Jennifer's EuroBlog: Two Working-Days in Berlin

05-06 September 2007

Immediately following my return from Vienna, I headed to Berlin for another study meeting. This trip was a little more relaxed because my calendar wasn't quite as full and I was fortunate enough to travel out one day and back the next, instead of both directions in one day.

On Wednesday, the meetings began in the afternoon and ran into the very early evening. Then I had a little bit of time to rest and prepare slides for our Thursday meeting before we headed off to dinner at a neat Authentic Jewish Restaurant. The food was great and the company was wonderful. We had a very enjoyable time getting to know one another.

Thursday we had a very productive meeting, but as usual we found we could have used much more time. Though there are cultural differences between working in the US and working in Europe, the one strong commonality that I have observed if how quickly time speeds by while a group of people is intensely focused on collaborating to reach the shared goal of running a quality clinical study.

Thursday afternoon, I was presented with the opportunity to spend a little time wandering the streets of Berlin with a German colleague. I really enjoyed this experience. I find that I learn so much more walking around a city with one of my colleagues, or a local, than I do just exploring the city on my own with a map and travel book. There are so many nuances that I fail to see when I have my nose stuck in a map trying to make my way from place to place.

Anja and I visited Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate. I enjoyed taking in the history at both locations and I, once again, found myself wishing that I had more time to explore and take it all in. But that will have to be another time. I guess I'll just have to come back to Europe and when I do, I'll have quite the list of places to visit.

A few visual memories from my quick Berlin trip.

Checkpoint Charlie