When you live in Berlin, there are a few things you simply can’t avoid. The Rewe jingle, for instance, or small children in large snowsuits, well behaved dogs waiting patiently for their owners or, Techno. Techno seems to me like an acquired taste, like olives, or anchovies. The things that you really don’t like, but
A New Interpretive Window: Introducing Monteverdi to Jazz
As winter brought along a festive December air, it also entrained some fervent preparation for the final papers and first semester examinations. Yet apart from rushing through our last semester weeks full to the brim with coursework, many of us sporadically adorned our challenging schedules with various activities wintery Berlin annually hosts for its enthusiastic
Why would anyone spend 15 hours on the S-Bahn?
Riding the Berlin S-Bahn seems to have become a thing among Bard College Berlin students. Some travel the Ringbahn for one hour to visit all 27 stations. Others go for the complete S-Bahn network in one go: 15 lines, 166 stations, 332 kilometres. Some even do it twice. Among them yours truly, who shall try
Out of the cave – right into the world of philosophy
My first semester at Bard College Berlin just ended and I would like to write about the past few months and draw on my first insight into a liberal arts education. At first, many people advised me not to study at a liberal arts university. In Germany you usually choose a field of study that
An encounter with “The Family without Borders”
If you thought Pankow was the most boring, uneventful borough of Berlin – think again! Only ten minutes from the U-Bahn station lives the most fascinating, unique family you will find in Berlin – “The Family Without Borders.” The Alboths are a travelling family who together with their small daughter Hanna decided to live their
An interview with alumnus Andrei Poama
I’m meeting Andrei Poama, a Romanian PhD candidate in Political Theory at Sciences Po in Paris, where he is working on theories of punishment. This fall he co-taught a class on Foundations of Moral and Political Thought, which I attended. He is also an alumnus of Bard College Berlin’s (previously ECLA’s) International Summer University of
Say Yes to Berlin: The Circle of (Big City) Life
It took some time but then one day I finally received my first challenge: stay for one hour in the Berlin railway line which circles the whole city and get off only after you have passed all 27 stations*. Since it takes me more than 40 minutes every day to go to Bard College Berlin with public transport,
Talk with Florian Hoffmann: The Privilege of Education
On December 4, in the frame of the core course “Bildung: Education and Formation” led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Hurst, Bard College Berlin welcomed alumnus Florian Hoffmann, the Founder and President of the DO School, for a talk on “21st Century Skills and the Future of Higher Education.” Florian is one of the old “veterans”–