The lockdown in Brussels last month reminded me of the days following the 9/11 attacks in New York.
I'm home in the US for the holidays, and over the weekend I discovered a treasure trove of old videos from high school and college in my parents' basement.
Among the VHS copies of my public access sketch comedy show in high school (don't worry I won't embarrass anyone by posting those videos!) I came across some footage I shot during the 9/11 attacks in New York City. I had completely forgotten about it.
People move to Berlin because they want to. People move to Brussels because they have to.
Given that I live in both cities, a lot of people have been asking me this weekend about Friday's New York Times article, 'Why Brussels is the New Berlin'. My first reaction after seeing the headline was to scoff. The article itself left me rather perplexed and annoyed.
These "________ is the new Berlin" articles are becoming a bad cliche. As Jon Worth pointed out in his blog today, this has been written about Warsaw, Leipzig, Zagreb, Krakow, Vilnius - the list goes on and on. The only prerequisite for the comparison seems to be that the city is cheap and has at least some artists in it. The Brussels-Berlin comparison is not itself new. Deutsche Welle did a similar article in August, although their piece had a more sensible focus on artists.
Germany is pushing for a 1.5 degree warming limit in the global climate agreement, but this goes beyond the EU's mandate of two degrees.
I'm in Paris this week for the big climate change summit, and it's very interesting to be here and compare it to Copenhagen five years ago. That summit, which notoriously collapsed in failure, was an absolute chaotic mess. This one, by contrast, is much calmer.
There are two reasons for this. For one, most of the groundwork has already been done before this summit. Secondly, the ambition level this time around is much lower - most notably because the reduction targets will not be legally binding.
A leaked internal document reveals Deutsche Bahn may halt all sleeper train services in Germany at the end of next year.
If you like the idea of rolling across Europe in the relaxed comfort of your bed, it looks like you've got just one year left to do it - in Germany at least.
Deutsche Bahn, the German rail operator, has reportedly signalled that it may end all city night line trains in December 2016. No more overnight trains.
Black Friday sales take place because it's the day after Thanksgiving and most Americans have the day off. Why are we observing it in Europe?
OK, I looked the other way when Europeans increasingly became gripped with Halloween fever over the past several years. I watched in silent bemusement as I saw Europeans hosting Thanksgiving dinners with no Americans present. But today I have to draw the line.
Black Friday, Europe? For the love of god, why?
I suppose I get where this is coming from. Europeans watch a huge amount of American television and film and they want to emulate the American holidays they've seen celebrated on screen their entire lives. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, American-style St Patrick's Day, even the Fourth of July - I've seen them all celebrated here by non-Americans. Stores have started setting up special sections for these holidays.
Europe and America are both facing problems, but Europe's governing structures are more vulnerable and seem ready to collapse. It's left me pondering my future.
Since I first moved to Europe ten years ago, I've been surprised by how often I am asked one particular question - "will you ever move back to America?"
It always struck me as unusual, because I don't think a European who moved to America would get that question all the time. But in the four European cities I've lived in, people have seemed genuinely perplexed about why I'm here. Why would someone prefer to be in Europe rather than the United States? The question always annoyed me, and my answer was resolute.
"No, I'm not planning to move back," I responded. "I have a better quality of life here, I'm no longer in an American bubble separated from the rest of the world and, most importantly, I feel more hopeful for the future here than I did in the United States."
As we come to the end of 2015 I have to ask, is there reason for me to feel hopeful for Europe any more?
