First Sessions! Oh, and I made it to Prague...

I suppose that the title should say it all, but I still have more to say (and am generally exhausted). I'm blogging from a Starbucks, because get this - even with the "conference discount" at the hotel, wireless internet is still $6 per hour or $20 per day. And that's in American dollars. Highly unreasonable.

So to pick up where I left off (yesterday). We had the first of our conference sessions while still in DC, primarily consisting of welcomes and informational sessions. Our first task of the day was to sit down and come up with a list of five questions that we hoped to have answered at the end of the conference. My overarching question was "What are some of the barriers to sustainability for small and medium sized businesses in Central Europe, and how are those barriers being addressed through education, policy, etc.?" The assignment was harder than you might think - I had brain drain around question four, and had to write down "Where am I going to work after graduation" before the creative juices got flowing again. It didn't help that I was distracted by the amount of energy that the Hyatt saw fit to use on air conditioning in November. Flipping freezing in there.

Bix Aliu was the first speaker, and he highlighted the importance of people to people diplomacy and the importance of Euripe as a string ally and partner. Joel Rubin echoed the importance of the conference for spreading ideas and dialogue, and also gave us some context for each of the three themes (Trans-Atlantic Security, Climate Change and the Environment, and Tolerance/Diversity). Part of that context was the recent US midterm elections, and what they were likely to mean for our discussions. After lunch, Jiri Ellinger talked to use about the three goals of Czech foreign policy: their relationship with neighbors, their relationship with the European Union, and their relationship with the United States. Overall, the early sessions were really useful - I'm not particularly current on trans-Atlantic security or tolerance/diversity, so it was nice to have a quick overview.

Around 4:00 PM we went to Dulles, and at 7:10 PM we left for Germany. I had a window seat, which made the whole thing much more pleasant. Hooray for Bretzels (and for finally leaving)!