Don't mess with Texas!

Sitting up on the observation deck of the 750-feet-high Tower of the Americas, enjoying a breathtaking view over San Antonio and its surroundings, seemed to be the good timing to post an entry about this week spent in Texas. And if I have to put it in one word, that would be "awesome'! From the bright lights of Houston, to the live-music venues in Austin, and the mariachi beat in San Antonio, Texas is as diverse and interesting as huge! The Lone Star State, proud of its history of bravery and independent spirit, of which the Alamo is the most obvious symbol, is no longer the wild west, but is still attractive and worth discovering. Friendly folks everywhere one goes, long history, rich culture, nice climate, great cuisine... Awesome destination! Austin, the capital, where quality of life reigns supreme, is a mystic mix of social consciousness and capitalist development, with an attractive university campus (home of the Longhorns) and an amazing live-music scene: indie rock, jazz-funk, alternative country, punk ska, acoustic rhythms, latin sambas, tejano trumpets, world beat... you name it! San Antonio is most famous for the Alamo, visited by more than 3 million tourists per year; crowds come for the history (and the myth), but end up partying along the tree-shaded Riverwalk. The lively Tex-Mex culture, however, is well worth the commercial crap developed around the Alamo, David Crockett and characters alike. Houston, where my journey started almost one week ago, and will finish in another week from today, is a sprawl of concrete and highways. But it is a multi-cultural hodgepodge too, where it is easy to find great ethnic restaurants or shop in arts-and-antiques neighborhoods. Tomorrow I will cross the Rio Grande and go to Mexico, and back to Monterrey and good friends. It will be a very different week, but equally pleasant for sure. The snow in Brussels can wait :)

European Youth Capital

Rotterdam was, at least for the last days, the true European Youth Capital, as the European Youth Forum's General Assembly took place in this famous Dutch city. 230 youth leaders, from all over the continent and representing young people from different cultural, economic and social backgrounds and diverse idelogical, political and religious beliefs, gathered to evaluate the work done in the last two years, plan the work for the next two, accept new members and elect new leaders. Tine Radinja was elected and will therefore become the first ever President of the European Youth Forum coming from South East Europe. I consider this to be a symbolical yet significant event, and besides being happy for the good friend, I am also glad for what it represents in terms of what the European Youth Forum stands for: an open and inclusive platform for the participation of young people in the shaping of Europe. Others will join Tine and make a new team which will take office on January 1st, 2009. Some were not elected, but deserve the same kindness and the same respect due to the winners. Lloyd, Tim and Zara, in spite of the choices made by the delegates, I am sure that we all appreciate your dedication and efforts, and I hope you can keep contributing in a different way. Especially for Lloyd, who due to his young age has still a long and prosperous future ahead of him, the example of Xenia might be useful to consider... In any case, the fact is that from the beginning of next year, I will have a new set of Bureau colleagues, and the time for me to move on will approach fast. Change is all around us, and we better be prepared for it. For now I will go back to holidays. Tomorrow I will fly first to Philadelphia and then to Houston. And will enjoy two weeks in Texas and Mexico. But, to be honest, I will miss my colleagues. This group of wonderful people who make my professional life substantially easier delivered once again a magnificent performance; and even though I would like to show them the true dimension of my appreciation, I am afraid that I will never fully succeed.

Obama

Barack Obama won the US Presidential elections, and became the first Afro-American to acceed to the highest position of the country. Ever since, the famous "yes we can" became the most overquoted phrase in the history of modern politics. Some people, including some friends, think that the audacity of hope isn't more than that - hope; and that change is still to be achieved. It seems that Obama himself is somehow trying to lower the expectations by explaining that his victory is important, but no more than an opportunity to change that still needs to be seized. Well, I disagree. I think that Obama's victory is already in itself a very good expression of change. Not so much because of the colour of his skin, or the origins of his name, but rather because it was a victory made possible only by the belief that so many citizens, especially the younger ones, expressed through the most democratic way that exists: by exercising their right to vote. This belief, the belief that by voting one can change their life, is the real change brought by Obama. And I hope it will stay for long, and will spread throughout the world.

Time for change has come!

Change can happen!
Thanks for making so many of us believe!

Auf Wiedersehen!

I spent the better part of this week in Berlin. Karl Scheffler once said that "Berlin is a city damned to be forever changing, but never become". I went there for the first time in the summer of 1992, and I still remember that August morning's arrival to Ostbahnhof on a train from Prague, and the impressions caused by the remaining sections of the Wall and the once-designated "no man's land". I had witnessed, in front of the TV and with teenage excitement, the fall of the Wall less than three years earlier; being actually there, was like a dream that comes true. I have been in Berlin several times since that first visit. I have friends from Berlin, and friends who live in Berlin; friends who have told me the stories of the once divided city, and friends who made me discover the hopes of the newly re-established capital. I don't know if it will ever become; but I can confirm that it has been changing. And changing for good. Berlin's centre has been reinivigorated by the people, the companies, the galleries, the diplomats, the tourists and everyone else who moved there when Berlin once again became the capital of Germany in 1999. But Berlin wouldn't be as nice as it is if it wasn't for all the people who remained and kept coming back: the local artists and the international nomads... or, simply put, the Berliners. Them, who make the city "poor, but sexy", in the words of its Mayor. Berlin lies at the crossroads of European modern history: from Bismarck's German Reich, to Nazism and the already mentioned rise and fall of the Wall, in no other city Europe has been shaped to the same extent as in Berlin. And yet, Berlin is not about the past, but rather about the present, and about the future. I am sure that Berlin is going to keep changing, and I hope I can keep enjoying going there while it does. Because, as I have been saying, change is good; Berlin is there to prove it!