[caption id="attachment_775" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Me in Germany! "]<img class="size-full wp-image-775" title="CAE in Berlin " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05909.jpg" alt="Me in Germany! " width="500" height="375" />[/caption]

The conference is off to a great start.  Everyone is very interesting and the tours and welcome dinner we had last night were a great way to get to know people and to see Berlin.

I am struck by the range of different people here.  There are recent college graduates, middle to late twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings and event Fulbright faculty members.  This mix seems to give a lot of energy to the events.

One of the best things so far is being able to talk to different people about their projects and their life in country.  The conference has American Fulbrighters from all over Europe.  I think that there are something like 17 different countries being represented here in Berlin.  Wow.
The conference schedule is pretty intense and right now I am paying to use the hotel internet (paying way too much I think).  But after a long walk around this morning trying a couple of different places and buying a couple of coffees I couldn't get any of the "free" internet to work.  So now I am hopped up on caffeine, writing a quick post and soon I'll be heading out to meet my friends who are doing touristy things while I cancel the class at Sofia University that I thought I had a friend lined up to teach... long story.

Anyhow, my students will be happy not to have class, I'll be happy not to worry about it and to be able to enjoy the next three days in Berlin.  I'd really forgotten what a wonderful city this is.