German 239: Culture and Language Studies in Vienna

January Interim 2011 Abroad
FOL-G, Counts toward German major
Professor Karen R. Achberger
Renata Debska-McWilliams
(Click for extended course description )

A total immersion experience, this course explores Vienna's recent history and present-day society. In adddition to classroom discussion of readings, students keep a journal of daily experiences and write weekly essays reporting on Viennese and Austrian culture. Site visits within Vienna and to nearby areas allow students to explore the city and vicinity, including the Vienna woods. For their final project, students work in pairs to research an instructor-approved subject of their choice. Taught in German, this course helps students develop effective and appropiate communication skills in German.

Cafe Central

Students encounter firsthand Vienna's rich cultural heritage as revealed in museums, operas, operettas, concerts, and in the city's architectural masterpieces, from the Hundertwasser Haus to the Secession and the Ringstraße.

Hundertwasser Haus

We live for four weeks in the heart of Vienna, two to three blocks from Karlsplatz (St. Charles Square), the Secession, the Musikverein and the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). Our classes are in a palace directly across the street from the Vienna State Opera, a 10-minute walk from our hotel.

Staatsoper

All class dicussions and readings, as well as site visits and guest lectures, are conducted in German. This includes classes at the AAIE (Austro-American Institute of Education, Operngasse 4) with a Viennese instructor each morning Monday through Friday focusing on Austrian and Viennese culture; seminar meetings with the St. Olaf instructor each afternoon discussing short texts in an Austrian cultural reader; and occasional guest lectures by on-site experts highlighting Vienna's rich musical and artistic culture since the Hapsburg era.

Depending on their specific interests, students can choose for their special project from a wide range of cultural phenomena, from Sigmund Freud to Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schonberg, from Vienna's coffeehouse culture to Johann Strauss and the painters Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele, or they may choose to focus on a timelier topic, such as Austria's role in the Green movement, the EU or the UNO.

Painting by Gustav Klimt, Austrian symbolist

Counts toward major: German
GE: Foreign Language (FOL-G)
Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of German 231
or placement equivalent.
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Cost: $4,380
Instructor: Professor Karen Achberger, Course Assistant: Renata Debska-McWilliams