German-Baltic Future Foundation Welcomes its Brand Ambassadors in Berlin

The German-Baltic Future Foundation has recently hosted a meetup for this year’s Brand Ambassadors. The event took place from 14th to 16th of November in Kaulsdorf, a quarter of Berlin.

Over the course of three days, ambassadors took part in various events ranging from brainstorming sessions to visiting the German Bundestag. These, combined with a range of presentations and lectures, provided a perfect balance between learning and putting skills to action. Besides the learning part, the participants had time to socialize, network, and explore the city.

In today’s article, we asked several Brand Ambassadors to share their impressions about this year’s meetup in order to show what it was like to take part in the event:

Patriks Strazds, Latvia

Patriks Strazds

At first I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to partake in this meeting, as that implied many unknown factors - I had never traveled alone via plane as I usually travel with my family in such a way. Also I wasn’t 100% sure of how the meeting was going to be held. In addition, I didn’t know 80% of the people that were supposed to attend. So I did the only logical thing - for the first time in my career I booked my own plane tickets.

The journey to Berlin was awesome. At first I was planning on using a taxi to get from Berlin airport to the meeting place, but upon seeing the prices of taxi rides I switched up my plans and went all in to understand the wonders of the German engineered railway systems. With a little help of Google maps and happy to help officers I made it to the meeting spot. I even visited one of those shady kebab places that provides the ultimate meal for the best price - such a wonderful experience.

Overall the meeting was a successful adventure where in the tight time graph I also managed to squeeze in a daily morning run and a little excursion across Berlin right after the meeting on

Sunday, right before my flight back home.

I can confidently say that this was a successful meeting where not only I got to meet many inspiring people, but also I felt motivated enough to think - what do I want to achieve with my life. I absolutely loved this and I highly recommend attending this!

Daniil Iarlykovskii, Estonia

This meeting marked my first time in Berlin and it was as good as a first trip can be. I arrived a little before the conference and had the opportunity to explore the city independently. Then, when the conference started we got an amazing cultural experience with a visit to a museum and a tour to the Reichstag dome.

Daniil Iarlykovskii

It was a great opportunity to connect with other Brand Ambassadors, thanks to which I have gotten several new ideas on what I can do in my capacity as an ambassador. The lectures and the workshops were interesting to take part in, as they aimed to give us inspiration and guide us on how we can become more active members of our communities.

Though the event only lasted a few days, in my opinion it was a great experience that really gave a lot to the participants. We did every kind of activity imaginable, including but not limited to learning, brainstorming, discussing, and tourism.

I was especially glad to practice my German and take some reading material home. The opportunity gave me some new ideas on how I can learn and motivated me to continue studying daily.

Peter Pidopryhora, USA (currently in Germany)

When joining this group, I didn’t really know what I could even do. I had some ideas, but nothing formalized or very well thought out. So when I saw a chance to go to Berlin, a city I had never visited before, and have a few days just talking and throwing around ideas with like-minded people, I made sure to have some free time in my schedule for it.

Peter Pidopryhora

We spent the weekend listening to several interesting presentations, talking about future projects and what each of us could do for others, building on our strengths and the connections we already had. Some of the talks were given by members of the foundation, showing and teaching us certain interesting ways we could start thinking and developing our projects and ideas. Some of the talks were given by the Brand Ambassadors themselves, including me, who presented my Ukrainian student group at my university, UniBonn.UA, and what we had done over the past few years. And some of the talks came from people who were invited to present, like the presentation done by DroneAid Berlin, which I found to be fascinating and very important under the circumstances.

Thankfully we didn’t spend the entire time only listening, writing and thinking, as inspiring as it

may be, but also got to explore the city itself, at least for a few hours. Seeing the Brandenburg

Gate, seeing the German Bundestag and getting a tour inside, was absolutely thrilling. We also got to see one of the checkpoints from the eastern part of the city, how it looked before reunification. It was nice to learn more about how the city functioned when it was split in two, and how the people lived during that time. I definitely would want to come back and explore the city even more. Since we were mostly in the eastern part, it would be nice to see some of the west next time.

All in all the brainstorming session helped me find some inspiration for a few possible projects, which was exactly what I needed. Met some great people that I hopefully will get to spend more time with on future endeavors.

Gleb Konkin-von Serebrowski, Germany

As a long-term participant, I am more than happy to represent the ever-evolving structure of the German-Baltic Future Foundation, where Ukraine is another +1. I am also very glad to participate alongside the youngsters and welcome them to this fruitful cooperation.

During this meet-up, the programme was more than fulfilled and important knowledge was presented - I would like to express my sincere gratitude to DroneAid Berlin for taking the time to share their valuable insights on the critical issue of drone-conducted warfare.

Gleb Konkin-von Serebrowski

The chairman, Thomas von Lüpke, showcased the most important border points of the Cold War in Berlin, as well as the city centre and a visit to the Bundestag.

The youngsters were very welcome to take part in extracurricular activities afterwards. Arguably, one the best way to get to “feel” a place is to spend some time in a local bar with the locals.

I am sure it was a valuable experience for a new generation of young ambassadors and an important learning experience for younger/new participants.

Overall, I am very happy to have been able to attend and organise this event, participate in it, and promote important insights.