Summer break. These words spark fantasies of relaxation for many college students, but some students on the campus of ETSU will be doing much more than relaxing.
A few students from the foreign language department will have the opportunity to study in Germany this summer.
“East Tennessee State University will offer its 13th Summer in Germany Program from June 22 to July 27, 2003,” states the web site www.etsu.edu /cas/language/german.htm.
They started this academic journey in 1986, said Christa Hungate, ETSU assistant professor of German.
Originally they went every year, but then started going every other year.
The trip, which Hungate says is a “positive experience,” gives students an opportunity to study the German language in the real setting.
During the first three weeks of the program, participants will stay at the medieval fortress Burg Hoheneck. Burg Hoheneck, which Hungate considers “our home away from home,” is actually a castle located near the picturesque Franconian town of Bad Windsheim.
The castle is “very interesting,” said Dr. Stephen G. Fritz, who also goes on the trip. “It gives the students a chance to be more a part of a German culture and community. They are forced to take in German culture.”
On weekends students will travel to neighboring cities. They will not be visiting any big cities for fear that they will not get enough of the real culture. “A big city is a big city,” Hungate said.
During the last two weeks of the program, students stay at an inn at Farchant in the Alpine Region of Southern Bavaria.
There will be no more than 20 students going and they are not all ETSU students either. Students apply from all over the world. They can apply on the German web site at www.etsu.edu/cas/language/german.htm.
After applying and sending the $200 application fee, they are sent an informational packet.
The program is open to men and women, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Some qualified high school seniors will be accepted in the program and may receive college credit.
In the program, students earn nine undergraduate semester hours of credit, but can get up to 12 hours.
Graduate level credit is available, but at an additional cost.
Classes are held in the mornings and some afternoons and are taught by Hungate and Fritz.
Field trips will include visits to local schools, museums, monasteries, castles and a brewery.
The total cost of this program is $4,600. This total is broken down into three payments.
The program cost covers round-trip transportation, tuition for nine semester credit hours with ETSU transcription, with an additional fee required for graduate credit.
It also covers all group excursions, admission to museums and castles and room and board.
Participants will receive three meals a day at Burg Hoheneck, two meals a day while in Farchant and overnight accommodations and breakfast while traveling.
The summer study program in Germany is a “life-altering experience,” Hungate said.
Some students have commented that they now have a “changed perspective on how they live,” Fritz said.
For more information, please call Hungate at 439-6902.

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