Alfred University trip exposes students to German culture

The trip was organized by the Alfred University College of Business, 自20世纪90年代以来，它一直为学生提供国际旅行的机会，并有机会了解其他国家的商业运作方式. Past excursions have taken students to New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Italy, and since in 2008 have included trips to Germany.

Since 2014, Mark Lewis, dean of the College of Business, has offered an Allen Term class, held during the break between fall and spring semester, focusing on the German automotive industry. Online instruction is offered for three weeks prior to the trip overseas, which this year was held Jan. 5-14.

The trips are open to all Alfred University students, regardless of academic major. This year, students enrolled in Lewis’s Allen Term class, and another taught by Andrew Kless, assistant professor of history and global studies, went on the trip. Kless’s Allen Term class, “Looting Europe: How Hitler Stole the Continent’s Art,” examined the Nazi leader’s organized theft of art throughout Europe during World War II.

In addition to Lewis and Kless, 这12名学生——其中3名是刘易斯班的学生，9名是克里斯班的学生——由商学院的Jean Ellefson教授陪同, assistant professor of analytics.

The group from Alfred flew from Rochester to Germany on Friday, Jan. 5. While there were some opportunities for free time and sightseeing, most of the trip was educational in nature. From Monday to Wednesday, Jan. 8-10, 阿尔弗雷德小组的所有12名学生与来自德国和中国的学生一起，在海德海姆的巴登-符腾堡合作州立大学(DHBW)校区参加了商业模拟课程. DHBW, with which AU has been collaborating on travel classes since 2008, 是德国第一所将学术研究与职场培训相结合的高等教育机构吗.

“In this case, the (simulated) business was a scooter manufacturer transitioning from gas power to electric,” Lewis explained. Over the three days, students were taught in six instructional periods, which each representing a year in the business’s operations. The simulation covered, among other areas, staffing, borrowing and investing capital, purchasing, product pricing, and international expansion.

刘易斯解释说:“每个时期(与商业模式有关)大约有120个决定。. “学生们做出的决定和他们在经营国际企业时做出的决定是一样的.”

The business simulation was competitive in nature and students from Alfred, China, and DHBW were split into teams. “Students were required to make decisions within their groups, from multiple perspectives. It helped them gain an understanding of different cultures. For three days, (AU students) integrated into the life of a German student. That’s a valuable lesson,” Lewis said.

Youtube video chronicling Germany trip

During the business simulation class, Lewis and Ellefson taught classes on business technology to second-year DHBW students. Following the conclusion of the class, k8彩乐园app官网下载的学生亲眼目睹了他们在课堂上学到的知识，以及如何将其应用于德国制造业. The entire Alfred contingent toured the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen. “Students learned aspects of the German auto manufacturing industry, like production, lean manufacturing, the use of automation and robotics, and logistics,” Lewis said.

While students in Lewis’s group toured Porsche, MAN truck and bus, and BMW facilities in Munich, Kless accompanied the group of students in his history class to art galleries in the area.

Kless说，他的学生选择参观的博物馆与他的希特勒盗窃欧洲艺术品的课程有关. 他解释说，纳粹领导人偷走了艺术品，他们想把这些艺术品放在纳粹德国各地的博物馆里, including in their own private collections, or to sell on the black market.

Student’s in Kless’s class visited the Alte Pinakothek museum in Munich, which houses collections of art from the 1400s to the 1700s. “这些都是希特勒想要在他自己的艺术博物馆里展出的艺术品，”克莱斯说. Students also visited the Haus der Kunst museum in Munich, which Hitler built to display classical European art that the Nazis admired.

Hitler also attacked art perceived to be irreverent toward conservative German culture. One such artist was Otto Dix, whose art Hitler banned from being sold and displayed. Among the galleries Kless’s students visited was in the Kunst Museum in Stuttgart, which holds a large collection of Dix’s work. 在海登海姆，Kless的团队参观了一个博物馆，里面收藏了大量毕加索的艺术作品.

The entire group from Alfred also visited the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, site of the first Nazi concentration camp.

Lewis pointed out that this trip, like many Alfred University organizes for its students, has a focus not just on business instruction, 更重要的是文化沉浸，让阿尔弗雷德的学生接触到另一个国家的学习环境.

“This is very unique. All other travel courses at AU are arranged by a travel company. This is unique in that it pairs with another overseas university. With this trip, 学生们彼此之间以及与来自其他国家和文化的学生之间进行了深入的互动. You really can’t get that with package tours,” he said. “Having an appreciation for why things are the way they are is healthy. Interactions between different cultures is the most important benefit of this program.”

Kless said that his students, which primarily are art and history majors, had a keen interest in the layout of the German cities. “There is this mix of old and modern that looks very different” from American cities.

“Overall, 对学生来说，最大的好处是沉浸在另一种文化中，并与来自德国和中国的学生互动,” he added.

“学生们在这次旅行中学会了个人责任——当他们不在自己的文化中时如何行动,” Kless continued. “And there is an element of problem solving. With any interaction they had—ordering food or coffee, asking for directions—there is a level of humility.”

“German culture wasn't too different than America, but it was just enough of a difference to feel out of place,” said Emily Sexsmith, a junior art and design major. “Personally, I have researched Germany and have been teaching myself the language for a few years, so I was somewhat familiar with key differences. However, experiencing something is the next level of learning. Learning things, especially on your own, can pin you to expectations. I had some ideas of what experiencing Germany would be like, but nothing was how I had thought it would be. I thought the students would act different from us and judge us for being out of place. But we all got along, and we were very similar.”

艾米丽说，这次经历让她看到了纳粹掠夺欧洲艺术品的程度和大屠杀的暴行. “我们了解到这一点很重要，因为很多事情都被历史掩盖了，被遗忘了. There is a growing belief in America that the Holocaust never happened—that it was a hoax. 我很高兴上了这门课，这样我就能受到足够的教育，知道真相并传播它.”

Emily’s sister, Abigail, a first-year Academic Explorer, said visiting historic sites—including thousand-year-old churches and castles, the Dachau memorial, and other sites relevant to World War II—left an impression on her. “I have never been where there was that much history still standing, 没有什么比在现实生活中看到我从课本上的图片中研究过的这些地方更好的了. Everything is so soaked in history, it’s hard to put your head around it. I feel like seeing Dachau will also stay with me for a long time, but I am so grateful I was able to go and get that perspective of what happened,” she said.

“I think I will most remember sightseeing, experiencing a different culture, and the friendships I made. I made a lot of friends in Germany too. I got to talk with German students and work with them, and we had a lot in common. I became good friends with the other Americans on the trip too, we had a lot of fun hanging out together. I think the more I travel in the future, the more grateful I will be for this experience.”

Jane Heffernan, a sophomore ceramic engineering major, 她说这次旅行让她有机会与来自其他文化的学生学习和交往，并欣赏他们的差异.

“学生与学生之间的互动让我对德国和中国文化的了解远远超过了我独自旅行时的感受. 我有第一手的经验，了解与国际上的人一起工作的细微差别. 这次旅行扩展了我的世界观，也强化了花时间与与我不同的人交流的重要性,” Heffernan commented.

“Ten years from now I think I will remember the student interactions the most. I went on this trip without knowing anyone else who was going. This was a wonderful opportunity to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I met many wonderful people from Alfred, Germany, and China. The most memorable part of this trip will be the friends I made and the conversations we had.”

The College of Business routinely offers other international travel opportunities, as many as three each year. Theresa Gunn, associate professor of accountancy and associate dean of the College of Business, has accompanied students to Costa Rica during spring break, and Shelly Freyn, associate professor of marketing, plans a trip to Spain this summer.  Fred Farley, associate professor of management, 曾带医疗保健管理专业的学生去荷兰旅游吗.

刘易斯说，他已经鼓励那些考虑组织未来旅行的商学院教师从大学其他学术部门寻找教师来安排与国际旅行相关的课程. “This is such a great model for intersections. 我们希望这(旅游课程)能让更多的学生参与进来，”刘易斯说.

Lewis said the trips have left a long-lasting impression on students.

“曾经参加过这次旅行的学生告诉我，这是他们在k8彩乐园app官网下载期间最有影响的经历,” he said. “That’s the impact I want it to have. You can’t replicate this in the classroom.”

Once such student is Zach Harrington, a 2014 graduate with a degree in finance, who is a financial advisor and partner at Rise Advisors, LLC, in Rochester. 他是一群商科学生中的一员，他们上了刘易斯的德国汽车工业课程，并于2014年1月前往德国. There, the group toured Ziegler, at the time a family-owned fire truck maker, and Mercedes-Benz and BMW plants. Harrington’s group took a business simulation class at DHBW in Heideheim.

“This trip was such an awesome experience. When I look back on my time at Alfred, this was one of the most fun times I had. We were very normal Alfred University kids, middle to lower-middle class, in a foreign country figuring things out,” Harrington recalled.

“There are so many memories. We flew out of Newark, NJ, and when we arrived in Germany, we were immediately engulfed in their culture. We made friends with German students, spent a lot of time together (in class and socially). 对我们来说，这真的是一个成熟的过程，要弄清楚如何在异国他乡表现自己. I think more students should take advantage of this type of opportunity.”

Harrington said the experience has helped him professionally, and he says he has applied lessons from the trip to career in finance. 他解释说，他在DHBW的商业模拟以一家葡萄酒经销商为对象，学生们在定价、融资、销售和营销等各个方面做出商业决策. “What we learned in the simulation reflects so much of what I do for my clients now.”

Kless said he hopes the experience inspires students to travel international, to experience even more cultures. “I think they can better understand the United States by looking at it from afar, from others’ perspectives.”

Kless说，这次旅行结束后，学生们表达了寻求出国留学机会的兴趣. 他鼓励任何想要了解更多留学信息的学生与劳拉·约翰逊联系, Alfred University’s Director of Education Abroad.