Bonjour from Paris!

Hello! Long time, no blog. Josh and I have been making our way through Europe and we have arrived in Paris. Josh is a bit under the weather at the moment, but so far Paris has been a beautiful city! Our hotels and hostels after Madrid haven’t had great internet access, so pictures and further thoughts will have to wait until we return to the States I think.

In the meantime, I wanted to share just a few sentences before we head to London tomorrow. One thing both of us have been experiencing during the past few months is new languages that we have little to no knowledge of. Since April, neither of us has lived in a country where English is the first language. Josh and most of my classmates have had an even more drastic experience than I have in countries including India, Belize, Ghana, Rwanda, and Bolivia, just to name a few. I was lucky that in Sweden almost everyone speaks at least a little English and most speak English amazingly well.

Just in the past 12 days, I have been in four different countries that speak four different languages: Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and France. In Switzerland, there are four official languages: French, Italian, a native language that is only spoke by about 4% of the population, and Swiss German, which is what they spoke in Zurich. We have not always been able to understand everyone, but we have gotten by with the basic travelers phrases that we have learned plus the huge advantage that many Europeans speak some English.

Still, it will be odd to arrive in London tomorrow where I know that I will be able to read all of the signs, ask for directions, understand the menus, etc. I often take for granted the power of a shared language and the ease with which I am able to communicate with the people around me. It has become routine to assume that people won’t understand me and it should be an interesting transition to return to a place where I can expect that they will.

On Wednesday, I am heading back to the US. I can’t believe it’s already here. I have had such an amazing journey this summer with the Tallberg Foundation and during the past two weeks with Josh. I am so grateful to the Clinton School for giving me this amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to meet the next class of students that want to change the world in a few weeks.

I’ll be posting pictures and video from the trip here in the coming days and weeks, so stay tuned.

A few picture highlights

Bike tour in Barcelona:

With Antonio, who cooked an AMAZING meal for us in Lago d Como, Italy:

Day trip to Lago d Como. It is hard to explain how beautiful it was:

Josh navigating the trecherous seas of the lake in Zurich:

Hola from Madrid! - Day 2

Hola! We are still in Madrid and since our hostel has an awesome internet connection, we have been able to upload more pictures and even a video! Don't get too excited though because I'm not sure this hyper-connectedness will continue after we leave here tomorrow.

For now, here is a little video update from Josh and me:



And here are the additional pictures from today. Click here and enjoy! Skip to page 2 for the new photos!

Hola from Madrid!

Hola blog readers! I have successfully met up with Joshua here in Madrid. We had a lovely first day of site seeing, including a self-guided walking tour of the city, a visit to Museo del Prado, and the Royal Palace. The pictures (with commentary!) are posted online.

Click here and enjoy!

Thank You!

While I have technically been done with my project for two weeks now, I have been considering tomorrow, July 21, as my final end date for a while. I've blogged about my adventures in Berlin and Barcelona, both of which have been fantastic stays and some much needed time for reflection.

I've spent the last week and a half chipping away at my final report for the Clinton School since I wanted the experience to be fresh in my mind. Writing the report, which details exactly what I did and what I learned, has made it unbelievably obvious how lucky I have been to be able to have this experience. Some sincere thanks are in order as I put the lid on this chapter.

First, the Clinton School of Public Service. It has been such a fantastic experience being at the School this past year and I am very much looking forward to the fall. As during the entire year, the School faculty and staff provide amazing amounts support and encouragement and I would not have been able to have this opportunity if it weren't for the School. Special thanks go out to Joe Ballard and Dean Rutherford.

Second, the Tallberg Foundation. I have said it before, but I will say it again: The Tallberg Foundation team is really special. They support each other in a great way and because they work so well together, they are able to do things that usually require twice the amount of people. No office is perfect as there are always politics involved, but the Tallberg Foundation team is really one of a kind. It was amazing to be welcomed into the fold. After a few weeks I felt like I had been there forever. Special thanks go to Rebecca Oliver, Alexander Crawford, Jim Wine, Sara Ersson, Sara Eckman, Joanna Garbalinska, and Cecilia Nordstrom.

Finally, many thanks to my Clinton School classmates. They inspire me every day with their commitment to making the world a better place and it has been so lovely to watch all of their projects from afar as they address urgent issues from public health to climate change to water access around the world. We are a well bonded group and every email, Skype call, and chat has been greatly appreciated this summer. I can't wait to see you all in the fall as we welcome Class 5 to the School.

There are many more thanks to go around, but I will end there. Tomorrow, I get to see the first classmate I have seen since April 13 and begin the journey home. I am meeting Joshua Stokes in Madrid and we will be heading through Europe during the next two weeks, visiting Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Milan, Zurich, Paris, and London. It's an ambitious itinerary, but if you've met us, you know that I'm capable of organizing a whirlwind adventure to match Joshua's attention span.

Stay tuned as we will try to blog as often as possible both here and on Josh's blog, Positive Stuff.

Harry Potter Premiere in Barcelona

Like several of my classmates, I saw the new Harry Potter movie on Wednesday. I found a movie theatre that shows films in English near the touristy area by the beach and promptly bought my ticket on Tuesday just to make sure it wouldn't be sold out the next day.

Best part about seeing Harry Potter in Barcelona (besides the spanish subtitles of course)? They assign seats here! It was the most orderly movie premiere I have ever been to. When I bought the ticket, she asked if I "wanted the middle". I answered in the affirmative since I really had no idea what she was talking about, but I know that I do in fact like to sit in the middle for movies. Sure enough, my ticket had a row and seat number on it. Genius!

Barcelona's Red Bikes: All the cool kids are doing it

I admit it. I have completely geeked out on Barcelona's red bike system. I had read the articles about it and I was looking forward to seeing the system in action. So far it has not disappointed.

They are everywhere! And there are pick up/drop off points everywhere! And there are vans that redistribute the bikes and repair them! It is amazing and I am totally jealous because I can't use it because you have to live here to register.

Here are some links if you're interested in reading about it:

• New York Times, Nov 2008: European Support for Bicycles Promotes Sharing of the Wheels
• New York Times, July 2007: In This Case, It’s O.K. to Take a Bike That’s Not Yours
• Bicing Website: http://www.bicing.com/ (In Spanish or Catalan)
• C40 Cities: Best Practices

Some pictures of people on the bikes (I told you I had geeked out):

We need get one of these going in Little Rock. We just need some bike lanes and a few pick up/drop off stations and we're in business!

A Little Bit of Home in Berlin

I tend to find that I run into things that remind me of home whenever I am travelling and Berlin was no exception.

First, to match Little Rock's landmark Flying Fish, Berlin had "Flying Fisch":

Next, a bike with a little shout out to the capital of good ol' Arkansas:

Then, Helen and Ference's dog is a carbon copy (except black and male) of Moxie and Bristol:

Note: I am so lucky to have friends like Marie and Helen! They both welcomed me into their lives for a few days, which is more than anyone can ask for. Marie's sister is studying for her big exams and still let us crash at her apartment and Helen's parents were visiting their recently moved into flat and they warmly brought me along for the ride. I love having people like this in my life.

And finally, Flat Stanley made an appearance in Berlin as well! Here he is under the iconic TV Tower, which was constructed under the Soviets:

Berlin Observations

I enjoyed writing my "Swede Observations" series while in Sweden, so I will continue a bit here with some Berlin Observations from my recent stay in Germany. This might be a bit long, so I've split it up into sections in case you're interested in specific parts.

Atmosphere

The "feel" of Berlin was really my favorite thing about the city. I've never been to a city that reminded me of New York City until arriving in Berlin. It is certainly not NYC in many respects, but it does have a certain "edgy" quality about it that reminds me of parts of Brooklyn. It was really nice to feel like I was in one of my "homes" again!

Berlin doesn't really have a "downtown" or city centre like most big cities. Rather, it is a very large and spread out city made up of a bunch of different neighborhoods. They all have different vibes about them. Marie and I stayed with Marie's sister, who is a medic student in the city, and she lives in a neighborhood with a lot of Turkish immigrants. (The food was AMAZING.) Helen, a friend I met at the Tallberg Forum, and her boyfriend Ference live in a more "young professional type" area, which reminded me of Prospect Heights/Park Slope in Brooklyn as well.

I managed to see a lot of the city on foot and public transit throughout the week and it is a very diverse place. People from all over the world live and work in the city. You can hear several different languages in a matter of minutes - and from residents, not just tourists!

The other great thing about the atmosphere of the city was the historical nature of it all. Everywhere you turn there is something of significance, whether it is a museum, cathedral, gate, or just one of the many pieces of the wall that are scattered about the city. As a history major who focused on World War II, I was fascinated the entire week. (More in "Tourist Attractions" below.)

Public Transportation

The Berlin public transport system is amazing! There is a combination of underground trains (U-bahn), above ground trains (S-Bahn), trams, and buses and you can ride all of them with an unlimited day pass for 6.10 Euro. Since there are many different modes of transport and it is an extensive system to cover the whole city, it is a bit confusing at the beginning. However, as with the New York City or London subway systems, it just takes a bit of getting used to.

Also, the map is extremely well designed and logical and the stations are well-signed. The system runs well into the night and begins early in the morning. I took the train and bus to the airport for my flight to Barcelona this morning at 4:15 am and the seats in the train were close to full with people heading home from the night's festivities.

Food and Drink

You can eat out in Berlin for about 10 Euros at a variety of restaurants, which is excellent for those of us on a budget! There are tons of independent neighborhood restaurants that serve food from all over the world. Over the week I had Indian, Turkish, German (of course), Vietnamese, and Greek food just to name a few. I ate with Helen and her family at an excellent vegan restaurant as well.

Berlin also has a great cocktail bar scene. There are many of these establishments with different themes and all with happy hour of course! Marie, Doerthe, and I went to one particularly good one (Bar X), where I provided entertainment by ordering the "Scrubs Drink" (an apple martini).

Berliner Kindl Weisse is also a Berlin staple. It is beer with either red or green flavoring in the form of syrup or fizzy juice. It is fruity and delicious and served with a straw.

Responsible Living

I didn't have time to do too much investigating into the "green" systems in place in Germany, but I should note two things. First, apartment buildings have at least five trash cans: paper, plastic, glass, compost organic matter, and regular trash. It makes me realize how far behind we are sometimes where we have to fight just to get people to recycle paper and plastic.

Second, I looked out the window as we flew over the country this morning on my way to Barcelona and watched as fields of wind turbines passed underneath. Good job, Germany. Now we just need a power grid that can effectively harness and distribute all of that energy!

Tourist Attractions

For more pictures, please see the photo album: Click here.

I did lots of tourist-y things while in the city with my lovely host, Marie. We met at Oxford when I was studying abroad at St. Anne's College and played on the ultimate frisbee team together. (Marie is significantly better than me, but we had a lot of fun!) I will mention a few things here, but not an exhaustive list!

We took a long walk around the city and hit some of the main buildings, including the Chancellor's House, the Reichstag, and the Brandenburg Gate. On Tuesday we went to the beach! Actually, it was a lake, but it was real beach sand and a beautiful day for relaxing and catching some rays. Once again, the public transport system pays off as we simply took a train out there and walked about ten minutes to the lake.

We went to the German History Museum on Wednesday, which I highly enjoyed. It is a bit like the Met in NYC. It's so big that you have to just pick one section to do, otherwise it's too much! We went through the 20th century section which detailed the lead up to the wars and the aftermath. It was very well done and well presented. Additionally, the explanations were in English as well as German which is very helpful for travellers like myself!

We went to the East Side Gallery, which is a long section of the wall that is still standing. After the fall of the wall, it contained many politically charged messages. It is still a space for expression and art. Berlin has a ton of graffiti everywhere and this is no exception.

We also visited the Holocaust Memorial. This apparently caused a lot of controversy over design, concept, money, time, space, etc. Many of the same issues that the 9/11 memorial is facing in NYC. It is built as kind of a maze and when you get in the middle, you can't see or hear most things going on around you. From the artist: "The stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason."

I went to the Kennedy Museum on Friday, which is a small collection of photographs of the Kennedy family and details his trip to Berlin in 1963. And on Saturday I visited the Kaiser William Memorial Church, which was badly damaged during a bomibing raid in WWII and still stands today as a reminder.

Overall, I LOVE Berlin.

Berlin!

I will write some more thorough impressions from Berlin soon I hope, but for those that want immediate gratification, here are some pictures (with a bit of commentary!): Click here to view.

Enjoy! Also, if we aren't yet friends on Facebook, you can add me here: http://www.facebook.com/davisashley