In retrospect: Berlin and Switzerland

Four months. More or less. It's been a while since I last published, however, there's been too much to see and do to sit down and post on a regular basis. Perhaps you may think that this is what blogs are all about. That said, I guess it's different with this one. I prefer to let you know what's going on once in a while, when there's really something to say, rather than going on your nerves with detailed accounts of my everyday life. Enough of such thoughts, though.

I'm no longer in Berlin as you might already know. My internship with the Foreign Office ended exactly the same day in late June as the German EU presidency. However insignificant that may sound, in retrospect it did make quite a difference to get the chance to be there during this period, simply because there was so much more to see and do and experience than is usually possible, according to those who always work there. Let me illustrate some of the events in May and June ...



With a couple of colleagues, all interns, I went to see "Maybrit Illner", a popular weekly political talkshow. We took the picture with her right after the show.



Some of us got the chance to accompany a delegation of mostly Arab journalists and diplomats on a boat tour on the Spree river. Really lovely, notably since I had actually been planning to do this for quite some time before. It goes without saying that, thanks to the German taxpayer, food and drinks were just delicious!



... just as they were on the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the "International Diplomats Programme", around this time as well. Each year, the Foreign Office welcomes a number of international diplomats and supports their home countries in their education. Some of us were needed to help out at the party, and the photo shows us clicking glasses after the job was done. Equally a really nice evening!



This photo shows the Quartet on the Middle East as the politicians met in the Foreign Office some day in May, if I remember correctly. What a great opportunity for us not only to watch all those high rank politicians arrive under incredible security measures but also to get access to the press conference afterwards. Sad enough that a solution to the conflict still seems out of reach.





Then another real highlight, in fact my last day in the Office. Upon our request, the Minister agreed to take some minutes for a photo with all the interns at the time. Together with Sonja (see photo above), my successor as Intern Coordinator, I addressed a short speech to Mr Steinmeier, expressing our gratitude and congratulating him on the successful German EU presidency. The huge BBQ on the roof terrace which followed made for a perfect farewell scenery. After all, I had a great time there.

However, I didn't leave Berlin immediately. I was enjoying life there just too much. With a former Foreign Office employee, who was about to travel for some weeks, I struck a nice deal: Taking care of her two cats, watering the flowers and paying a small sum of money, I was able to stay in her apartment while she was on the road. So it happened that I moved to a calm and pretty spot in "Mitte" for another three weeks, which I used intensively to further explore the city and simply chill out a bit. The photo below was taken from my balcony.



In the end, I did leave, albeit grudgingly. In retrospect, I can certainly say that Berlin has been the greatest place I've lived in so far, at least in my own country. Against this backdrop it's nice to know that whenever I come back there'll somewhere be a roof over my head and many people I look forward to seeing again.

Let me finish with a paragraph on Switerland or, more accurately, the tiny village of Ftan near the Austrian and Italian border. This is where I spent the past two weeks, having come back home only three days ago. What I did there? I participated in just another summer academy, organised by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. (Some of you may remember that I already experienced such an academy in Bavaria last year.) Once again, spending time with some 100 other scholarship holders in the mountains was fantastic: In the mornings I joined a working group which sought to answer the question of what modern military history nowadays achieves. Take a look at some photos of our field trip to former theatres of different wars:







Hard to believe that, in WWI, Italian and Austrian soldiers were actually fighting in the icy cold more than 3.000 metres above sea level (see last two photos).

In the afternoons, when group work was done, we would go hiking, running, doing other sports, or simply chilling out under the mountain sun. The evenings each began with presentations from the participating lecturers' various areas of research, later we enjoyed drinks and parties, entered into interesting discussions, played billiard and table football or just walked around talking and - in part and at times - doing other things ...

Some impressions ...







What about Dublin, you may justly wonder. My flight leaves exactly six years after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, on September 11. I'm excited and impatient for Ireland, Dublin and Trinity College. In the meantime, I enjoy life at home, doing some preparations but also reading a lot and seeing some friends before finally heading off in September.

There're more photos, both of my time in Berlin and in Switzerland, in the Picasa web albums.

I'll keep you posted.

Chris