Mondialogo Team Travels to Rome; Meets Beijing Partners at Symposium
Photo courtesy Colin Hill
On a sunny Friday afternoon in November, Colin Hill and geography teacher Ellena Mart departed for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to head to Rome, Italy, for the Mondialogo symposium. If you read their reservations (which were in German though neither one speaks German), it was "Cloin Hill" and "Elena Marte" who boarded the flight. Upon their arrival in Italy, it was discovered that Delta had lost about half the flight's luggage which included the luggage belonging to an "Elena Marte" (Suzanna Jemsby pointed out upon our return that Delta was actually an acronym for Doesn't Even Leave the Airport). While "Cloin" and a group of priests traveling to the Vatican joked about the luggage, Ms. Mart stood in line with a nervous Mondialogo representative eagerly waiting to talk to a Delta-affiliated representative who would, in the end, make her sign some ominous forms in Italian.
Aside from the flight foibles, the symposium itself was quite enjoyable. Upon arrival at the Plazza de Torre Hotel, we met with our partner team from Beijing and other teams who had travel times that ranged from 15 minutes to more than 30 hours total. UNESCO and DaimlerChrysler representatives bustled about preparing a plethora of activities for participants while the students exchanged jokes and stories. We also saw Andrea Feuer, class of '06 and previous Mondialogo symposium attendee, who returned to Rome in order to act as a youth caretaker. That night, we were welcomed by the Mondialogo staff with a wonderful Italian dinner.
After relatively little sleep, the group set off again to tour Rome proper. The amount and variety of history was staggering; everywhere you looked there was either a ruin or an ancient building still functioning as a shop or residence. As the saying goes, Rome is a city of facades, and behind each door we entered we found many surprising things.
The next day was perhaps the busiest of the symposium. In the morning, there was a fashion show which showcased the various styles of clothing around the globe. Our team represented Georgia with a vintage seersucker suit (thanks, David). We were then ushered off into the project result room where we presented our respective submissions to the press and the panel of judges. After that, I had the fortune of being the one student they selected to do the International Press Conference for Mondialogo. We then had a quick lunch and went to some cultural workshops before heading off to the gala event.
After playing Frogger with Italian traffic, we arrived at a plaza where two massive Mondialogo banners, illuminated by spotlights, framed the Mercedes-Benz club. The club itself was extravagant; it felt like a true celebrity event. Two speakers addressed the attendees that night: Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of DaimlerChrysler (better known as Dr. Z from the Chrysler commercials) and the second in charge of UNESCO. AIS ultimately did not take a prize home that night though we did manage to see Dr. Z dance (slightly disturbing).
Yet the students at the conference were the main attraction. There were many discussions about the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam, Indian-Pakistani relations, and the construction of a global future. There was also a colorful variety of self-deprecating humor and general adolescence. You couldn't have found a friendlier and more intelligent group of kids (except maybe at AIS).
Finally, I'm happy to announce that there will be another Mondialogo school contest in 2008 and AIS will be continuing the Mondialogo team. With any luck, there might even be another AIS student at the next Mondialogo symposium! If you are interested in the project, please contact Colin Hill (chill@aischool.org) or Elena Mart (emart@aischool.org) for more information.