Dickinson connects

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Dickinson connects, even beyond school!

from left: Caitlin, Jens, Insa

Caitlin Hahn ’08 spent her year abroad in Bremen and – after graduating – came back to Germany with a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in Hamburg. She decided to stay in Germany and enrolled in an applied literature degree course at Free University in Berlin. Insa Kohler (TA ’10) and Jens Schröder (TA ’07) studied at Uni Bremen and only heard about Caitlin through others. Now that Insa is enrolled in the same degree course at FU Berlin as Caitlin, they both met for the first time in person. So, Jens finally took the chance to visit them both while attending a conference in Berlin.

 

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Fair trade!

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July King ’12 at UTAMTSI’s stand in Baltimore

In June, Prof. Antje Pfannkuchen (German Department), former exchange student Julie King ’12 and Jens Schröder (Program Coordinator) visited the sustainable coffee company UTAMTSI outside Bremen (see blog entry below). The company is already engaged in educating Dickinson students in sustainable coffee production and its fair distribution in Cameroon. Back in June, both sides expressed their wish to cooperate more closely together and share expertise and knowledge about sustainable planting methods. Now, a first step is accomplished: Morin Fobissie Kamga, one of the founders of UTAMTSI, visited Dickinson this week and is now in Baltimore attending a conference about sustainable food production. At the conference, Morin is supported by – yes – Julie King. The triangle Bremen-Cameroon-Dickinson works in a true Dickinson spirit: globally and sustainably!

But there is more: in the same week, Bremen was awarded the title “Germany’s Capitol of Fair Trade”, recognizing Bremen’s efforts to promote fair trade projects across the city. Find the newspaper article here (in German):

https://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/stadtteil-schwachhausen/bremen-will-hauptstadt-des-fairen-handels-2011-werden-doc7e3kkjykxvbk480jmx

 

Tschüss…

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by Gaven Trinidad, ’12

“Touch is very important in life. It’s all we have in trying to reach out to another person.” Tennessee Williams


What people from home had forgotten to tell me is that there is an end to a study abroad experience. Without a doubt, I knew that I would have to return to Dickinson College and reunite with my family after graduation while I search for work in my intended career, but never had I expected that saying goodbye to Germany would be so difficult. I even had to say goodbye to Harry Potter, and that was depressing enough (coincidentally, the last film in the franchise was released this past weekend, which also meant an end to my childhood).

Last week was the final week of formal classes at Universität Bremen, and the Dickinson family had already started to return back to the United States; the week before starting with Ethan’s departure. By next week more than half of the Dickinson students would have returned home (Becky, Anne, Sam, and Mel). The last person to return home would be me on August 9th.  Then I guess I’m the most fitting person to write this “goodbye” blog entry.

The experience of studying abroad in Germany was more than what I had anticipated. Not only did I study, work, and immerse myself blindly into this beautiful culture through its art and history, but also I made life-long friends along the way. The first was my study buddy, Cara, who helped me practice my conversational skills. We’ve partied and studied together. We would relish in our love for theater and joke about our futures as actors.  Another good friend was Lisa, who was always around for good advice and a beautiful model pose for every picture we had taken together. Maria and Katalina, who always there for a good laugh, were two other good friends I had from the university. I called these four girls my “Ruhrgebiet Girls” because they all came from either Essen or Dortmund. And the person who I would miss probably the most would be my now ex-boyfriend, Sebastian, who will begin his studies in theater and psychology at a university.

What made our goodbyes tragic seemed to be the unspoken question: When will be the next time we will physically see each other? Hug each other? Laugh with/at each other?  And in a weird way, I felt a bit like Harry Potter, standing on a platform wat-ching the Hogwarts Express leave Kings Cross Station. It was another lesson about being an adult. I had to learn to say goodbye and continue on with life armed with the joyous me-mories I had gained. Hugging them and saying goodbye was not as painful as I had feared.

Germany, you are a beautiful country with a rich history, art, and language. The people were beautiful, inside and out, and I’m happy to have lived in the beautiful city of Bremen. Now I just need some time to clean my apartment, pack my bags, finish my Hausarbeiten, and return to life as a student at Dickinson College.

 

 

New Master Agreements

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Dickinson signed three new Master’s Agreements with the Department of Language and Literary Studies.

In the presence of Dr. Uwe Spörl (Uni Bremen), Dr. Antje Pfannkuchen and Dr. Janine Ludwig (both Dickinson College), the new contract was signed adding “Germanistik”, “Language Science” and “Transnational Literary Studies” to the existing portfolio of Master’s programs with special access for Dickinson alumni.

 

from left to right: Dr. Janine Ludwig (DC), Dr. Uwe Spörl (Uni Bremen) and Dr. Antje Pfannkuchen (DC)

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UTAMTSI: “A Story of Encounters” / “Eine Geschichte des Begegnens”

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by Julie King ’12

Wednesday afternoon Prof. Antje Pfannkuchen, Jens, and I hopped in the car that Dickinson occasionally borrows through a car sharing company in order to drive to Lilienthal, a suburb of Bremen in Niedersachsen, where we had an appointment with a representative of UTAMTSI. As Dickinson-in-Bremen’s “Sustainability Intern” I got to come along to visit the fair-trade coffee company. When we arrived, I realized my expectations were all wrong – in the good way. Perhaps because of the giant building near the central train station with the giant Jacobs (Coffee) sign, I had expected something bigger, more urban and definitely more stereotypically corporate. In actuality, the UTAMTSI office and roasting house in a wooded area of Lilienthal is a small part of a complex that appeared to have some other offices as well housing for handicapped individuals.

To my surprise, our appointment was not just with a representative of UTAMTSI, but the founder himself, Mr. Morin Fobissie Kamga. The three of us sat down at a table with Mr. Kamga and another visitor who appeared to be a student. Before I get started on the fascinating story of UTAMTSI I need to explain its pre-existing relationship to Dickinson. In February Brian Brubaker, the director of Dickinson’s Office of Global Education, visited UTAMTSI to find more about the sustainable company that is coincidentally based in Bremen, Germany, and Yaoundé, Cameroon, both of which are the locations of Dickinson Study Abroad Programs. After hearing the “UTAMTSI Story,” Brian Brubaker must have spread the word, because the students in Yaoundé visited the Cameroon location where Mr. Kamga, who annually returns for the coffee harvest, shared his story and showed the girls where coffee beans are grown and then sorted. Therefore, it shouldn’t have a surprise, but it was still surreal to sit down with a man I had just met in Bremen to look at pictures of girls I know from Dickinson visiting the same man in Cameroon.

While showing us pictures of coffee trade and his home in Cameroon, Mr, Kamga began the fascinating story about how UTAMTSI originated. The son of coffee farmers in a village outside of Yaoundé, Mr, Kamga, persevered and worked hard in school to pass standardized tests in a land variable teaching skills and curriculums. Having learned English, French, and German he applied to a private university in Koblenz, Germany. After a short time he transferred to the University of Bremen where he studied economics. In his student-housing complex, he met another student named Stephan Frost. Having told Stephan all about his home and the coffee industry, where farmers only received 3% of the final sale-price for their coffee beans, Mr. Kamga rejected a job offer from the World Bank and decided to start his own coffee company with Stephan. With fewer middlemen he could offer better profits for the farmers near his home and better quality for his customers.

Spreading the word to farmers that he would pay 1.30€ instead of 0.30€ Mr. Kamga initially faced threats from a few crooked competitors, but now successfully has contracts with over 1000 farmers, who use peer-to-peer quality control and natural farming techniques. UTAMSI is also unique in that women and slightly handicapped workers are welcomed workers. There is even an employee to watch after the children while their mothers sort out good beans. Once harvested the beans are shipped to Bremen, where they are roasted, packaged and sold. The smaller location in Bremen also employs handicapped individuals who weigh, grind and package the roasted beans.

Additional UTAMTSI projects include the funding for a local health center outside of Yaoundé and contributions to rural schools that are always in need of supplies and adequate teachers. Student interns from Germany have gone to Cameroon to teach German and to help with the coffee bean harvest. And lastly, loyal customers have had the opportunity to travel to Cameroon for weeklong home stays with coffee-bean farming families.  Future plans include a trip to a business fair in September in Baltimore and hopefully a visit to Dickinson. Mr. Kamga also shared his ambition to open another location somewhere in Germany.

To fulfill the goal of our visit, we presented the idea that a professor and student from Dickinson’s International Business and Management department write a case study about UTAMTSI. The company fits perfectly with Dickinson’s mission to „engage the world sustainably,“ and as a former economics student himself, Mr. Kamga, happily accepted the offer, understanding the benefits of a case study about his company.

While we enjoyed a cup of fresh pressed UTAMTSI coffee and some cake, Mr. Kamga explained the meaning of the name UTAMTSI. In his native language Nafi “U” means “we” or “a collective group” (“Wir/Gemeinsam”); “TAM” translates to “meet” or “encounter” (“Begegnen”) and means the “the story of humanity is characterized by constant encounters” (“Die Geschichte der Menschheit ist von ständiger Begegnung geprägt”); and “TSI” translates to “water” (“Wasser”) and means “ancient cure that gives power” (“Uraltes Heilmittel, das Kraft schenkt”). Leaving UTAMTSI and smelling like coffee, I couldn’t help but think how accurate and fitting the name UTAMTSI is for the triangular relationship between the coffee company and Dickinson.  Dickinsonians helped sort coffee beans in Yaoundé, we saw the roasting process in Bremen, and when Antje returns to Carlisle, the German professors will drink coffee that completes the circle.

 

 

Norway

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by Ethan Grandel ’12

1. Bergen, on the southwestern coast of Norway, is the country’s second-largest city.
2. Someone setting out from Bergen for the village of Flåm by train to Voss, bus to Gudvangen, and finally boat would arrive in five hours.
3. This would be at the end of the Aurlandsfjord, a branch of Norway’s longest fjord, the Sognefjord (over 200 kilometers).  Walking the ten kilometers along the Aurlandsfjord from Flåm to Aurlandsvangen, the administrative center of Aurland municipality, one could only follow the hiking path from Flåm partway.  (The remainder to Aurlandsvangen must be walked along the E16 highway.)
4. If on a winter’s morning a traveler outside the village of Flåm at this point ascends the steep slope, what story up there awaits its end?  The houses stand from the 17th century.
5. On your way to Myrdal with the Flåm Railway, you pass by the Kjosfossen, frozen in winter.
6. There is an excellent view of Bergen from Mt. Fløyen, one of the seven mountains surrounding the city.  But which ones are these?
7. A departure from the gateway to the fjords on a northbound Norwegian ferry would bring one to the Art Nouveau city of Ålesund on the following afternoon.  418 steps ascend to the Mt. Aksla summit.
8. The coastline grows increasingly rugged going north after leaving Trondheim, but may remain under cloud and snow still falling faintly.
9. North of the Arctic Circle, sea eagles watched us near Ørnes.
10. Snow faintly falls on dark tree-lined ridges, in a network of lines that enlace, in a network of lines that intersect.
11. Imagine that the same previously shaded islands and snow-covered coasts were, southbound, sunlit.
12. Along the Trollfjord, one almost wants to say that this is the most spectacular segment of coastline, but what does that mean here?
13. The second time in Trondheim, following the trend of returning, was warmer and brighter, weather in which the near rainbow colors of the warehouses lining the Nidelva showed themselves even more vibrantly.
14. Not yet home, we rearrive to the far calls of gulls amidst the mountains of Bergen.

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Lebenslang grün-weiß !!

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by Nicole Couturiaux ’12

When local Fußball club SV Werder Bremen has a home game, the entire city gets decked out green and busy with energy from thousands of fans. I get caught up in the frenzy too, sporting my Werder scarf and meeting up with friends to join the public viewing in pubs downtown. This past Friday, though, my fanship was taken to a new a level.

Prof. Ludwig and Jens were able to score tickets for the game against Wolfsburg, so the Dickinson in Bremen program took an evening excursion to the standing block of the stadium. Our group was in the center of the action. Everything you may have heard about the German passion for Fußball is true – and then some! Bratwurst and bier abound, huge flags and scarves are waved in the air, and Bremen’s team chants and songs ring continuously through the stadium.

The best is when the Werder team/lineup is introduced with the announcer calling out the player/coach’s name and the crowd yelling back the last name. At the end of the intro, the announcer calls out “#12, that’s…” and the crowd roars “us!” back and forth a million times! There are actually only 11 players from a team on the field at once, but this cheer shows how strong and important the role of the fans really is. You also get the sense that Werder is much more than a team, Fußball much more than a sport. It’s a commitment, and one that often lasts a lifetime. Though Werder was unable to score and in the end lost, our group had a great time and we’ll ready to show our support in next game – back at our usual pub seating.

Discussion about sustainability

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by Julie King ’12

On the evening of March 30th I hopped on my bicycle and ventured into town to the Haus der Wissenschaft, or simply, the House of Science, in order to go to an event that is part of a series of environmentally themed lectures throughout the spring and summer. The translated title of the event was “The University in the city: Are we running out of juice?” The two-hour event consisted of three lecturers, with slightly different themes relating to the shortage of resources and the development of renewable energy in Bremen, and a question-and-answer based discussion at the end.

The first lecturer and chairman of BUND Bremen (BUND= the German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation), Klaus Prietzel, talked about “peak oil” and its implications on the environment, but mainly its implications on the energy industry. The term “peak oil” refers to the point at which global oil extraction reaches its maximum. Scientists disagree on the when peak oil will happen; the conventional consensus is for the year 2020, whereas more radically optimistic scientists predict 2035. Some scientists maintain that we have already passed the tipping point, which occurred in 2006. Because of the number of environmentally related events and sciences classes I have attended in high school and at Dickinson, Herr Prietzel’s presentation did not contain much that I hadn’t heard before. Some of his interesting points included the inefficiency and risks of oil dependence. For example, automobiles lose 80% of oil-produced energy through heat-loss and most houses lose around 95%. I found Herr Prietzel’s analogy of oil as a drug as particularly accurate: it’s dangerous, addictive and an expensive habit. Dangerous both environmentally and politically, especially consider 97% of the oil consumed in Germany is imported. In his conclusion, Herr Prietzel admitted that oil is important to the economy of Bremen, considering the economic roles of Mercedes-Benz and Daimler and the shipping harbors in Bremen and Bremerhaven.  Peak oil is a kind of crisis, but also an opportunity for positive change. Herr Prietzel asserted the importance of finding a substitution for oil, but admitted that the answer does not lie in biomass renewable energies or natural gas, but in renewable energies from sun and wind. More importantly, though, is the transition to lifestyles of lower energy consumption.

The second lecturer, Dr. Torsten Köhne, provided an interesting perspective as a board member of SWB, the energy company in Bremen. His lecture, titled “Sind nicht knappe Ressourcen vielleicht auch eigentlich knapp?” which translates roughly to “Are not scarce Resources actually in short supply?” Dr. Köhne’s presentation was a little harder for me to follow because of the speed at which he talked and the density of information on his slides. He started by talking about the importance of coal in the energy industry, its high costs and its damage to the environment. He then moved on to the prospect of renewable energies and I loved his quote “Die Sonne schickt uns keine Rechnung” – “The sun doesn’t send us a bill.” In order to power the city of Bremen sustainability, we would need 900 wind turbines, 60 square kilometers of solar panels, or 325 square kilometers of corn or turnips for biomass fuels. The problem is that we lack the surface area, capital, and public power supply infrastructure to achieve any of those options, and even more crucial is the public will for and acceptance of such an idea. He ended with the reality of the energy industry: decisions and initiatives are based on politics and money more so than what is best for the environment.

The last lecturer, Michael Flitner, was a Professor from ARTEC the Sustainable Research Center of the University of Bremen. His presentation was “Wege zu 100% erneubarem Strom” or “The Way to 100% Renewable Energy.” His basic point was just that our greatest need at the moment is more research, but by combining the energy production of on- and off-shore wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric means, and gas-forming bio masses Germany could be powered by only renewable energy by 2050. It could be possible that I missed the means to Professor Flitner’s “end” because of language problems, but I’m pretty sure his presentation only really argued for the need for research and public support to realize his plan – which seems fantastic, but ambitious.

The question and answer session at the end was interesting. The old man next to me brought up a great question – What about all of the energy consumption that can’t be plugged in? The consumption that for now can’t use renewable energy, like planes for example.  The answer to his question was just that we need more research and more changes in technology. Another highlight of the discussion was a man who was getting rather heated in his “Why can’t we be more like Denmark?”- speech. Apparently the smaller country to the north already has succeeded in the transition to substantial energy production from wind power. Needless to say, even if Germany is not quite up to par with Denmark, the event at the House of Science was worth attending and I feel quite accomplished for having understood such topics. My dream job would be to work for a German-based renewable energy company, so now at least I know there may be a job for me out there somewhere.

BIZ Internship

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by Nicole Couturiaux

Greetings from Bremen! – more specifically, from my desk at the Bremer Informationszentrum für Menschenrechte und Entwicklung (Bremen Information Center for Human Rights and Development, or simply “biz”).

I’m into the homestretch of my last week of a 6 week internship at biz. Technically it’s Semesterferien (“semester break”) for the German university system, but this month and a half has been anything but a vacation for me. From 10am-6pm Monday through Friday I work to further education in sustainable development (meaning the bettering of both human lives and the environment through the institution of respectful, healthy, and justly-profitable social and business practices). biz is an NGO that supports local interest groups, holds seminars and lectures, designs and distributes museum exhibitions, organizes speakers to give interactive presentations in local schools, and maintains a library specific to research and pedagogic work in human rights and development issues.

Interning in a foreign country comes with a unique set of challenges. My responsibilities range from those involving complex skills, like helping teachers and students find research materials in our library, translating the biz website from German into English, and sitting in on planning committee meetings for upcoming sustainable development events in Bremen to more traditional “intern”-labeled assignments like making photo copies, answering the telephone, and mailing programs and flyers to the community. Acting as a librarian for, say, university faculty researching blue jean manufacturing processes and implications in China is tough, but, as I’ve learned, even a mundane task like data entry carries new weight and offers unexpected learning opportunities in a second language. In both situations, I was held accountable for accurate comprehension and articulation. And in both I was pulled outside of my comfort zone, but eventually met with success – rewarded with new vocabulary words and a sense of confidence.

Working with German colleagues has also been incredibly valuable. From the start I was much more hesitant to interact with these new acquaintances then my vocal, outgoing self has ever been. My coworkers, however, were understanding and very welcoming, so eventually I figured out biz’s office norms – the tone used between colleagues, team meetings, packing organic lunches, standard dress (this level of casual actually took me some time to get in synch with), etc. – and adjusted to my environment. It does help that everyone in the office is sensitive to cultural differences, as they work for a human rights organization, after all! Though they are interested in hearing my American interpretations of things, their support of my German is also hugely appreciated. In addition to an increase in my vocabulary, I have noticed my sentences flowing more smoothly and me incorporating more creative structures and idioms. Even my thoughts are thought more frequently in German.

The biggest impact of my coworkers on me is their enthusiasm in explaining their individual projects to me and encouraging me to investigate these topics with further research in our library. In this way I have learned so much about human rights and environmental issues – issues that transcend cultures – and how educational organizations like biz can effect changes in attitudes that in turn lead to definite changes in government and business policies. So, all in all, it looks like I had a pretty worthwhile Semesterferien.