Diplomacy is in the air...

Tonight was probably one of the best nights of my life. I was chosen, along with maybe 9 or 10 other American students, to have dinner with the American ambassador to Germany tonight! He came to my school to hold a sort of "town hall meeting" to discuss Obama's foreign policy (it ended up being much more than that) and invited a few of us to have dinner before hand. We ate in one of the other serveries, but we had a special table and really nice food and got to speak to the ambassador in a relaxed, candid way, which was so cool! I felt so special and honored. It was truly an amazing experience.

The ambassador, Philip Murphey, has only been ambassador for 7 weeks! He's so American, and very East-coast (originally from Boston). He's really friendly and down to earth, but smart and definitely right for the job. He spoke to us about his music preferences (HA!) but also about more serious issues in the US like education. It was really interesting, and such a unique opportunity.

After dinner we all headed over (an entourage of around 40 or 50 people including security lol!) to the meeting hall. We got to sit in the first few rows (I was right in front...so cool!). He spoke a lot about current global problems, not just American ones. He talked a lot about US-German relations over the past 40 or so years, and how this relationship has changed and strengthened. He talked about Afghanistan, Iran, human rights, climate change and alternative energy. The greatest part about his speech was that he engaged the audience and really made it interesting. Afterwards they opened the floor for questions, and I asked about his opinions on the changing role of NATO in the 21st century. We were short on time and I would have liked to have heard a little more about his thoughts in depth, but he gave me a pretty good answer. He mostly talked about how although NATO's role is definitely changing from it's historical one, the defense part of it (article 5) still plays a significant role, and that it's hard to really tell where NATO will go from here. Afterwards there was a reception where he came up to me and told me it was a great question (!!!!). I felt so sophisticated (wearing my new business clothes lol!) and smart and special haha. I'm really so thankful that I was chosen to participate...it was truly a unique opportunity :)