Augsburg and Christmas!

Hi guys!

Today was a really special day because Tanja took me to meet her parents and to walk around her hometown. 

Our morning started off with an "instagram" breakfast. We stopped by the local bakery and then prepared a bread and cheese spread for the day. By we prepared, I mean Tanja did. It's been so nice to not have to make my own meals, between Tanja and Max I am living my full German princess life. Seriously, I wake up every morning and a cappuccino is prepared with fresh baked goodies and then by the time we come home, dinner is already on the stove ready. It's magical haha. I went with Tanja to the bakery, check these goodies out!

Here you have my instagram breakfast. We literally ate a little bit of everything. I'm so jealous of the cheese they get here!!! And then the breads were everything from olive to carrot to sunflower seed. Oh and that fancy thing in the middle of the bread plate is a Berliner, basically a German doughnut full of cream and jelly. Are you guys jealous yet? Hahaha.

After we ate breakfast Tanja took me to one of the king's castles in Nymphenburg. The castle itself isn't much to look at, but it was modeled off of Versailles so the gardens really are something to look that even in the middle of the winter when everything is dead. The only downside? I was so cold that we probably walked 15 minutes in the gardens before I called it quits and suggested we grab a coffee in the Palm house. One thing I discovered is Tanja is absolutely horrible at taking selfies!

Tanja's attempts:

Versus mine:

It's all about the angles mate. 

Anyways, I was over the wind and the cold after that selfie series so here's the Palm House we escaped into! You know when you're really really good company and then time just flies? That's what happened over our coffee. If you asked me in that moment how long we were there I would have sworn it had only been 30 minutes, but when we checked our watch it had been over an hour and a half! Man, I've really missed being around Tanja and our Tuesday night diners, somehow we always talk about everything and nothing at once, and it's the best. 

After the Palm House I went to Tanja's childhood home in Agusburg and met her mom and dad. They are two of the sweetest people ever! Even though they said they didn't speak great English, they totally did and we had wonderful conversations over cheesecake and cappuccinos. If you've been listening, you've probably realized that this is my fourth cup of coffee of the day and man is the espresso and coffee here so good! You think I would be wired, but seriously I can't get enough and it hasn't affected me too much. 

German cheesecake tastes so different from our American one. They don't use cream cheese but rather a special kind after yogurt but before cheese. It's so weird but so so good. I'll have to ask Tanja for her family recipe. 

Then we went into the "city" and did something really special, we picked up Tanja's wedding dress. Her mom and I were so excited. Apparently in Germany you have to get married by a city official and then you can get married on your own with a priest or whomever, but that second one doesn't count legally. So technically you have to have two ceremonies. Most people don't do them at the same time, so technically Tanja is getting legally married this December with her closest family there to witness but she's doing her actually ceremony this summer with a priest and reception. 

This is the princess outfit she is wearing for her December wedding! Ah, I can't believe that last year we were only joking and talking about her wedding and now it's actually here!

With the bridal chores done and the dress safely stowed away in the car, Tanja, her mom and I decided to explore my very first ever Christmas markets! It was so cute, there were lights and candles everywhere, shops selling ornaments and food, and Christmas trees! It's nearly impossible to be a Grinch here when everyone is celebrating and so excited for the first advent. 

GUESS WHAT? They have Latkes here as street food!!! I was in heaven and they serve them with apple sauce or sour cream as well. Tanja and her mom were laughing because I was literally dancing the whole time I was eating this. In case you were wondering, latkes are called Reiberdatschi here in Germany.  

See what I mean about everything being festive and cute? I never wanted to leave!

I wanted to try everything, and thankfully Tanja and her mom were more than accommodating since they would finish whatever I ordered that I didn't like hehehe. Yet somehow my jeans are getting tighter and Tanja and her mom are slimmer than ever. Maybe it's a good thing I don't live here after all. 

As you can see my drink was on fire! My look says it all, I am clearly not responsible enough to be holding this lol!

We took a quick break from the Christmas markets to walk over to one of the 12 German cardinal domes which is from the year 800! Unfortunately the church wasn't open otherwise I would have gone in....because who doesn't want to go into a building from the year 800. Even wilder was the fact that it is build on top of a year 400 building basement that you can go into on special occasions. I'm so jealous of all these old buildings. They're so special and yet somehow that's just average or normal for people in Europe. 

It got cold so we hightailed it back to the Christmas markets for more food and lights. Apparently this dome fan thingy is a typical Christmas structure. And yes, dome fan thingy is the official name so decreed by me. 

They had chicken sausage called Bratwurst which was kind of like a spiced hot dog. It was yummy and I was really excited to finally be able to eat some form of German sausage!!!

As you can see, I have had no issues eating my way through Germany, especially when I have two Germans to do the ingredient checking for me! What a treat.

Before I knew it, it was 9:30 and we had to drop Tanja's mom back at home and make our way to Tanja's house. I was exhausted but so so content. She has such an amazing family, I can see why we get along and why she loved mine! Literally her parents invited me to stay with them over the summer when I come for her wedding, and I might just take them up on that offer. Cheesecake and cappuccinos? I'm all in! And good company too of course. Just don't tell Tanja I'm stealing her parents hehehe. Anyways, that's all for now. Talk to you tomorrow!

Love ya lots,

Carolyn

A Bengali German Thanksgiving

Hello family!

Today is Thanksgiving and I was so nervous! I was cooking for Tanja and 10 of her friends eek! First off, I would like to give major kudos to anyone who cooks (*ahem mom*). Literally 6 hours at the stove and everything hurt and I was so sore. However, I will say that thanks to some seriously good instructions my cooking wasn't too bad, plus it kind of helped that I was cooking bengali food for a group of Germans, aka not experts whatsoever lol.

The morning started off with Max and I going to the market. I would like to say that their markets are 99% better than ours, like the food quality? Pretty good and definitely not fake. The downsides? It was literally impossible to find cilantro and they sell a type of parsley that tricks you because the leaves are almost identical to cilantro but it has a parsley tastes. Good thing Tanja sent me shopping with Max otherwise I would have been so lost. Also, liquid vanilla isn't a thing here nor is baking soda. Both come in these tiny individualized packets, which meant baking chocolate chip cookies was a serious endeavor. I literally was guessing measurements, yeah never good when it comes to baking. However, I must have done something right because the cookies were pretty good, not your standard chocolate chip, but when you put flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and chocolate can it even taste that bad?

On the menu was dal, spinach, chicken and potato curry, and spiced rice! I really wish i took more pictures of the food, but honestly I was more worried about how it all tasted and literally could not taste anything because I kid you not I was smelling it for six hours. After a while everything just tastes the same. Isn't that crazy? I smelled something for a period of time and then was incapable of tasting... Good thing Max was more than happy to make himself the official taste tester. 

All in all it worked out though! Everyone loved it, the conversation was great and I was so happy that everyone spoke English, even if they were embarrassed because I am useless with German. We had fresh chocolate chip cookies, and the best part was everyone ate with their hands! How wild is that, I say they did a good job though.

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful international friends. Like how crazy is this world that I celebrated Thanksgiving in Germany. I wonder where next year will take me, although I must say my parents are probably rooting for me spending next year's holiday at home. It was fun but I missed you all terribly. Good thing I have a lifetime of Thanksgivings to celebrate. Grateful to you all for forever and ever.

Love you lots,
Carolyn

Conference Days

Hi family!

I know I promised I’d blog, but honestly the conference has been so overwhelming and time consuming that I have only just had a bit of free time to sit with my thoughts and update you all. First, as we speak I’d like to share that I’m on the train to Munich to see Tanja! I am so excited that this five hour train ride is taking forever. Don’t get me wrong this country is gorgeous with all the trees and green and nice homes. But, I barely even wanted to go to work today because I was too excited for 5 pm to come. Okay, now time to backtrack a bit to the time were I pretended to be an adult:

The conference was everything I imagined and more. I’m sure as I get older that conferences will lose their charm, but this was my first one and I was taking in as much of the experience as I could. I literally woke up at 4:00 am because I was too excited. The conference is about Internet Governance, so panels I’ve attended were on topics like human rights in artificial intelligence, the legalities of

using facial recognition in Latin America, conflicting interests in a multi-stakeholder market, inclusion in internet and data governance, etc. I think I only attended one or two panels were I was actually bored.

Also, big news, I was literally in the same room as Angela Merkel! She came to give the welcoming speech for our conference and I fangirled so hard! Hollywood has nothing on world leaders. I still am in disbelief that me, little ole me, was sent to Germany to attend a conference where Angela Merkel spoke!

Here are a few things I can tell you from what I’ve learned:

1. AI is coming, and we need to be very aware because the people who are developing and leading the governance of AI business models and ethics are corporations and governments. Aka this is a disaster because think about business goals and then consider the power of AI, and now you’ve got those goals being the ones that drive AI evolution. Sure they’ll tell you differently, but I know corporate lip service when I see it. Also the internet and tech industry is practically a free for all soooooo yeah, I have no clue how we are going to stop it.
2. Internet access is a privilege. 80% of the developed nations have access to Internet while only 20% of the developing world does. And even when developing nations have internet, it is low speed and low gigabyte – so their ability to receive and impart information is severely limited.
   
   
3. Internet is a gendered issue. I’m not kidding you, I was shocked when I heard this. But take a step outside a big world power and you’ll find that women are less likely to have phones, or even access to the internet. Why does this matter? Because there is no ability to have their voices shared or even have basic entrepreneurship opportunities. Yeah, yeah, I can hear my dad now saying I’m too left and too feminist. But trust me, after attending panel after panel after panel, and listening to foreign industry leaders from all over the world, including ones that lead this discussion in the G20, everyone will admit that the internet does actually have a gender gap! Isn’t that wild!.    
   
4. We are always being watched and thus far nothing is being done about it. Your phone (and car!!!) is collecting data, grocery store cameras are testing grounds for facial recognition databases, CCTVs are virtually any type of enforcement’s playground. Paranoid yet? Trust me when I say I’m there, and yet still not willing to throw my phone in the trash. If anything I’ve been more reliant on it in the past 72 hours since it was the way my supervisor and big boss have been contacting me throughout the conference.
   
   
5. However, here’s something to be relieved about after I’ve probably scared you above. The good news is that facial recognition programs have an inaccuracy rate of 93-98%. The bad news is that people are still being prosecuted based of facial recognition despite these inaccuracy rates, soooo I feel like a lot of lawyers have their work cut out for them.

Anyways, I could go on and on. I’m not kidding when I say that every day was information overload. This experience was amazing, and even as I begin my fun part of this trip, I am still in shock that I was there! I worked hard (and was on call pretty much 24/7) so I’m hoping that came through enough to make me a desirable travel asset next semester. Who knows, maybe I’ll be speaking in these conferences before long! I already have the red power suit for that day in my mind….I guess I’ll just keep dreaming for now.

Love you guys! Update you all tomorrow!

Xoxo,

Carolyn

Hallo Berlin!

Hello everyone!

Surprise, surprise, I’m in Europe again. I don’t know what it is about this continent but everything feels at ease when I’m here. I landed at 7 am and far be it from me to waste my only free day. So I walked to the concierge, asked her what I needed to see and that I could take 12 hours to do it if need be, I only had one day and I planned to make the most of it. She pointed me to a bunch of areas and told me it was too far to walk so I should take the tube. Yeah. Right. I would have missed all this!!

I started off walking towards the East Side Gallery which is basically a long remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall which has been repurposed with murals on one said. And plain old graffiti on the other. What’s so crazy is literally people were dying to get over the wall, and now in 2019 the parts of the wall are broken down and you just walk right through the gaps. Progress for society in general, but let’s face it WWII wasn’t that long ago so it’s simply wild how times have changed. I’m not kidding you, the lady behind me on the plan was alive during the war and sharing how she remembers the wall and thankfully she was on the west side.

If there’s one thing I learned from Tanja, it’s when you think you can’t walk anymore you’ve got another mile in ya. So I was like okay, the next big monument is only 2 miles away. I can walk that. Honestly, I just didn’t want to miss out. And I was walking by the water so it was lovely. That’s how I found this cute little town!

I made it to the Berlin cathedral but as luck would have it, it was partially under construction just like most of London was this summer. So I got one good photo and carried on.

Also another thing about Germany is that people here are so friggen tall!! I’m not sure what’s in the water here. Seriously, my 5’5’’ frame is nothing on these German Giants? Don’t believe me? Look at this photo outside the war memorial.

I think this is what the world must feel like for Kelly  . Im not sure I like this feeling hahaha. But on the flip it is kinda of nice to no longer be “average.

This war memorial was actually really interesting, as it changed throughout the times and was bombed and reconstructed over and over again, each time the memorial changing to honor different groups of people. Ultimately, the human remains of a concentration camp prisoner and a war soldier are buried here and the memorial has a statute of a mother holding her dead son. I guess it’s true when they say no one really wins a war, ultimately everyone loses…

I continued walking until I came across the Brandenburg Gate and then walked over to the Reichstag Building aka the neo-renaissance parliament building. By this time I had hit mile 9 and was started to get tired, but there was still so much to see and literally a whole park was right there! It’s called Tiergarten.

That’s the one thing I can’t get enough of, you’re smack dab in the middle of the city and yet off to the side you’ve got a mini forest. No one told me the sun set at 4 pm here! So I got a warm street pretzel and continued exploring. Also, not going to lie, you haven’t had bread until you come to Germany. I’m not sure what they sell us in the US and I’ve never been a really big bread person, but be prepared for me to come home in 10 days looking like the Michelin man because IT IS SO FRIGGEN GOOD. 

By this point I was tired and cold, but I still couldn’t bring myself to go home. I wanted to explore more, so I kept walking along the park until I came to a Soviet War memorial. I know I’ve been to countries with hard histories, but coming to a space like Berlin I feel like it’s constantly present. I wonder what it’s like for Germans growing up here, if these reminders are as striking as they are to a foreigner.  If they itch and chafe or they’re like the Hollywood sign, where you don’t even notice it’s there until someone else outside LA comes to see it.

After waiting until I was practically frozen solid, I walked back to the city center and stopped at the Adlon Hotel for a nice cappuccino to thaw my hands. One thing I’m sure of is I cannot stay in a cold country. A certain someone came to this hotel as a bodyguard for Steven Spielberg, so I simply couldn’t resist taking a peek inside. Honestly since I was on the company dime, I was SO tempted to eat dinner there, but I figured I better not abuse the system so I can hopefully go on another trip this spring. I figured a $3.50 cappuccino (outrageous here when you can get them for $1.50-$2 at a no brand café) wouldn’t raise too may eyebrows.

By 6:00 pm I accepted defeat and called an uber back to my hotel, it was too cold and I walked over 10 miles so I feel like I did my fair share of exploring. I’m really nervous for this conference tomorrow but mostly excited! I think it’s going to be great! Guess I better get to sleep now.

Love you lots,

Carolyn