Switzerland - Young Leaders Conference

**Guest Post by Mark**

I am experiencing a rare gift this week, participating in a week-long Young Leaders Conference in Switzerland. When I first was invited to join the all expenses paid conference back in April, I wasn't sure if it was even the real deal. Why would I be invited out of the blue to attend a foreign-relations conference in Switzerland??? Why would someone go to this length to tease me? But after doing some research, I was somewhat convinced it was a reality. After some thought, prayers, and discussions with Sarah, we decided I should give it a go. The primary reason is that this is probably a chance in a lifetime invitation for an engineer to travel abroad as an "ambassador" for the US among up and coming (or already there) Swiss business, political, government, and journalist peoples.

After hearing the former Ambassador speak (Hon. Faith Whittlesey) the first evening, the premise for these annual conferences is to maintain and further develop relationships between these two countries because there is so much in common and there's a need to mend relationships after 8 years of poor foreign policy (not that Obama has made them very happy seeking out information on US people holding money in Swiss Banks, until now any information about these accounts have been secret, bank policy/law since before WWII).

I left home on Friday afternoon on a quick flight to Los Angeles where I transfered to the direct flight from LAX to Zurich, only 10.5 short hours away! I had a pretty quick transfer between United and Swiss, so I was worried that my checked bag wouldn't make the transfer in time. Before boarding I asked the Swiss Air people at the gate if they scanned my bag yet, and they couldn't find it yet. At this time, I and they realized that I didn't actually have a boarding pass yet, but somehow still managed to pass through security without it!!!! That's a big no-no. I was wondering when I went through security what would keep someone from printing out their own "boarding pass" and make it to the SECURE part of the airport. So they printed me up a pass to make me a legal traveler again. I got on the plane assuming that my bag still was not accounted for and I'd be waiting until Monday to get it.

I left LAX at 7:30pm in a wonderfully spacious seat, front row of the business section. These two Swiss flights are probably my first and last time taking business class, which is amazing compared to what I'm used to (crunched knees, elbows and shoulders bumping my neighbor, dancing to get in and out of the seat to hit the restroom). I arrived in Zurich at 4pm local time and proceeded to the baggage area, to report my missing suitcase. In the middle of the paperwork I glanced over at the conveyor belt, and low and behold, my suitcase!!! What a blessing!! So I grabbed it and, thanked the nice man for helping me start the paperwork, and headed for the guy with the Young Leaders Conference sign. We left in a van and headed to the conference center just outside of Bern, 1.5 hours away. I rode with to nice gals, one from LA (works for iTunes Movies and the other for Wall Street Journal - London). I got the pleasure of entertaining the driver as both women slept. The guy was what I'd expect to be a typical, old-school traditional male in Switzerland.

The ride included some great views of the Swiss Alps, the rolling fields, towns with both residential, commercial, and industrial all mixed together (they have a lot of district heating from these local industrial plants, very cool, or warm rather). We arrived at Gerzensee (pronounced Grr Zen Zee, but said quite quickly) after dark and after a long, hot, refreshing shower, enjoyed a nice dinner with my US counterparts and met a handful of nice people with great stories.

I went on a walk the following morning down to the Gerzensee lake which is among numerous fields and a pasture with some delightful cows, and the familiar and welcome smells too! Here are a couple photos from the walk. The first is the Study Centre where we have a lot of our meals and meetings this week. I will try to get some more photos of the Conference Center today.

I had the opportunity to have the somewhat stressful job of MC'ing the Opening Dinner last night, so I'm glad that's over with, but enjoyed it a little bit too. I got to "dress up" in my suit, which has happened only a few times in my life, and will happen a few more times this week (I have TWO suits now). My morning wake-up time is getting better, from 3:30am yesterday, 5am today, to hopefully 6:30 tomorrow. Today is full of panel discussions and breakout sessions to discuss a number of hot topics, closing the afternoon with a reception hosted by the current US Ambassador at this official residence.

I need to run and get ready for the day, but will continue with more trip information later. If this is too long or boring, it's primarily here to log my trip and keep those interested up to speed on what I've been up to here. Sorry for people looking for Ashen/Torin updates, I won't have any of those this week, but I did get to watch a couple wonderful videos Sarah posted for me on YouTube of the boys, felt like I was at home for a couple of minutes, it was WONDERFUL!! They are so funny, I have a smile from ear to ear this morning!!