Weeks Six and Seven at the icd

The last two weeks at the icd have been really busy. Last week we were given a new assignment of developing and writing a business plan for the establishment of a new research department. We have been working to prepare a business plan for this new department and that has taken up a good deal of our time. It is difficult to decide on something so large with a group of around 8 people, as everyone has their own ideas on how the department should progress and how exactly it should be structured.

In addition to this task of developing the research department we have also been assigned with changing our writing focus to one that is more based on opinionated writing, rather than the news related composition that was our focus previously. I’ve really enjoyed the freedom that I get from this, as I basically have the opportunity to write about anything that I feel strongly about. Being one of the members of my team that tends to produce more in terms of writing, this need for more written output also allows me to get out of some of the more mundane tasks around the office.

Besides spending a majority of my time working on written articles I was also responsible for preparing and writing the guidelines, objectives and background information for a new program that is being developed at the icd, to facilitate exchange between Europe and the US. This work wasn’t quite as interesting, as it was far dryer than the other material that I get to work with, however, in terms of importance, this program description carried a far greater weight.

In addition to these tasks I also had to opportunity to have a personal meeting with the Director of the icd to speak about my case study and how it has been progressing. It was nice to get some feedback and ideas from someone who has made a career out of furthering cultural diplomacy, as he provides a much deeper insight into the field. It was also nice to get an opportunity to develop a more personal relationship with the man in charge of the organization.

This week has had a much different focus than the last. We have been hosting the Cultural Diplomacy in Europe forum at the icd, and there have been many relevant and interesting speakers around the office and we have been spending most of our time interviewing these people and attending speeches and writing reports on differing events.

I was pretty lucky with the speakers I had the opportunity to interview. My first interview was meant to be with the Deputy Head of the Turkish Embassy, who I had a great interest in, especially regarding Turkey’s candidature to the EU, however he was not permitted by the Turkish government to give interviews, so that was a little disappointing. However, I felt much better when give the opportunity to speak with the Consul General of Greece, Mr. Efthymios Efthymiades. With so much at stake with Greece’s collapsed economy, including how the exchange rate can alter my own income, and the recent bailout events, which have the potential to fly in the face of the Lisbon Treaty, the Greek Consul General was someone I was very interested in speaking with. I also had the opportunity to interview H.E. Dr. Dietrich von Kyaw, the Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union, who could be much more candid in his remarks as he is currently retired.

The worst part of the week, however, came on Friday when, a half hour before we were meant to go home, we were asked to stay late to finish databasing for another division that wasn’t able to finish a project that had to be completed that day. This kept us at work about 3 hours overtime on a Friday, which was extremely frustrating, especially as databasing is probably the most boring assignment you can have. Well that’s it from Berlin for this week.