Berlin, Germany
June 5 - July 21, 2008
Why NYU in Berlin? | Berlin: The City | Facilities | Housing | Faculty | Excursions | Links
Director of the Program:
Thomas Ertman, Professor of Sociology
Why NYU in Berlin?
AT NYU IN BERLIN, students experience a cosmopolitan city that holds a complex and crucial place in modern European history. The academic program, built around Berlin's rich culture, offers three content courses focusing on literature, cinema, history, and politics, and German language courses from elementary level to advanced.
Berlin: The City
Berlin has played a central role in European history for over two centuries. For forty years Berlin was a divided city and the fulcrum of the Cold War balance of power. It became a single city when the wall came down in 1989, but it will carry the vestiges of the world's cold war division into East and West for years to come. But the conflicted history of the city dates back further. As the New York Times has said, "No major European city displays its...history more visibly than Berlin." (11 April 1999)
One can encounter this past not just in the city's many museums and in the memories of its inhabitants, but also in its architecture: the palaces of the baroque, rococo and romantic periods, the monumental government buildings and workers' tenements of the Wilhelminian Empire, the modernist structures of the Weimar Republic, the massive ministries and Olympic Stadium of the Third Reich, ruins from World War II, the showcase developments—and the Wall—constructed during the Cold War. Today, Berlin is at a particularly exciting moment of transition, reclaiming its historical role as Germany's capital and as the political, cultural, and economic mediary between Eastern and Western Europe. Massive construction projects reflect this development and offer some of the most exciting new architecture in the world.
Berlin is a thoroughly modern but affordable city with outstanding museums and a lively theatre and music scene; it also has an efficient public transportation system, an international cuisine, and a vibrant nightlife.
Facilities
NYU in Berlin is affiliated with Humboldt University, a preeminent university located in the historic heart of Berlin at the avenue Unter den Linden. Classes are taught at facilities of Humboldt University.
Housing
All students participating in the program are required to live in NYU-provided apartments. The apartments are located in the city center (Mitte) near the multi-ethnic Kreuzberg neighborhood and are a 25 minute ride by bus and subway from the classrooms. All apartments contain a living room, large kitchen and two single bedrooms (all students will have a private bedroom). In addition, students will be provided with internet access from their apartment (however, students are required to bring their own laptop) and students will be provided with a cell phone for use during the program. A linen and towel service is also provided.
Excursions
Aside from excursions in and around the city of Berlin, students take a day trip to Dresden and a weekend trip to Prague. In Prague, students explore the traces of three cultures—Czech, German, and Jewish—on a three-day weekend. A remarkably preserved city, Prague combines medieval, baroque, and modern influences. Located on the river Vltava, the city's thousand years of architectural and artistic history are reflected in its stone facades and cobblestone streets. Students might visit Kafka's house, the old Jewish cemetery, or just experience the city's lively atmosphere and its contemporary cultural scene.
Faculty
Thomas Ertman
Ph.D., M.A. 1985, B.A., Harvard University. Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Sociology.
Kathrin Koehler
a Ph.D. candidate at the Humboldt
Peter Rosenbaum
a Ph.D. candidate at NYU
Antje Rebecchi
certified German teacher
Martin Jander
Ph.D. Formerly of the Free University, Berlin. Independent Scholar.
Links
A comprehensive list of web resources for the city of Berlin