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
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:
by Lee Mottola
After a summer working in a picturesque Bavarian mountain town and a subsequent month in Munich during Oktoberfest it’s safe to say my threshold for fun has reached one of its highest points. With that in mind I was looking towards my next new start in Bremen with mixed feelings. Sure, I would be getting back to a university and all the excitement that comes from being around other 20 something’s in a country where even my little sister could legally drink, but Bremen isn’t exactly known for its party scene. Even among abroad options at Dickinson it’s pretty much ignored by anyone who isn’t pining for the self-torture that is learning the German language (I jest).
Lee at the North Sea
After a few days of pre-orientation all the German students arrived and life began to spring up on the concrete and steel campus that I now call my own. The first week of orientation here in Germany is pretty much syllabus week back at Dickinson, except with even less classes. There’s also the small fact that before orientation week you haven’t chosen classes yet. The first two weeks are dedicated to trying every conceivable class you could have interest in. I personally started with 20 and ended with 4 and that is pretty normal.
That being said 20 courses in two weeks wasn’t going to stop me from having fun and if there was one thing I learned from being in Germany for months previous, it’s that if you want to have fun you have to make it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t speak the language, if you’re on your own or nervous, just jump in and take a chance. That is what study abroad is about right? Anyways, German-syllabus week was flush with opportunities to jump in, from dance parties in a rented-out tram cart to bar tours throughout the infamous Kultur Hub of the Viertel anything and everything was on the table. There was also a very interesting underground Deutsch Rap concert mixed in much to my surprise. It all culminated in a trip for my fellow Politikwissenschaft first years to some sleep away camp outside of the city where we drank the obnoxious amount of beer provided to us by older students in the major and danced to horribly chosen playlists (also provided by the older students in the major) Sure, there was a lot of drinking but I guess that’s could actually be considered a German cultural event if you don’t think too hard about it. In that first week, I met almost all of the people, German, Polish, Italian or otherwise that are now my closest friends here. Throughout the summer and my time in Munich I never had that much luck meeting people. The difference between them? Here in Bremen I jumped into every opportunity I got and in the process I also figured out Bremen is pretty fun.
by Dr. Janine Ludwig
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:
by Helen Schlimm
Ira, Carol, Phoebe, Helen (fr. left t. right)
I don’t believe that a true German study abroad experience would be complete without attending a real soccer game and finding oneself in the middle of the beautiful madness that is this nation’s most beloved sport. The spirits were certainly high, and the stakes were even higher at the recent Werder Bremen game against Stuttgart, with a loss guaranteeing a drop into the second league for Bremen. Despite signs protesting Monday-evening games, excitement, tension and anticipation amongst the green and white fans filled the entire stadium. The next 90 minutes were action-packed, astonishing and thrilling as Werder flattened Stuttgart 6-2, and no Bremer could have been happier! Strangers were hugging strangers, everybody was cheering, chanting, singing and proudly holding their Werder scarves high! It was such an incredible atmosphere and a really fun game of Fußball to follow. The entire city was united by this win in that stadium, and it was so exciting to be a part of the soccer culture that is so fundamentally German. Werder Bremen Olé! Lebenslang grün-weiß!
“Stoppen” – from left to right: Janine Ludwig (under the “O”), Ira (under the left “P”), Carol (betw. the “Ps”) Phoebe (under the right “P”), Helen (under the “E”)
P.S.: Eventually, in the very last game of the season, on May 14, 2016, Werder secured its continuance in the 1st league / Erste Bundesliga (“Klassenerhalt”) by winning 1:0 against Frankfurt. Hooray! “Nie mehr Zweite Liga!”
Helen and Ira
On February 27, Dickinson-in-Bremen went to see Werder Bremen play against Darmstadt 98 (an ascender from the second league). Let’s say, the game was a little unfortunate – only a draw of 2:2… But we had fun nonetheless!
For the last couple of seasons, Werder has been having a somewhat bad streak in the German league called Bundesliga: Right now, we are on the so-called relegation spot, which means # 16 of 18 teams. The last two teams will be directly relegated into the second league (in exchange for their top two), and the 16th will battle the 3rd of the second league. Of course, we do not plan on doing that, but stay in the first league for sure. After all, Werder Bremen has a long history and tradition in the Bundesliga and is, in fact, the second best team in the all-time table!
“Lebenslang Grün-Weiß.” The green # 14 is our beloved Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro.
This year’s Christmas celebration served as a meeting place for current and former Dickinson-in-Bremen students as well as future and former OSAs, altogether a group of almost 20 people. We started off with a round of Secret Santa, followed by building one’s own gingerbread house – in miniature. See for yourself:
Helen, Phoebe, Carol, former OSA Laura, former OSA (from left to right)
Every year, the Carl Schurz Deutsch-Amerikanischer Club hosts a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner. This year, it took place at the Atlantic Grand Hotel in the city center of Bremen. The red carpet was laid out at its entrance in the Böttcherstraße to welcome the many guests.
Our current Dickinson-in-Bremen students were joined by Janie Feldman, who spent a year in Bremen in 2013-2014 and has returned to Germany on a Fulbright teaching assistantship, and Philipp Schott, OSA at Dickinson in 2014-2015.
After the welcome reception, the evening entailed a quiz, musical acts, and of course an amazing Thanksgiving dinner buffet that was accompanied by live piano music. What a wonderful way of starting into the holiday season!
All photos are courtesy of the Carl Schurz Deutsch-Amerikanischer Club and were taken by Raju Gurung. For additional photos, please follow the link to the Thanksgiving Dinner 2015 photo album on the Facebook page of the CSDAC HERE.
After all the introductions, lectures, and discoveries at the university, we needed a time-out and some relaxation. Thus, on Thursday night, we had a small celebration to which we invited the new students along with Bremen-in-Dickinson and Dickinson-in-Bremen alumni. Together we watched the soccer game between Germany and Ireland, which was one of the qualification games to the European Championship to take place in 2016.
The “offside rule” with a bunch of gummy bears
First, some of the Germans explained the soccer rules for the Americans, and maybe also for some Germans, e.g. the offside rule, for which they relied on the helpf of gummy bears. There was pizza as well as a large choice of snacks and drinks. Although Germany lost to Ireland, it was a nice event, and we had a lot of fun. After all, we still qualified!
Before the game: Anna, former OSA Philipp, Janie, former OSA Laura, Phoebe, Carol, Helen, Lea (intern), Ira, former spring student Nicholas, former spring student Daniel (from left to right)
On Saturday, the 30th of November, the “Deutsch-Amerikanische Club” invited us again to their Thanksgiving Dinner in Atlantic Grand Hotel Bremen.
We celebrated a great party with them with live music, dance, and a quiz.
Left: DAC President Neil van Siclen
Right: DAC Vice President Hans-Joachim Semig
Of course there was also a big turkey and a lot of other delicous and typical american dishes. It was a nice and traditional festival which we enjoyed.
Some of the OSAs visited us there and celebrated with us.
Rachel, Ezra and George (from left to right)
Laura Böhm (former OSA), Verena Mertz (Program Coordinator) and Janine Ludwig (Academic Director) (from left to right)
Santiago, Janine Ludwig, Ezra, three guests, Lara, Rachel, Laura, George, Katie, Cassie (from left to right)