Administrative

5 August 2014

Going home! 

Erfurt, DE -- This time next week, most all of us will be on flights back to the US - a bit sad, but it's also nice to get back to our homes for the Fall semester. As we approach the end of SPICE 2014, I wanted to go over important dates and deadlines between now and Tuesday, so that we're all on the same page:

Thursday, 7 August

For students interested in visiting Buchenwald Concentration Camp, I will be leading a group of students on Thursday afternoon. I will already be aboard ICE 1549 from Frankfurt, and our train stops in Erfurt at 14:39, leaving for Weimar (with a scheduled arrival of 14:47). Buchenwald is the closest labor camp to Erfurt (and it also made use of Topf and Sonne incineration furnaces, for those in the Ethics course) and is a pretty incredibly visit, as the camp is open to the public. The camp will be open until 17:30 on this day, and there is no fee for admittance - although you'll want to purchase train tickets as well as bus tickets in Weimar. 

The best way to get to Weimar and back is to purchase a round-trip Hopper-ticket - they are only 7.50 euro per person. You can buy them from the vending machines at the airport, and they are your best bargain (I've already checked, and they do allow for travel between Erfurt and Weimar). Once in Weimar, we can purchase bus tickets to Buchenwald (no more than 6 euro total). 

NOTE: For students attending Kendall Burchard's SPICE picnic, we will be back before 7:00pm - there are several trains running that route (between three and five trains per hour) and the total trip is less than 15 minutes. 

Friday, 8 August

Check our e-mail accounts, but Dr. Tsetsura has arranged for an English-language tour of Erfurt starting at 10am in from of the Tourism Information Center, near the Kramerbruke. This is a free tour arranged through her connections, and an excellent opportunity to learn the "real" history of Erfurt. Check it out!

Monday, 11 August

Before noon on Monday, all students enrolled in the German Culture and Communication course (that is, all WVU students) will need to submit (a) their final reflection blog and and (b) any final blog edits to receive credit. For the final blog, don't forget that this reflection is nearly 25% of your entire blog grade:

• A final reflection paper of the SPICE 14 experience (25%). In this final blog post (750 to 1000 words in length - although 500 is acceptable with a very solid, quality reflection) students will summarize and reflect on their SPICE experience paying careful attention to the relevant theoretical concepts of intercultural communication. This project will incorporate journal entries, personal stories and any other reference materials in order to provide the reader with a thoughtful and accurate summary of the intercultural experience. This paper will be graded with a focus on (a) students honest reflections of their experience, (b) students’ ability to discuss relevant communication theory within their reflections, and (c) students demonstration of the relevance of this experience to their individual development. 

NOTE: For the blogs, I cannot receive these late as I have to submit final grades to WVU. Moreover, as WVU does not allow us to enter "incomplete" grades for study abroad programs, any missing blogs will result in a "F" for the course. 

On Monday night, we'll be staying at the InnerCity Hotel Erfurt (it is directly to the left of the Erfurt Hauptbahnhof). I have booked four rooms (each with two beds) under the following names:

• Markus Davis
• Charite Mellon
• Stephen Thompson
• Marissa Totokotsopoulos

Students will need to check in by 5pm, or the hotel might cancel their reservations. I have also copied all of you on a note to Afifa Al-Bayed and her TAs, so that you can arrange to check out of your apartments and (hopefully!) receive your deposits back.

From this, we'll be meeting at 18:00 (6 pm, as we get used to US time) in the InnerCity Hotel lobby, for a final "night out". This is voluntary, but you're welcome to join me for one of my favorite places in Erfurt. =)

Tuesday, 12 August

Tuesday morning, we'll meet in the InnerCity Hotel lobby at 6:30 am, so that we can have ample time to catch our scheduled 07:18 train (ICE 1644). For this train, we will have assigned seats and reservations so that we don't have to worry about getting everyone in place. Of course, we will only have about five minutes to board the train, so it will be important to make sure that all of our bags get loaded on first - we can find our way to our seats once the bags are secured.

NOTE: If you miss the scheduled train home, you will be on your own to find a way back to the airport and - eventually - back to the US. 

Our train is a straight shot to Frankfurt Flughafen, and once we arrive I'll help navigate everyone to their individual flights. From there, it's back to Country Roads. =)

22 July 2014

Preparing for Berlin

Erfurt, DE -- As we get read for next week's trip to Berlin, don't forget about your blog assignment for that week:

• Berlin reflections (25%). As part of SPICE ’14, we will take a week-long excursion to Berlin, 750 to 1000 words in length. Students will be asked to complete a number of tasks in their journal reflections (DUE Sunday 3 August), including:
• Compare and contrast the communication styles of eastern and western Germany, using a framework similar to what will be provided for the “Interpersonal interactions” assignment. This divide might be a noticed by comparing Erfurt to Berlin as well as eastern and western Berlin (as well as a combination of these two comparisons).
• Understand the international significance of Berlin, and how this has influenced the people living in the city and the culture of Berlin as unique from that of greater Germany.
• Reflect on the increased diversity of Berlin from a historical and contemporary standpoint, and discussion how this diversity is similar to and different from representative areas in the United States.

14 July 2014

Cultural convergence theory is Tuesday

Erfurt, DE -- A reminder that our blog meeting regarding cultural convergence theory is on Tuesday, July 15 (that way, we can get a bit of sleep after Germany's World Cup win). We'll meet up again on Tuesday, July 22 for our next meal allowance disbursement, so you might consider using these next days to work on cultural visits (for your site visit page).

2 July 2014

Scheduling changes, July 4th and German culture course

Erfurt, DE -- Okay folks, so buckle in because we have some scheduling changes to make: 

• For the 4th of July BBQ this coming Friday, we're going to move the mealtime up to 4pm. That is, we'll grill from 4pm until 6pm so that we can finish up in time to go watch the Germany vs. France match (for those of you still following the World Cup). 
• For our "normal" Monday blog meeting, we're going to move this up to Sunday at 10am at Double B Restaurant. You'll need to have your blog written before we meet, and we'll go over the blog (and distribute mean allowances) before you all leave. 

Please make note of these changes so that there are no travel or course complications. 

1 July 2014 

Reminder about Site Visit blog posts

Erfurt, DE -- This is a simple reminder to blog students that part of the course assignment is to write about your different cultural experiences, reflecting on those experiences in terms of communication theories, historical and cultural significance, and your general thoughts of each. From the syllabus: 

• Site meetings (30%). Students will be asked to visit at least five sites of cultural significance to Germany of their own choosing, and provide two to three pages of original writing discussing the roots of each site’s cultural significance. These papers should contain equal parts history, sociology, and communication to explain how each has influenced the Germany way of life. Each paper is worth 6% of the student’s final grade. Notably, these sites do not need to be necessarily (a) historical or (b) tourists sites – students are in fact encouraged to fine less contrived or obvious locales with which to more intimately understand the culture of eastern Germany. Each one of these entries should include pictures (with captions) and should be between 250 and 400 words in length, incorporating relevant communication theory when applicable. NOTE: One of these site meetings can be selected from the pre-scheduled Berlin trip.

A few students have wanted to combine site visit blogs (i.e., write about more than one visit in the same post). This is permissible, but you would need to have at least one photo for each site, and the post would need to be generally the length of two posts.

23 June 2014

Scheduling Change for Monday, June 30

Erfurt, DE -- In order to allow students time to focus on their upcoming project papers in the Media Psychology and Influence course, there will be no theory blog post due this week (so, there are no new readings for the week either). However, do remember that you have your "one month in" Interpersonal Interaction blog post due by Sunday, June 29. From the syllabus:

• Interpersonal interaction (10%). Students will be asked to reflect on their initial interactions with German SPICE students (5%) and German residents of Erfurt (5%). These reflections will be “raw” in that students will be asked merely to note their own impressions of cultural similarities and differences between what they are familiar with and what they are experiencing in Erfurt – this entry should be between 400 and 600 words in length. DUE Sunday 29 June.

As well, we will not have our normal breakfast meeting on Monday but rather, Dr. Bowman will be available at Cognito Erfurt from 10:00 to 15:00. Since most everyone by now has been able to find the Domplatz (I hope!), I've included walking directions from Domplatz to Cognito. I will most likely be in the upstairs dining area ... importantly, with your meal allowance monies. =)

22 June 2014

Tentative Amsterdam Trip

Erfurt, DE -- So, we've got a plan! Two rooms are booked at the Hotel Mosaic for check-in on Tuesday, July 8 and check-out on Thursday, July 10. You guys are of course welcome to travel where you please during the SPICE break, but these rooms will be paid for in advance. Each room can sleep four people so this will cover our WVU SPICE students - the "standard" break-down is by sex (boys in one room, girls in another) so the hostel might organize you in this way.

Below is a map of the general area (you'll be arriving at Amsterdam Centraal), to help you get around. If you'd like to travel with me to Amsterdam, the train I will most likely take is:

• IC2158 departing Erfurt at 6:23, arriving in Frankfurt (Main) at 8:37 
• ICE 128, departing Frakfurt(Main) at 9:29 and arriving in Amsterdam (Centraal) at 13:27

This room can be cancelled up until July 7, so I will keep you posted in case there are any issues with the trains and/or the reservations. If you are hoping to arrive earlier or stay later in Amsterdam, you will need to arrange for that on your own. 

16 June 2014

World Cup! 

Erfurt, DE -- For students who are not travelling today, the first round of Germany's journey through the World Cup begins at 18:00 against Portugal. A group of us will be viewing the game on campus in their outdoor theater, so feel free to join us. =) 

11 June 2014

Tour cancelled for Wednesday

Erfurt, DE -- Today's tour of the city is cancelled due to "regen" (rain). However, we are still gathering at Peckham's Coffee tonight at 19:00 (7:00 pm). 

10 June 2014

First post instructions

Erfurt, DE -- For students receiving credit for the "German Culture and Communication" course, don't forget that you need to update your individual blog page before 16:00 (4pm) this coming Friday (13 June). Your first post will need to include:

• date
• headline/title
• 200-250 words regarding your initial impressions of Erfurt and Germany - this does not have to be necessarily about communication studies-related theories or ideas. 
• a photograph/picture (with caption) related to your initial impressions

You'll want to practice using the blog (the primary function of this first post), so to make this post you'll need to:

• log into the blog (www.blogger.com, if you're not already logged in)
• click on the blog "SPICE 2014" and select the "Pages" menu. Your screen should look something like the image below:

• From "Pages", scroll over your name (each student in the blog should be listed) and choose the "Edit" function. 
• Update your blog, in the window provided. NOTE: I would suggest first saving your work into a Word.file or equivalent. That way, you can cut and paste your information into the blog
• To insert an image, you'll need to (a) save the files to a space on your computer and then (b) upload the files from that space. The program will walk you through this process. 

You will need to at a minimum have your blog written into a Word.doc file - we'll take a few minutes at the end of Friday's class to make sure everyone understands the technical aspects of the blog, but we don't want to spend this time writing entries.

5 June 2014 

Erfurt City Tour

Erfurt, DE -- A note from our SPICE coordinator, Afifa El Bayed, regarding a city tour on Wednesday 11 June: 

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to announce that our SPICE TAs Felicia and Mareike proposed to take you on a city tour on Wednesday, June 11th at 10:00 AM. For this purpose, you should meet them at the city center, by taking the tram to the station "Anger". You will not have to worry about finding the station, the tram will stop in it (first stop) on the way from the train station to your buildings of residence.

In the city tour, Felicia and Mareike will show you the most important locations and destinations that you will need to know in Erfurt (banks, post, etc.), and will be more than welcoming to answer your questions with this regard. So, please be timely there!

Best regards and see you all soon,

Afifa

1 June 2014

Syllabus for German Culture course

Morgantown, WV -- As part of SPICE, our WVU students are required to take an additional 3.0 credit hours in German Culture and Communication. The complete syllabus (updated 31 May 2014) is available here, but the course calendar has been uploaded below: 

Tentative Course Schedule:

As an independent study course, we will not have a static schedule of deadlines for assignments. Rather, your primary interaction in this course will take the form of site preparations and reflections – kept as journal entries. At a minimum, students will have a weekly group dinner with the Instructor of the course and SPICE coordinator to reflect on the week’s cultural experiences and plan for the next week’s activities. All students will be expected to attend the Berlin mid-semester trip from July 28-31 and have the first portion of their online journals completed before this trip. Beyond this, students will be expected to complete journal entries on their own time based on their own interests. 

A tentative schedule of discussion topics for the Instructor/SPICE dinners. All readings for course discussion will be posted at http://wvuspice2014.blogspot.com/ six days before each meeting. For example, the blog and associated readings for 16 June will be posted the morning of 10 June (usually around 09:00).

Date	Topic(s)	Assignments
10 June (Tuesday)	Wilkommen zu Germany! General discussion of our quick impressions, and expectations for blog class. Blog tutorial.	Meal money received (€120) Walking tour of Erfurt
16 June	Culture shock. Discussion will include an open-ended observation of salient cultural differences and experiences. Communication Accommodation Theory will be introduced and discussed.	Meal money received (€120) Giles & Baker, 2008 Gregory & Webster, 1996
23 June	Managing cultural conflicts. Students will be asked to discuss any particular conflicts they might have had to this point, using precepts of Face Negotiation Theory.	Meal money received (€120) Ting-Toomey, 2009 Interpersonal Interaction DUE Sunday 29 June
30 June	Catch-up. Dinner discussion will be centered around making sure that students are on task in completing course objectives. Open-ended conversation. We’ll also chart individual blog progress.	Meal money received (€120) Individual blog progress check and share.
7 July	Born on the 4th of July … and when were you born? For the past few years, SPICE students have had a celebration for Independence Day. However, many students quickly realize that national pride is something that is not as prevalent in Germany. We’ll talk about why.	Meal money received (€120) Readings TBA
14 July	Who are we? As we return from Amsterdam, students will consider the role of cultural convergence in understanding norms and communication patterns experienced in the city (and other travel).	Meal money received (€120) Kincaid, 2009
22 July (Tuesday)	Preparing to visit Berlin. We’ll talk about the related blog assignment.	Meal money received (€120)
28 July	No Class Meeting – Berlin Trip Meal money received (€120), at the train station before we leave Erfurt) Berlin reflection DUE Sunday 3 August
4 August	Are we feeling it? Students will debate and discuss intercultural adaption, understanding how they use their dual cultural identity strategically to meet different communicative goals.	Meal money received (€120) Cai & Rodriguez, 1996 Fantini, 1995 Final reflection paper DUE  Sunday 10 August
11 August	Let’s go home (but do you want to?).

NOTE: All meetings are Mondays from 10am to noon at Double B (http://www.doubleb-erfurt.de/) unless otherwise specified. At each meeting, we will go over finances and distribute meal money. =) 

31 May 2014

Train arrival

Morgantown, WV -- We're about eight days out from our trip to Germany now, and I hope you're as excited as I am. A few days ago, I received our train passes in the mail so it looks like we're all set to complete our journey to Erfurt. For our arrival in Germany on Monday 9 June, our plan is to:

• Gather at the DeutscheBahn "Reisezentrum" located in the first floor (labelled Floor 0, you can see it on this map marked with a red "DB" and a little "i" directly to the right: http://www.frankfurt-airport.com/content/frankfurt_airport/en/directions/airport_maps1/terminal_1_2.html). Student flights will be landing between 6am and 8am, so it's vital that you make your way directly to this location once you've landed, gathered your luggage and cleared customs. 
• Once we have all seven students (we lost one student registration last week), we'll make our way as a group to the train station. I'll lead the way, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. 
• When we arrive at the Fernbahnhof, we'll have a good amount of time to relax and eat breakfast (if you haven't done so already). We'll find a place to sit so that I can give you your train passes and explain how they work, and we'll just take a breath (and a coffee!).
• Our train to Erfurt is ICE1547, departing Frankfurt at 10:11am and arriving at Erfurt at 12:39pm. It will leave from Platform (Gleis) Fern 4 and arrive in Erfurt at Platform 10. NOTE: We'll have to board the train very quickly, so it's best that we arrive at the platform as a group, and no later than 10am. 
• Once we arrive in Erfurt, we'll be greeted by the SPICE organizers and we'll be escorted to our apartments. Woo! 

For your apartments, you'll want to be sure and have your deposit available - this year, the fee is €200 and you'll need to pay this in Euros. The best way do to this is by using an ATM at the airport to withdraw the cash. So long as you don't damage your apartment, you will receive this money in full when we leave Germany. 

29 May 2014

Opening reception (updated) 

Erfurt, DE -- A reminder that Afifa Al-Bayed has updated the details for our opening SPICE reception, so you want to be sure to mark the new reception time in our calendar. We're meeting at a very cool, very hip and very small coffee shot "Peckham's" for our first SPICE dinner (http://www.peckhams.de/). This dinner is on Wednesday, June 11th at 7pm.

For directions from the University of Erfurt to Peckham's, use the interactive map below. Basically, you just need to walk south from the Uni (towards the Domplatz - don't worry, you cannot miss this) until you hit a road "Pergamentergasse". Make a left on "Pergamentergasse" and you'll just stroll until you see us enjoying a coffee and an adult beverage. NOTE: Germans are very prompt people, so do not be "stylishly late" - the party starts right at 19:00 (that's 7pm for us).

IF YOU GET LOST TRYING TO FIND PECKHAM'S, simply go to the Domplatz - we'll send somebody over there around 7:15 pm to gather anyone who wasn't able to find the coffeeshop.