u/cc273

Hi friends! My name is Cody and I volunteer with Sister Cities, coordinating many of our partnership projects with Rostock. Here's my last post for background. I'm sharing a few updates from the summer/fall and giving a heads up about visits later this year.

• World Cup Watch parties: We had a great time (...for the first three games) watching the men's national team in the tournament, and we did this for all of Sister City partner countries too. Coincidentally, Germany's training headquarters was only 1.5 hours away in Winston-Salem, at Wake Forest University. We had hundreds of supporters show up, including many families and expats.
• 25th Anniversary Visit: On their own expense, we had two Rostock City Council members visit for the anniversary and also our country's Semiquincentennial celebrations on July 4th. We toured and met with staff at Research Triangle Park and the General Assembly, attended parades and receptions for the occasion. This visit meant so much to our city and leadership, and helped connect us even further to continue working together.
• "German Soul": Most recently, we've been helping fundraise for a documentary film production exploring the origins of Southern US "soul food" to Germany. It's a remarkable story so far and I'm hopeful Rostock could play a significant part in it as well. Check out more details here: vittles.us/germansoul.
• Coming Up: We have two NC State University visits to Rostock coming up soon, related to the Blue Economy Innovation Program, in November and December (I'll be accompanying the latter on the 13-17). I'm setting up small parties for both that will be open to the public and would love to meet new folks in Rostock. Will send out info once finalized!

Keeping the updates brief but know that there's more in the works, for next year and beyond.

I appreciate the messages/comments from the last post and always glad to hear more from you all to keep our partnerships going strong.

-Cody