By far my favorite academic excursion we did was the visit to the German Realschule in Ludwigsburg. Before the visit, I was quite confused by the German tracking system when Pierre first discussed it with us. The way his presentation sounded, it seemed like a school caste system: you get placed into a school based
Before leaving for Germany, I was warned by many to be on guard and to not smile at anyone. Germans don’t smile on the street and everyone will hate that you don’t speak German. Germans are strict and harsh; you won’t find any room for error while there. This was even addressed at my excursion
A wise one once asked, “how do you like them apples?” Well, I say they taste rather good, even better with friends and family. When’s the last time you sat down for a meal with your friends/family? What about with someone you didn’t know? How was the conversation? Did you speak at all? Creatures of
Leadership… the action of leading a group of people or an organization. Exactly what does it mean to lead? To hold a position over someone? To have someone report to you? Maybe to give orders to others around you? If that’s the definition, I would disagree. But with that in mind, how do you lead
In German, there are two words for education. The first is erziehung and refers to the education that a parent helps instill in a child…sit when you eat, say please and thank you, and generally know how to function in the world. We might call this type of education manners. The second is bildung, which
I found this motivational speech by Simon Sinek, a British-American author, speaker, and organizational consultant while surfing YouTube, and it made me think about the meaning of leadership in the modern-day society. In the past, a leader was viewed as someone who held an authoritative power and whose decisions and directives had to be followed
The concept of time is known to be fluid and flexible. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity states that “time is an illusion.” During my stay in Germany, I learned that this very well may be true. My days here are seemingly twice as long as they are in the US. This can be due to
When I first heard about this class I was intrigued. I thought it sounded interesting of course. And I also thought that it aligned with my love of travel and my interest in other cultures. If I could have another career I would choose anthropology. And then, out of the blue, something marvelous happened. I
I had the opportunity to visit the Baden Würtemberg Stiftung this week. This translates to the Baden Würtemberg Foundation. Baden Würtemberg is the name of the state we are visiting and the foundation’s mission is to ensure the sustainability of the state by focusing on research, education and society and culture. A non-partisan supervisory board
When we had the chance for some free time today, a few of us ventured out into the ADORABLE medieval town of Esslingen to explore. I think I can safely say that after spending five hours there, I could easily drop everything and move here in an instant. The town is beautiful, kind of like
