Orientation & International Relations

Last time I posted, I was sitting in my hotel in Berlin, preparing for orientation. It was a great weekend full of touring, learning, and partying! We started off by spending an afternoon at the US Embassy, located right next to the gorgeous Brandenburger Tor, or Brandenburg Gate, speaking to two Foreign Service Officers. As a Canadian with no interest in working with foreign policy in the future, I expected to feel out of place, and to be sitting at the back and falling asleep. I was pleasantly surprised!

While I did feel slightly uncomfortable going through the door (I was thinking, what happens if they look at my passport, and then throw me out? But duuuh, they didn't!), and I did end of sitting in the back, since I was one of the last to go through security, it turns out that I found the info the officers gave us really interesting! They talked mostly about their jobs, and how one would attempt to get into the field (which seems like it requires a bit of luck unfortunately, as it is ridiculously competitive), and I was thinking, "That sounds interesting. I wonder if I could do that?" I know, Mum and Dad, you're probably thinking, "Great. Just what she needs, more ideas!" But hey, it's an option. Besides, the Canadian system is different, and I've got a pretty sweet internship to worry about right now!

Side-tracked. Anyway, that night was a blast. A bunch of us interns-to-be grabbed some drinks and headed to a local park to chat and kill time until the night life started up (clubs don't open until 10, and people don't actually go to the clubs until about midnight). It was great to get to know everyone, and the club we went to, known as the Matrix, was a ton of fun. However, we called it an "early" night (not really that early...) because in the back of our heads, we knew that orientation continued just after 8am the next morning.

The first half of the following day was a bit of a waste - a talk about information that we already had, and a visit to some tourist attractions that I had already been to. However, again I was pleasantly surprised by the afternoon. At the Deutsche Bank, we had a speaker talk to us about the differences between Americans and Germans. It was really fascinating for me because I discovered that, at least regarding the 10 or so points that were mentioned in the the discussion, Canada is much more like Germany than the US. I always have a difficult time explaining how Canada differs from the US. Next time, I should just call this speaker to do it for me because he could just replace Germany with Canada, and many of his points would be accurate. I don't mean to say that Canadians are like (coco)nuts, or that we don't often give compliments, because everyone knows that is not true, but we do share many beliefs and values with Germany. I discovered so much in common with myself and the Germans that this speaker was describing that I started to wonder if I in fact do have some German blood in me. But while I look German, I am almost purely Scottish Canadian...I guess maybe I just think like a German.

Overall, I found it a very interesting weekend. It made me interested in things that I never thought would interest me, it offered me the opportunity to try Turkish food (thanks Charlie!), and it got me set to go...internship time!

Bis bald...

RANDOM FACT: Berlin is 6780 kilometres from Toronto, and 4224 miles from Detroit.

Since that's kind of boring...

ANOTHER RANDOM FACT: Schloss Charlottenburg, or Charlottenburg Palace, was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, wife of Friedrich III of Brandenburg (also known as King Friedrich I, as he crowned himself in 1701). Friedrich named the palace after his wife when she died in 1705 before its completion. It is the largest palace in Germany.

More pictures from Berlin: