As part of the GISEB (Globally Integrated Semester on Entrepreneurship in Bremen) program, we recently had the pleasure of welcoming some great visitors to Bremen! Check out these wonderful photos, taken by participant Sierra Stevens! Stay tuned for more photo and video content!
Category Archives: Excursions
DiB Vienna Excursion 2022 – Video Clip!
To wrap up our little Vienna unit, we’d like to share this clip with you which sums up our favorite highlights during our lovely Vienna 2022 trip!
Baba Wien, see you next year! 🙂
Music: www.bensound.com
Video credit: Durden Dickinson Bremen Program
Favorite Sights in Vienna Part 3
by Amanda Sorensen ’23 and Mac Tambussi ’23
“I really enjoyed the architecture throughout Vienna. The Nationalbibliothek, Stephansdom, and Schönbrunn Palace were absolutely stunning, but what I loved most was wandering through the small streets and stumbling upon beautiful churches and colorful facades of beautifully constructed buildings.” (Amanda Sorensen)
“Vienna was awesome. I have always heard and learned about how beautiful Vienna is, in class, movies, and books, but I they really don’t do it justice. Vienna took my breath away. It had a rich history with the Habsburgs and have a beautiful skyline and architecture. I really enjoyed trying traditional Wiener Schnitzel. What I enjoyed most of all, which came as a shocker to me, was the opera. The show was called “Die Entführung aus dem Serail.” Despite our not-so-great seats, I thought the opera was electric. Vienna really was an awesome excursion!” (Mac Tambussi)
Photo credit: Durden Dickinson Bremen Program
Favorite Sights in Vienna Part 2
by Kathryn Baker ’23 and Nicholas Rickert ’23
“My favorite part of our Wien excursion was exploring Prater Park! It is a large amusement park that is open 24 hours. One of the most famous landmarks in Wien is the Wiener Riesenrad (ferris wheel). We rode the Riesenrad and saw some of the most beautiful views of the city. After riding the Riesenrad, some of us walked around the park and got some food. I ate another Schokoapfel (apple covered in chocolate) and ice cream. I was surprised at how many ‘scary, haunted’ rides there were at Prater, there were at least five! Overall this is one of my favorite memories.” (Kathryn Baker)
“Trying regional dishes and the enjoying unique local atmospheres in restaurants always leave me with positive and lasting impressions of a foreign city, and Vienna was no exception. Our group had the pleasure of being taken to dine in excellent traditional restaurants as well as Vienna’s famous ‘Cafe Demel,’ where I fell in love with a sweet dish called ‘Kaiserschmarrn’ which is like a pancake but much more delectable. Other highlights for me were the Viennese potato salad, Goulash, and of course Wiener Schnitzel. Combined with the lovely decor and a fine selection of beer, I don’t think I’ll be able to forget the restaurants!” (Nick Rickert)
Photo credit: Durden Dickinson Bremen Program
Favorite Sights in Vienna Part 1
by Shannon Vogel ’23, Andrew Irvine ’23 and Evan Bates ’23
“The National Library was my favorite place we visited. The architecture and the amount of books felt straight out of a movie, and fit my dream image of the perfect library (complete with bookcase doors!) It was also interesting to learn that it was one of the first German language public libraries.” (Shannon)
“On the first day of the excursion in Vienna, the group visited the Schatzkammer (Treasure Chamber) of Austria. Within the chamber lay centuries’ worth of priceless artifacts from various points of Austrian history. Some of the items included were coronation robes, tapestries, ceremonial swords with their sheaths, reliquaries of various saints and of religious items, and of course the crowns of various Holy Roman Emperors. Unfortunately, the Imperial Crown, believed to have been made for Otto I. (the Great) around 960 and later painted into a picture of the earlier Charlemagne (Karl der Große) who was crowned in 800, was off display for research purposes. Regardless, the treasures of Austria were an astounding journey through a millennium of history.” (Andrew)
“One of my favorite attractions in Vienna might have been the Kaisergruft (the imperial crypt of the Habsburg family). It was certainly odd to walk amongst the sarcophagi of ancient rulers but the sheer opulence and uniqueness of each coffin struck me. I think of all the decorations on the coffins, the skulls and figures were my favorite. They were wonderfully macabre, sometimes with wings or the cast crowns of their long since fallen domains. I was also quite interested in the fact that the family separated their organs to send to their family or original kingdom like the heart container in the picture here. The biggest coffin was for 2 rulers and was so large it had it’s own room and had to be lowered from the street above and the roof built above it. There are even modern burials here with one even from 2011 I believe. Certainly a lovely visit for those who love skulls and grim things. I heartily recommend.” (Evan)
All pictures taken and provided by students or Dickinson staff.
When we will be able to travel again… Part I
by Dr. Janine Ludwig
At some point, the pandemic will be over, and we will be able to travel again. When that will be possible, we are looking forward to offering rich academic excursions for our students again, one of them our annual excursion to Berlin. Please see here what students can expect to see and learn in Germany’s capital:
Our Berlin excursion is usually centered around the once divided Germany, German and GDR history, culture, literature, and the process of reunification. We meet with politicians such as the last Premier, t.i. Chairman of the Council of Ministers, of the German Democratic Republic (DDR), Hans Modrow, and others. We visit the former headquarters of the Ministry of State Security (MfS, often called Stasi), including Erich Mielke’s office which is still intact. In the archives and basement, we look through authentic Stasi files and visit the former Stasi prison Hohenschönhausen. Of course, we also delve into current German politics, meeting the assistant of the governmental Coordinator for Transatlantic Relations in the State Department and attending parliamentary sessions.
When we will be able to travel again… Part II
by Dr. Janine Ludwig
Right now, things are looking much brighter with regard to the pandemic, and we are hopeful that we will be able to travel again at some point. We are looking forward to offering rich academic excursions for our students again, one of them to Vienna. The broader theme of this annual trip is German-Austrian history and culture from the Middle Ages until today.
In introductory lectures, we follow the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, from Charles the Great (800) to the Napoleonic conquests (1806). We track the Habsburg dynasty (1273-1918) and the Austro-Hungarian k.u.k Monarchy, later: Austrian Empire (1804-1918), overlapping with the German Empire (1871-1918). With this information, the students can better understand our tours and exhibits and grasp the importance of Vienna as a former political and cultural center of Europe. Additionally, we indulge in the imperial glamour and culinary abundance of this beautiful city.
In recent years, we have visited Mozart’s house, the Sigmund Freud Museum, castles, and the United Nations Office Vienna. We saw productions in the world-famous Viennese Burgtheater, the Volkstheater or the opera and indulged in traditional delicacies as well as in the famous coffee house culture.
Student’s comments:
“In Vienna, we learned a lot about the history of Austria and by extension Germany. My favorite part of the trip was learning about the Hapsburg dynasty, and visiting the castle in which they lived. I also enjoyed visiting Vienna’s many churches. One of my other favorite parts of the trip was the day in Bratislava. I knew basically nothing about Bratislava and Slovakia, and I enjoyed learning about the city and its history.” >James Moore ’20<
“What attracted me the most about Vienna was the vibe of the city. As a cultural center in Europe, Vienna has retained its historical memory and blended it with the bustle of modern society.” >Zhen Luo ‘18<
“Vienna has quickly become one of my favorite places in the world […] and within this gorgeous palace is the National Library. […] The best part of the tour for me was being able to see some selected books like a Gutenberg Bible up close and even touch it. My nerdy book-loving soul was close to exploding. The trip to the library was an absolute highlight of our trip for me.” >Meghan Straub ‘18<
When we will be able to travel again… Part III
Germany is opening up, and people are planning their vacation. We are hoping to explore sites and places with our students, rich in culture and history as well as vibrant and lively in the present. Here are some pictures from one of the trips we did to nearby Hamburg and Lübeck:
This video features the song “Happiness” by Bensound, available under a Creative Commons license.
Bremen’s Rhododendron-Park is in full bloom!
At the Rhododendronpark in Bremen, visitors get to enjoy one of the largest collection worldwide of these unusual, beautiful flowers: The park offers over 1,000 types of Rhododendron and Azalea bushes stretched over 46 hectares of parkland!
We highly recommend you to visit the park in the month of May: During this time of year, the Rhododendron starts to come into full bloom and shows its many vibrant colors.
For more information visit: https://www.rhododendronparkbremen.de/
Photo: Heinz-Josef Lücking, Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
50 Years University of Bremen
This year, the University of Bremen is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In an interview with Bremen’s regional newspaper, Weser-Kurier, University of Bremen’s principal Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Scholz-Reiter discusses how the Uni wants to celebrate its 50 years of existence.
“For us, 50 years of university means reflecting on what has happened here during this time, why the university exists at all, what it has done and continues to do for the city and society. What would be missing if the University of Bremen did not exist? Where do we want to go from here? What should the European university look like that we are building with seven other partners under the name “Young Universities for the Future of Europe”? We want to discuss these and similar questions this year, together with the citizens of this city and this state.”, Scholz-Reiter explains.
According to him, without Uni Bremen there would be fewer findings in a whole range of scientific fields that are based in Bremen and that provide important results and approaches for global research and development. If the university did not exist, Bremen as a location would look different – not only because of the employees of the university, but also because of the people who are educated here. The university has not only regional economic effects, but also regional structural effects.
“We want to use our anniversary as an opportunity to make citizens aware of the value of the university. But the anniversary also offers us the opportunity to celebrate ourselves a little, to strengthen our own identity and sense of belonging, and to look with pride at what we have achieved.”
As part of its 50th anniversary celebration this year, the University of Bremen is offering a series of events to experience the many facets of the university as a European research university and an inspiring place for education and teaching. Under the motto “We Bring the City to Our Campus and Turn the City into a Campus,” participants can visit events and exhibitions at a wide variety of locations, take part in seminars, and thus discover how closely the university is connected to Bremen’s everyday life.
All event formats are to take place analogously – as far as the situation in the pandemic allows – and will be adapted in time to the then valid Corona regulations.
The following events are planned as of now:
EXHIBITION
50 “Why? That’s why.”- venues: starting in spring 2021
Exhibition in the Lower Town Hall: October 2021
OPEN CAMPUS WEEK
Location: Campus of the University of Bremen
Dates: June 7 – 13, 2021
CAMPUS CITY
Location: City of Bremen
Dates: October 14 – 31, 2021
Further information can be found here:
https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/university/profile/history-1/50years