Two Lions frozen in white marble flanked the entrance of theCavalieri Hilton Hotel where WOCCU held the 2005 World CUConference in Rome, Italy. In any one moment, so much happened.Walking the halls one could hear the lilt of Irish accentscontrasted with clipped British vowels and the open Australia ones,while a smattering of Spanish was intermingled. In one breakoutsession where Rick Nelson, an Argentinan American, was translating,he waved his hands fantastically to make the speaker's points. Bitsof conversation could be heard as the 1,124 delegates walkedthrough the halls. The Irish man: "I don't work on Tuesdays, so Ivolunteer as a teller at my credit union every Tuesday." Americanwoman: "That would never happen at home." Polish man: "We've onlybeen around since the early `90s." Canadian woman: "I don't carrycash, we're becoming a card only country." Like many conferences,it was decisions, decisions, decisions on what to attend. With fourconcurrent sessions the desire to clone was great. Throughout theevent old friends from other conferences greeted each other.Despite the encouragement to talk to delegates from differentcountries, groups tended to stay in their own nationality. Even acynic could not help but be moved by the opening flag ceremony.Flags from all participating 41 countries were waved into theauditorium by locals in multi-colored medieval costume and plumedhats that would please any of the three musketeers. Representativesrose as their flag came by. However beyond the national pride whenall 41 flags were on stage it was clear that they represented not acountry but a worldwide movement. [email protected] (Editor'sNote: Credit Union Times overseas correspondent Donna Lane Nelsonprovided all of the on-site coverage of the WOCCU conference. Sheis a U.S. citizen, originally from Boston, who resides inSwitzerland.)