Middlebury Newsletter School in Germany

Mainz and Berlin

What happened in May?

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Dear readers of the Newsletter –

first of all I want to thank everybody for their kind responses — I was happy about hearing from all of you who studied with Middlebury in the past — and yes – I was thrilled to receive emails from people who participated in the Mainz program as early as 1960!

Thank you so much – it was touching to hear from you — and it was good to see that the students who went through the program since 2000 have not yet forgotten and still cherish their experience. As I said – having coffee with you regularly would be more fun — but in the meantime I’ll make sure to keep you posted and would like to emphasize that I’d always welcome your input!

What happened in May?

Priceless: The Classic Flashmob on the Mainz Market Place, intitiated by the State Philharmonic Orchestra:

“Das Philharmonische Orchester des Staatstheaters Mainz, der Domchor und das Collegium musicum der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz haben im Mai 2014 mit 65 Orchestermusikern und 160 Sängern auf dem Wochenmarkt einen Klassik-Flashmob veranstaltet und mit Beethovens „Ode an die Freude” die großen und kleinen Marktbesucher überrascht und zugleich begeistert. Ein neunköpfiges, rein ehrenamtliches Team von OK:TV Mainz hat den Flashmob filmisch festgehalten.” EnJoy!

And: students completed their course-choices and registrations, while we started preparing the yearly faculty visit. Before our visitors arrived, we went on excursion to Weimar and picked the Long Night of the Museums.

As usual, we started from Mainz and Berlin on Friday afternoon and met up in Weimar. Needless to say, exploring culture means to explore local food, so we got together for dinner at what has become our favorite restaurant. Since we were a fairly large group, we had a room to ourselves:

 

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On the next morning, we took a guided tour through the city, while everybody explored whatever they liked in the afternoon. And then of course there was the Long Night of the Museums, too.

Still we made the bus on 9.50 a.m on Sunday to go to Buchenwald. After having been at this memorial site for the concentration camp so close to Weimar, the city streets and buildings somehow look differently. Exchausted by diverse impressions, good food and conversation, we returned to Berlin and Mainz on late Sunday afternoon. And no – the Deutsche Bahn didn’t play us any tricks — the coach with seating reservations on the train to Berlin was missing, but the upgrade to 1st class made up for that little ‘problem.’ :o)

 

 

 

Author: Heike Fahrenberg

Associate Professor and Director, Middlebury School in Germany

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