Back in the USA

Hey everyone,

Shannon mentioned to me at one point that I never really let people know that I’ve gotten home. Well, I’m typing this from Dulles, and since big airports don’t play the free internet game, I won’t be posting this until I’m in Gastonia. Needless to say, I’m back in the states. And very tired. It’s already 3:30 in the morning in the Czech Republic – way past my bedtime.

Sleep Well!

Catherine

Pictures, part 2

Hey everyone,

Here are the rest of the pictures from Prague:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032994&id=81900905&l=9a7c9dcd84

Have a great night!

-Catherine

Last Full Day in Prague

So way back when Katie and I confirmed that we would be meeting up in Prague, Katie did some research on the different attractions in the area. On Friday, we did a lot of what was available in the city. So on Saturday, we thought that we would do a field trip into the Czech countryside, to Kutna Hora.

Kutna Hora is a small-ish city that’s about an hour by train outside of Prague. We had seen the guided version of our proposed excursion, but that was going for around $70 (and we wouldn’t get to ride the train) so we decided to have an adventure and figure it out for ourselves. In retrospect, I’m not sure how it could have worked out better – at least in terms of logistics.

We got up around 8:15, got ready, and had breakfast in the hotel, which was very nice. Then, we walked to the main train station (I clarify that it was the main train station because the first train station that we stopped at was not the correct train station), got our tickets ($10 each, round trip) and found our train. There weren’t very many seats left in the cabins, so we took two of the sideways-facing seats in the corridor. Really, a very comfortable ride.

I now feel obliged to tell you all about the attraction that we were off in search of. It was a bone church. And not a bone church with one or two skeletons or anything. Official estimates put the number of skeletons contained in this church between 30,000 and 50,000. Most were likely killed by the plague. So apparently, there was some kind of excess supply of bones, and a shortage of normal church-decorating materials. The church is entirely ornamented with these many, many skeletons.

When we got off the train, there was a bus waiting to take us into the center of town. We hadn’t really looked at a map or anything, so we jumped on board, figuring that first we would show up, and then we would see what happened. We made it to the center of this decent sized city, only to find that it was completely deserted. We have a few theories as to why we would have been able to walk around for a few hours and never see more than five or six people in a given spot, but nothing confirmed.

So from the center of town, we first went to look at a few of the normal churches. I took a fair amount of pictures, which I’ll post after I post this. We got pizza for lunch, and that was very good and quite possibly fully home-made. We found a few locals, who were able to tell us about the bus schedule to the bone church (busses came every two hours), but then we really looked at the map and decided that it was a gorgeous day, and we would just walk the two and a half miles.

The bone church was pretty intense. It really was the remains of 40,000 people. I don’t know whether I doubted that, but it was definitely a lot easier to comprehend once we were actually looking at the coat of arms that included every bone in the human body and the house-looking-structures made out of skulls and femurs. Everything, from the window hangings to the chandelier to the wall decorations was completely constructed of bone – and long enough ago so that it’s not like they had glue or anything. I took pictures of all the information, so if you’re interested, you can read all about it.

After the bone church, we walked back to the train station, and headed to Prague. We made it back to the hotel around 4:30, and took epic naps (there was a lot of walking – we were tired). When we woke up, we hit the city to finish looking for souvenirs and to get a “traditional” Czech dinner. I had the goulash (with an unidentified “meat”) in a bread bowl. It was very tasty, but I think that Katie’s pasta may have taken the dinner cake. It was fabulous.

After dinner and shopping, we walked back to the Charles Bridge to see the view of the city and the castle at night. It was very picturesque (and I didn’t have my camera). We really got lucky with the weather this weekend.

Tomorrow it’s home! I leave Prague around 2:00, get in to Frankfurt around 3:00, leave for Dulles at 5:00, arrive at Dulles nine hours later at 8:00 (I heart time zones), leave for Charlotte at 10:00, and get to Charlotte at 11:15. When I get to see Troy! Yay!

First day as tourists

When I last left the blog, we were planning to get up RIDICULOUSLY early to go see the sunrise over the Charles Bridge. Well, we managed to get up at 6:30 and to get out the door by 6:50, so that we could do that half hour walk to the bridge. We were joined by Coree and Erika (my roommate). Unfortunately, there were substantial clouds in the east, but when the sun finally broke through, it really was pretty cool. I'll put up pictures later today.

Since we were already up and on that side of town, we decided to walk along the river and see the "dancing building," which was based on Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's a really neat building, and it fits in with the surrounding architecture better than you might think, considering the lack of straight lines. After checking out the building, we meandered back toward the hotel, since Coree and Erika had mid-day flights.

We had to check out of the Marriott at 12, so we got packed up and headed out. We're now at the EuroAgentur, which is also a four star hotel, but is much friendlier. For example, both internet and breakfast are included (neither of which was true at the Marriott) and it was literally two blocks away. Very easy to get to. They also let us check in two hours early, which was very convenient.

After dropping our stuff, we headed back out to the city to walk around for a few hours. We found the Jewish Cemetery, and we walked back across the bridge and up to the castle, stopping to peek in souvenir shops all along the way. The weather was great, and on the way back, we figured out our evening activity. Get ready for this one: Black Light Theater.

Yup. That's right. We went to a non-verbal black light theater show: Life is Life. It combined several forms of music and dance to create a story about the main male character's life. First thing out on stage? It's completely dark, and we watched this guy be "birthed" out of a giant glowing bubble. Katie and I both kinda lost it at that point. Then he "grew up" over a few minutes (where we were able to compose ourselves) and started stripping. From there on, we couldn't stop laughing. It was totally bizarre, but for some reason hugely funny. The basic premise was that this guy was just going along, living his life, when he fell in love with this girl. The girl didn't love him back (and had a really, really, ridiculous outfit) and more or less tormented him for a long time. They finally got together, and then she ran away. So took black light karate lessons, rode a horse, and grew old lonely. Finally, at the end, she kissed him, and he keeled. It was actually a little bit of a sad ending. But it was an awesome way to end our day.

Tomorrow, we're going to Kutna Hora, which is a small town outside of Prague. It has a bone church, with over 40,000 skeletons decorating the interior. Kinda can't wait.

Pictures to come!

First Round of Pictures

Can be found at:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31133207&l=170e2c077c&id=81900905

They're not amazing. The next set will be better. These were mostly taken in the rain.

Katie Made It! The End of the Conference

Right on time (and just after I finished the last blog entry) Katie got to the Marriott in Prague! It was a brief but awesome reunion, as we more or less scarfed down lunch before I had to return for the conference photo. The conference photo, by the way, included all of us (200 or so) without any real regard for height differences. We were all sitting, so it may have worked out, but I'll be interested to see that photo.

After the pictures, we had one last chance to meet with our group before presenting our project proposal. We did a 90 degree turn, and instead of doing a survey, we've decided to propose a pilot workshop for 5-8 businesses in Central Europe. We'll do one in Bulgaria and then see how it's received. The businesses will be exposed to environmental/triple-bottom-line concepts, and will have the opportunity to develop a sustainability action plan for their companies, along with sustainability-related goals, objectives, etc. It's still in the works, but it seems reasonably feasible on a $10,000 budget, especially if we can video in some of the speakers from America Trans-Atlantic flights just aren't all that cheap :(

So we presented our idea to the state department representatives, and they seemed to feel okay about it. One of the guys from the team is working out the actual grant proposal (we have a few months for that) so who knows? After going to California over Christmas, my next big trip might be to Bulgaria. It's okay. I'm mostly kidding.

The last speaker of the conference was Judith McHale, Under Secretary of Diplomacy and Public Relations for the US State Department. She was well-spoken, but I guess that if diplomacy were my job, I would have memorized my lines ahead of time too. It was very P.R. She threw in plugs for Hillary Clinton several times per response, and didn't do much by way of straight answers to questions. Still nice that she came out to the conference though.

Following the Q&A session, we got to watch the conference video that people have been filming all week. Considering that there was footage from the last day of the conference in there, I'm very impressed with both the quality and the speedy turn around time. I'm actually in the video. I don't say anything. But I nod. And you know what? I nod with purpose. Of course, while I'm nodding, I'm working out the military-geoengineering thing in my head, but still. On my way to stardom.

There was a brief reception, and then Coree, Laura, Michelle, Katie, and I went to the Communism Museum. It was pretty sweet. I got a postcard. It talks about all the happy shiny people who lived under communism (with most of them working in the uranium mines in the Ukraine). I giggled. We walked around the city for a while after the museum (i.e. we stopped and ate several different times, and occasionally had to walk between food vendors). It was a pretty awesome end to the day, and to the conference.

Plan for tomorrow? Waking up at 6:30 to go watch the sunrise from the Charles Bridge. Oooh la la.

Last Day of Sessions

In addition to today being the last day of sessions in the Young Leaders Dialogue with America, it is also Tolerance and Diversity day. We started with a presentation called "Chipping Away at Intolerance in America" from Wayne Drash and Robert Johnson, of CNN. I don't actually watch CNN all that often, as I find it annoying that they run audience reactions and tweets (often stupid) along with actual analysis by trained and experienced journalists, but I was still interested in what they had to say.

The presentation was focused on black and white race relations. Wayne Drash is originally from Mississippi, and discovered papers documenting his family's ownership of slaves. This led to a lengthy (and continuing) search for the descendants of his ancestor's former slaves, which Robert has assisted in. Generally, he has found the exchanges to be positive encounters, as the descendants of slaves have been grateful to receive the information that Wayne provides. There were, apparently, several awkward situations in Mississippi with some racist (and white) "gentlemen."

My only problem with the presentation was that Wayne referred to slavery as "The Holocaust of American History." I took note of that as being a term that I had never heard in conjunction with slavery, and I was interested when one of the other participants stood up during the Q&A and essentially said, I'm from Austria, I'm sensitive to your use of the term Holocaust, is it really appropriate? Many of the other participants (particularly the Europeans) seemed to echo his concern. Wayne responded that it was how many of the people that he has interacted with in his search had referred to slavery, so he had adopted the term. I, however, did some super-fast googling. There is not a single hit for "Holocaust of American History," relating to slavery or otherwise, so I remain skeptical of the term. I guess that now there will be a Google hit.

The next session was 90 Minutes Radio Free Europe with Radio Liberty. The session began with Jeff Gedmin, the President of Radio Liberty. He discussed areas of the world that still lack access to the media and freedom of the press. Following his introduction, the group watched a documentary on Chechnya (The Dark Side of the World), which was filmed ten years ago. Terror, widespread corruption, and economic devastation, however, are still very much a part of daily life. The Political Rights Score for Chechnya is 7, as is the Civil Liberties Score, indicating that the status of the country is Not Free. The question and answer section of the panel was really interesting, particularly with regard to US and EU policies impacting and including Russia and human rights violations.

And now it's time for lunch. And for KATIE THORNE to come!!!!

P.S. Lots of bow ties among panelists today. That's probably not in any way significant, but that's my observation.

Dinner last night

Was awesome. At 7:45, all the other environmental dialogue-ers and I piled into a bus and headed to The Shephardess's Cottage. Originally described to us as a "traditionally Czech restaurant" we were later informed that it was truly more of a "traditionally Slovakian restaurant." Having not really eaten much Czech or Slovakian food, the distinction was a little lost on me, but I was excited anyway.

The restaurant was very cute. There were several different rooms, but they all had open windows. It was actually kinda reminiscent of a cottage - the stools all had sheepskin coverings, the walls were exposed wood, and there were a few different fireplaces throughout the restaurant. After we all got in and sat down, we also got to enjoy some "typical gypsy music." I'm a little skeptical that it was an actual historic representation (as opposed to something contrived for tourists who want to feel "authentic") but it was still totally fun. Several times during the evening, the musicians and the dancers (who looked a little bored - but I guess that I might be too, if that was my job every night) cycled through, playing traditional and modern music.

The food was super sweet too. Course one was smoked sausage, roasted red peppers, and pickles. I'm not a huge fan of sausage, but the peppers and pickles were good, plus the table bread was kinda like a bretzel. Course two was half of a roasted chicken. I didn't even have to ask for it. They just brought it. It was awesome. I am in love with this "Shephardess." Delicious. Dessert was crepes with berries and whipped cream. Also quite tasty.

And we actually did talk about the environment, which was kinda cool. I mean, a lot of it was more or less food related (farmers markets, local food, companies that make food, companies that don't make food, whether business solve the problem that it's helped to create, etc.).

All told, we were there for more than three hours, and even if it wasn't exactly traditional and authentic, it had that kind of feeling, and it was a great night.

Security Day!

Hey everyone,

Today started with two hours devoted to coming up with projects in our small groups. Though I feel like we're making progress, we're really struggling with how we can make our projects self-supporting in future years. We (as a group, though I personally am a little unsure) feel confident that we could raise requisite funding for the initial costs of a project, but long-term revenue generation currently eludes us.

My favorite idea so far is to do a survey project of Eastern European businesses to determine where they are in terms of sustainability, and what their tool/resource needs are. There are several benefits to this, including the fact that it would fit well within the year time-frame that we have to use the money, it is within the skill set of the group, it would help to generate data in a currently under-explored area, and it would keep us from developing a project that Central European businesses have no real interest in or use for. Unfortunately, we were kinda discouraged from doing research projects, and that's really what this is - it's also not something that's self-sustaining (unless we promise to do follow up studies on a frequent basis... with additional money from.... somewhere). We'll just have to keep brainstorming tomorrow.

After the brainstorming session, everyone met to listen to the two security presentations. They were reasonably interesting, particularly the one by the Czech former general. He said that he felt that the Czech Republic was toning down its security in the wrong ways. For example, he said, and we all agreed, that if there were to be a bio-terrorism attach in the Czech Republic, it would probably happen in Prague, and it would probably be in the Metro, where lots of people would be exposed. Unfortunately, the hospital that is equipped to deal with that is over 100 km away. People would have to be transported by helicopter. Unfortunately, the helicopters are also located far away, and there is a mountain range between them and Prague - a mountain range that can't be crossed by helicopters in the winter. There is a hospital that is equipped to handle bio-terrorism closer to Prague. It has four beds. So... with all that in mind, I guess that I feel like he made a pretty compelling argument.

After lunch, the next session was on environmental literacy and using education to create sustainable development. The speakers were pretty good, though they both seemed a little jaded. Blazena Huskova talked to us about nature deficit disorder and how challenging it is to change beliefs and attitudes once people get older - her organization has had more success in working with children. Jana Dlouha talked about the history of environmental and sustainable development education, and highlighted some of the differences between the two. As nearly as I can tell, sustainable development education looks at the future and encapsulates a number of different values, while with environmental education, the environment and nature are the values. Both speakers agreed that in order for change to occur, there needs to be a respected spokesperson, and that educating children is the way to go.

After hearing about environmental literacy, my friend Laura (a native of York, ME) and I decided to explore Prague a little bit. We took the metro and then the tram to the castle, where we walked around the grounds. It was really cold - I was really hoping for some snow (it was on the forecast!) but alas. The castle is absolutely huge, and seems to have had several different additions from different time periods. We even got to see the changing of the guards! Not as exciting as it is in London, but still. I'll put the video up on Facebook at some point. We kept walking and window-shopping and eventually made our way back to the hotel.

Now I'm going to do some school work. We're eating with our dialogue group (so all the other people in the environmental section) tonight, so that should be fun.

Plans for tomorrow
Chipping Away at Intolerance in America - Wayne Drash and Robert Johnson, CNN
Group Photo
90 Minutes Live with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Program (Focus on Chechnya and Human Rights) - Jeff Gedmin, President of Radio Free Europe; Jaromir Stetina, Czech Senator; Josef Pazderka, Czech TV Reporter
Group Project Meetings Group Reports Closing Remarks - Judith A. McHale, Under Secretary, Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, US Department of State

Feel free to comment! Also, sorry about the photo - it was foggy today.
P.S. KATIE COMES TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Encouraging Comments

Hey everyone,

Before detailing my day and telling you what I'm up to tomorrow, I'd like to encourage everyone to comment on my posts. I would love to be able to take your questions into the sessions tomorrow, and the conference really promotes it. We've even been told that people who submit their blogs to the media guy for this trip win an opportunity to introduce Judith McHale, Under Secretary, Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs on Thursday (some of the runners up get to have lunch with her). It's very fancy. So feel free to comment! (And here's a picture of the astronomical clock)

And now, today.
Today was more or less the environmental day, starting with remarks from Vaclav Cilek of the Czech Academy of Science and Joel Rubin of the National Security Network. Vaclav talked about a whole range of issues, from perceptions of climate change in Central Europe, to food security around the world. Joel talked about some of the issues surrounding climate change (economics, politics, ethics, etc.) and some of the responses and potential responses to the rise in temperature.

This is where I got to thinking about geoengineering. Once considered fringe science, Geoengineering has recently taken a move toward the legitimate, with a 2009 report from the Royal Society and several well-attended conferences. So, after the talk, I asked Joel about whether geoengineering was considered to be an "on the table" option, or if it was still completely outside the realm of possibility (I was particularly interested as he had mentioned military responses several times). And... he didn't know what I was talking about. Boo. Oh well.

The next session was smaller, and everyone had six choices. I, being the good pseudo-business and the environment student that I am, went for "Creating Businesses that are Profitable and Environmentally Sustainable." The speakers were Vojtech Kotechy of Friends of Earth, and Jana Ledvinova of the Resource Alliance. After a fairly general introduction (what is sustainability on a personal level, etc), we had around an hour for questions. I got the first one, and picked up on something that Vojtech had said about FSC. I asked how small and medium sized businesses can be encouraged to pursue the high standards of certifications like ISO, FSC, and LEED, if the costs of pursuing the actual certifications are prohibitive, and how those businesses can be held accountable/recognized for their good work if they can't afford the actual certifications.

Apparently in Central Europe, environmental standards are set by the government, and then certification companies perform verification. More certification companies in the market has driven down the price, but not the standards (as they are government controlled). It wasn't quite what I was looking for in terms of an answer, since many of the largest and most credible certification schemes are multi-national, but it did lead to a group discussion about B-Corps, GRI, and (shout out!) Green Plus. Made me smile. One of the other things that the discussion made me realize was that there really are far fewer options for business leaders who want to be sustainable in Central Europe - it's not being incorporated into MBA programs as it's starting to be in the states, and there aren't many resources built up around that. Very interesting.

After lunch, we had a session on social entrepreneurship. It was pretty good, and the woman leading it - Susie Lawrence - was very charismatic. She didn't really touch on any of the challenges associated with social ventures, but she did have some good case studies. I think that secretly she wanted us all to go out and start our own social ventures tonight. She was just that enthusiastic.

The last thing on the agenda today was the group project meeting (after this conference, there will be $90,000 total and $10,000 per project available for trans-Atlantic projects). I'm in the -wait for it- Developing Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Responsible Businesses group. Pretty predictable, I know. I'll have more to report on that in the next few days, as we're really still in the brainstorming session.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the conference. Logistically it's a dream, and I've really enjoyed talking to some of the other conference participants about these issues.

Tomorrow (Comment or Email if you have any questions that I can pass along!)

Why Security Matters - James P. Rubin (Atlantic Partnership President)
Threats Influencing the Trans-Atlantic Area - Andor Sandor (Former Chief of Defense Intelligence for the Czech Republic)
Environmental Literacy: Education for Sustainable Development - Jana Dlouha, Charles University, and Blazena Huskova, Foundation Jizerske Hory
Technology, Social Media, and Creative Messaging for Social Change
30 Mosques in 30 Days: An American Ramadan Roadtrip Adventure - Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq

Have a good night everyone! (It's 10:00 here)

State Department Sponsored Internet

The Internet is ours, the Internet is ours. Great day in the morning people, the Internet is ours.

After a fairly comfortable flight to Frankfurt (that I more or less passed out on) we took a much faster flight to Prague (that I did pass out on). Have no fear, I did manage a bretzel in between.

Our hotel is only around 25 minutes from the airport, so we were able to arrive and check in around 3:00, with our walking tour of Prague scheduled to begin at 3:15. Just enough time to drop our bags and hit the streets.

On the tour, we saw the Old Town Square, a large section of what used to be Prague's Jewish ghetto, and the Charles Bridge (which had a lovely view of the castle, which I'll describe in greater detail in a later post). We made it back to the square by 5:00, so that we could see the astronomical clock hit five, which is when several things happen. First, the clock chimes. Then, twelve saints parade past the windows above the clock, followed by a rooster. Finally, several people at the top of the clock tower play trumpets. I'll try to get video of this sometime in the next few days.

During the tour, it had started raining, so we headed back to the hotel after the clock. We also stopped at an ATM ($1 = 17.2 Czech Crowns). We got something like six minutes in our hotel room before it was time to head back down for the welcome reception. This is when I met my roommate, Erika. Erika is Hungarian, and just graduated from law school. She's in the tolerance and diversity dialogue.

The welcome reception was interesting. Joseph Pennington, the Charge d'Affaires from the US Embassy in Prague was our opening speaker. We did a brief question and answer period, and then devoured the hors d'oeuvres. I talked to Pennington afterward and asked what he considered to be the greatest environmental challenges facing the Czech Republic. He said that energy was the biggest issue. Right now the Czech Republic has large stores of coal, and is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas. Their efforts to diversify into solar power were unsuccessful, partially due to very high subsidies leading to too many firms in the market. When the subsidies were removed, the whole thing began to collapse, leaving a "sour renewables" taste in peoples mouths.

Finally, after the reception (and my brief trip to Starbucks for the Internet) it was time for bed. I am such a big fan of bed.

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)!

We're leaving for the airport in 45 minutes!

That's pretty much what I've got on this one. I'll probably spend most of the flight reading for law and grading malaria memos. Two down, 14 to go...

After Dinner Speaking

I think that I am going to like this conference.

I met my roommate, Morgan, who went to Sweet Briar and competed in the Ethics Bowl. Her last Ethics Bowl was my first (Ethics in Medicine) - small world. Now she's a research analyst at the Heritage Foundation. Way cool.

Dinner was a buffet at the Hyatt. We all went around the room and introduced the people sitting around us, so I finally figured out who the other Duke student was (her name is Amanda, and she's an ecology PhD student). Then we got a rundown of what will happen tomorrow. We have three speakers (I'll put them below) who are going to introduce us to the conference, the issues, Prague, etc. Around three, we'll go to Dulles and one group will fly to JFK and then Prague, and one group will fly to Frankfurt and then Prague. I'm in the Frankfurt group, and please let me tell you - I am excited about the brezel options.

After dinner, a bunch of us hung around and had drinks at the hotel bar. I spent a fair amount of time talking to another girl in the environmental section, Coree, who works for Net Impact (which I may now join at Duke - she makes it sound super cool). We have a lot in common - right down to our "misadventure in Stockholm" experiences. It was really interesting - we've seen a lot of the same speakers (Matt Kistler cried in front of both of us) and last month, Net Impact did a showing of Carbon Nation, which ISD is showing next week. Crazy crazy. So now I'm going to bed.

Speakers for tomorrow:

Bix Aliu - Involved in the Ranbouillet Peace Accords as a member of the US Special Envoy to Kosovo's delegation and worked with the Special Envoy during the crisis in Macedonia, etc.
Joel Ruben - Deputy Director and Chief Operating Office of the National Security Network
Jiri Ellinger - Author of Czech Lands in European History after 1918 and a biography of Neville Chamberlain.

Clearly it's been forever since I posted

But it's been a busy few weeks. It's currently Saturday, November 6th, and I have completed the first two legs of my trip (Durham to Charlotte and Charlotte to Dulles). So far, I have nothing to complain about. My flight was super smooth, the Hyatt at Dulles is very nice, and I'm excited to meet my roommate for tonight.

I have met two of the other conference participants. We ended up on the same shuttle from the airport (they flew in from Pittsburgh). One of them is in the Tolerance/Diversity section of the conference, and the other is in the Trans-Atlantic Security section.

After checking in around noon, I texted Caroline (Troy's sister), and we met up for some delicious Ruby Tuesday. That restaurant has really gotten more classy recently - I seem to remember them having a much larger burger focus. Now they have lobster macaroni and cheese and garlic biscuits. Very fancy. It was great to catch up. She was able to tell me all about the Pizzly bear, which is apparently one of the results of climate change. Polar bears have lost a lot of habitat, and so have moved south in search of land and food. Next step: Family Reunion with the long lost grizzly cousin. Which, of course, leads to baby bears.

So now I'm back in the hotel, with several hours before the YLD dinner tonight. I'll probably read about malaria for a while and then fall asleep. Yay for policy memos!

I may post again after dinner, but in case I do not, shout out to my TA friend Colin, who got married today!

Katie's coming to Prague!!!!!

And I'm staying until Sunday. Katie's going to fly in on Thursday, which is when the conference ends, and then we'll have all day Friday and all day Saturday to explore, sightsee, etc. Then on Sunday, I fly back to the states.

Here's a more detailed itinerary:

November 6 - I depart from Charlotte, NC at 10:00 AM and get to Dullas at 11:45 AM.

November 7 - Half-day conference orientation. We depart Dullas at 5:50 PM and get to Frankfurt (fingers crossed on some pretzels) on Monday.

November 8 - Arrive in Frankfurt at 7:30 AM. Depart Frankfurt at 10:30 AM, arrive in Prague at 11:30 AM. Tour of Prague at 3:00 PM. Conference begins this evening.

November 9 - It's Jenn's BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!! (Conference)

November 10 - Conference

November 11 - Conference during the day, closing ceremonies, KATIE COMES!!!

November 12 - Katie and I explore Prague

November 13 - Katie and I explore Prague (the remix)

November 14 - I depart from Prague at 1:50 PM, and end up in Charlotte many (18+) hours later at Charlotte

November 15 - Troy's BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Needless to say, it will be an exciting conference and a fabulous trip.

$1 = 17.5420 Czech Koruna.

A little more information

Hey everyone,

I have slightly more information about Prague now. On November 6th, I will be meeting a group of Americans in DC. Then, on November 7th, we have a half-day orientation, followed by a flight to Prague (I'm thinking that flight will be seven or so hours long). The conference starts on November 8th, and seems to run until November 11th.

On the 12th, the idea is for everyone to return to the states. However, I requested (fingers crossed in a big way) to remain in Prague and fly out two days later, on the 14th. This is because the fabulous KATIE THORNE has arranged to come and meet me in Prague for an R-MC reunion. Which, clearly, would be awesome.

So, if all goes according to plan, I get to go to Prague, see Katie Thorne, and get back in time for Troy's birthday on the 15th. Life is pretty grand.

Prague!

Hey everyone,

The next trip is in the works. I'll be going to Prague from November 6-12 to attend the Young Leaders Dialogue with America conference. Here's a little information:

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs is pleased to announce the Young Leaders Conference in Prague, as a follow on to the U.S. study tour, scheduled for November 6 - 12, 2010. Nearly two hundred young leaders from Central Europe, the Baltic States and the United States will gather for one week to dialogue on issues of critical concern to the region and the world. Forty eight U.S. participants will be selected by IIE to attend the conference with approximately 150 of their European peers, including the 47 Alumni of the Young Leaders Dialogue with America Program (YLDA) that took place in February 2010.

The Young Leaders Conference will provide participants ample opportunities for meaningful interaction and exchange. Attendees will hear from keynote speakers, attend professional development workshops, and participate in cross-disciplinary panel discussions across the three dialogue themes (Transatlantic security, environmental issues/climate change, and tolerance and diversity). In addition, a primary focus of the conference will be for participants to develop collaborative group projects, which can be submitted for funding consideration. Up to $90,000 will be available for award-winning projects.

So... I'll post more information as I get it, but in the meantime, I'm super, super excited!

Catherine

Back in Athens!

I know, I know, I’m behind on the blogging. So today (Monday) we came back to Athens from Santorini. Our flight was delayed leaving Santorini by around an hour, but it was only around a 40 minute flight to begin with, so it wasn’t at all bad. We had allocated the afternoon to go to the Temple of Poseidon. Since that was not as easy as it originally seemed (there was another bus station for us to find) and we all needed to spend some time out of the sun, we decided to spend the afternoon in Athens.

We got back to the hotel around three thirty (Becky and Krystin went back to their apartments) and we hung out, showered, did some work, read, and organized ourselves for a few hours. Around six, we headed back out to meet Becky to do some shopping (we all still had a little bit more souvenir shopping to do) and to climb to the big rock near the Acropolis to watch the sunset (maybe not an island view, but still pretty awesome).

We managed to buy for all the people we needed to… I am a little bit regretful that I didn’t do more shopping in Delphi. The prices seemed better there. But depending on what we were looking for, prices were better in different places. Now we know. But the sunset was lovely (a little anticlimactic, as there were a fair amount of clouds. We were not the only ones on the rock – apparently it was a pretty popular viewing place. But the city sparked very nicely, and even with the clouds and haze, it was very beautiful.

After the sunset, we went back to the delicious garlic-dip-featuring restaurant. It was (again) delicious (and featured garlic dip – at least for me). After dinner, we shopped a little bit more, and headed back to the hotel. We were pretty much pooped. It had been a pretty busy last few days – we wanted to take a few easy.

More Photos!

Two more albums are up - Expect more later!

Click here for the three island cruise and here for the first part of Santorini.

Thanks,

Catherine

Santorini - A whole island tour!

Hello all,

Sorry that I’ve been a little late in finishing our Santorini adventure stories. It was not intentional, but I wanted to spend some time uploading some pictures and all that, and the internet connection lacked… connection, for quite a while.

Anyway, we got up around 8:00 on Sunday morning to hit our tour running. The daughter of the owners of the hostel had warned us that the tour we had picked was pretty intense, and that by the end of the day, we were likely to be quite tired. We, however, figured that we were all pretty buff, and could handle the tour, no problem. Santorini Tour – 5. Nice American girls – 0.

It started out pretty reasonably. The bus brought us to a few locations in the morning, all of which had fantastic views for photographing. We were even feeling pretty good about the stair count there for a while (we were only at around 80 that had to be climbed – at least until later in the morning). The views were pretty great. And that was before we got on the boat.

So, our tour of the island actually became our tour of what used to be Santorini – prior to the volcano eruption many, many years ago. The volcano eruption caused the largest caldera (collapsed volcano) in the world. There are now four or five islands that surround the rim of the collapsed volcano. Santorini is the largest, and the most habitable of the island.

And before I tell you about the islands that we visited, I have to let you know the answer to my burning question to the tour guide. Since Santorini is still an active volcanic island, do they take full advantage of their geothermic energy resources? Nope. None of that. They also don’t do much more than solar water heaters, and they can’t build wind turbines, because they would spoil the view. So… the islands that have pretty much hit the trifecta of potential renewable energy sources are… not using them. They burn oil.

Anyhoo, the first of the islands around the caldera that we visited (by boat, which was quite awesome) was the most active of the volcanic islands. It was very neat (and included stairs in many places). Kinda like climbing Laki, in Iceland (minus the stairs), except that this was in direct sun, and it was approximately 7000 degrees outside. But there was a breeze, so it worked out – and again, many, many sunscreen applications. Thankfully, I had chosen to wear a real tee-shirt (go Duke!) for the day, so the sun was not as bad as it could have been.

The boat stop was to the hot spring/mud baths. The idea was to jump off the boat and swim to the hot springs. So we did that. It sounds pretty grand. There were, however, a few minor issues. First, the hot springs were a 400-meter swim from the boat. That doesn’t sound like all that much, but it ends up being around a half a mile of swimming. That’s doable, but the buoyancy of the super-salty water, combined with the waves made it a more challenging swim. Also, it wasn’t as if we were swimming to a place where we could put our feet down. Even in the hot spring area, it was mostly clinging to the rock sides and scooping mud from there… it was still too deep to touch bottom. And finally, all of this had to be done in half an hour. That also made things more challenging. But we did it anyway. And it was lots of fun. But totally exhausting.

And were we done at this point? Nope. But it was time for lunch (at another island… so there was more boating involved). The next island we stopped at had only a few tiny towns, one of which was at the top of a mountain (hundreds of steps) and one at sea level. We chose to get lunch at sea level (it was around three, and we were famished at that point). By the time we finished lunch, sat on the beach a little bit, and wandered around the town, it was time to get back on the boat and go to Oia.

Now, Oia is known for its wonderful sunsets. Which we’d seen pictures of, and we were all looking forward to seeing in person. But here were the stairs that we had spent all day practicing for. So they drop you off the boat at sea level. And then there are 280 stairs (not normal ones, with right angles, but ones where even the “flat surfaces” are slanted upwards). And you can either take a donkey up this narrow road, or you can walk up. Those are your options.

So, normally I’m fairly adventurous. Or at least a little adventurous. But when I’m exhausted, I am much less willing to try new things. Like donkeys. On narrow upward (and slippery) stairs. So Becky, Katie, and Caitlynn rode donkeys to the top (they had a ton of fun), and Krystin and I climbed the stairs. Was that a smart decision? Maybe not. I was so exhausted by the time I got to the top that I wanted to cry. The sun plus the temperature, plus the volcano, plus the swim… it was too much. And I was not the only one feeling it. So we sat in the shade for what felt like ages.

And even after all that, it was still two and a half hours until sunset. Ridiculous. So we decided to wander around Oia for a little bit and then head back to our hostel pre-sunset. We may have missed out on the sunset, but I think that maybe I got an equal amount out of falling asleep for two hours, eating dinner (French fries), and going back to sleep for another ten hours.

Katie and Krystin went back out to Fira to watch the World Cup match (Go Spain!). I barely even noticed them come back afterwards. Maybe Katie will do a blog on the World Cup. She said that it was pretty exciting. "Dramatic soccer moments" and all that.

First set of photos uploaded!

Hey everyone,

Click here for the photos from the first few days in Greece (Athens and Delphi).

Enjoy!

-Catherine

Katie Thorne: Blogger Extraordinaire

From Katie Scarlett:

I am excited to have the opportunity to guest blog, which is a direct result of the group separating after losing each other in Santorini. Because I had my motorcycle license (special shout out to my dad for helping me purse that dream) I was able to rent a vespa while the other ladies rented ATV’s to ride around the island for the day. After losing Catherine and Becky, Caitlynn, Kristin, and I decided to head to the beach for about an hour. The beach was beautiful, rocky and filled with lava pebbles, and water that was crystal clear. We relaxed and soaked up the sun, and those of you who know me, understand my love of tanning so I thoroughly enjoyed our sojourn on the beach at Kumari.

Even though we could have spent the day relaxing there, we decided that we must Seize the Day and ventured back to get our vehicles to head our for a cruise of the island. We then proceeded to ride to the northern most point of the isle, taking the scenic coastal route all the way to the Bay of Armenia. We leisurely made our way twisting and turning through the mountainous landscape, viewing sights that one only could imagine would exist in their dreams. The wind blowing through my hair, and the picturesque mountainside filled with white villas with blue roofs, I had a moment where I truly felt as though I was in heaven. Now mind you there are no street signs on the entire island, and really no rules to the road, so at times when large tour buses would pass us it was a little unnerving, but made for an adventure I will never forget.

After about and hour we wound our way down from the top of the mountain to the Bay. We turned the corner, and what we saw is more than words can describe, but I will try my best. The Bay of Armenia was a small fishing village, at the bottom of the mountain, which stood around 1000 feet above the cove. The water was crystal clear, unlike any I had seen before. Blues, greens, aquamarine, really any shade of azul that you can imagine was how one could describe the water. And the fishing boats were as colorful as an artist’s pallet. We decided this was the perfect place to break for lunch so we found a small restaurant where we could sit and enjoy the view. Then came lunch and boy do I like to eat, especially fresh seafood. There was fresh calamari, fish, muscles, straight off of the fishing boats, my mouth is watering right now reminiscing about how decadent it tasted.

After we finished lunch, we proceeded back to our vehicles’ and decided we wanted to see the southern most point of the island. Again we twisted and turned, passing countless wineries and villas along the road. And for you horticulture lovers out there, the vineyards are quite different than any I have ever seen. The vines grow on the ground, in little mounds, due to the lack of water. They absorb water through the humidity, so you don’t really see rows and rows of grapes, but little mounds planted sporadically in the ground. The same goes for the cherry tomatoes, which at every stand you stop at they have drying in the sun. Enough of my horticulture rant, I could go on for hours about how impressive the utilization of the land is with limited resources, but back to our adventure.

Around an hour later we made it to the Red Beach, where to our surprise we ran into Catherine and Becky. They were on there way back to Fira and suggested we spend some time hiking our way to the beach to relax for a bit. We made our way via the jagged cliffs to a hidden oasis on the southern side of the island. In our distance we could see yachts and smaller island, a pictures landscape I never will forget. With our bellies still full from lunch we sprawled out like fat sea lions on the red and black lava pebbles every so often dipping in the water to sooth our sun kissed skin. It was perfect and I realized then that this island would be one that would be etched in my memory forever.

Santorini - Day One

Well. We did indeed wake up at 3:30 in the morning to get ready, find a cab, and get to the airport for our 5:30 AM flight, where we met up with Krystin and Becky. Was it fun? No. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Some of the people working on the Agora dig with Krystin and Becky also came to Santorini this weekend, and they took the overnight ferry, which left at midnight and got in at 8:00 AM. That was our only other option for getting here, so no thank you.

We were able to check in to our hostel at 7:15, which was fabulous, because check-in is not normally until noon, and we napped a little until breakfast was served. After breakfast, we talked to the people at the hostel about tour options etc, and we decided to do the formal tour on Sunday, and spend Saturday cruising around the island on ATVs. That was an awesome decision. Katie got a Vespa, while Caitlynn, Krystin, Becky and I shared two ATVs. It was 20 euro (plus gas) for an all day rental with insurance included.

After we got situated, we took off for the beach at Kamari. We wandered around for a while doing some non-committal shopping, and almost immediately managed to get split up (so I can only tell you what Becky and I did... Maybe Katie will do a guest appearance blog later). Becky and I continued to wander, and then went swimming for a while. Recurring theme - while the water is gorgeous and clear, the high salinity makes it pretty disgusting if you should happen to get some in your mouth.

After sitting out, drying, and applying more sunscreen, Becky and I wandered around looking for the others. No go. They had left a note for us on our ATV saying that they were heading north to check out some of the beaches there. So Becky and I got lunch and checked out the map. We decided to go south to the red beach (which, surprisingly enough, is actually red). It took a little while to get there, and then we had to do a little bit of climbing but overall, a very pleasant experience. We sat on rocks out in the water and just chatted for a while. On our way back from the Red Beach, we ran into Caitlynn, Katie, and Krystin, who were just arriving. They had gone all the way north, and then had headed south. Becky and I were feeling a little beached out, so we continued on to our next point of interest, the lighthouse at Cape Akrotiri, which was stunning (more the view than the lighthouse, but that's okay.

By the time we got back to our hostel, it was 7:30 at night, and we desperately needed showers. Given that it only rains in the winter in Santorini, there is a lot of dust to be kicked up by the ATVs. By the time we had showered and generally felt like people again, Katie had gotten back (though Caitlynn and Krystin had gone on to one more site), and wanted to shower and find dinner. Around 8:00, we started walking to Fira (from our hostel in Karterados). We found a "classical Greek taverna," which is in quotes because I got tortellini (delicious) and tried some of the wine that Santorini is famous for.

Around 9:30, we started wandering around Fira. All of the shops were open (apparently until 2 in the morning), so we did a little souvenir shopping and poking around. We stumbled in to an Irish bar where the World Cup 3rd and 4th place game was playing, so we stopped to watch that. We (Katie) made friends with three gay gentlemen (the fact that they were gay came out in the first five minutes of conversation), so we chatted with them in between "dramatic soccer moments." After the game, the bar turned into an impromptu dance club, which was a ton of fun. Becky got a drink that had a sparkler (one of those things that you light on fire for the fourth of July) in it, which was not what she was expecting, but was really cool to look at.

Overall, the day was great, and I can't imagine having more fun on Santorini. On Sunday, we're taking (we took) a guided tour that includes the ancient settlements, climbing the volcano, the hot springs/mud baths, and the sunset at Oia, which is supposed to be absolutely stunning. I will post on that later today. And, since it is 2:25 on the East Coast, I hope that everyone sleeps well :)

Seven sunscreen applications!

We had an absolutely incredible day. I can only highlight the cliff notes here, because it's 9:30 here, and we're waking up at 3:30 for our flights to Santorini... I'm excited, but 3:30 in the morning is going to hit pretty hard.

Brief summary of our day:

-We hit three islands (Hydra, Piros, and went swimming at two of them.

-We jumped off rock into the Aegean Sea (or possibly the Sea of Crete - I'm not sure where one picks up and the other leaves off) which was absolutely perfect. We could see the mountains and the town, and the water was the color of my bedroom (i.e. a-freaking-mazing)

-We (mostly Katie, as I was too busy applying sunscreen) made friends with some people from Syria, who said that we could go and visit them whenever we wanted to. One of them gave Katie a bracelet. I think we're... not going to take them up on it.

-The weather was amazing - not a cloud in the sky, and because of the cruise ship, there was a lovely breeze.

-After around seven hours in the sun, I (for the most part) DID NOT GET A SUNBURN!!!!!! Neither did Katie, but she's a more seasoned tanner.

P.S. Feel better Kirsten!

Back in Athens

Well. We have had quite the eventful day already (and it's only around six in the evening). We've really gotten quite lucky. So I'll go in order.

1) We had no problems getting back to Athens from Delphi. The gentleman sitting a few rows in front of us, throwing up in a plastic shopping bag, however... not so much. In his defense, the road was very curvy. Ick.

2) After the bus, we found our metro station to head back to the hotel. Guess what!!! The metro is shut down today, due to a strike. Awesome. We were able to find a cab right away, which was great, and overall have not been particularly inconvenienced by the strike. But it's very exciting anyway.

3) The reservation that we weren't sure that we had actually made with the Parnon Hotel came through. We got our room and all else was right in the world.

4) We went to McDonald's for lunch. It was very tasty. I got a happy meal - it tasted just like in America (with the exception of the soda - I guess that you can't have everything). Kinda hit the spot, in a big way.

And then we headed to the Acropolis! Since we had a better idea of where we had to go, we made it up there a lot faster today (though we did go more or less straight up this time, which was quite the hike). There was so much more up there than just the Parthenon, which was of course awesome in and of itself. Quite a bit to do - plus the views were absolutely spectacular. And still, it was not all that crowded. We were never really inconvenienced by people, so it was a very pleasant experience all around.

After the Acropolis, we wandered down through the Agora, and stopped to go through a museum or two. We hit the city again (predictably) in an area that seemed to be exclusively dedicated to tourists (woo!). So we browsed for souvenirs. We didn't buy too much, figuring that we would be back in Athens on Monday and Tuesday after Santorini. I really liked souvenir shopping here - the vendors were, by and large, very laid back and hands off. They did not accost you as you went down the street. A few would stand by you and tell you about their discounted prices, but generally, they pretty much just let you look.

Then, on the way back to the hotel, we had one of the highlights of the day (for me at least). We were offered weed. Twice! Now, a little bit of background. No one has ever tried to sell me drugs before. Ever. Not in high school, not in college, not in the Caribbean or Germany or anywhere else in Europe (Please, if anyone has traveled with me and believes that I have actually been offered drugs before and was just too oblivious to notice, let me know - I had no idea). So this was very, very exciting. We said no, but Katie and I laughed about it for the rest of walk back to the hotel room. We had actually planned for this eventuality. Katie had noticed something on the way to the Acropolis (I forget what now), but we decided to come up with a code for when there was something noteworthy going on that we didn't want to come right out and comment on. The code word was platypus (it's always my code word... real subtle). So right after the guy offered to sell us weed, she turned around to me and we both said platypus at the same time. I'm not sure that it was actually all that funny, but I am still giggling on the inside (and the outside, who am I kidding?). Quite the ridiculous experience.

So now we're back at the hotel. We'll probably go out for dinner soonish. But I don't know that anything else that happens today will really beat this afternoon. It was pretty tops. And then tomorrow we go on our three island tour! Huzzah!

Delphi! (the rest!)

When we got back to the hotel after the site, we all kinda collapsed for a few minutes. I decided that it would be a good idea to charge some of my electronics, so I started to play around with that. And promptly overloaded the circuit for our room. Oops, so much for air conditioning. The nice people at the front desk promised to fix it soon, so we went to lunch.

We had lunch at this awesome restaurant, and sat under a shade on the porch where we had an absolutely gorgeous view. There were flowers everywhere, and we could see right down to the water. We had pizza for lunch, which was delicious (if a bit expensive). Once the pizza settled, we unanimously decided that we could hold off on the Archeological Museum until after a brief siesta.

Brief was around two hours. More than we had anticipated, but it worked out really well, since we missed the hottest part of the day. The museum was very cool - they had a lot of bigger pieces that were also more or less intact, and it was very light and well organized.

After the museum, we walked around town (which consists of approximately three streets) browsing and souvenir shopping. Needless to say, ladies and gentlemen, I am doing quite well in the jewelry department. It's kinda interesting though, because the shopkeepers kept telling us that everything was made in Greece - nothing made in China. So I would like to say that between the three of us, we were able to help the Grecian economy quite a bit.

In general, Delphi is very quiet. As we were walking around, we didn't see too many other people, and the shops were pretty sparsely populated as well. We eventually made our way up to a church that was recommended to us by a very nice American lady who had moved to Greece and was working in one of the shops. The church was very cool.

After that, it was food and back to the hotel. We might go out for some more delicious ice cream later... makes me a happy camper :) Tomorrow we catch the bus around 9:00 and head back to Athens.