News Release

Dispatches from Germany: Language lessons have begun

March 9, 2009

Through an international education partnership with Purdue University, two Penn State Harrisburg students are spending a semester studying in Germany where they are involved in a project aimed at improving the delivery of electricity to a region of that nation.

Hershey resident Kyle Klinger and Andrew Rosenbaum form Stoystown, Somerset County, are the college’s first Electrical Engineering Technology majors chosen to take part in the exchange program which partners Purdue, Penn State Harrisburg, and Penn State Erie with universities in Ireland and Germany. Both students are studying at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt.

Their semester began in early March and the students will be sharing their thoughts on the experience through their time in Germany. Here’s the first “dispatch” from Rosenbaum:

“News from Germany,  We have started our German lessons; they have us scheduled for three hours of lecture a day until classes start in two weeks, and then eight hours a week after classes begin.  They have taken us to set up our bank accounts here and after some other preliminary in-processing, today we will register with Hochschule Darmstadt.  Some professors from Purdue are here in Darmstadt and we have a meeting with them and Dr. Schmidt-Walter.  We met the students from Purdue, but I am not sure if we will be taking classes with them, I believe the one student is in Mechanical Engineering, and one is in Electrical Engineering, but is not taking power classes.

We have been enjoying the warmer weather here, everyone has been helpful to us, showing us around.  The public transportation is excellent, with a week behind us it has become easier to get around and not get lost.  Our international group consists of people from all around the world, so we have been able to meet a variety of people here.  The local food is good, I find it interesting how the grocery stores have the milk and eggs sitting out on the shelves and not in refrigerated units. 

The Second Dispatch from Andrew Rosenbaum

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

We are now into our third week of classes and it is already Easter!  We have a week off for Easter, in which we will use the time to visit other parts of Europe.  We have entered the planned classes that we wanted without any problems.  We have two classes on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and then our third class on Thursday morning.  We are continuing our German lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Our research is progressing, when I get the answer to one question, I get ten more questions, but going well.  The weather finally began to warm up, the area is very nice looking with the plant life returning.  We also met this week the students from Purdue who are attending classes in Dublin, they are on break now and visited Darmstadt this week.

Also, we are working on getting a syllabus sent to Penn State, but the professors either don't have one or it is German, so we are requesting one in English.

Third Dispatch from Andrew Rosenbaum

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Yes, classes are in full swing now and keeping us busy along with traveling.  Last week, students from Purdue visited Darmstadt for a week and they attended tours while they were here.  We were also invited to attend any of the tours.  We did attend some of the tours that fit into our schedule. We were able to visit the GM fuel cell research facility and also visit the Opel car manufacturing plant, which is state of the art.  Then we were able to join them last Saturday for a tour of Mainz and a boat ride up the Rhine to St. Goar.  That particular area possesses many castles and is very scenic. 

Today, we have a holiday, so Kyle and I are going to Berlin with some students from Purdue.  Next week, we have another four-day holiday so then we are going to Munich to visit.  After these two weeks, we will have to take a break from travelling for a little bit, since our tests will start taking place in the end of June.  Time is going by very fast over here.  Also, we have finally applied for the visa and that is settled, the process is a little difficult to do with all the governmental procedures that we must follow or get kicked out of the country, which won't happen since both Kyle and I have ours and as they say in German "alles gut" (all is well).