35 Jahre: 1982-2017

For Students

 

Description: "In my first department (Referat Internationales und Protokoll), I worked with Frau H. to help prepare for the Youth Congress of Metropolis 2005, to be held in Berlin in May 2005.  I translated conference materials between English, German, and Spanish, as well as completing some data entry for the various participants.  Because everyone knew I was a fluent English-speaker and English is a useful Lingua Franca, I was also able to assist others in their international communications and web search.  I really enjoyed my time there, because I got to work with lots of different people, everyone was tremendously nice, and my German really improved.

In the Landesdenkmalamt, my main task was to look for monuments in other countries that were actually ruins or remains of structures destroyed by German actions in WWII, in preparation for the "Tag des offenen Denkmals."  I also helped making a Pressespiegel at the beginning.  I worked with Frau Wolf in a friendly, helpful environment, and really improved my German skills.  Once again, the fact that I was an English speaker came in handy for communication with Italy, for example, where a colleague we worked with did not speak German."

Comments: "Now I speak and read German.  In September I didn't know what "Wie geht's?" meant and now I can read the newspaper, which makes the fascinating capital city accessible to my curiosity.  I plan to write an honors thesis about themes I discovered here."

Note 2007: "The skills and contacts aquired during my internship helped me win a year-long scholarship from the "Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst" to return to Berlin."

For further information, please write to: ardenpennell@gmail.com