Every expat has felt this: living in a country, the language of which you don’t know, can be extremely challenging. The feeling that one gets is of concomitantly being absent and present, living discreetly (and frequenting international events and places). Of course, as students of ECLA (and probably every second one of us, if not
CategoryDays in Berlin
The Curse Of the Image – Stills from the 62nd International Film Festival Berlin
Among the various thematized screenings of individual films, the organizers of the Berlinale also created several exhibitions and forums to coincide with regular film screenings during the festival. These extra events seemed mostly to be an attempt to engage a wider audience interested in film
Lustre and Reality: Short Films at Berlinale
Berlinale, the Berlin-based international film festival, is one of the best-known in the world and after visiting two shows this year I clearly see the reasons for it. My first close encounter with Berlinale began when I got the programme and had to choose the films to see and screenings to attend from amongst the
The Parade
Halfway into the cold February of 2012 at ECLA, it hardly seemed like the shortest month of the year. With the Annual Conference 2012 behind us and a winter trip pending, a few midterm assignments here and there and the usual everyday coursework, the stubborn snow was the only reminder that this cold winter still
‘Tis the Season to be Jolly
In Berlin, even before snow sets in and the decorations are put up, holiday spirit abounds. You can go to your friendly neighborhood supermarket in November and see a bevy of seasonal sweet treats like: Stollen, Lebkuchen, Pfeffernüsse and Spekulatius. Christmas markets must be the most anticipated holiday fixture in the city, which seem to fill up every
The Great Wave
On October 28th, a group of ECLA students got the chance to visit the temporary exhibition of works by the famous Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai at Martin-Gropius-Bau. On display were 440 works out of his oeuvre of 30,000 which were produced over a period of 70 years. His prolific career seemed to be matched by
“Just don’t sleep.”
What was originally meant to be a humorous remark by one ECLA instructor during the Academic Orientation Session—the first real encounter with members of the faculty—soon became a creed to the students. Too tempting were the sign-up sheets for Berlin Weekend, and too interesting were all the many new people around, to leave time for a
ISU Visit To Reichstag And Sanssouci
The second weekend of July marked the official beginning of ECLA’s International Summer University. It was a weekend abounding in novelties with new students trying to get to know each other and going on two trips to kick-start the international summer university on Prussia: Philosophy, Rebellion and the State. What follows is an account of