Harvard Summer Program in Munich, Germany
This page contains content from the Summer School 2009. For current information, visit the Harvard Summer School website at www.summer.harvard.edu.
Information on the programs being offered summer 2010 will be available online in early September.
German language and cultural study in Bavaria
Faculty: Professor Peter J. Burgard
(8 credits: UN, GR) Limited enrollment
Dates: June 8–July 20, 2009
Application deadline: February 27
Cost: $7,350
“I have never been so completely engaged in any subject for such a long period of time, and the sense of mental satiation that resulted was incredibly fulfilling. I also appreciated the structure of the course; our outings were so enriching, invaluable, and fun!”
– Munich Summer School student
“This program was my first opportunity to travel outside of the United States and I can’t really think of any way in which it could have been a more rewarding experience. The intellectual stimulation combined with exploring the cultural heritage of Bavaria made the program much more than a Harvard Summer School course transplanted to a different location.”
– Munich Summer School student
Located in the heart of Germany’s most dramatic landscape and most beautiful city, the Harvard Summer Program in Munich provides a six-week intensive course on German language and the culture of Munich.
Munich was founded in the early Middle Ages, when it played a vital role in the European salt trade and became the home of the Wittelsbach dynasty. The city is best known for its baroque and rococo art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; for nineteenth-century kings such as Ludwig I, who built one of the world's great museums (and crazy Ludwig II with his fairy-tale castles); for its efflorescence as the German center of literature and art around 1900, when writers such as Thomas Mann and artists such as Wassily Kandinsky were all the rage; for the darkest chapter in its history, when it was the willing capital of the Nazi movement; for its rise from the ruins of World War II, and the morally bankrupt ideology to which it had succumbed, to become Germany's poster-child city, the "Metropolis with a Heart"; for the 1972 Olympic Games with their inspiring structures and dispiriting terrorist attack; and for its role as a driving force in contemporary German life and in the world’s fourth largest economy.
Students encounter the cultural and political history of Munich at every turn: from the English Garden, larger than New York’s Central Park, to grand avenues with their classical facades, imposing arches, and elegant arcades; from baroque and neobaroque architectural monuments to the monuments of Hitler’s rise to power; from medieval city gates, lively city streets, and colorful markets to the glass structures of the Olympic Park; from royal palaces, churches, and cloisters to countless theaters and museums.
Despite its cultural and economic importance, Munich manages not to take itself too seriously. With more recreational offerings than any other German city and, among many other things, its legendary beer gardens, where the city whiles away its long summer evenings under canopies of chestnut trees, Munich presents seemingly limitless opportunities for relaxation and entertainment.
“An amazing class that taught me more German than I’d thought possible.”
– Munich Summer School student
“I loved every minute of the program.”
– Munich Summer School student
Course of study
GERM S-23 Study Abroad in Munich: German Language and Culture
The Harvard Summer Program in Munich provides a total immersion, second-year-level German culture and language course. Encounters with Munich and Bavaria are both intellectual and material, occurring both in the classroom and on site as the class traces cultural and political history in readings and follows its traces on foot. Afternoon sessions combine classroom discussion of texts with instructional excursions in and around Munich. These include walking tours of the historical and contemporary core of the city and class visits to art museums, the Munich City Museum, churches, the English Garden, an historical tavern, Nymphenburg Palace, Dachau, and the Olympic Park. Small-group explorations of contemporary German life complete the cultural component of the program, along with four full-day excursions further afield: to Salzburg, to one of crazy Ludwig’s castles, to Nuremberg, and to a monastery, famous for its church and the beer its monks brew, overlooking a lake in the magnificent Bavarian countryside. In addition, every weekday morning there is a class devoted to review and expansion of grammar skills, followed by a writing workshop with supervised writing on topics arising from the afternoon classes and activities. Prerequisites: first-year college German or the equivalent.
Course credit
For Harvard College students, this program counts as one full-year course (8 credits) of degree credit. This course also satisfies the Foreign Cultures Core requirement and counts as two courses toward the total of four courses required for the foreign language citation.
Transfer credit. Harvard Summer School courses and credits are accepted toward degrees at most colleges and universities. Since degree requirements vary among schools, students are advised to obtain transfer credit approval from their home institutions before registering for Harvard Summer School courses.
Faculty
Peter J. Burgard, Professor of German, Harvard University. Professor Burgard has been on the faculty since 1989. He teaches departmental courses on Goethe, Nietzsche, Freud, and baroque literature and art. In the Core Curriculum, he offers courses on early modern German cultural history and on gender, language, and sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austrian and German culture. His publications include volumes on Goethe, Nietzsche, and the baroque, as well as essays on German literature since the sixteenth century, baroque and postmodern art, and intellectual history.
“This course exceeded my expectations in every way. I never could have fathomed how much I have learned. The housing was excellent. All of the course outings were amazing and really well organized. The homework was very well paced and acceptably demanding. Professor Burgard is an amazing professor.”
– Munich Summer School student
Application
Students must be at least 18 years old to apply. The application materials, outlined below, are due February 27:
- An application form (applications for this program are no longer being accepted)
- Official transcripts (sent directly from schools to the address below; unofficial copies of transcripts are accepted for Harvard College students only)
- A $50 nonrefundable application fee
- A supplementary statement describing current or previous coursework in German, travel experience abroad (not a prerequisite), and interest in the program
- Two confidential letters of recommendation, one from a current or most recent German language teacher addressing language-learning skills and achievement, and one from someone of substantially longer acquaintance (but not a relative) who can attest to personal qualities pertinent to participation in an intensive study-abroad program
Applications should be addressed as follows:
Matilda West
Study Abroad Coordinator
51 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Students will be notified of admission decisions by mid-March.
Cost
The cost of the program is $7,350, plus a nonrefundable $50 application fee. In addition, students are responsible for a health insurance fee ($165; waived if students have US insurance that provides coverage outside the United States) and for transportation to and from Munich. The cost of the program covers the following:
- Tuition
- Room and breakfast
- Course materials
- Scheduled excursions and extracurricular activities
- Passes for the entire network of Munich’s public transportation system
Program directors will advise students of likely additional expenses.
Payment deadlines
Harvard Summer School online services allows accepted students to make payments or deposits with a valid credit card.
Students can also mail their payment, along with a completed Study Abroad Payment Form (available in Forms), to:
Student Financial Services
Harvard Summer School
51 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
For those admitted to the program, a nonrefundable deposit of $735 must be received by April 3 to secure a place in the program. Payment in full is due by May 15. A $100 late fee will be charged for payments received after this date.
Funding
Harvard College students are eligible for funding through the Harvard College Office of International Programs (OIP), as well as a variety of centers around campus. All Harvard Summer School study abroad programs qualify for summer funding. Programs of eight weeks or longer in duration (including extensions of Harvard Summer School Programs approved by faculty members) qualify for Rockefeller International Experience Grants; programs of shorter duration qualify for other summer grants.
Students may consult the Funding Sources Database for more information on all sources of funding. Please note that the funding application deadline for summer grants and Rockefeller International Experience Grants is February 27.
To apply for any study abroad funding, students need to provide information about the program’s budget, submit an application through the Common Application for Research and Travel (CARAT), as well as supplementary documents to the relevant center, if necessary. Additional information on the funding application process is available through CARAT. See the estimated budget for program add-on.
Also see the Harvard College Financial Aid Office summer school page for information about assistance.
Other Harvard students may be eligible for financial assistance through their Harvard financial aid offices. Students enrolled at other institutions should consult their respective financial aid offices.
Accommodations
Lodging is in a well-situated, modern dorm run by a nationwide service organization (which is associated with the Catholic Church and provides lodging to students and travelers throughout Germany, regardless of religion). The Kolping Ausbildungshotel provides dorm suites that consist of several bedrooms with a common room, shared bathrooms, a kitchen with refrigerator and space for preparing cold meals, and laundry machines in the basement. Lodging is in double rooms and a few singles. The dorm is located a short walk from the famous Deutsches Museum, the Gasteig Cultural Center, and the glorious art nouveau swimming pool, Müller’sches Volksbad. A bus stops just steps from the hotel and arrives in the city center within five minutes; the city center is a 15-minute walk away.
Additional information
Contact Professor Peter Burgard, burgard@fas.harvard.edu, (617) 496-4922, fax (617) 496-8240.
Students with disabilities should contact the disability services coordinator as soon as possible: (617) 495-0977, (617) 495-9419 (TTY), or disabilities@dcemail.harvard.edu. Request-for-accommodation forms and supporting diagnostic documentation must be submitted by April 15. See the Disability Services page for more information about disability services, including request forms and guidelines for documentation.
Students applying for admission to Harvard’s study abroad programs should understand that although the University provides reasonable assistance and support to facilitate the participation of qualified students in its programs (including students with disabilities and health impairments), some of our programs are located in parts of the world where accommodations may not be readily available. Students are encouraged to be forthcoming with the disability services coordinator about any specific needs and functional limitations so that the Summer School can collaborate with those students in a way that fosters their safe participation and allows them to fully appreciate any barriers that they may face, depending on the location and rigors of the particular program.
Harvard Summer School is aware of the risks associated with international travel. Should the US Department of State issue a travel warning for any of the countries in which a study abroad program is planned, the program in that country may be canceled.