Category Archives: Cultural

Globale Literature Festival 2025

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by Janine Ludwig

From October 27 to November 2, 2025, Bremen’s renowned annual international Festival for Border-Crossing Literature called Globale took place. We had the honor of being invited to the opening night, a festive event in the Town Hall.

Afterwards, we listened to a reading of excerpts from David Safier’s book Die Liebe sucht in Zimmer (Love in Search for a Room) by the famous actress Anna Thalbach, intermingled with Uni Bremen’s Prof. Dr. Karen Struve interviewing the author to explain the complex and captivating story of his book. Our students were able to obtain a signed copy afterwards.

During the subsequent festive reception, our Dickinson students met several interesting people, including a group of Ukrainian students from Odesa, who were attending a research week at the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen and who invited our students for a joint dinner the next evening.

Many fascinating events, readings, and talks followed throughout the week, including, on Oct 29, a talk by Dr. Oxana Matiychuk with the title “Literature in/From the War: A Report from Chernivtsi,” which was introduced by Prof. Dr. Susanne Schattenberg, head of the Research Center for Eastern Europe.

On Nov 1, a discussion was held between Heike Paul and Marcel Dirsus (author of How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive) on: “Looking West: On the Current Situation in the United States.”

Marcel Dirsus (left), interviewed by Heike Paul

The same day, a reading (with interview) of Dmitrij Kapitelman’s Russische Spezialitäten (Russian Specialties) explored the heartbreaking attempt of a Ukrainian German from Kyiv, who grew up in Leipzig, to convince his own mother—who lives safely in Germany and has been taken in by Russian propaganda—that it is Putin who is attacking Ukraine, not the other way around.

German Ukrainian author Dmitrij Kapitelman (right), interviewed by Klaas Anders

This wonderful literature festival has been founded and run for a long time by Libuše Černa. Last year, she handed over to a young team, led by Tatjana Vogel and Daniel Schmidt, who was an exchange student from the University of Bremen at Dickinson College a few years ago.

 

Werder Game at the Weser Stadium

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We rounded our orientation week off with a visit to the Weser Stadion, the home stadium of Bremen’s soccer team Werder Bremen. We watched the first division highlight game between the women’s team of Werder Bremen and the women’s team of the Hamburger SV (HSV).

It was the first “Nordderby” (“Northern Derby” – that’s how the rival games between Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV are called) in the Women’s Bundesliga history, since the team of Hamburg was promoted to the first division for the first time this season.

The stadium was nearly sold out, and we had tickets in the “Ostkurve”, the fan block of Werder Bremen. It was a good game, and Bremen ended up winning 2:0.

Tour through the Haus der Bürgerschaft – the seat of Bremen’s State Parliament

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During our Orientationweek, our students also had the change to participate in an exclusive tour through the Haus der Bürgerschaft, organized by the International Office of the University of Bremen.

from left to right: Alex, Kate and Haley

On 9th September 1966, the Haus der Bürgerschaft was inaugurated as the seat of the Bremen Parliament (Bremische Bürgerschaft). The state parliament of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen still meets here today and passes or amends laws for Bremen and Bremerhaven. (Source)

During the tour, our students learned more about the architecture and history of the building, as well as about Bremen’s state parliament.

If you want to find out more about Bremen’s State Parliament, find more information about it here in English or in German.

We would like to thank the International Office for organizing this tour!

Herzlich Willkommen in Bremen

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Last week, we welcomed our new Dickinson-in-Bremen students Alex, Haley and Kate in Bremen.

We started off our Orientation Week with a delicious dinner in the “Ratskeller” in the historic center of Bremen as well as a tour through Bremen by former Dickinson-in-Bremen student Grear, who studied abroad in Bremen during the Spring in 2024 and is now doing his master in Germany. He came to visit us in Bremen to help our new students get to know the city and show them his favorite spots. Thank you, Grear!

from left to right: Academic Director Dr. Janine Ludwig, Haley, Kate, Program Coordinator Antonia Gabler, Alex, former DiB Student Grear.

Our new students will attend our Dickinson-in-Bremen Orientationweek this week, before they start their classes at Uni Bremen next week.

We can’t wait to spend the next semester(s) with you in Bremen!

Tübingen Cultural Trip

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by Makayla McCloskey ’26 and Crosby Wilkin ’26

With a very generous donation from a Dickinson Alum, six Dickinson students were able to afford a weekend trip to Tübingen, Germany. While there, we were able explore the city and visit Professor McGaughey, a Dickinson Professor currently on sabbatical.

On Friday afternoon after we finally arrived, Professor McGaughey gave us a quick tour of her favorite places to grab a drink and helped get us oriented with the city. We ended our evening with Professor McGaughey at the Neckarmüller Biergarten, which sits right along the bank of the Neckar River.

from left to right: Ellen, Professor McGaughey, Crosby, Olivia, Isabel, Delaney, Makayla

We started our Saturday by taking the Regional Tram to Bebenhausen, a small village just outside of Tübingen, famous for its rich history and beautiful Klöster (monasteries). Naturally, we toured the Klöster and learned lots about the local history.  

from left to right: current Dickinson in Bremen students Olivia, Makayla, Delaney, Isabel, Ellen and Crosby

Afterwards, we met with Professor McGaughey and her Stepmother, to learn about the Tafel in Tübingen, a foodbank where young people often volunteer. Next, we moved onto a city tour. We hiked up a large hill to the University of Tübingen, where we got to look over the city and take in the sights of some of its most important and historically significant locations.

from left to right: Crosby, Delaney, Isabel, Professor McGaughey, Olivia, Makayla, Ellen

Sunday morning, we took one more turn about the city and explored the Hölderlin tower, a building famous for being the place of residence of famous poets, most notably Friedrich Hölderlin. Although the trip was short, with the help of Professor McGaughey we received an exclusive look into life in Tübingen and had a ton of fun in the process.

Nina and Crosby Take on Berlin

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by Nina Grafton ’26

Thanks to a generous donation to our program, Crosby and I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin for a long weekend. Despite the very hot weather, we were able to see many of Berlin’s important buildings and museums. We did many of the “traditional” things to do when in Berlin, like visiting the East Side Gallery or the Brandenburger Tor. But we also visited places like the Schwules Museum and even climbed to the top of the Berliner Dom! Our trip was rich in history and culture, and we hope we can go back to explore Berlin again sometime in the future.

Crosby and I at the Brandenburger Tor, the first monument we visited.
East Side Gallery: It was moving to think about the East Germans who were shot at that Wall when they tried to overcome it to flee to the West.
Berliner Dom
Crosby at the top of the Berliner Dom.
Crosby “shaking hands” with the SED at the DDR Museum.
Me in front of the Spree and the Alte Nationalgalerie!

40th Anniversary – Wednesday June 4

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On Wednesday, President Jones and his wife Beth visited the Mercedes Plant in Bremen together with some of the current Dickinson-in-Bremen students.

looking at different Mercedes cars from throughout the time ©Antonia Gabler

Due to security measurements, we unfortunately weren’t able to take our phones inside of the plant to take any pictures or videos, but believe us, it was truly spectacular and mesmerizing.

from left to right: Dr. Janine Ludwig (Academic Director of the Durden Dickinson in Bremen Program), Olivia Ammon (current Dickinson-in-Germany student), Makayla McCloskey (current Dickinson-in-Germany student), Beth Jones, College President John E. Jones III, Antonia Gabler (Program Coordinator of the Durden Dickinson in Bremen Program), Crosby Wilkin (current Dickinson-in-Germany student) ©Janine Ludwig

In the evening, we concluded our anniversary celebrations with a wonderful dinner at Restaurant Ship Alexander von Humboldt with the current Dickinson-in-Germany students as well as many of our guests of honor.

we enjoyed a delicious dinner on deck ©Antonia Gabler
©Antonia Gabler

from left to right: Beth Jones, President John E. Jones and current Dickinson-in-Germany student Delaney Bright ©Antonia Gabler

We would like to thank everyone who took part in our 40th Anniversary Program celebrations. We are so grateful for our Dickinson-in-Bremen community, friends and supporters all around the world.

Special Object Presentation at the Austrian National Library – video clip

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During our Vienna excursion, we had the chance to experience a special object presentation at the Austrian National Library during which we were allowed to browse through books from various centuries.

Watch our newest Youtube clip to get some impressions:

Music: BackgroundMusicForVideo via pixabay.com

A Visit to the German Emigration Center (Deutsches Auswandererhaus)

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In front of the Emigration Center in Bremerhaven-

In the context of Dr. Ludwig’s course on comparing German and American culture, the students of the seminar had the opportunity to visit the “Deutsches Auswandererhaus” (German Emigration Center) in Bremerhaven. Marie, a student from Dr. Ludwig’s seminar, briefly summarized the visit for us:

A rebuild of the Bremerhaven quay.

“Today we went to the Deutsche Auswanderungshaus (German Emigration Center) in Bremerhaven with a small group of students. In advance, each member of the group received an emigrant’s card so we were able to follow their individual story.”

“The stories are the experiences of people who really existed. Our journey into the past began in 1888. That’s when many people in Hamburg, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven began their journey to a new world. In total, seven million people emigrated during the 19th and 20th century. The starting point was the quay in Bremerhaven, which brought many emigrants to New York. It was an exciting journey into the past and certainly created some food for thought.”

Photographs of the journey to New York.