a couple diplomatic evenings.

Whew. I just had a whirlwind morning of studying for a poly sci midterm that I had no notes for, taking said midterm, and then writing a five page paper in under an hour. So that's why I haven't posted about Berlin yet. But first, let me go back to last week and talk about the visits I got to have with the ambassadors last week.

On Wednesday, everyone got dressed up all fancy for the visit of the US Ambassador, Cynthia Stroum. I got to wear my new shoes that I bought especially for the event and I looked quite snazzy despite the fact that I was sick all last week. The ambassador definitely wasn't what I expected her to be. We've learned in political science that there are two ways to become an ambassador, by appointment by the President or by being a career diplomat. Ms. Stroum was appointed by President Obama for her work on his campaign. When she arrived, instead of giving a formal lecture, she gave an informal question-answer session. It was very interesting! Among other things, we learned that she knew very little about politics until she became an ambassador, she was one of the seed-investors in Starbucks (and is greatly saddened by the fact that there are no Starbucks in Luxembourg), she has been very involved with philanthropy throughout her life and remains so, and she is only legally allowed to leave Luxembourg about 20 days out of the year! That must be very difficult with France and Germany so close... she mentioned that she is unable to go to Ikea 45 minutes away because it's out of the country for her and she would have to take a leave day! She was quite the character - very personable, funny, and informal with us, so it was an enjoyable lecture. Then we had an amazing dinner of salmon salad, pork roast and vegetables, and a DELICIOUS chocolate fudge cake with vanilla sauce. We ate very well that night.

The following night, my political science class was invited to my Professor's house for dinner with the British ambassador to Luxembourg, Peter Bateman. He gave an interesting presentation in the living room about the history of the UK and more recently their role in the EU. Since I've been studying the EU in another political science class, it was quite interesting to hear the UK's point of view as one of the more reluctant countries in the Union. After the presentation and a short question-answer session, we got another free dinner! This time we had rice, vegetables, more pork roast, and apple pie with ice cream. It was very very good. I also had the pleasure of sitting next to the ambassador at dinner, and he was very interesting to talk to! It was especially interesting when our professor Guy de Muyser came over to talk, because he is still quite an important person in the Luxembourg government and you could tell that even while talking candidly to him, Mr. Bateman was still being a diplomat. There was a large difference between Mr. Bateman and Ms. Stoum since Mr. Bateman was a career diplotmat who has also served as a translator in the EU, and as a diplomat in Japan and Bolivia. He was much more professional and knowledgeable than the US Ambassador.

So, that was last week! Once I upload my pictures to my computer and watch the new How I Met Your Mother episode, I'll get around to posting about Berlin, which was a very interesting city!