Rice + Global Socializing
December 20th, 2011 | Published in Google Student Blog
Introduction: Veronica Rae Saron is a Google Student Ambassador at Rice University. In this four-part blog series, Rice+, Veronica will share about the various creative ways that the Rice community is using Google+ to enhance their world. Stay tuned for the second post in this series, which will be published in January.
Now that the semester at Rice has finished up with a grueling finals period, we Rice Owls are looking forward to eating home-cooked food, sleeping in our own quiet bedrooms, not having to wear flip-flops in the shower, and of course, hanging out with our high school friends.
But for my peers and for me, being physically distant from our high school friends didn’t mean that we couldn’t still hang out with them while still at college, thanks to Google+ Hangouts. Hangouts are especially fantastic for students at Rice, because our university attracts students from all across the globe. In fact, the screenshot below features my friend Stephanie hanging out on Google+ with her high school friends from Taiwan, who are now at universities in Taiwan as well as across the United States. The 10-way, free video chat allows them to still be goofy together despite being far from each other.
I even use Hangouts to communicate with my college friends, especially when I’m far from them during breaks, like in the next few weeks!
Even over the last summer, my friends and I jumped onto the Google+ bandwagon and used Hangouts to keep in touch and be with each other virtually. This was perfect for us because even though I live in New Jersey, most of my college friends happen to be scattered all around Texas. I mean, a lot of the time when we’re together in real life, we’re relaxing and watching YouTube videos, which we can also enjoy over Google Hangouts. In fact, my friend Josh used Hangouts to watch YouTube videos with his high school friends across the country throughout last semester.
How do you use Google+ to enhance your social world?
Posted by Veronica Rae Saron, Google Student Ambassador
Now that the semester at Rice has finished up with a grueling finals period, we Rice Owls are looking forward to eating home-cooked food, sleeping in our own quiet bedrooms, not having to wear flip-flops in the shower, and of course, hanging out with our high school friends.
But for my peers and for me, being physically distant from our high school friends didn’t mean that we couldn’t still hang out with them while still at college, thanks to Google+ Hangouts. Hangouts are especially fantastic for students at Rice, because our university attracts students from all across the globe. In fact, the screenshot below features my friend Stephanie hanging out on Google+ with her high school friends from Taiwan, who are now at universities in Taiwan as well as across the United States. The 10-way, free video chat allows them to still be goofy together despite being far from each other.
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| Rice University freshman Stephanie uses Hangouts to keep in touch with her friends across the globe. |
I even use Hangouts to communicate with my college friends, especially when I’m far from them during breaks, like in the next few weeks!
 |
| Even though two of my friends and I are miles away from each other over this winter break, we're able to use Hangouts to catch up and chat. |
Even over the last summer, my friends and I jumped onto the Google+ bandwagon and used Hangouts to keep in touch and be with each other virtually. This was perfect for us because even though I live in New Jersey, most of my college friends happen to be scattered all around Texas. I mean, a lot of the time when we’re together in real life, we’re relaxing and watching YouTube videos, which we can also enjoy over Google Hangouts. In fact, my friend Josh used Hangouts to watch YouTube videos with his high school friends across the country throughout last semester.
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| In the middle of last semester to relieve stress, Josh and his friends catch up over some cat videos on YouTube via Google+ Hangouts |
How do you use Google+ to enhance your social world?
Posted by Veronica Rae Saron, Google Student Ambassador