Russell, a junior, and religion teacher Jane Elfring and English teacher Lonnell Battle. In January, Lauren, Elfring, Battle and Sara Bonaffini attended the Connectivity conference in Los Angeles.
The next phase of the project is to work with Paul VI's cluster group of Servian, Kosovar and Romanian students to create a joint project addressing a teen issue. Although the concept sounds admirable, the difficulty so far has been organizing the Balkan students to contribute, Bitner said. That cause could stem from lack of English proficiency, time and computers, as well as the difference in which the two cultures view time and scheduling.
"We found the communication process was a slow process. It would take on average two weeks to get a response," Bitner said.
The project also calls for a teacher exchange in October, and a continuation of correspondence between Paul VI students and the Balkan schools.
"Just meeting the people, that was a great experience," Melissa said.