Germany
For all students the program begins with the orientation in Bonn, where the administrative office of EPA is located. After this students either remain in Bonn/Cologne or move to Berlin, depending on the internship to be followed.
Bonn was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government for the Federal Republic of Germany until 1999. As the Federal Government and the Bundestag moved to Berlin, Bonn continued as a center of politics and administration, with roughly half of all government jobs remaining there. Bonn is also home to 16 United Nations organizations. Culturally, Bonn is best known as the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven and for its prestigious university and the city, which is located just south of Cologne on the river Rhine, remains a popular choice for large-scale exhibitions and conferences.
Internship possibilities abound in politics, government, business, health, the arts, and international media as well.
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city with more than 10 million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC. It also home to one of Europe’s oldest universities.
Cologne is a major center for business, the Arts and the Media and a wide range of internships are available to EPA students.
Erik Abbott, Hamline University, Internship, Cologne
Berlin
After a fifty-year interval, Berlin is back – back as the capital of a reunified Germany and back as one of Europe’s greatest cities. After World War II it lost its capital status, as the West German Government, which out of necessity was located in Bonn. Today, the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, are starting to seem like a distant memory and all the talk in Berlin is of the future. Government bodies have moved back from Bonn and there is huge investment from many other parts of the country and from all over Europe.
EPA is one of the very few programs allowed to place students as interns in the Bundestag.
Internships in Bonn & Cologne
Courses in Bonn & Cologne
Internship in Berlin
Courses in Berlin
Dates of German Courses
Coupled with this wave of new construction is a city laden with historical charm. Tourism is on the rise, as visitors come to savor the intoxicating mix of old and new. Big business, too, is booming with key industries such as electronics, manufacturing and information technology reflecting the hopes for a brighter future for Berlin.
Jennifer McVey, St Mary's College of Maryland, Internship, Berlin
Orientation
The main orientation for all students will take place in Bonn during the first two weeks of the program. During this time students will be housed together in the orientation hotel in central Bonn. Orientation will include informational, cultural, and social activities to acquaint students with each other and with German life. All aspects of the program are covered in detail during orientation meetings. There is also a non-credit German course combined with the orientation. It is designed to help students become quickly effective in their internships and in their new environment. It has a very practical approach and gives a view of every day life in Germany. Also, the German Politics course, that all students take, starts in the first or second orientation week.
Important note
The EPA program in Germany is the only one where the classes are not held at a local university. This is because the calendar at the typical German university does not begin to match the semester system and for this reason participants cannot directly be enrolled at the local universities. However, all of the academics involved in teaching the EPA courses hold teaching or research posts at German universities or equivalent institutions.
Classes in Bonn/Cologne
Classes are held at the Academy for International Education (AIB) in Bonn, now the official German campus of Texas A&M University.
The class on Arts and Culture runs throughout the programe and includes a number of field trips.
The class on German Politics begins during the orientation program and is concluded during the nine-day visit to Berlin, in which all Bonn/Cologne students take part.
Classes in Berlin
These are held in classrooms rented from one of the local universities. Students interning in Berlin arrive at the end of the second week of orientation, that is held in Bonn.
Students also take a European Politics class that runs throughout their stay in Berlin.
Accommodation
Most students in Bonn live with host families, although short-term apartments and places in student dormitories are sometimes available. The program has a long-standing relationship with a number of families who enjoy having American students live with them and seek to maximize the students' cross-cultural experience.
In Berlin, students live in apartments.
In both cities accommodation for the students, be it host families or furnished apartments, has already been pre arranged before the students arrive in order to use the orientation time effectively and save them the stress of flat hunting.
Interviews for Internships
Usually the program director has prepared the internship placements already before the students arrive. The internship supervisors know the participants from their files and a specific interview is only necessary in some rare cases. In some other rare cases telephone interviews are done with the students when they still are in the US.
Start of Internships
All students start their internships at the beginning of the third week of their stay immediately on a Monday after the two weeks of orientation. In some cases some minor bureaucratic paperwork is done during the morning of the starting day and students begin their internship immediately thereafter.
Contacts with the Local Student Community
All three cities, Bonn, Cologne and Berlin are major German university cities and the EPA students are able to make use of the facilities. In addition they can meet their German peers in the many student societies, cafes and clubs. The on-site director can assist EPA students in making the right contacts.
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