From left to right: Toni, Delaney, Ege, Isabel, Naomi, Ellen
This week, we got to welcome a new group of Dickinson-in-Bremen students. Delaney, Isabel, Naomi, and Ellen are going to be in Bremen for the upcoming two semesters. We are excited to have you here! We are also happy to introduce to you our new volunteers, Toni and Ege! Willkommen!
Our final farewell dinner at a restaurant in the Bremer Viertel
The time has come to say “goodbye” to our Spring Semester students of 2024. Auf Wiedersehen! You will be missed!
by Grear Boyd ’25
At the tram stop in Gröpelingen!
As an exchange student living in a foreign city (and nation at large), you must overcome a number of difficulties that will likely vary from person to person. For me, one of the first obstacles I had to face was navigation. In the US, I was accustomed to driving a car to get everywhere and needing directions only for longer trips or infrequent routes. When I arrived in Bremen, it didn’t take long for me to realize how reliant I had become on my car and how little I now knew the area I would be living in for the next six months.
In Sebaldsbrück with fellow DiB-student Riley!
My first couple of days, my only method of transportation was by foot. I wandered the city for hours in an attempt to orient myself and get a solid lay of the land. I failed, or so I thought. I would attempt to find something of interest and get home by using just the street signs. And each time I left my beautiful Walle, I was forced to use Apple Maps (it’s superior, Riley) to return home. I was thus convinced that my undertaking was futile. And it wasn’t until a little later, when I went out with some of my Dickinson in Bremen compatriots, Riley and Gabe, that I reaped the fruit of my ventures.
I was out on the town having the time of my life when I realized my phone’s battery had died. Catastrophe, I thought. So I did what any rational man would do… I devised a plan to board a tram at Hauptbahnhof (HBF) and wait until I recognized something or got back to HBF. Luckily, I guessed correctly on the first attempt. The glorious N10 swept me off my feet and carried me to the Walle TV tower, which I easily recognized and from where I successfully walked home.
But before my tram-10 success story, I had found the use of the Deutsche Bahn train system to be a little daunting. I had stepped on my first train not realizing I was supposed to have already bought my Deutschland Ticket on the internet. I attempted to buy a day pass on the ticket machine but quickly gave up trying after a few moments of struggle and a couple of impatient Germans waiting behind me (-they were really intimidating). So, I crossed my fingers that I could get a few stops down the street without hearing “Fahrkarte Bitte!” (I know I know, I’m sorry). I got off without a hitch. Phew!
After my initial issue of the acquisition of a train ticket was resolved, I was faced with another troubling but later quite hilarious (I think) phenomenon. The German stare. I had come to the realization that every time I would take a seat on the fabled number 10 tram to Sebaldsbrück, I was the subject of an intense staredown with any number of my fellow train go-ers. At first, I thought it was all in my head. “Why in the world would these people take such consistent interest in me? I must be the most interesting man in Bremen” I thought to myself. (Kidding, but they really made me feel like the Dos Equis guy.) But after several back and forths of making eye contact with strangers and looking away (and more than a few staring contests) I decided I was, in fact, not making it up.
Lilienthal: the final destination of tram 4 (featuring Riley)!
At first, I was uncomfortable with the idea of people staring at me on the train. But it wasn’t long before I concluded that beating the Germans at their own game offered me a surprising degree of satisfaction in such an unfamiliar social environment. In other words, each day on my ride to class, or DOMSHEIDE!, or wherever else, I won staring contests for fun. Yes, I said won. I’m not sure how my own death stare made those who I deemed to have gazed upon me for slightly too long feel. But that didn’t matter. In my eyes, it was still not polite to stare so my retaliation was justified. Just joking. I came to learn that I was not the only one to notice the frequency of these staredowns and, upon the questioning of Dr. Ludwig, the DiB students and I found that staring at people in public is simply not considered rude in Germany. Go figure.
Anyways, the moral of my story is this. Placing yourself in an entirely new environment, such as an immersive semester in Bremen, with relatively few guard rails is, at times, a bit challenging. But that presents an opportunity for growth. In my situation, my apprehension of the Bremen tram system was, in reality, short-lived. I quickly learned to take advantage of Bremen’s tram system.
Exploring Bremen via tram.
Towards the end of our time in Bremen, my associate Riley and I even rode each tram to its terminal just for chat. Across our program, I think we all came to love Bremen, and Germany at large, for its public transport systems. A monthly pass to train anywhere in the country? I have yet to find anything similar to that anywhere else I’ve been so blessed as to visit.
Vasilisa Pallis was part of the Dickinson-in-Bremen program for the academic year of 2022-23. Not only did she study in Bremen but she also volunteered for the German Red Cross as a translator for Ukrainian refugees, led a language café for Ukrainian students, and volunteered for the Special Olympics in Bremen.
About her year in Bremen Vasilisa says: “All in all, it was an unforgettable experience that I’m very grateful for.”
Read her full report here: https://www.dickinson.edu/news/article/5597/the_language_of_giving_back
Attention Bremen students! Our new scholarship flyer for the academic year 2024/2025 has arrived. You can find all necessary information about our scholarship program between the University of Bremen and Dickinson College on the flyer.
We are looking forward to your application!
Should you like to have more information, you can come visit us during our office hours on Wednesdays, 11-12 (Uni Bremen Sportturm, C5200) or schedule an appointment with us.
Student Viviana Ulloa de la Torre, Samantha Brandauer (Associate Provost and Executive Director of the Center for Global Study and Engagement), President Jutta Günther of the University of Bremen, Director of the International Office Marejke Baethge-Assenkamp, student Antonia Gabler, and student Sophie Schöling (from left).
© Dickinson College
This online article explores the delightful experiences of three German students at Dickinson College. Antonia Gabler, Viviana Ulloa de la Torre, and Sophie Schöling share their initial impressions of Dickinson College and why they chose to embark on a study abroad journey as OSA’s (overseas student assistants). If you are keen on finding out more, feel free to click on the link below.
https://up2date.uni-bremen.de/en/article/stay-abroad-at-dickinson-college
View of the Market Square
Sunset at the Schlachte
“Would you like to discover the most beautiful corners of Bremen from home, visit our parlour from your couch or take a stroll through the winding Schnoor? Would you like to take a virtual tour of the museums and knowledge worlds or sail on the Weser?”
Famous Schnoor quarter
If so, then you should definitely take a look at the Visit Bremen website. There you will find lots of amazing videos, information, 360-degree tours of Bremen, as well a guided visit of the City Center. Pierre will take you on a tour of the Marktplatz square – known as Bremen’s ‘Gute Stube’ or ‘drawing room’. But what else can be found at the historic marketplace? Get ready for some surprises!
Further information can be found here: https://www.bremen.eu/tourism/bremen-at-home
And here: https://www.bremen.eu/tourism
Attention Bremen students! Our new scholarship flyer for the spring semester 2024 has arrived 👀
You can find all necessary information about our scholarship program between the University of Bremen and Dickinson College on the flyer. We are looking forward to your application! 🤓
Should you like to have more information, you can come visit us during our office hours on Wednesdays, 11 – 12 (Uni Bremen Sportturm, C5200) or schedule an appointment with us.
by Brendan Harlan ’22
I wanted to get a tattoo while in Germany, but instead I got my COVID-19 booster shot.
That’s really not a sentence I ever envisioned myself saying when I dreamt of going abroad, first as a prospective Dickinson student and then as a first-year and sophomore pre-pandemic. However, like everyone else in the past two years, what I dreamt of and what I experienced were two very different things. I’m glad that I got the chance to spend 21 weeks in Germany though, across a stretch of time that saw the country choose its first new Chancellor since 2005 and weather a second winter of a global pandemic.
At Dickinson, I’m majoring in International Studies and in German, but my experience out of the United States amounted to less than a week spent between Victoria in British Columbia and a jaunt across the New York-Canada border to see the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Flying in and out of the Frankfurt airport represented the first and second international flights of my life.
In Heidelberg, Berlin, Bremen, and all the other places I visited in Germany, I enjoyed the feeling of being somewhere vastly different than my usual haunts in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. I loved walking through the Bremer Altstadt, up the winding roads leading to the Heidelberg Schloss, around the Brandenburg Gate, and up countless stairs to get views overlooking Köln, Leipzig, and Dresden. I listened to a choir perform in Leipzig’s Thomaskirche and to trumpet sonatas performed in the Bremer Dom. And amongst other places and things, I also looked for scenes where old things and modern things were next to one another, like the cranes towering over Hamburg or the City-Hochhaus tower looming over the New Town Hall in Leipzig.
Oftentimes in city centers in Germany, if you sound like an American tourist, people will respond to you in English. However, I’m quite proud that the grocery cashiers and coffee shop baristas rarely switched from German when talking with me. I became confident enough with traveling by train and tram too, that, multiple times, I was approached with questions about directions and train arrival times and whether certain tickets worked with Deutsche Bahn or not. I usually stumbled through my German responses, but I always felt flattered that at least it seemed like I was from around there.
I also ate a lot of great food and pushed myself to avoid any US-based fast food (except that one chicken sandwich from McDonald’s that tasted better than any McDonald’s I’d had before). I developed a love for cappuccinos, Schnitzel, Döner, and Radler. I collected souvenir mugs from four different Christmas markets. I experimented with multiple ways of how to make home fry potatoes, which jam to buy for my traditional German bread, and how to best budget my Euros between Aldi, Rewe, and the other grocery stores. I figured out how to get free COVID tests in the Winter too, as cases rose and 3G rules became 2G rules.
What I most appreciated about my time abroad, though, was the separation from my normal life and usual perspective on things. It was a double-edged sword, as I did find being away from my usual support system quite difficult, but I also learned about myself as I was able to view my life in the US from an almost third-person perspective. I thought a lot about how I’d ended up in Germany, how I’d become who I am, and what I want next from myself. In my classes, I learned about the last century of international relations from a German perspective, discussed the history of the relationship between Germany and the US, and examined the histories of immigration and the social welfare state within Germany.
I also met a lot of people, including people from Germany, Austria, Vietnam, India, and Alabama. I had great conversations about cultural differences such as how Uni Bremen differed from Dickinson, went to a science talk auf Deutsch in a bar, made German food with my roommates for a Christmas dinner, and attended a Werder Bremen game in the fans’ standing section behind the goal. Since I went to see Werder Bremen play, on the day that both their head coach and assistant coach resigned due to fake COVID vaccination cards, they’ve risen from 11th in the 2. Bundesliga table to 2nd with four games left to play.
Throughout my time abroad, I took a bunch of photos and expanded my knowledge of popular German music. I also developed a closer relationship with my parents, despite being an ocean apart. I hosted my girlfriend, who I originally met in a German 101 course, for Christmas break, and showed her around Bremen and Heidelberg. And, lastly, I learned how to wear a scarf properly, bought a turtleneck, and once walked over an hour from the city center to my WG in the dark with my roommates after we accidentally missed the last tram of the night.
So, I may not have a tattoo from my time abroad in Germany like I originally wanted, but I did do a heck of a lot and have memories just as enduring as a tattoo. I’ll just have to return at a later point to get that tattoo. Bis später, Deutschland.
Photo credit: Durden Dickinson Bremen Program
To all Uni Bremen students: Our new scholarship flyer for the spring semester 2023 has arrived! On the flyer you can find all necessary information about our scholarship program between the University of Bremen and Dickinson College.
You can download the flyer here.
We are looking forward to your application!
