{"id":55782,"date":"2024-11-29T14:31:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T22:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=55782"},"modified":"2024-11-29T14:31:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T22:31:03","slug":"social-hour-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/social-hour-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Social Hour Sparked a Journey of Global Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container vc_col-sm-12\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t<div class=\"wpb_text_column wpb_content_element\" >\n\t\t<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last month, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Jirka from the Czech Republic and Anna from Romania, two of our 11th-grade students at West River Academy. Their friendship blossomed after meeting during one of our monthly Social Hour calls. Since their first email exchange following that call, they have become inseparable friends, chatting daily and sharing their lives from afar. Jirka even made a week-long trip to Romania to visit Anna and experience her country firsthand. In our interview, both shared how their friendship and this unique cultural exchange have deepened their understanding of each other\u2019s worlds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jirka and Anna\u2019s friendship is built on a mutual love of languages, having fun and learning in a way that is enjoyable. Both students have been homeschooled most of their lives, which they believe has fueled their curiosity and given them the freedom to explore topics beyond standard curricula. \u201cI always liked learning about places outside the Czech Republic,\u201d Jiri said. \u201cMeeting Anna and seeing her life in Romania felt like opening a new chapter in a book I\u2019d always wanted to read.\u201d Anna agreed, adding that connecting with someone so far away who shares her passion has made her feel inspired to connect with more people around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jirka\u2019s week in Romania was packed with exploration and fun. From strolling through Anna\u2019s hometown to visiting historical sites, he was immersed in a culture that was both new and fascinating. One of the first things Jirka noticed was the warmth and hospitality of the people, something that Anna had often mentioned. In Romanian culture, hospitality is a significant value, with families welcoming visitors with open arms and plenty of food. Jirka experienced this firsthand when Anna\u2019s family hosted him,\u00a0 \u201cThey made me feel so welcome,\u201d Jirka shared. \u201cEveryone is just SO friendly and we are always eating good food!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The duo is inspired to continue traveling and hope to make more WRA friends! They have created their own WhatsApp group for teenagers in Europe. It\u2019s an incredible opportunity to have \u201cclassmates\u201d, as they say, all around the world and we hope our students will continue to adventure and learn together as lifetime friends!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_empty_space\"   style=\"height: 32px\"><span class=\"vc_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Jirka from the Czech Republic and Anna from Romania, two of our 11th-grade students at West River Academy. Their friendship blossomed after meeting during one of our monthly Social Hour calls. Since their first email exchange following that call, they have become inseparable friends, chatting [...]","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":55796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english_post","category-whats-new"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55782"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55795,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55782\/revisions\/55795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westriveracademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}