When I first enrolled into the course, I was skeptical at what we would be discussing, because as an American raised in the 21st century, I’ve never had to think much about Germans in the context of American culture. I appreciated the way this course was able to go through every major era in U.S. history, speaking about the German presence in each. I also enjoyed hearing more about the German perspective on America (as I’ve never really thought before what Germans think of us… I had no idea how Americanized Germany is, but it makes sense considering the U.S. occupied Germany for many years). It was nerve-racking to complete a 15-minute presentation ‘auf Deutsch,’ but I’m grateful I was able to get some practice before completing presentations in other classes. Overall, I feel like a I learned a lot from the course and enjoyed it very much. >Liz Bodenman<
I really enjoyed the course “Kultur heißt vergleichen: USA / Deutschland.” It was very challenging for me to read long texts in German, but it improved my knowledge of the language greatly. Overall, I learned a lot in this course, and I especially enjoyed studying German-American migration patterns. The trip to Bremerhaven was helpful and informative. I also enjoyed learning about the impact of American and Western culture in the GDR. >Malou Planchard<
I really liked the seminar because I learned a lot about the relationship between Germany and the US that I didn’t know before. It was great to learn about this changing relationship over the course of history and how its developments have influenced our thinking today. Moreover, we had a lot of interesting discussions which were very informative and a great place for exchange of ideas and opinions especially since all the attendees were from different countries. >Isabell Hamm<
I thought the course was really insightful for the relationship between the US and Germany. I liked that we started in the 19th century because most people often start with World War I and omit the immigration influx. Also, I liked looking through the lens of pop culture throughout the 20th century because in America, we only focus on the political tensions. It was unique to also read it from a German perspective of how they viewed cultural traits and where did they come. I thought the discussions went well as we had good debates, and Dr. Ludwig furthered the discussion. >Sandi Kadric<
Roaring Twenties
I enjoyed learning about the stereotypes both America and Germany have formed on one another. I also enjoyed learning about how German people emigrated to America in search of “The American Dream” as I think that this mentality was still as prominent in recent years as it was over 200 years ago. However, my favorite part of the seminar was discussing more recent historical aspects (1920’s-present). Anti-war protests, “the roaring twenties” and women’s rights movements particularly interested me. I also enjoyed learning about Iraq and Palestine and perhaps how the media influences a great deal of what we view on television/in the media. Finally, it was great learning a different approach on how to read articles/pieces of writing. I now know the importance in not believing everything I read as there are many factors to take into consideration such as the writers’ viewpoint/sources which influence what we read. >Amy Hughes<
What interested me the most about this seminar was the content specifically. There was a lot of material and texts given for the students to learn, in more detail, about the topics discussed. This was extremely helpful in understanding each topic every week. Personally, I found the topic I done my presentation on the most intriguing because of how much more I learned by all my research in order to understand as much as I could for my presentation. Overall, I learned an unbelievable amount of content about each topic which in turn, made me very interested in this module. I enjoyed this seminar immensely throughout the semester. >Lisa Doyle<