Bates Fall Semester Abroad

Professor Tracy (Philosophy and Religious Studies) and Ms. Neu-Sokol (German)

During the fall semester 2008, Bates students, including entering first-year students, can experience the excitement of living and learning in Berlin, the capital of a reunited Germany. Berlin is the cultural and commercial center of central Europe. Its 3.5 million people represent a great diversity of culture, and the benefits and values of a semester there are tremendous: the opportunity to learn German; to attend concerts, the theater, and museums; to relax in its cafes, nightclubs, and parks—in sum, an opportunity to experience a truly European lifestyle. No prior knowledge of German is required.

The program begins in late August with a three-week intensive German language course at the Goethe Institut in Freiburg, an ancient and beautiful university town at the edge of the Alps and close to the borders of France and Switzerland. In mid-September the program moves to Berlin, where students live with a family while they continue their language instruction and begin two courses taught by Bates faculty. During the October break and in December students have the opportunity for independent travel in Europe.