Students Arrival

On the last day of April 2003 20 Goshen students arrived in Germany for a three-month SST semester. An arduous journey brought them to Frankfurt via Zürich to Frankfurt by air and then on to Jena by bus. What is normally (i.e., at night!) less than a three-hour trip on the multi-lane autobahn turned into over six hours as the bus inched along in the more than 100 km traffic jam.


Lisa and Angie on the bus approaching Jena, ready to meet their new host families.	Families come to meet the students as the bus arrives in front of the Schiller-Universität.	The new Straßenbahn (street cars) and buses get you around the city of around 100,000 conveniently and comfortably.	The university guest house (Humboldt-Haus) where the Studienleiter, Gerhard and Rosemary Wyse Reimer have an apartment and where the unit meetings and some of the lectures take place.

May Day

After May Day -- an important day here -- to rest up and meet their families, all quickly get into the routine of moving around the city, getting to language classes on time and going on field trips.


The students at Engelplatz, gathering place during the first days as the students get their bearings.	Merlin, Troy and Matt waiting for the group to get the tram for classes.	Shelley says: "Ich liebe Jena!" (I like Jena!)	Bernd giving us background on Jena on the market square in Jena.

Bernd Zickler and Wolfgang, our two German colleagues at Jenakolleg, our sponsoring institution, are doing an amazing job of introducing us to Jena and other significant cities nearby.


Friedrich Schiller, the famous classical writer, was a professor at the university in Jena, now named after him, and wrote some of his famous dramas here.	Students looking at Schiller's small cabin in a corner of his garden, where he did his writing, away from the smell of food preparations in the kitchen, which nauseated him.	Wolfgang giving a lecture on Jena at the drop of a hat as our train to Naumburg is delayed.	On the market square in Naumburg.

Naumburg

Our field trip to Naumburg proved adventuresome. Due to a train engine break-down, we were supposed to have a 40 minute delay. Then an ICE train, Germany's fastest and most modern, came along and let us board. But Merlin and Emily missed it--they had gone to check out the tennis courts in the park nearby! They nobly redeemed themselves by finding their own way to Naumburg and catching up with us there to see the Dom (cathedral). Naumburg, long considered one of Germany's most distinctive towns, is still a jewel of medieval and Renaissance architecture. It is especially famous for the sculptures in the Dom. Goshen students will long remember singing "My Life Flows on" and "When Peace like a River" in the Dom. What acoustics! And a very different sound from Sauder Hall!


A narrow medieval street in Naumburg.	The Dom, built in the 13th century.	Telissa, Raymond and Raymond Jr.	Camsdorfer Brücke spanning the Saale River in Jena.

A recent visit to Jena by Telissa Sickler (Jena SST 1994) and her husband Raymond Matos and Raymond Junior testifies to the bridge building that has continued since Goshen SST first came to Jena in 1984. Former host families are animated by occasional letters and even visits from their Goshen students.