Looking Back at a Year in Bremen

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by Lee Mottola, ’18

 

It is really hard to put into words what this year abroad was for me. I guess I’ll start by saying it was real. It was a real experience, it was filled with happiness, laughter, friends and wonder, it was filled with anger, frustration, loneliness and regret. It was everything I needed it to be.

In Bremerhaven, at the North Sea

I arrived in Germany on July 6th, 2016 as a cocky American boy with romanticized expectations for the summer and the year I was about to have. I left Germany on July 28th, 2017, humbled and appreciative of everything my year threw at me, every challenge I had to surmount. From the lowest low of being truly alone, no friends no family and limited ability to talk to those around me in the small Bavarian town of Tegernsee, to challenge of my first days of class at German University, to the realization that the life I had been building over this past year was about to end, there were moments where I was extremely unhappy. But now, being back at Dickinson, every time I’m asked about my time in Germany, without hesitation I say it was the best year in my life. After hearing about the bad times I’m sure that’s hard to believe, but for every time I was down in the dumps there were five I was over the moon with happiness and excitement. My last day on the job as a beer delivery boy and the goodbye everyone at the brewery gave to me, my first time at Oktoberfest, meeting the incredible students and teachers at the University of Bremen, traveling to 13 different countries with friends new and old, scoring my first goal as a member of the Uni Bremen Lacrosse Team, nights spent on my roof with my best friends just talking and being surround by people you love and that you know love you.

Dickinson group and puppet in the emigration museum, on an imitation of a ship to America

All of those great things that happened to me felt so much more satisfying because I knew they were not achieved without effort, without difficulty. I love Bremen, without a doubt. That city gave me so much in the ways of opportunities to study and research incredible topics with engaged and passionate professors, to the friends I made in and outside the classroom, I will be forever thankful for the year I spent there. As I said earlier it’s hard to put the enormous sea of emotions I have about Bremen and Germany into words but I hope you now have some idea about how special this place can be. If I could hit the rewind button and start it all again without knowing what I know now, reliving every difficult moment and every triumphant experience I would, I wouldn’t change a thing about my year abroad because above all else it was real. 

Biology Courses at Uni Bremen

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by Katelyn King (’18)

Structure and function of vertebrate is your basic vertebrate biology intro. I specifically remember learning about the parts of an egg and drawing a bird skeleton for lab and dissecting a fish. Lots of labeling the parts of different animals.

Animal diversity had a lot of insects. I remember the professor explaining that every insect plays a role and that’s why she doesn’t even kill a fly. I think this class went through the phylogenetic tree and focused on some of the systematics.

I also took ‘Ecology of the Giant Mountains’ which was mixed undergrad and masters students. It was offered in English and had a week-long trip to Poland for independent research. I collected and pressed wildflowers. That trip happened in May and I was so sad it was at the end. I was able to actually make some friends who invited me to things and were interested in what I had to say even if they had to decipher it. It was a very emotionally and physically challenging trip that pushed me to work on a mountain building trails the summer after graduation.

Annual Report 2016-17

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Another year has gone by. Another group of students has spent a year in Bremen and has gone back to Dickinson for their senior year. Please find our program report on what we did in this past academic year here:

Durden Dickinson Bremen Program – Annual Report 2016-17

 

Greetings from Bremen!

Janine Ludwig, Academic Director

Working in Bremen

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By Katelyn King ’18

During my time in Bremen, I decided to look for a job to help supplement my travel addiction. I asked Dr. Ludwig for some help and she remembered seeing an e-mail come through her inbox about a student assistant job with Faculty 10, the language departments. Janine Ludwig inquired about the job for me and I applied by submitting my German resume and cover letter, which I had just learned to write in my language class. During the interview, I was offered the job as the student assistant for the ERASMUS office for FB10.

My job included answering emails in German or English, filing paperwork, organizing applications for outgoing students, creating transcripts as credit certificates arrived from professors, and helping incoming students to create their class schedules, dealing with altogether 200 students. I worked 6 hours a week, at the times that fit my schedule and that were outside of my boss’s schedule (we shared the office and the only computer).

The position really helped me out financially and helped me to improve my formal German, as I had to communicate professionally via email. It gave me professional experience in a foreign country to put on my resume, which not only backs up my computer and management skills, but also substantiates my listed language proficiency. I also learned to appreciate all the support that we get from Dickinson, Janine Ludwig, and Verena Mertz, because the ERASMUS students are on their own for a lot of things. I would highly recommend seeking employment in Bremen. It might seem intimidating at first, but it is definitely worth it.

Independent Research Project on NATO

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by Lee Mottola ’18

 

It was an idea born in the streets of Vienna. Originally I wasn’t convinced I could or even wanted to do it, but after deep discussion with my Program Director and Professor Dr. Janine Ludwig, my idea for the Kurth-Voigt Research Project was born. Only days after writing my proposal to research the coming federal elections in Germany, and what that would mean for Germany’s future in the NATO alliance, specifically what their plans were regarding the now infamous 2% military spending goal for members, I had heard that I was awarded the scholarship.

Research began immediately upon my return to Bremen from our class trip to Vienna, with the guidance of both Professor Ludwig and Professor Ulrich Franke of the University of Bremen and INIIS (“Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien”) I discovered various sources, from German talk shows to parliamentary speeches, which deepened my knowledge on the subject and its complexities. But any student could have found these very same sources and used them to write a paper whether they were in the US or in Bremen beside me, that is why I was determined to differentiate the content of my research by getting first hand accounts and information directly from those shaping these important decisions. To that end I reached out to German politicians of all parties and coalitions, as well as members of the German NATO community. Not all of my efforts were successful and many of those I tried to contact were too busy to schedule an interview at the time. However in the end I was able to conduct four interviews with members of the German parliament, Johannes Kahrs (SPD), Dr. André Berghegger (CDU), Florian Hahn (CSU) and Dr. Tobias Lindner (Grüne) in their offices in Berlin and Hamburg to discuss their expectations for the coming election and how it would influence Germany’s future role in NATO.

After months of collecting all this data, in July it finally became time to sit down and write this paper. What I originally anticipated as being a 20-25-page research paper quickly grew beyond my expectation simply because of the detail and complexity of the subject. A lot of blood, sweat, tears, and Club Mate (an amazing energy drink made of yerba mate tea) were poured into my work. There were many days when I wanted to chuck my laptop out of the five-story high window of the Dickinson room on the Uni Bremen campus dashing all my work asunder, but in the end I persevered and delivered the final 34-page copy of my “Magnum Opus” mere days before leaving Bremen. Of all the things I did while abroad, of all the opportunities I took, this research project, though incredibly demanding, frustrating and at times down right tortuous, is my proudest moment from the year abroad. And it never would have happened if not for a stroll through the streets of Vienna. 

Independence Day in Bremen

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As every year, the Carl Schurz German-American Club (CSDAC) hosted a nice 4th-of-July party, gain in potluck and barbecue style. With wonderful weather, big burgers, and great guest, nothing could go wrong. Here are some impressions:

The William ’71 and Elke Durden Literary Series at Bremen #2: Thomas Meinecke

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Workshop, Reading, DJ-Set

by Janine Ludwig

On June 2nd and 3rd, 2017, the Durden Dickinson Program in Bremen hosted the acclaimed writer Thomas Meinecke.

Please find the poster here: DLS Meinecke 2017 Poster (Grafikdesign Sibyll Wahrig)

Meinecke and Ludwig. Foto: Verena Mertz

Thomas Meinecke has received several prizes and many labels: postmodern author, writer of pop literature – although pop philosophy would be more accurate – feminist writer and even queer studies icon, because his new novel Self will surely become a reference text. Meinecke’s other professions as a musician, texter and singer of the alternative cult band F.S.K., as a DJ (Berghain, Pudel Club a.o.) and performer with the format “turntable” (Plattenspieler) at the Berliner Hebbel am Ufer, seem to reflect in his postmodern writing style: His writing technique has been described as sampling, t.i. mixing and juggling with phenomena of 20th and 21st century pop history as well as of diasporas and gender identities, and is based on a wide theoretical background, ranging from Judith Butler to Barbara Vinken.

 

Public lecture and DJ-Set in the club Spedition on June 3rd

Meinecke and Ludwig during the reading. Foto: Verena Mertz

His brand new novel Self (“Selbst”) deals mainly with blurring (gender) identities, love, and erotic desire by analyzing phenomena from fashion (androgynous models), music/ entertainment (e.g. David Bowie or Mykki Blanco music videos), and life style (techno clubs, selfies, beards, intimate shaving, feminist porn). As part of “The William ’71 and Elke Durden Literary Series at Bremen,” he held a public lecture in the off-scene arts & culture & music club Spedition which had hosted him before. An attentive audience of 60-70 people followed a lively mix of reading, video clips and discussion between Meinecke and presenter Janine Ludwig. Afterwards, DJ Winkhorst warmed up the crowd before Thomas started to turn the tables from midnight to 3 a.m.

 

Workshop at the University of Bremen, in cooperation with the IfkuD, on June 2nd

Meinecke (left), next to Janine Ludwig and students. Foto: Verena Mertz

In addition, Meinecke gave an intimate breakfast workshop to both our current group of Dickinsonians and Bremen students at the University of Bremen the day before. One of the threads of his multi-perspective novel happens to deal with utopian, libertarian German immigrants in Texas in the mid-19th century. Ironically, a German society of nobleman (“Adelsverein”) bought land in Texas in order to get rid of German communists by sending them there to colonize it. However, they were duped with dour land, and the colonists, a bunch of intellectuals with little farming experience anyhow, struggled for survival. They did, however, under John O. Meusebach, manage to sign a peace treaty with the hostile Comanche tribe – supposedly the only one which was never broken and is still commemorated annually by the Comanches today.

Lee making a good argument. Foto: Verena Mertz

Meinecke has extensively researched on these settler colonies and produced a film (at the behest of Alexander Kluge/dctp) for which he interviewed the descendants of the “Texas Germans” – who still speak the language, infused with some English terms: “Die sind hier reingemoved.” „Die Kuh ist über den fence gejumpt.“ Despite the settlement fiasco, the descendants still proudly remember the peace treaty as well as the fact that the colonists opposed slavery and some even defected from the confederate Army (and were killed in consequence). We watched snippets from the film, read passages from the book and discussed the idea of “communes” without government, but shared work and property. The workshop presented amazing insights into an almost forgotten culture between the “Beethoven Männerchor” in San Antonio, the “Wurstfest” in New Braunfels, the “Vereins Kirche” and “Social Turn Verein” in Fredericksburg (named after Frederick of Prussia). All this followed up nicely to the seminar “German 340: Comparative Cultures – USA/Germany” which Janine Ludwig taught in fall 2016/17 and which (among other things) covered German immigration to the US in the 18th and 19th centuries. But most of all, it was a unique opportunity for the students to meet, work, and discuss with an author of such a stature in an almost private atmosphere.

The William ’71 and Elke Durden Literary Series at Bremen, this year in cooperation with the Institute for Cultural Studies (IfkuD) at the University of Bremen and the Kunst- und Kulturverein Spedition e.V., was sponsored by Bill and Elke Durden and the Dickinson College. We are grateful for the generous support and also thank the Spedition for wonderfully hosting Saturday’s evening event.

4th Dickinson College Public Lecture

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On May 15, 2017, the Carl Schurz German-American Club Bremen and Dickinson College invited members of the University of Bremen and citizens to the Fourth Dickinson College Public Lecture on:

“Trumped-up Good Relations? – A Russian Perspective on the USA Today”

with Dr. Irina Filippova

 

When Donald Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States of America on November 8th, 2016, many were shocked – but others may have harbored faint hopes as well. Since Trump had already announced his intention to improve American relations with the Russian Federation, many Russian citizens might have expected a new thaw between the two nuclear powers. But events of the last few months have left an ambivalent impression: Amid allegations that Russia attempted to influence the US presidential election, President Trump’s team is also under attack from his own party for its members’ relationships with Russian contacts and for his recent air strike in Syria.

All pictures: © private

This raises the question of what Russians think of and expect from the USA right now. And more importantly, will future generations be able to improve relations? Irina Filippova, Director of the Dickinson-in-Russia Program at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow (RGGU), provided us with some answers. She had collected statements from colleagues at the RGGU, from the press, from Muscovites, and from Dickinson students currently studying in Moscow. Rather than presenting a political analysis of what can only be described as an uncertain status quo, she gave us a first-hand insight into public opinion in Russia, and the mindset and sentiments of so-called “ordinary people” there.

First, she offered a brief overview of the checkered history of Russian-American relations from the 16th century to today. It started with a meeting of Russian Tsar Peter the Great and William Penn – the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony – as a first diplomatic meeting of the two countries in 1698. From the selling of Alaska in 1867 to the Russian revolution in 1917, to being allies in World War II and enemies in the Cold War to the recent Russian transgressions in Crimea and the Donbas in Ukraine, the relations between the countries have currently overall deteriorated.

Dr. Filippova introduced different Russian polling agencies and showed several polls from October 2016 to April 2017 – that clearly indicated how there were some hopes for an improvement in political relations and some support for Donald Trump, but how those have decreased dramatically within those 6 months. Filippova complemented this development with translated headlines from Russian newspapers and pointed cartoons. She rounded up her findings with statements from academics from RGGU. Her personal poll among Russian students and Muscovites of ages around 40 showed that, unfortunately, the younger people seemed generally less interested in politics than the older ones and that both groups have come to rather pessimistic views on the future relations between the United States and Russia.

However, our Dickinson students currently studying in the Moscow program explained how important it is to them, besides all clear differences, to engage in discourse and to be confronted with opposing views from Russian students. Those Dickinson students believe in the importance of intensive study abroad programs as Dickinson offers them – they keep communication alive against all odds and train future competent global citizens who hopefully manage to improve political situations in the future.

Neil van Siclen opening the lecture

Janine Ludwig introducing Irina Filippova

 

Filippova showing newspaper headlines

Celebrating a great lecture

Vienna Excursion 2017

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My tips, tricks, and favorite things in Vienna, Austria

Meghan Straub

All pictures: Meghan Straub

Vienna has quickly become one of my favorite places in the world. I had the wonderful opportunity of living in Vienna for a month while completing my intensive course before coming to Bremen. It was an amazing month filled with travel, history, music, and ice cream. I had such a great time that it was hard for me to pack up my things and leave to start the program in Bremen. Little did I know it then but I would return to my European home of Vienna 2 more times this year (once with my parents and once with the program). As part of the Dickinson in Bremen program we have the opportunity to go on a weeklong excursion to Vienna. We spend the week learning about the history of the city as well as experiencing all of the many facets of culture Vienna has to offer. In this blog I’d like to share some of my favorite moments from the excursion as well as some of my tips as someone who knows Vienna well. But as Julie Andrews says lets start at the very beginning…

  1. Stephan’s Cathedral

Located at the very center of the city, St. Stephan’s is the most important building in the whole city. It is an easy navigation point, many of the city’s sites are within a 10-minute walk from its front door, and it is one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. We got an “All Inclusive” ticket which let us do the audio guided tour of the inside of the cathedral, a tour of the catacombs, an elevator ride to the north tower, and the climb up to the south tower. When I was living in Vienna, I never had the chance to do all of these so I was excited and St. Stephan’s didn’t disappoint. I learned so much about the church from the audio guide and the views from the towers just can’t be beat.

  1. The Austrian National Library

Just down the Graben (the pedestrian area at the center of the city) and around the bend is the Hofburg Palace of the Habsburg dynasty and within this gorgeous palace is the National Library. I’d been to the library before, but this time, we had the extremely fortunate opportunity of getting a special tour. We learned all about the care of the books and the history of the building. The best part for me was getting 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.

 

  1. Peter’s Church

My favorite place in all of Vienna is St. Peter’s church. Located right off the Graben, St. Peter’s is often overlooked. This church is beautifully decorated and offers free concerts almost every night around 7:30pm. They put out a schedule of the weeks events including concerts by violinists, singers, and most importantly (in my opinion) organists. My favorite thing to do in Vienna is to take a late night walk from the Rathaus through the Volksgarten and the Hofburg all the way to my final stop at St. Peter’s church just in time for the concert. There is something magical about sitting in the candle-lit church as a talented musician plays Bach’s Toccata and Fugue on the organ while the whole building shakes from the sound. I highly recommend stopping by if you get the chance. The price (just a tip for the musicians) can’t be beat.

  1. The Vienna State Opera

The city of Vienna is filled with music everywhere you go and the very center of that music is at the state opera house. Located between the Graben and the Ringstraße, the Vienna State Opera is housing performances every night including ballets and of course Operas. As a famous attraction in Vienna, the ticket for the Opera can be quite expensive and often go fast. If you really want to see a performance there you have two options. The first is acquiring a standing room ticket. If you wait outside the building in a line about 80 minutes (or more depending on what show is being performed) before the show you can get a ticket for around 3 euros. Though time consuming and often grueling on hot days, a ticket for that price is hard to pass up. Another option is the large screen outside of the opera house on Kartnerstraße. A couple nights a week the opera displays the performance of the night outside free to the public on a large screen. People bring chairs and blankets to sit outside and enjoy the good weather and beautiful voices for free. If you, like me, aren’t that interested in hearing the voices of the world’s best singers and are more interested in seeing what the inside of the opera house looks like tours are also provided during the day. For about 4 euros (with a student discount) you can go on a tour of the interior of the building and learn all about how the shows are organized and the long history and tradition of opera in Vienna. I highly recommend.

  1. The Prater

Right outside of the inner city of Vienna is the Prater. Founded in 1766, the Prater is essentially an amusement park. The park is open from 10am until 1am and housing tons of restaurants as well as rides. The most famous of which is the Wiener Riesenrad or Ferris wheel. The wheel is 212 feet tall and is famous for its appearance in the movie The Third Man. My favorite ride is not the famous Ferris wheel but rather the tower swings. The Prater Tower is 117m high and offers a breathtaking view of the whole city. If you are afraid of heights it will likely be too much for you but otherwise it is a great way to see the whole city for only 5 euros.

I hope that these tips/suggestions help you to get the most out of your visit to Vienna if you get the opportunity to go. If you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have this past year. Ciao!