Hillsdale College Students Study Abroad in Germany
Students studied in Würzburg and at Saarland University.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Thirteen Hillsdale College students studied abroad in Germany this past spring and summer. Hillsdale offers two German study-abroad programs: a summer program in Würzburg and a semester or year-long exchange program with Saarland University.
“Studying abroad is an irreplaceable experience both for learning and for personal growth,” said Stephen Naumann, associate professor of German. “It allows students to be immersed in the language and culture they are studying, and it sparks curiosity and joy that they bring back to the classroom.”
“Studying abroad is an irreplaceable experience both for learning and for personal growth.”
Hillsdale’s Würzburg Intensive Summer Language and Culture Program allows intermediate to advanced German students to spend a month in one of Germany’s oldest university towns. Students earn five academic credits through classes taught by Hillsdale College German faculty. The program also includes weekend excursions to Berlin and Dresden as well as a theatre trip to view a German theatrical classic and local visits to museums, castles, and churches.
Through the Saarland University Exchange Program at Saarbrücken, students spend a semester or year studying abroad in Germany, while an equal number of students from Germany live and study at Hillsdale. Students may take classes in any field but are encouraged to devote at least a third of their coursework to German language and literature classes, which count toward a major or minor in German.
Scholarship aid for both programs is available thanks to the generosity of Hillsdale College donors.
On campus, Hillsdale’s Chapter of Delta Phi Alpha, the German honorary, organizes a variety of German activities for students, including lectures, film screenings, and a weekly conversational table known as “Stammtisch.” The honorary has also organized trips to classical concerts, a German exhibit at an art museum, a live German opera, the Christkindlmarkt in Chicago, the Bavarian town of Frankenmuth, and more.
Annual events include Oktoberfest each fall, a “Grillfest” each spring, an Easter poetry walk known as “Osterspaziergang,” and a lantern procession for St. Martin’s Day.
German students at Hillsdale also regularly present at academic conferences, including an annual conference hosted The Ohio State University and another co-hosted by Lafayette College and Moravian University, where a Hillsdale student won an award earlier this year for the best presentation at the conference.