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Harvard Summer Program in Munich, Germany

At a Glance

Dates:

June 2–July 28, 2010

Application deadline:

February 5

Cost:

$7,500

Accommodations:

Dorms

Slideshow

Contact

  • Professor Peter Burgard; e-mail

Harvard College students can attend the study abroad fair to learn more about this program.

German language and cultural study in Bavaria

Faculty: Professor Peter J. Burgard

“The program was fantastic, providing the perfect balance of intensive language instruction and cultural experiences. I feel as if I know the city like the back of my hand. I suppose that I went into this program looking to be ‘inspired,’ and I definitely was, by the sights I saw and by my teachers.”

– 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 an 8-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 4th 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 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

Course of study

GERM S-23 Study Abroad in Munich: German Language and Culture (32093)

Peter J. Burgard.

(8 credits: UN, GR) Limited enrollment

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. In the 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. 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 Residenz, the Munich City Museum, churches, the English Garden, famous taverns, Nymphenburg Palace, Dachau, the Olympic Park, and the BMW-Museum. Small-group explorations of contemporary German life and research projects complete the cultural component of the program, along with 7 excursions further afield: to medieval Regensburg, to Reformation Augsburg, to baroque Salzburg, to the Chiemsee, to one of crazy Ludwig's castles, to Nuremberg, and to Andechs monastery, famous for its church and the beer its monks brew, overlooking a lake in the magnificent Bavarian countryside.

Prerequisites: first-year college German or the equivalent.

Course credit

See Study Abroad Credit Information.

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 has offered courses on early modern German cultural history and on gender, language, and sexuality in fin-de-siècle Austrian and German culture, and he is currently preparing a new General Education course on Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and the Western secular tradition. His publications include volumes on Goethe, Nietzsche, and the baroque, as well as essays on German literature since the sixteenth century, European baroque and American 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

“Coming to Munich has been one of the best experiences of my life.”

– Munich Summer School student

Application

Students must be at least 18 years old, have completed at least 1 year of college or be a first-year student, and be in good academic standing to apply.

The application materials, outlined below, are due February 5:

Transcripts and letters of recommendation should be addressed as follows:

Professor Peter Burgard
Harvard Summer Program in Munich, Germany
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
Barker Center 361
12 Quincy Street
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

Students will be notified of admission decisions by February 19.

Cost

The cost of the program is $7,500 and a nonrefundable $50 application fee. This covers the following:

In addition to the program fee, students are responsible for:

Program directors will advise students of likely additional expenses.

How to pay and funding options

See How to Pay for payment deadlines, deposit amounts, and more information including funding options for Harvard College students.

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 (no cooking), 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 art nouveau swimming pool, Müller’sches Volksbad. A bus stops just steps from the hotel and arrives in the city center within 5 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. See Students with Disabilities for more information.

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