(photo: ninth from right)
Biography
In early 2001, Allison Connolly, 32, was writing her graduate thesis about how the European Union was poised to become a political and economic force that the United States would need to cooperate with rather than compete with, particularly on the sensitive subject of intelligence. Then 9/11 happened, exposing just how critical the need for cooperation really is. During her Burns fellowship, she hopes to see just how formidable the economies of Germany and the EU have become, and whether their relationship with the U.S. has improved since 2001. As manufacturing reporter for the Baltimore Sun, she wants to see firsthand how the Germans became known for their manufacturing skills. She plans to tour German factories owned by Maryland companies on her beat, including Black & Decker Corp. and W.L. Gore & Associates, which makes Gore-Tex lining for waterproof apparel. Prior to the Sun, she worked for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va., where she created a business beat covering defense companies. A Massachusetts native, she previously worked for the Boston Business Journal and the MetroWest Daily News. Allison earned her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1996 and her master’s degree in International Relations from Boston University in 2002.
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Final Report
I realized I missed Berlin my first morning back in Baltimore. It was a Sunday and my phone was oddly quiet. In Berlin, I would have been making plans with the other Burns fellows for a two-hour Fruhstuck followed by a stroll through the flea market. The Germans appreciate their weekends, and brunch with the other fellows became a ritual I looked forward to each week. It was a chance to recap the workweek and toast cappuccinos to Arthur F. Burns for introducing us to Germany.
Food (and good bier) aside, this fellowship surpassed my expectations, which were already high. With newspapers (including my own) shuttering foreign bureaus in droves, there are increasingly few opportunities for reporters like me to get foreign experience, so I am grateful to Burns for allowing me to work in Germany. I managed to visit all of the big cities and the island of Ruegen during my two months there, and learned much about the country and its people. I would move there tomorrow if I had a job waiting for me, which is something I probably would not have said before Burns. I also feel like I came back a better reporter. It is important for a journalist to leave the comfort zone of a particular beat or city. In Germany I was challenged every day, whether it was trying to find an address or set up an interview for a story.
The orientation week in D.C. set the bar for the fellowship. Being in the nation’s capital meant we had great access to policymakers and news veterans, and Frank and Mario made sure everything was first class. But the real highlight for me was getting to know the other fellows. I was impressed by each and every one of them. We all became fast friends, which made the last weekend in Airlie one that I will never forget.
I am so glad I chose Berlin, it was such an easy city to live in. It offered a great arts scene and nightlife, and I found most people to be friendly. While older people tended not to speak much English, younger Berliners were always eager to chat. And it was cheap, which helped stretch the stipend at a time when the dollar was at an all-time low against the euro. I was lucky to rent the apartment of German fellow Sabine Muscat in Prenzlauer Berg, right where all the action is. She generously left me her bike, which I put to good use on the weekends. I highly recommend future American fellows sublet from the German fellows if possible, and to buy a bike at the local flea market. Berlin is a fascinating city with a history that can largely be told through its architecture, and the best way to see it all is by bike.
With only basic German skills, Spiegel Online was the perfect placement for me because it was an English Web site focused on German and European news. I already had a great respect for the site before I got there: It mixes smart political and business news with photos of a shirtless Vladimir Putin and gets away with it. My host editor, Daryl Lindsey, is a Burns alum so he was familiar with how the fellowship works, which is not always the case according to other fellows. He gave me a phone and a computer and let me use the office as a home base for reporting stories for the Baltimore Sun. I didn't know enough German to help translate Der Spiegel articles for the site, which is the majority of the content, but I was able to edit translated articles and build photo galleries. They also encouraged me to write several features. They sent me to Munich for two days to report on the growing fox population there and to Potsdam for a story about the comeback of the Babelsberg film studio. The staff is small but they were always willing to help. Daryl made sure I had a press pass, which allowed me to eat lunch at the Bundestag and have access to government buildings. Spiegel also reimbursed me for most of my monthly S-Bahn train ticket, which was a big help.
My only criticism is that I wished there had been more information for the Americans during orientation about what to expect in Germany. When I arrived in Berlin, I was surprised to find that few people spoke English, and even those who were fluent were uncomfortable being interviewed in English. I was unable to report a story about Germany's immigrant work laws because I could not talk to the right people. And August was a hard time to report such stories because most of the government is on vacation. (However, the weather was great and the slower pace allowed me to ease into my adopted city.)
I also wished I had known more about German customs and culture, particularly their respect for rules. My experience with Deutsche Bahn is a prime example. On my return trip from the mid-fellowship meeting in Dresden and Leipzig, I ended up having to buy my train ticket twice because the barcode on my original e-ticket did not print out. I figured since all the other information was on there, including my Deutsche Bahn ticket number, they would be able to phone headquarters and verify that I had bought a ticket. Nein. I was surrounded by no fewer than five Deutsche Bahn employees who quizzed me in German about my missing bar code. After a half-hour of back and forth, where at one point I proclaimed "Ich bin Journalist! Kein Kriminell!" I had to buy a new ticket that was more expensive than the one I had purchased online.
My only regret is that I wasn’t able to learn more German. Before I left, I took 10 lessons at the Goethe Institut in D.C., which enabled me to ask directions and order food in a restaurant. But I could have contributed much more to my host organization had I been able to translate for them. So immediately after I returned to Baltimore, I spent a small fortune on speech recognition software and lesson books with the hope of being conversational in German in time for my next visit, which I promise will be soon.