Last week, CDS/InWEnt hosted our "inbetween" seminar for the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Program for Young Professionals. Now down to 73 Americans, we were all invited/obliged to come to Köln for a week and discuss certain aspects of our program as well as be immersed in a cultural and professional dialogue discussing topics of interest in modern Germany.
InWEnt has sent each participant stipends for transportation to the seminar. I took the train from Frankfurt to Köln via Mainz, and I'm glad I took the InterCity and not the InterCityExpress (ICE) train, which is the fastest train in Germany, because not only did I save about 30% of the price of the ticket, I also go to tour the Rhein River Valley since the train tracks follow the banks of the river from Mainz to Bonn. It is an especially pretty part of Germany since there are many vineyards and medieval castles to look at. Also there are a lot of transport barges that carry goods to all over Germany.
After arriving in Köln, I headed off to our hostel which was located just a couple minutes north of Köln. The hostel itself was quite nice, (for a hostel) and we checked in as a group. Many people actually were on the same subway as I was, and so we all checked in together. I was assigned to a 6 person room with some other Radolfzeller PPPlers. It was nice to see everyone again, and then we had about an hour to get accommodated before our first information session was to begin that day.
At the first session we discussed broadly our plan for the week, and it was nice to finally meet the representatives from InWEnt that handle and take care of us while in Germany. Also, the program advisors from the American side were also in Germany taking part in the conference as well. I won't bore you with details of the entire conference and scheduling.
Some of the things we did during the conference was discuss problems and ways to improve the program for the participants for the following year. We also settled problems that we were having and rated our satisfaction with the program.
Last wednesday our program theme was Business and the Environment. Therefore our tour for the day included a visit to Bayer AG company headquarters as well as visit the Coal Power Plant for RWE. It was interesting visiting these companies, but I was surprised at how companies in Germany actually view the environment. For instance, Bayer "says" they're working hard on impacting the world with healthier more environmentally friendly products and 0 polluting buildings, it seemed that we were being presented with a PR blip for the company rather than an actual dialogue as how a company like Bayer can do it's part to reduce climate change while remaining a capable and competitive company.
At the RWE plant, I was surprised to learn that they burned coal for their power needs. According to RWE, burned coal is only 41% efficient, meaning that 59% of all coal burned cannot be used for energy harvesting. That really surprised as well as learning that Germany imports its coal from South Africa, South America, and Australia. All of this surprises me because much of what I hear in modern Germany is how environmentally friendly Germany is (and on a whole it is very environmentally conscious) but some of it's in disguise.
The following day in Köln we had a guided tour of the city as well as the famous cathedral. Our guide was very well informed about the history of the cathedral, and although I had visited in twice before, I learned a lot of new details regarding it. Köln is a very old trading city, and has it's roots to the Romans. Köln was literally the last settlement by the Romans before one entered the barbarian German lands to the right (east) of the Rhein River. Therefore, many Kölner insist that today's Köln boarders end at the river's edge despite the city expanding on the east bank.
In all, the interim seminar was enjoyable if not exhausting. Housing 73 Americans together is nice but at the same time very tiring. Seeing all your friends from language school in 5 days is daunting and with a full cultural and business program, it's hard to find time to sleep and just relax.
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