Final day of the Global Media Forum (Wednesday)

Let’s see now….Wednesday!  Wednesday was the last day of the conference, and even though it was a lot of fun, I think we were all glad it was coming to an end!  Travis and I had breakfast with P Col, the usual, and then we headed to the conference center.  We dropped a few things off at our booth and then we went next door to Deutsche Welle where P Col and Mr. Betterman signed an MOU (memo of understanding) stating Wartburg’s new partnership with Deutsche Welle.  There were several camera people there with reporters covering the event, so it was really neat to be a part of that!  The key points of the MOU were:

       

        -DW Akademie (academy) intends to offer admission to the International M.A. program to one Wartburg graduate per year, provided that the grad satisfies the Akademie’s admissions requirements.

        -DW Akademie and Wartburg College intend to develop a regular exchange of faculty for brief periods of time. 

        -Wartburg College intends to develop a May term course that brings Wartburg undergraduates to Bonn to study with Wartburg faculty; and DW Akademie intends to offer access to its facilities for these students

      These are all great opportunities for Wartburg and Deutsche Welle!  Everyone is very excited about it and it has been really interesting to be part of all of it!

Let’s see…..after that we headed back to the conference center.  Once we got back I interviewed the lady who did the transmedia presentation on Tuesday.  I just asked her some follow up questions about transmedia storytelling and how DW is using Jojo to teach German.  I really enjoyed talking to her and I think the interview turned out pretty well!

After that Travis and I attended the final panel discussion, which P Col was part of.  The topic of this panel was “The Fight for Knowledge: Opportunities and Risks of Educational Work in Conflict and Crisis Zones.”  The panel members were very diverse….Germany, Belgium, France, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and of course the United States.  The guy from Afghanistan actually ran for president!  How neat is that??  Travis and I felt kinda bad….but it was not the most interesting topic for us.  We didn’t really understand what everyone was talking about and we were tired…so it was hard to pay attention.  P Col also didn’t talk very much, but he got through it!  Right after that, Mr. Betterman gave the closing speech and we were done!  Man, it was a long 3 days!!  Right after the closing remarks everyone went over to Deutsche Welle for a reception, with food and beer and wine.

At the reception Travis told P Col that I call him P Col….I really didn’t want Travis to tell him!  What was President Colson’s reaction?  “P Col……I like that!”  hahahahaha I couldn’t believe it!  Then he said “So is it ‘p’ hyphen ‘col’?  Or ‘PCol’?”  I said, “P space Col.”  He said, “P space Col……that’s cool!”  Oh my gosh it was too funny!  He then said he might change his email to “P Col”! hahahahaha J

After the reception we took the subway back to the hotel because we had a lot to carry.  On this trip Travis and I have now been in a car, an airplane, a bus, a taxi, a boat, and the subway!  Pretty much covers everything!  We got back to the hotel and we decided we would all meet up at 8:30pm and we would decide what to do then.  I called my parents and I think they were pretty surprised to hear from me!  Thanks skype J  After talking with them for a little bit I took a nap….a 2 hour nap!  It was fantastic! 

When we all met at 8:30 we decided to head to downtown Bonn to the marketplace area.  Ahhhhh I loved it!  It was so beautiful and it almost looked fake!  Between the cobblestone roads, the little shops and stores, and a bunch of restaurants/cafes/bars outside it was quite the scene!  It was especially fun because the Spain vs. Portugal soccer game was going on (Euro 2012) so there were a TON of people sitting outside watching the game on big screen tv’s!  It was really neat.  We walked around for a bit and then we decided to get a bite to eat.  We went to a restaurant/café and sat outside to enjoy the awesome atmosphere.  We had really good conversations all night….basically P Col knows my whole life story now.  And I know some of his….like his middle name….and his pets’ name….YEP!  Spain ended up winning and the streets of Bonn went crazy!!  A ton of people were driving through the streets yelling, honking, and waving flags…it was insane and Germany wasn’t even playing!!  It ended up being a really late night, but it was a lot of fun!


More in a little bit! :)


Shelby*