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This past spring, six Lafayette students spent the semester in Bremen, Germany, studying engineering, German language and culture, and politics in a program affiliated with International University Bremen (IUB). Mehmet Uz, professor of chemical engineering, led the trip.
The Lafayette group took various classes at IUB, including German language, German politics and culture, differential equations, engineering ethics, biochemical engineering, and thermodynamics. All classes were taught in English except language courses.
Though they were housed on campus at IUB, most students chose to have a host family for weekend activities. For Marquis Scholar Scott Crown ’08 (Effort, Pa.), a chemical engineering major, interacting with a host family was one of the most interesting aspects of the semester.
“They were really hospitable and it was a good experience culturally,” he says. “I learned a lot about the German people through them because both my host parents were children during the Second World War. My host father’s family actually fled East Germany, so he had some interesting experiences to share.”
Students in the German politics and culture class took three group trips to Dresden, Berlin, and Brussels, Belgium. Each three-day outing included guided tours, visits to museums, and free time in the evenings for students to explore the cities on their own. During their travels, the students ran into the Lafayette group spending the semester at Vesalius College in Brussels.
In addition to organized trips, many students traveled to places of personal interest. Crown visited Paris, Vienna, Prague, Munich, Salsburg, and Amsterdam. Chemical engineering major Erica Lynes ’08 (Yardley, Pa.) spent spring break in Munich and Switzerland.
“The opportunities to travel there were great,” says Lynes. “Any student who goes should take advantage of the central location to travel. A good majority of students at IUB are from outside Germany, so you get to meet people from all over. I really learned a lot about the culture, not just German but European.”
“Going abroad is such a good experience because it exposes students to another culture,” adds Crown. “Having to speak German to get around and live in another country opens your eyes to how different cultures are. This program offers such a great opportunity to travel Europe. With only four classes, it is very easy to travel a lot, while also enjoying the social activities on campus.”
Other students who participated include electrical and computer engineering major John Mumo ’08 (Nairobi, Kenya), biology major Priyanka Nair ’08 (Kerala, India), German major Sebastian Shrager ’08 (Weston, Conn.), and chemical engineering major Richard Weiss ’08 (Millville, N.J.).
IUB is a private, independent university offering undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Undergraduates live in three residential colleges on the 80-acre campus. Each college comprises students and faculty of different disciplines, origins, and ages. To help students become better acquainted with Germany and its people, IUB offers a host program, in which 440 German families currently participate.
Lafayette offers a variety of faculty-led and other study abroad programs. Over the winter break, more than 170 students took special Lafayette courses in Thailand and Myanmar; Turkey; Greece and Italy; Austria and Germany; Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands; Spain and Portugal; and Hawaii.
For information, contact Roxanne Lalande, director of study abroad programs and professor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, (610) 330-5918 or lalander@lafayette.edu. Her consultation hours are 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in 409 Pardee Hall and 9 a.m.-noon Tuesday and Thursday in 1 Markle Hall.