The last dregs of sunshine filter through the thinning green leaves of the trees at Bard College Berlin’s cafeteria as I sit down on the mossy grass with Mais Hriesh, a third year exchange student from the Bard campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, to find out more about her story. The first time we met she had
Manifest Destiny, or Simply, Cause and Effect, Cause and Effect, Cause and…
I think I must have been holding some brightly colored toy. I remember the flash of color falling from my hands to the ground as my mother’s bloodcurdling scream reached my ears. I ran into the house to see what had happened. My aunt, uncles, grandmother and mother stood crowding around the TV screen. They
Reflecting and Writing on Language and Thinking
It has been three years since Bard College Berlin first adopted the Language and Thinking Program as a mandatory, three-week orientation in which admitted students are meant to practice both academic and creative writing. The program was initially introduced in 1981 by Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York with the aim of encouraging students to
Stumbling Through: First Impressions from my First Month in Berlin
I arrived in Berlin from South Africa on the 8th of August – a day that was very memorably the kind of hot that had sweat droplets budding from one’s pores seemingly instantly after they were wiped away – in the same fashion I believe most Euro virgins do: unbathed, unslept, unattractive, and excited. Ignoring
An interview with alumna Maria Khan, winner of the 2015 IELTS Award
This piece was originally published on the British Council Pakistan website. Republished with their kind permission. 27 year-old Maria Khan is this year’s winner of the IELTS Award, the first of its kind in Germany. Maria, originally from Pakistan, has just finished her Bachelor’s course (her second!) at Bard College Berlin. Her application was chosen out of
There and Back Again
As I write these lines, the urban landscape of Berlin slowly gives way to a haze of green as the ICE train passes along a seemingly endless stream of fields, meadows, and forests on its way to Austria. It’s been a short homecoming for me this time. Returning from Paris, where I lived during my
Pandora’s box
John Greene met Lily Grisham in college. June 22nd was by no means a significant day to 5.67 billion people on the planet Earth (it was warm and windy in London, as well as New York, cloudy in Paris and Kathmandu), but for the rest of the earthly population the date came to mark something:
20 Reasons to Tell Them
To know more about this project, please check out the first collaborative list, 20 Reasons to Run Away and Never Come Back, found here. 20 Reasons to Tell Them Because I need to practice my speaking skills Because my distress has made me feel less like a human and more like a slug Because I