Blog „UETEach – Uni Erfurt Temple Exchange“

Our new exchange program with Temple University is a wonderful opportunity for our MA-students, our faculty, and our whole department. I am so grateful that we have received funding for this from the DAAD. Philadelphia is a fantastic and cool city, rich in culture and history, cradle of American independence, and really diverse. I experienced the Temple campus as very urban place so that experiences made in the exchange program by Erfurt students and faculty members will be unique and different from what we are used to.

Spending a semester abroad is an exciting experience anyway, very stimulating and enriching, and the differences between Erfurt and Philadelphia make this even better. Yet this is not only true for our visits to Temple, but also for Temple students and faculty members coming to Erfurt. I am really looking forward to having them here next spring, attending our classes and lectures, and also co-teaching class meetings with Bryant Simon or other Temple colleagues will be a real pleasure. By now, I have known Bryant Simon for many years, in 2014 he spent a whole semester and many more weeks at Erfurt University as a Humboldt fellow, and we have published a book together. Working with him is always very inspiring, and according to all I can tell, studying with him is thought-provoking, challenging, and great fun at the same time. And this is true for the whole history program at Temple.

We will have a first taste of this in October and November, when we co-teach a class called „Tell Us Your History“  on the histories of Erfurt and Philadelphia, with a number of video meetings of students and teachers on both sides of the Atlantic. So let’s see  how this goes! I am really excited about this opportunity.

Greetings from Philadelphia. I am hoping that this DAAD-sponosred exchange between Temple University and the University of Erfurt will be a showcase in how to do and practice trans-national history. We are off to a good start. This semester I am teaching a class at Temple called, “Tell Us About Your Past.” The class has students in it from Vietnam and West Philly, from Germany and from Nigeria by way of Upper Darby, PA, from South Philly and the Philly suburbs. Over the course of the semester, we are going to explore the streets and monuments of Philadelphia, studying how the city communicates through its built environment. Towards the end of the class we are going make short films and share them in real time to students from Erfurt. These visual postcards will serve as introductions to Philadelphia and its past – to where the city has been and where it is going. Erfurt students are going to make similar films and presentations to introduce Temple students to their city and its history.

But that's not it. In October, Professor Juergen Martschukat will be at Temple. He will participate in a symposium on gender and history. He will meet with faculty and students. And he will sit in on seminars. In May, I will be in Erfurt with Temple students.

All of this movement of people and ideas mirrors trans-national circuits and will create new flows of information, connections, and ways of thinking.  This is the goal of the exchange – to really push ourselves to think about history in new and challenging ways.

Temple University, von Maria Klenner (Universität Erfurt)

Als Geburtsstätte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und zweitgrößte Stadt an der Ostküste ist Philadelphia täglich Faszination und Herausforderung zugleich. Ich war am Anfang meines Auslandssemesters an der Temple University recht überwältigt von ... weiterlesen

Benni goes USA. Mein Semester in "the city of Brotherly Love", von Benjamin Grünewald (Universität Erfrurt)

Nun möchte ich euch von meiner tollen, ereignisreichen Zeit in den Vereinigten Staaten berichten. Eine Zeit, welche wahrlich das i-Tüpfelchen in meinem Studium-Leben war ... weiterlesen

Halbzeit, von Benjamin Grünewald (Universität Erfurt)

Temple Owls, Philadelphia Eagles, 6ers, Phillies. Falls die Namen euch allen jetzt nichts sagen: Kein Vorwurf. Mir vor meinem Auslandssemester auch nichts. Es handelt sich um ... weiterlesen

Ankunft in Philadelphia, von Benjamin Grünewald (Universität Erfurt)

Mein Abenteuer in Philly beginnt in Frankfurt. Jedoch nicht am Flughafen Frankfurt, sondern 3 Wochen zuvor. Für das Auslandssemester benötigt man ein Studierenden-Visum... weiterlesen

Von American Pizza bis zu Cannoli, von Alina Zeller (Universität Erfurt)

Der amerikanische "Melting pot" ist wohl den meisten Erwachsenen ein Begriff, doch die Bezeichnungen "American Pizza" oder "American Salad" werden wohl weniger oft verwendet...weiterlesen 

Street Art in Philadelphia, von Alina Zeller (Universität Erfurt)

Wenn man aus Europa kommt und an eine "hippe" Stadt in den USA denkt, dann tauchen wohl Bilder von San Francisco, Los Angeles oder New York vor dem inneren Auge auf, jedoch wahrscheinlich nicht von Philadelphia...weiterlesen

Some recollections of my stay at Temple University, by Jonas Brüderlin (Universität Erfurt)

This month it was a year ago that I started my semester abroad at Temple University in Philadelphia. About time to capture some concluding impressions! My time in Philadelphia started...weiterlesen

My time in Erfurt, by Brandon Kinney (Temple University, Philadelphia)

The exchange program with Erfurt University exceeded all of my expectations. I came to the university to take part in a graduate workshop and to present my research for... weiterlesen