The project started on June 4th in Washington DC. There were 20 participants from all over the world assigned to the project and we were accompanied by 3 liaisons representing Department of State and taking care of the group.
We started in Washington DC (4-8th of June) –with the presentation of federalism by Mr Elias from CCG. We had meetings with US DoS and US DoA representatives. There was also a meeting with the Russell Group (lobbying group) with the presentation of the ethics standards of the organization.
We also had a chance to walk around the White House, Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, MLK Memorial, Vietnam War Memoria and Iwo Jima Memorial. Smithsonian Museums were also worth seeing. I also enjoyed the jazz club visit and Smithsonians Museums. I also must mention visiting Washington’s Cathedral – it is really impressive.
We flew to Denver on 8th of June and stayed there until 14th. We had meetings with the representatives of Colorado Department of Agriculture, then visited CSU Spur facilities and Bison Bijou Ranch. Denver Rescue and EarthLinks meetings gave me the chance to know more about the NGOs operations schemes for helping people and saving food.
I enjoyed the visit to The Garden of Gods and Red Rock Amphitheatre very much but the best was a trip with a few colleagues to Estes Park Rocky Mountains. I also must mention the chance of participating in NBA Finals watching experience in Ball Arena and the celebrations of the title in the streets of Low Dow.
The next stop of our trip was Kansas City (14-20th of June)
We visited and met KS Department of Animal Science and KS Food Safety and Security Program. I also appreciated meeting with Missouri 4-H as they operate in similar fields as the Fund that I represent so it was quite interesting to see the ways of achieving similar goals from the different perspective. Division of Conservation, MO was also very interesting because its model of operation is quite different to the one we have in Poland.
From various cultural activities I really loved WWI Museum. I think that Pres. Truman Museum was also worth visiting,
The last stop of our itinerary was Miami (20-24th of June). The most interesting meetings were with the representatives of Port of Miami and USDA Plant Inspection Services.
During our stay in Miami I enjoyed the boat trip around the bay and visiting Miami Beach and Miami Downtown and also the short trip to Everglades Park.
I am really grateful for the opportunity for taking part in this Programme. For sure I managed to meet worthy and interesting people here. Also the participants were very interesting people, we became friends despite different professional and cultural backgrounds and we are still in touch – it is a chance for developing some interesting ideas even further.
