Our Whirlwind Adventure in Barcelona

After spending nearly 10 cloudy & rainy days in Brussels and Hamburg, I was happy for the change of pace upon landing in Barcelona, where we were welcomed by beautiful, sunny weather. We spent little time soaking in the sun, however - no time for siesta after landing! Our small group went from the airport straight to the Parliament of Catalonia, where we met with its President, the Honourable Ernest Benach (pictured below with Barcelona AMMF's). The Parliament is responsible for managing the government of the state of Catalonia and consists of 135 members.


This was the first program for the Barcelona leg of the Marshall fellowship run by GMF's partner organization, the Patronat Catalunya Mon, whose mission is to promote the internationalization of Catalonia. Barcelona is the capital of the region of Catalonia, an autonomous community within Spain of ~7.5 million inhabitants that has its own directly elected authorities and official language (Catalan).

I was not exposed to the extent of Catalonian nationalism during my first trip to Barcelona 9 years ago. A history professor we met shared with us that the EU understands they cannot deal with Spain as a single territory, and he believes that Catalonia will eventually break away from the main country of Spain. It was difficult to get a true sense of how the majority of Catalonians feel about this issue as it seems to be a sensitive topic.

Most of our meetings here were formal: we met with prominent Catalonian figures (from the President of the Parliament to leaders of science and technology research clusters to council members of Lleida, a rural area about 1.5 hours outside of Barcelona by high-speed train). My favorite was our visit to the US Consulate, where we met Todd Robinson (pictured below with Barcelona AMMF's), a career member of the US Foreign Service. Todd was very personable and had his hands full last year when there was unprecedented interest in Barcelona surrounding the US elections. Oddly enough, one of Todd's new summer interns graduated from high school with the daughter of David Howard, an AMMF from Charlotte, North Carolina. Small world.


Though our itinerary was packed with many meetings, we did manage to get a few sightseeing activities in, including a boat tour of the Port of Barcelona to view the planned area of expansion (AMMF's on boat pictured below), a concert at the beautiful Modernist building Palau de La Música, dinner in Barceloneta for delicious seafood paella, and a brief visit to La Sagrada Família (I cannot believe how long this building has been under construction!).


We were all exhausted by the end of this trip, but I am grateful to the Patronat for giving me a deeper understanding of the Catalonian society and government. Who knows, maybe I'll be back here in a few years as a b-school student at IESE?!

AMMF Quote Board

Below is a list of memorable quotes from this summer's fellowship.

Disclaimer: Most of them are taken out of context and do not accurately reflect the true intelligence of the quoter.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, I forgot how to tie a tie."
-Chandi, 15 minutes into our AMMF program orientation/kickoff meeting, Washington, DC

"Please follow my finger. Can you follow it?"
-Chandi, on the way to the main square in Brussels, after witnessing a slightly drunk older man trip while crossing the street and coming to his rescue by checking if the man's vision was impacted

"Gosh, that must be really uncomfortable standing up there like that all day."
-Dena, after her small group discovered an alley lined with women in windows in Amsterdam's Red Light District

"Wow, this place looks really nice for a publication that services the homeless."
-Chandi, confusing Die Ziet, an esteemed weekly publication with Hinz & Kunzt, a street magazine sold by homeless vendors

"Quick, get up, GET UP, LET'S GO, before they sing another song."
-David, after the 30th song performed by Catalonian singers at La Palau de Musica in Barcelona

"Uh. Is that the clock striking midnight?"
-Mara, while an EMMF is giving us an unofficial city tour late night after a long, intense day of meetings in Barcelona

"I heard there was a midget bar here. Do you happen to know where it is? You know, a bar for little people? Little people that go hee hee, hoo hoo."
-Chandi, asking everyone from locals walking on the street to public officials during meetings after misunderstanding Jamie's anecdote from an '08 fellow about midget night at a local bar in Bilbao

"Geez, Chandi. There is probably no midget bar here. And even if there was, it would be totally underground and you would not be allowed inside."
-Doua, frustrated about Chandi's 10th inquisition of the midget bar to a random person on the streets of Bilbao

"Bart, please, come help me. They want to throw my stuff in the river."
-Jamie, at the post office in Skopje, in tears after the post office worker threatened to throw the box she intended to ship back home into the river

"Are we really going into a cave? You know, nothing good ever happens when you get off the boat."
-David, before heading into the infamous cave in Skopje

"This is so not extreme."
-Bart, after being stuck in the cave after two hours of heavy hail

David: "Am I the only one that thought of going to the bathroom before leaving the restaurant."
Jamie:" Uh. All of us ALREADY went."

David, with his back to the elevator buttons in a tiny crowded hotel elevator in Skopje: "Did someone remember to press 3?"
Bart, as the elevator stop on the fourth floor: "Who's on 3?"
David: "Me!"
*Bart, rolls eyes while Natalie & Jamie laugh hysterically*

Bart, to Jamie: "Let's check out the Cuban restaurant. They have really good vegetable risotto."
Jamie: "Ugh, risotto. That sounds way too heavy."
Bart: "Damn, well then don't eat it!"

"She smokes so pretty."
-Bart, admiring the way our Skopje coordinator smokes while the rest of us are not happy to deal with all of the indoor secondhand smoke

Jamie, the morning after a night out exploring Skopje's nightlife and discovering Rachia: "Good morning! Where's your gift?"
Natalie, not feeling well with her sunglasses on: "Never again."

"Allllllllllllll riiiiiiiight. I like where this is going."
-Bart or Paul, doing their Family Guy impressions at random times throughout the trip

David, at a meeting in Berlin discussing Germany's involvement with Afghanistan: "Where is Osama bin Laden? We promise we won't tell anyone."
Defense Minister: "If I tell you, you won't leave the room."

"Amsterdam was a high for me for a lot of reasons."
-David, during our debriefing session in Berlin and discussing the program's highs and lows

"I learned to be a better man that understands women more."
-Bart, adding to David's thoughts on discussing the program's highs and lows

Doua: "Deandra is the nicest person in the group. I am the second nicest. Paul is the third. Autumn, you and Jamie are the least nice."
Jamie: "Where does that put Chandi?"
Doua: "Chandi's on his own list."
(Note: I interpreted Doua's use of the word "nice" to be "least devilish.")

The Heart of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

We arrived in cold & rainy Hamburg, exhausted yet energized, ready to explore one of the most important harbors in Europe and the world, located in one of the original EU founding member states. We were welcomed by our wonderful program coordinators, Petra Pissulla and Christina Peter, who are affiliated with the Dräger Foundation, a GMF partner organization.

During our first city tour, we discovered that Hamburg owes much of its wealth to its mercantile background. I was impressed by the city's beautiful architecture surrounded by lots of greenery. We walked around the city center and visited the City Hall, Chamber of Commerce, Speicherstadt (old storage houses used to store goods such as coffee and tea), and several churches. One fascinating church was a cathedral whose core was destroyed during the war but whose structural remains were preserved.



Our initial tour was a stark contrast to one a few days later of St. Pauli, Hamburg's poorest region characterized by social weakness and the Red Light District. We walked through St. Pauli's main church, which contained eccentric modern furniture and many paintings of prostitutes offering their services. We passed by the Red Light District, a small strip where women who are not working as prostitutes are forbidden to enter (think Amsterdam's district on a smaller scale). Prostitutes receive the same social benefits as other Hamburgers, as long as they are legally employed in Hamburg. Our tour ended in the Reeperbahn, a touristy street full of adult stores, nightclubs and bars.




One of our first professional meetings was at the headquarters for Die Ziet (pronounced DEET ZYTE), a weekly German news publication that our coordinator described as "a combination of the Economist and New York Times." We were fortunate to have prominent German intellectual and chief editor of Die Ziet Dr. Theo Sommer (pictured with Hamburg AMMF's below) as our host. Dr. Sommer confirmed that there is an overwhelming support of the Obama administration in Germany since Obama recognizes the importance of having strong transatlantic ties. Dr. Sommer also commented that though Europe will never be as homogenous as the US, there is a shift to increasing European identity and someday there will be a "United Europe of States."


Another publication we visited was 'Hinz & Kunzt,' a street magazine and social project created to address the poverty and homelessness in Hamburg. Vendors, who must be homeless, purchase copies of the magazine in advance and make a profit of 0.8 Euros per copy. Hinz & Kunzt provides specific services for vendors, including showers and a recreation area. Gabriele Koch, a fundraiser for the publication, explained that the staff works hard to ensure that the primary reason folks purchase the publication is for its content and not out of sympathy for its vendors. As a result, 55,000-65,000 copies are sold per month. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one of the upscale restaurants where we dined allowed vendors to solicit inside the establishment.

Other notable meetings/events include:

• Karen Johnson, the US Consul General in Hamburg, who shocked us when sharing that in the early 1970's she was forced to resign from her former position in the Foreign Service when she got married;
• Pat Mix, a director at Amnesty for Women, an NGO that provides services for women immigrants to Germany;
• Anja Hajduk, Senator of the Hamburg Ministry of Urban Develpment and Environment, who is proud that Hamburg secured the prestigious position of the Green Capital of Europe 2011;
• A side trip to Luebeck, a small town an hour outside of the city (the Holstentor, a main gate into the city, is pictured below, featuring fellows Chandi Ghosh, Staci Lynch, and myself);
• A delicious, intimate dinner with our sponsor host Petra Pissulla and some of her colleagues where we discussed German politics and laughed over strange American & German traditions;
• A visit to the construction site of the Elbe Philharmonic Hall, which will become a new landmark for Hamburg when it opens in 2012 and based on the exquisite building designs I saw will be one of the many reasons I return to Hamburg;
• A sobering tour of the Concentration Camp Memorial 'Neuengamme', which housed 106,000 prisoners during World War II.

The Hamburg harbor may be known as the heart of the city, but I saw its heart in the Hamburgers themselves: people healing from the devastating impact of World War II, struggling to embrace and accept anyone and everyone, from its homeless to Turkish immigrants to its prostitutes. I leave for Barcelona with so many warm memories of my Hamburg experience, both with the locals I had the pleasure of meeting to the small group of fellows with whom I bonded.

The Complexities of European Politics

We barely had time to recover from our 7.5 hour flight to Brussels from DC. A few hours after landing and checking into our hotel, we were back in business and learned about the intricacies of the European Union over lunch. Irina Tanasescu, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, gave a fascinating presentation on the evolution of the modern day EU, its three pillars structure, and its institutions and bodies (the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice, and the Court of Auditors). We all admitted that despite our jetlag, Irina's passion and excitement for EU history was contagious and provided a solid foundation for our future briefings on NATO, European foreign policy, the Belgian federal system, and the Parliamentary elections, which were taking place during our stay in Brussels.

Over the next 4 days, the more I learned about the European government, the more confused (yet intrigued) I became. The system here is extremely complicated, partly due to the recent establishment of the EU. Some of my takeaways:

• Several speakers have blamed the low voter turnout of 43% for the elections on the fact that there is no buy-in by the national heads of the member states. Similar to the US, heads of state like to take the credit for the good yet blame Parliament for the bad.
  
• It seems that the average European voter does not understand the role that Parliament plays and the power that it has, which concerns many politicians since the election results show a rise of power among the extremist political parties on the right.
• After meeting with an Advisor to the Directorate General of the DG Communication to discuss the Parliament's awareness campaign for the European elections, it is apparent that the low budget of 18 million euros is part of the reason for the ineffectiveness of the communication campaign. Perhaps another reason is the campaign strategy itself. We watched a few viral videos, all of which only had a few thousand hits (terrible, considering that there are 375 million eligible European voters).
• There are 27 EU member states and 28 members of NATO, 21 of which are EU member states. Some European nations are upset at the US for deciding to pursue the war in Iraq without NATO backing, but our speaker, a NATO representative, suggested that from the American point of view it is understandable as the infrastructure of NATO is outdated.
• In the Flanders region alone, one of Belgium's member states, there are 8 official governments. Belgium has 2 official languages: Dutch and French. There are regions and communities within these governments. All of the above makes decision- making extremely complicated and cumbersome.
• While the US is a two-party system, there are many European political parties within each EU member state, which adds to the complexities of reaching out to voters.
• Unlike the Supreme Court, the European Court of Justice is obliged to deal with all cases presented to it.
• The EU member states have lost their sovereignty when it comes the law: national laws must comply with EC law. Each law must be translated into the 23 official languages of the EU.
  

I admit, I'm hooked! And I look forward to studying more about European history/government throughout the rest of my trip and when I return to the States.

In between all our meetings, we managed to get in some sightseeing and other events:

• We took a walking tour of Matonge, a tight-knit African community close to the hotel. We also took a train to Flanders to visit the Royal Museum of Central Africa. I enjoyed the Persona exhibit, which featured unique African masks, but I was disappointed in the lack of details on the atrocities that occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo when the Congo was under Belgian rule.
• I've experienced Belgian food (chocolate, waffles, mussels, & fries) and beer (Duvel is my favorite, though the banana, cherry & coconut flavored beer was yummy).
• I explored the city of Bruges, a little over an hour outside of Brussels by train. The town felt a bit like Disneyland, with its unique architecture and narrow cobblestone streets.
• "Martinis" here are different from the States: less strong and more delicious.
• Three of us went to visit the home of NATO and EU political correspondent, Dr. Nikolas Busse (pictured below with fellows Natalie Jenkins and David L. Howard), who was a 2004 European fellow. He pointed out that compared to the US, race is an issue that is relatively new for Europeans due to the recent surge in immigration within European countries.

We covered a lot of ground in our short time in Brussels. It was sad departing our large group; it will be wonderful to reconnect with everyone during our last stop in Berlin and share stories about our individual discoveries.

On to Hamburg...

The Beginning: Program Kickoff in DC

Discussing immigration, transatlantic relations, and EU values these past few days in DC with experts in these fields & getting to know the 16 diverse fellows in my group (pictured above in front of the GMF DC office) have been a refreshing change from the daily grind of my technology bubble. It's been quite interesting so far being one of the token fellows from Corporate America.

Some highlights:
* An intimate discussion with fellows from the Transatlantic Academy who recently completed a study on immigration, selective migration & integration across the U.S. and several European countries;
* An overview on transatlantic relations & how Europe fits into the Obama administration's global agenda;
* A phenomenal lecture on the differences between European and American values to give us context on understanding the European's system for behavior.

The GMF staff has done a remarkable job in putting together our itineraries in DC: our first group dinner was a good preview of the social networking format of our future dinners, the speakers were engaging and excited me about exploring the transatlantic relationship, & the topic of immigration compelled me to draw from my own experiences as a first-generation Asian-American.

And now...
We are off to Europe!

First stop: Brussels.