On American Soil! (In Berlin)

The past few days I've been in Berlin with my fellow CBYXers getting to see and meet some pretty fantastic places and people, including Angela Merkel. Juhu! Needless to say, it was an exciting, educational and emotional trip. 

Completing the exchange experience with my good friend and fellow Saxon, Joseph.

I spent a month in Berlin when I was 15 at a language camp run by the Goethe Institut. I definitely learned a lot that summer and got to see many Berlin attractions. It was interesting thinking back on my experience in the summer of 2011 compared to mine this past week. Not only has my German blossomed, but I've become a better, smarter, completer person, too. And as for my time in Berlin, it might have been shorter and involved less sightseeing than Goethe Institut did, but with CBYX we saw parts of the government I'll never get the chance to experience again. Except for when I'm maybe a Foreign Service Officer someday...

Words of wisdom from the FSO who formerly worked on a cruise ship sailing the Caribbean.

Speaking of, Thursday we visited the U.S. Embassy, which sits right in the shadow of the Brandenburg Tor. We were technically on American soil again as we hung out in the large, sunny courtyard area in the center of the embassy and mingled with the 200 other CBYX high school participants and 50 CBYXers who took part in the "young professionals" version of the program. Later we heard some excellent a cappella from Harvard's female group, the Radcliffe Pitches. Next in the program was a speech from the American ambassador to Germany, John B. Emerson. Then came my favorite part, when we got to chat with a dozen or so FSOs who were just hanging out in the courtyard with us! 

Keeping cool in the embassy.

The next day we got up bright and early for our Bundestag-Bundeskanzleramt day. There were no tourists or protestors or anyone as we were taking photos before the massive building that houses the German parliament, but rather the 6am joggers. Still, it was worth getting up early in order to witness an inside view of German government. We got to sit in on a debate about IT security, a very poignant topic here at the moment, and then had a question and answer session with some very powerful German government officials. That was followed by a speech from the Bundestagspräsident, Norbert Lammert. 

Oh the places ten months can bring you!

After our program at the Bundestag we walked as a group the five blocks or so over to the Kanzleramt, also known as "the washing machine" for its architecture that highly resembles that household appliance. It's the building where Angela Merkel gets her side of the work done. Fun fact: the Kanzleramt is ten times bigger than the White House. It's a massive, yet elegantly designed, structure. We were all given the opportunity to take tours of the building in small groups, which made the size of the Kanzleramt quite apparent.

Frau Merkel's boardroom and the view from the front balcony.

One of the trip's highlights was seeing Angela Merkel in person. Since there were 300 or so of us and Angie apparently has a pretty busy schedule, it was naturally out of the question for us all to meet her face-to-face. However, we all took a photo together and heard a speech from the Bundeskanzlerin herself. The whole group was bubbling before, during and after she came into the hall. I guess I can now say I breathed the same air as the most powerful woman in the world circa 2015. 

One very, very attentive crowd.

As a 15-year-old back at Goethe Institut I never would've guessed I'd be in the position I am now. I was struggling with perfect past tense in German and didn't even know FSOs existed. The anticipation I have entering this next phase of my life is only thanks to all the wonderful people I've met along the way. I've seen the world's most powerful woman from five meters away, but her influence on me is infinitesimal. Without my Goethe Institut teachers, Viktoriaschule teachers and peers, Frau Langen and other teachers at South, my parents, my host family and the whole slew of others who've influenced and encouraged me, I'd be physically and mentally in a vastly different place than I am today. Danke schön! And hopefully it's like they say, man sieht sich immer zwei Mal im Leben.