On the evening of November 4, 2008 I watched my country vote for its 44th president at a special venue: the "Amerika Wählt" election party at the Bertelsmann Building at Unter den Linden 1. The event was co-hosted by the U.S. Embassy Berlin and the American Academy while the TV-stations - CNN, RTL, and n-tv - did live, on-premise reporting and interviews with some special guests. These included John Kornblum (chairman at Lazard, former US ambassador), Michael Naumann (German politician, publisher, and journalist) und Margarita Mathiopoulos (business leader and academic).
While waiting until poll results to come in, I spent time with some other Bosch Fellows and met some other guests while enjoying the atmosphere. Approximately 900 guests attended in all thoughout the evening, with many alternating between this and the other 2 large election parties in Berlin. I learned afterwards that the guest list was made up of what the news called "top figures in politics, business, and society". That explains why I felt like I was at the Grammys the whole night! I recognized some faces vaguely from TV.
As the night wound down around 3am, many guests started leaving. But us American Fellows and a small hardcore group did not want to be sleeping while the president of the world's greatest country was being chosen! Nibbling on American food served at the "American buffet", we kept ourselves busy watching the CNN coverage on the large screens as the results slowly started coming in. Cheering and jubilation followed as states turned blue. This was clearly a pro-Obama crowd. (In fact, a very informal poll taken of the guests showed that the percentage of Democrats at this party was in the high 90s.) By morning, the results were in and Barack Obama was the president-elect! The Stimmung (atmosphere) was exhilarating and high-fives and hugs were shared among friends and strangers. Some of us looked at each other and said that we still couldn't believe it that Barack Obama would become the 44th President of the United States of America!
The venue: the Bertelsmann building at Unter den Linden 1
Mike and I: Mike is another Fellow from DC
The Bosch Fellow group: me, Emily, Mike, Meghan, Geoff, Sumi, Catherine
The interior design: red, white, and blue decorations everywhere!
The studio: this area was used as a lounge after the interviews were complete.
Entrance: this is the entrance area at the end of the evening after most people left.
Watching the results: as the poll results started trickling in, we watched in anticipation.
Obama wins U.S. presidency!: happiness on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pleased with the turnout: From left: me, Geoff, Sumi, Mike, Catherine.
President elect Obama took time out of his busy schedule to pose for a photo with me. What a nice guy!
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