World Expo, Bringing the World Together in Shanghai

As the 2010 Shanghai World expo winds up thousands of expo pavilion staff, volunteers and others who have brought this spectacular event to life, prepare to return to their home cities and countries, yet the friendships and connections made here live on.

Throughout the past six months some of those involved have even found love at the expo.

Jules Page has more.
All good things must come to an end and six months after its grand and impressive opening, so it is with the Shanghai World Expo.

Participants from all over the world have been working closely to provide a unique global village where a few metres can transport you from one country to another, from one continent to the next.

Not only have Chinese visitors and Chinese expo staff and volunteers benefited from the world being at their doorstep, pavilion workers from every corner of the globe have also had the opportunity to learn more about different cultures and each other.

Aivaras Kriauciunas (krow-chew-nus)is the deputy commissioner general of the Lithuania pavilion and has been a key figure in promoting links between pavilion staff. He established a website called 'expo nights.com' where Expo workers could go to discover which social activities were happening. From here the website has expanded to ensure participants can stay in contact long after the Expo has gone.

"It's Expo nights com that's the website where you go and have the calendar of all the unofficial activities and official activities of what's happening. We are going to ask everyone to send us a contact and a little photo because we have more than 800 people."

Another popular activity was a staff basketball competition between different pavilions. As Aivaras explains, as far as the Expo goes it was a unique competition.

"That's the first time in the history of the expo we had a sports activity inside of expo. It Involved 48 pavilions. We allowed 70 teams (we allowed more than one team from each pavilion or country) and we had a whole month activity going on every day and we played almost two and a half hundred games. Bolivia was the first ones and Lithuania was in second place."

Finland pavilion staff also got to know people from different nations through various activities during the Expo. Lotta Soini is the Finland pavilion's communications officer.

"Our guides have been involved in many, many different competitions like tennis tournaments, football tournaments and of course our office staff was also involved in those and we've organized a lot of parties in the Finland pavilion and naturally also taken part in many outside our pavilion."

The Shanghai world expo was the perfect location for visitors and pavilion staff alike to get to know something about nations and cultures they never knew before. For Finland's Lotta Soini, this was certainly the case.

"You get to see so many more cultures than you've ever acknowledged before but those pavilions that I've worked very closely with those I've been able to connect and learn much, much more about their cultures. Especially the Estonians, we have become very good friends and I have learnt a lot about their culture."

As for countries that Lotta knew almost nothing about before her involvement in the Expo which one sticks in her mind?

"I think Malaysia would be one and we have very good friends in the Malaysian pavilion and they took us to the deepest and most informative tour in their pavilion which lasted about three hours and now I know about anything that I need to know about Malaysia."

Spending six months in the same location and sharing similar experiences in presenting their respective countries to the world has helped forge some strong bonds.

Alvaras from the Lithuania pavilion explains,

"A lot of people who now I can call friends and those people call me a friend and it's a pretty huge list. A lot of warm connections were made here during those six months."

Aisling Smith is the events and marketing manager for 'The Porterhouse', the only Irish bar at the Expo. Through her involvement in Expo she has made friends from all over the world.

"Some of the best friends I've met here at expo are from Peru and from Latvia and from Colombia and from Lithuania and from Australia. So it's been the most amazing experience of my life, the world expo."

Aisling was also involved in many activities which drew together people of different nations at the Expo.

"I've been in a very lucky position to organize a lot of different activities for the Expo workers. One was the Miss and Mr Expo competitions. We had a fantastic response and had 54 ladies entered from all over the world and it was amazing . The winner of the Miss Expo competition was Miss French Polynesia from the Pacific Island."

As well as life-long connections and friendships Aisling also found love at the Shanghai World Expo with an Australian pavilion staff member.

"During the Miss Expo competition we got some great help from the technical team at the Australian pavilion and Shaun, he did our sound displays every night, and we fell in love and I'm moving to Australia with him now after the Expo. Without having being here at Expo we never would have met."

So what will be the lasting legacy of the Shanghai world Expo? Well, for those who have called the world Expo site home for the past six months it's provided an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the world around them and to meet people they would never have met.

For CRI, I'm Jules Page.