by Vasilisa Pallis ’24

During my study abroad year in Bremen I was incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to not only study in a German University and learn so much, but also volunteer. Before coming to Germany, I feared I wouldn’t get the opportunity to use my Russian as much, since I am a double major in German and Russian. But I was happily surprised when I was able to not only take classes with Russian content but also volunteer with Ukrainian refugees at the “Nachbarschaftshaus Helene Kaisen”, an open space for events, social facilities, and recreational areas in Bremen.

Glance at American Delegation at Special Olympics in Bremen.

There are numerous opportunities within this cultural center for Ukrainian children and teenagers to participate in different activities, such as learning English, and German, or simply having a place to go to after school. There I started a “Sprachcafé” (a language café) for Ukrainian teenagers, to practice their language skills. It was an incredible experience to get to meet such brave young students who have gone through such a horrifying experience and get to simply speak with them and get to know them. I loved having a chance to use my Russian as well as German, it was so cool to be able to speak almost three different languages at the same time. I am so grateful to have had this memorable and fulfilling opportunity.

American Delegation being interviewed in the city center of Bremen.

In addition to my help with Ukrainian refugees, I also had the opportunity to help with Special Olympics Bremen. It was amazing to get to help during the Host Town Program when the US delegation came to Bremen before heading off to the Special Olympics in Berlin. I loved meeting the different athletes, making them feel comfortable, showing them around Bremen, and helping with their training before the Olympics. All in all, I am extremely grateful to have experienced my year in Bremen and to have helped in any way I could while in Bremen. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am proud to say I have enjoyed and learned so much from it.

by Benjamin Wiggins ’24

Coming to Bremen, I wanted to find a way to both gain more professional experience and practice my German in a more formal, businesslike setting. Thus, it was great having the opportunity to intern with Mr. Drechsel, who operates both his own brand consultancy, BrandMerchand, and is the country manager of the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) for an English brand valuation consultancy named Brand Finance. The latter releases annual reports ranking the most valuable brands across different business sectors and countries. As part of my internship, I gained valuable experience translating report pages and advertisements into German, researching various business trends in the German economy affecting brands in multiple sectors, and always remembering to speak in the “Sie” case – a skill acquired both slowly and imperfectly.

As I started my internship, Brand Finance had just released an assessment of how sustainable fans and stakeholders perceive European soccer clubs to be–something German clubs are very focused upon. A project I worked on over the weeks with Mr. Drechsel was identifying different points of contact at each of the clubs in the 1. and 2. Bundesliga, Germany’s professional soccer divisions, while also noting a few of their sustainability projects and initiatives. It was interesting seeing the different aspects of Sustainability as denoted by ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) each club focused upon–some clubs were very environmentally focused while others had primarily social initiatives–while also learning about how the clubs, or Sportvereine, are structured as both professional corporations and historic sports associations. For example, one club, Borussia Dortmund, still has stocks that trade on an exchange. After collecting all the information, it was time to write email proposals to 12 teams who would likely be interested in the report. Writing business proposals was certainly not something I practiced in my previous courses, so I was pretty nervous beforehand. However, in the end, after countless rereads, corrections, and input from Mr. Drechsel, I was able to send out 15 targeted emails and even receive some responses.

Doing an internship in Bremen is something I recommend to everyone as it allows you to practice speaking and writing styles not often taught in the classroom. As I jokingly told my parents when they asked how it was going, I can talk about a poem in German, but giving Excel directions must be a C1-level skill. If you are interested in an internship, do not think that a few false conjugations while speaking or forgetting a word now and again disqualifies you from one. I certainly made many speaking errors, but I got to work with a supportive boss who gave feedback and corrections to support my language learning. Lastly, be open to everything. The research and writing I got to do for this internship were all really interesting and, as I look to pursue a Master’s in Accounting, connected well to my overall career goals.

by Sandi Kadric ’20

I did a an internship at for the last two weeks in March and every Friday from April to July. I shadowed a nurse anesthesiologist. They are very nice, and they are very helpful in explaining procedures during surgeries. I had the chance to prepare the patient before surgery such as setting up the medications, blood pressure, EKG, and IV bag. I actually had patient contact and interaction, which is difficult to do in America especially in a hospital setting. Everyone spoke ONLY German with me (except for a couple of words here and there), and yes, I had to ask questions to the patients, and it helped me to learn to be confident.

I learned different methods of certain surgeries. For example, patients lose more blood during knee replacement surgeries than in America. I had the option to choose what surgeries to watch, so I saw a variety of surgeries such as spine surgery, joint replacements, general surgeries, etc. I learned the differences between the German health care system and American health care system, and I would recommend anyone who is pre-med to do this internship because – aside from learning so much – you can receive a letter at the end and put it on your medical school application. It will help you look diverse and stand out from other applicants.