Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Feb. 13, 1979, edition 1 / Page 6
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Tower of London Independence Art Museums The Wall Soho a cd *8 0) -M $ V A H u a a> u O E 6 s v ca r* & CA CD u u P Q QJ U cd P u* u QJ 13 SH u H a A w a CL S3 O ' •iH "53D w "Staying abroad" on the continent By BRIAN CAREY A city of startling contrasts and mellow beauty, Munich was the ideal location for a semester of study in Germany. The center Altstadt portion of the city provided culture centers, shopping arcades, and ped estrian zones, while the perimeters of the city furnished students with the politics and excitement of Schwabing and the memories of Dachau. After five exciting days in Paris, the tity of lights and lovers, the 32 assorted students and teachers made the ten-hour trek to Munich on a soon-to-be-all-too-familiar train. What a greeting the city had in store! Overcast skies and a miser able drizzle didn't dampen spirits however and the search for our temporary parents was engaged with enthusiasm. The students were to live with selected families in Munich and its suburbs. When the matches (and mis matches) were finally made, the group split off to see where they would be housed for the next 3 1 / i months. "What a gre e ting the city had in store!" „ :Q|BOOOOOOOOQOOOOO , , Students soon discovered that transportation was to be no problem; the übiquitous subways, trams, and buses ran deliver a person to virtually any street corner in the city. With this discovery, a few more were made, among them where everyone else lived and how to get there. The first group tour of the city came the following day. With the rain still falling, Karl Fischer of the Columbus -Americar Gesell schaft (a group that fost ,„.rman- American relations and vfik of great ... and across the channel By KATHY NECKERMANN London has a dual character: it is first an English city as old as the Romans; it is also a large inter national city with financial ties all over the world. Businessmen from oil-rich Arab countries, immigrants from the former British empire, travelers and tourists of all nation alities outnumber English people in the city. Most of the English live in suburbs surrounding London. ft Williams One enjoyable group activity was the trip to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, which showcased the industrial revolution. The group's hotel was fairly close to central London. The neigh borhood is not the quietest as the Talbot Lawn is in a very transient area with many hotels for travelers and immigrants. Still, the location more than made up for the noise. Stores, restaurants, pubs, and Hyde Park are nearby, and the theatres, shopping, and historical sights of London are only a short tube or bus ride away. Public transportation in London is highly developed though sometimes unreliable (the buses are notoriously erratic, yet the tube is more expensive.) Though the British standard of living is lower than the American, London is still culturally wealthy. The tradition-minded English take great care to preserve their past. They save their old buildings instead of tearing them down and Buckingham Palace Copenhagen Salzburg Pubs Skiing TEE help) led the group on the ' 'church tour" of Munich. This entailed hopping from dry church to dry church while talking about what was famous (and wet) on the out side "... Oktoberfest combined a county fair and a beer festival " Over the next three months the group was able to sample many more of Munich's sights. Beautiful October weather brought afternoons of teaching Germans frisbee in sunny English type gardens. Crips September evenings were occupied by cruising Ludwigstrasse, the artery of the student section that throbbed with the lifeblood of bars, cafes, and jazz joints. What lay outside Munich was even more stupendous than what was contained within. The frequent group activities included climbing the rugged paths and rocky summit of Brunstein in the Ixf IWSwLr . Alexandriaplatz in tast Berlin is the site of a huge televif ion tower and many bt modern structures. This exhibition center housed a Bertol L It exhibition while Sfftffr) the group was in Berlin. * ' replacing them with skyscrapers. On a walk around the city one sees churches, homes, and pubs that are hundreds of years old. The theatre is thriving in London and most tickets are cheap, especially compared to prices in New York. Classical music concerts abound and are also inexpensive. Admittance to most museums is free. Within a short tube or train ride are all kinds of old homes, palaces, and gardens to explore. Students could spend an entire semester soaking in what London has to offer, and never exhaust its cultural resources. Twenty-eight Guilford students went to London last fall. There was a diversity of personalities and lifestyles among the people in the group, and students learned a lot about tolerance and cooperation by living in such close quarters. "The tradition-minded English take great care to preserve their past." nnnpfmnnnnnnnnr Two of the students were women from the Urban Center who brought their children with them. They lived in the hotel with the other students and went to English schools in London. Also part of the group were Jim Bavarian Alps and exploring t autumn hues and Cinderella casi of Neuschwannstein, built by m King Ludwig 11. The beginning of each week w spent amassing skills in Studi Munich, our classroom building Schwabing. Formal classes offer were three levels of German, Opei and philosophy, all taught by Ma and Carroll Feagins, and Germ history and political science cours* taught in English by two Germ teachers. Several independent stu courses had been pre-arranged students. These included studies math history, German flora, Ren ssance art, german literature, and European imperialism. As the antithesis too, and some times ironic companion of, the book-learning of the classroom, the group enjoyed an outing and several private ventures to the Oktoberfest. A harvest festival celebrating the bountifulness and hard work of the previous year, Oktoberfest combined a county fair and beer festival with the neon and hustle of an amusement park. These three and Pat Pope, directors of the pro gram, and their two children Jennifer and Jay. Last but not least, the Spanish and Italian maids working at the hotel became close friends of the group. "Students could.. never exhaust (London's) cultural resources." 3000000000000000 Two events which brought the group closer were the trip to Wood brooke and the Thanksgiving dinner. Woodbrooke College is a Quaker adult education community near Birmingham. As guests there for four days, the group heard lectures and visited Ironbridge (Industrial Revolution sites) and Stratford-upon-Avon. One highlight of the trip was seeing two Shakespeare plays at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Staying at Woodbrooke, talking with the professors and the people staying there, and walking in the gardens, were facets of the trip that were enjoyed by the entire group. Thanksgiving dinner was a feast which took a great deal of planning, but was well worth the effort. Of course the English don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and many of the traditional Thanksgiving foods were had to find. The dinner was a success, there was more than enough food to go around, and the peculiar American customs intri gued our British guests Four courses were offered as part of the program: British Renaissance Lit., Contemporary Britain, The first Industrial Nation, all taught by British professors, and Compara tive Management and Economic Systems taught by Jim Pope from Guilford. Students took two or three of the courses; some did an indepen dent study as well. Qasses met once a week for two or two and a half I .^fl £ rX3^j * Beautiful gardens behind Schioss Nympenburg in Munich provide a peaceful " LQ setting for many activities. The palace itself is rumoured to still be the residence ftruoCn smi^h of a mad princess. weeks of fun and relaxation were to be missed later in the program. The museums, art galleries, and visual entertainment of Munich offered a diverse mixture of culture. Students regularly attend ed operas, ballets, art exhibitions, rock concerts, and orchestra recitals, and the whole group went to the production of Mozart's hours. Last semester classes were held on Tuesday and Wednesday only, so the five-day weekends were free for travel. It took a while to adjust to the British style of teaching, which is less structured and puts far more emphasis on the initiative of the student than most classes at Guilford do. The classes required more self discipline than Guilford students are used to. "The classes required more self-discipline " >OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO There were many chances to travel. Besides the long weekends, there was a fall break of about two weeks, and many students came to Europe early or stayed later than December 13. The trains in Britain, and in Europe as well, are quite jjl # Sak Photo by Corky Williams Kathy Sneider visits Mary Arden's House in Stratford-upon-Avon. ''The Magic Flute.'' Munich's location in the center of Europe came as an expected boon to students. Places as different as the Alps of Switzerland and the deserts of Morocco, the ruins of Rome and Greece and the canals of Venice and Amsterdam, received at least a perfunctory glance, and usually were investigated intensely. u The group's week seminar to Berlin was especially interesting." The group's week seminar to Berlin was especially interesting. Touring West Berlin by bus, one was constantly intrigued by the bombed ruins and modern edifices, and always reminded of "the East" by the pervading presence of the Wall. Walking down Kurfurstdendam, touring the Reichstage, or enjoying the world-famous zoo, the group devoured West Berlin. They spent one entire day touring East Berlin. : .. : ■BK *T-~' "-•'t^Mwf Photo bv Corky William* The Westminster Bridge became a familiar sight to the members of the group. good; they run frequently and fairly reliably to all parts of the country. With the student rail passes and rail cards travel can be inexpensive. Inter-city buses in Britain go to the rural areas and small towns not serviced by the railroads. In some parts of Britain, and especially in rural Wales, Scodand, and Ireland, Hundreds of fascinating places and a myriad of activities deserve further description. Andechs, the Thanksgiving dinner, Stars and Stripes Forever, the dollar decline, and the Christkindlmarkt revive many memories. The group mastered the German style of living and overcame the language barrier, but all too soon the 3Vi months were over. There will be no more Purple Palaces, no more Wagner, and no more Weissbier. The group won't "assemble at Karolinenplatz;" "meet at Marienplatz," or "party at Riebesells" any longer. .. All too soon the 3 V 2 months were over." 0000000000000000 c But the group came back a little more cultured, a lot more educated, and ein bischen exhausted, compli ments of the Munich Seminar Abro- Thank you, Munich, and hello,VS. A.! it is helpful to have a car. Cars can be rented, but a few in the group hitchhiked without difficulties. The English countryside is beautiful, offering a variety of sights. Some small towns and farm areas look as though they haven't | changed in 100 years. One can visit Stonehenge, Hadrians' Wall, the Lake District, the many old cathe drals, the highland, lochs and islands of Scotland, 800 year old casdes guarding the coast of Wales, and , Ireland with its friendly people and lilting music. In addition, the Continent is not far away. Many people in the group went back to Europe for their fall break trips, going anywhere from Greece to Scandinavia. Because of the arrangements with Guilford and the many discounts available to students, the semester is fairly inexpensive. Many people don't realize that the cost for a | semester in London (or Munich) is no more than that for an ordinary semester at Guilford, the only extra costs are one-way air fare and what ever is spent for travel and gifts over the weekly allowance of L 25. (The allowance may change because of the decline of the dollar.) The deadline for applications to the 1979 London Semester is February 19. If interested, see Dick Coe (Student Services) or Bill Fulcher (King 106) for more infor mation. 8 o o P n a> hi r* C/ 5 2 R rD B 5" N "d >-*• o p Cb M* 5 s o a 05 o J *3 H* r> C/> r+ P Pu h* d 9 0 1 T3 6 B o B sr M* CO rf o 3 rt> sr T> OQ ft a p R H* P
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Feb. 13, 1979, edition 1
6
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