Soft Bavarian Pretzels Baked at Saint John's for the First Time

An illustration from the 12th century Hortus deliciarum from Alsace may be the earliest depiction of a pretzel, shown at a banquet with Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus.

   There are numerous accounts on the origin of the looped pretzels, as well as the origin of the name; most agree that they have Christian backgrounds and were invented by monks. According to The History of Science and Technology, by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans, in 610 AD "...an Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola' ("little rewards")". However, no source is cited to back up these details. Another source locates the invention in a monastery in southern France.

Emblem of the Baker's Guild in Germany

   Within the Catholic church, pretzels were regarded as having religious significance for both ingredients and shape. Pretzels made with a simple recipe using only flour and water could be eaten during Lent, when Christians were forbidden to eat eggs, lard, or dairy products such as milk and butter. As time passed, pretzels became associated with both Lent and Easter. Pretzels were hidden on Easter morning just as eggs are hidden today, and are particularly associated with Lent, fasting, and prayers before Easter. The classic pretzel's three-hole shape begins to take form.

                                                                source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretzel  

Plans are underway to have a pretzel making evening with members of the CSB/SJU German Club.

Apply for a Five Month Stay in Germany (March 1 -- July 31, 2012) to Study Politics

Dear Friends of the German Embassy,

   We would be very grateful if you could support us in promoting this excellent scholarship opportunity by forwarding the message below to any students and/or recent graduates who might be interested or to any networks available to you that might help spread the word.

   Your help is greatly appreciated! For more information please refer to the information below.

   Thank you and best regards,

Gunnar Christiansen
Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany

676 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 3200

Chicago, IL 60611
_______________________________


Dear Student or Recent Graduate,

Are you interested in politics? Would you like to gain first-hand experience of parliamentary work in Germany? In that case, the International Parliamentary Scholarship (IPS) invites you to take part in an exciting opportunity.

Every year, IPS enables 120 recent graduates from 28 countries to get to know the German parliamentary system through a five month stay in Germany (March 1 -- July 31, 2012). The Program includes an internship in the office of a Member of the German Bundestag, the German parliament. Combined with a supplementary academic program organized by Berlin's three major universities and the fun of being together with people from other nations, a unique experience awaits you in the exciting German capital.

What the Bundestag expects of you:

* Interest in politics
* Excellent knowledge of German
*University degree (B.A., B.S.)
* U.S. Citizenship
* Born after March 1, 1982

What you can expect:
* Monthly grant of € 450.00
* Free accommodation
* Health, accident, and liability insurance
* Reimbursement of your travel expenses to and from Berlin
  
   For more information about the admission requirements, the scholarship details, and the application procedure, please visit the following websites:


Bundestag homepage: http://www.bundestag.de/ips
The homepage of the German missions in the United States:
http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/__pr/K__Wash/2011/02/17__IPS__Program__PR.html?archive=1978778
Application details may be found online at:
http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/europa_internationales/internat_austausch/ips/index.html

*The application deadline is June 30, 2011*


We look forward to receiving your application!
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Cultural Affairs Department IPS Committee 2300 M Street NW Washington, DC 20037

German Club Gets Organized for Spring Term

On a snowy January 31st, more than 20 students gathered to learn about leadership opportunities in the German Club, both for spring term and for the 2011-2012 school year. Students also tried their hand at Austrian Käsespätzle guided by our Fulbright assistant, Ralph Neumayer from Vienna -- and the recipe he received from his mother a few days ago. A special thanks to Club Officers, Benjamin Jude Slabaugh, Justin Bork and Tim Marzik for organizing the evening and gathering info about how students want to support the work of the club. Thanks to Ralph for providing the astonishingly good recipe! And welcome back Salzburg students!

Salzburg Group Returns and Enjoys Kaiserschmarren at a Welcome Back Party

Welcome back Megan, Brady, Jennifer, Aimee, Jeremy, Nicole, Kolby, Sean, Kevin, Daniel, Chris, Megan, Matthew, Jacob, and Katie -- and Lisa and Stuart! 

On January 24th, returnees from our semester at Salzburg University enjoyed the traditional Austrian dessert, Kaiserschmarren.  It is generally agreed that Kaiserschmarren was first prepared for the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I (1830–1916). There are several stories. One  story involves the Emperor and his wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria, of the House of Wittelsbach. Obsessed with maintaining a minimal waistline, the Empress Elisabeth directed the royal chef to prepare only light desserts for her, much to the consternation and annoyance of her notoriously austere husband. Upon being presented with the chef’s confection, she found it too rich and refused to eat it. The exasperated Francis Joseph quipped, “Now let me see what "Schmarrn" our chef has cooked up”. It apparently met his approval as he finished his and even his wife’s serving. Thereafter, the dessert was called Kaiserschmarrn across the Empire.



Emmy Sack Joins Faculty to Teach German

Thanksgiving in Salzburg!

Matt Beck Thriving as Fulbright TA in Nürnberg.

Hallo Freunde!

As 2010 comes to an end, I'm writing to update you on my last few months. It's been a while since my last update, but I certainly didn't want to fill your email boxes with too many details of my everyday life (For example, teaching German students not to place 'for example' smack dab in the middle of a sentence). Quite a bit has happened in the last few months, so I'll start at the beginning.

At the end of October, my friend Alison, who was studying abroad in London, came to visit me in Nürnberg. This gave me a chance to do a lot of the touristy things that I otherwise wouldn't do. For example, I live a five-minute walk away from Hitler's colosseum and the Nazi rally grounds. Alison and I trotted over there, and after walking around and inside the colosseum, which is architecturally awesome, we visited the Documentation Center, a museum built into the colosseum. What I really liked about it was that it focused on the time leading up to the holocaust, rather than on the holocaust itself. Having known little about this time (about 1919-1939), it was an educational experience.

After a week in Nürnberg (and yes, you can experience Nürnberg in a week), we took a train to visit our friend Andreas in Vienna. Unfortunately, we only had three days to spend there. While Andreas worked during the day, Alison and I explored Vienna ourselves, visiting a couple palaces and walking around the city center. At night and on the weekend, Andreas showed us around other parts of Vienna.

November and December were focused on getting settled in and finding more to do. For some reason, the German Ministry of Education thinks that twelve hours of work a week is enough to keep teaching assistants occupied. It also sounds great on paper (Fulbright: get paid to live in Germany with no responsibilities!), but in reality, it leads to quite a bit of boredom. My resolution: I'm voluntarily working more at the Gymnasium (academic-track school) by teaching more upper-level classes and by helping to revise and evaluate senior theses. I've also been given my own conversation class and am planning a literature class for spring.

This past week, I went to Switzerland to celebrate Christmas with my roommate Filip's family. Although I was only there for a few days, my impressions of Switzerland are pretty positive. People seemed nicer than in Germany, and I love the accent (much softer and more melodic than the Franconian accent). The dialects, however, are a bit difficult for me to understand if I'm not concentrating.

Over the course of the next few months, I have quite a bit planned. On Friday, I'm invited to a Silvester (New Year's) party at the home of one of my colleagues. Next week, I'm going back to Vienna to visit Andreas again. In February, I'm hopefully going skiing in Austria with the 7th grade class. Following that, Fulbright has a week-long, all expenses paid conference in Berlin at a four-star hotel. Win.

In closing, here are some more bullet points about my life here:

* It took me three months for me to get a residency permit. In the end, the worker only needed to enter some data into her computer and print the permit for me.

* I got a library card so that I could read some German books, but I had to bring proof of residency with me.

* I've been apologized to by the manager of a bank and by the alien registration office for inefficiencies that delayed my applications. In addition, being apologized to in your second language is awesome.

*A few inches of snow disables Germany. Streetcars shut down. Trains stop. Department store floors turn into lakes. The snow removal systems that exist are minimal at best.

• On a more positive note:

* After four months of searching, I finally found someone to do an impression of an American speaking German. It was hilarious and educational.

* I've been trying to master the German r, which is pronounced only enough to be difficult for English speakers (in contrast to the American r, which is heavily pronounced.

* I'm improving U.S.-German relations (the real reason I'm here) by establishing a pen pal program.

* With my extra time here, I'm looking into starting a third language. The forerunners: Arabic and Turkish.

* With more friends coming to visit, I should have my tour of Nürnberg perfected by the end of the year.

Best wishes and a happy new year!

Matt

Three Great Upper Div Courses for Spring 2011 -- Take Two!

Dear German Students!
Indulge your appetite for things German this coming semester!  Andreas K's survey course will give you a broad view of modern German Culture and Literature -- focusing on some of the most thought-provoking writers of modern times.  Wendy Sterba's Medieval course is a perennial favorite and her love of the medieval period complete with knights, royal families, dragons, hermits and love stories will grab your imagination.  Mark Thamert's Great Ideas will feature short texts and and many ideas to challenge the way you think about life. 

GERM 325: Survey 1850 until Present (4 credits)
This seminar will be a study of German literature and its cultural background from the mid-19th century to the 20th century. Representative literary and cultural texts of German Nobel Prize winners in literature will be read, analyzed and discussed. The course will include literary and cultural trends and movements of Naturalism, Impressionism, Expressionism, and post-World War II contemporary developments. Texts from the following authors will be included: Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Nelly Sachs, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, Elfriede Jelinek, and Herta Müller.     Andreas Kiryakakis

GERM 330:  German Lands in Religious Transition: The Light and Dark of the Middle Ages. (2-4 credits)
Before the Common Era, Germanic tribes moved into central Europe and greatly affected the culture of the continent. This course explores the origins and effects of the united European Empire myth. It also looks at the ways in which religions and feudal structures impacted the culture, actions and art of a variety of Europe. Prerequisites: 212; 311 and 312, or concurrent enrollment in 311 or 312. Offered every three years. Can be repeated with permission of instructor if content varies. Qualifies as a course in Period.   Wendy Sterba

GERM 357C: Great Ideas in German Culture (2 credits)
Students and Fr. Mark will gather to decide the best meeting time, wherther evening or during the day. AB mod only.

This 2-credit seminar emphasize developing students' discussion skills and will feature short texts by such significant writers as Hildegard von Bingen; Kafka und Nietzsche; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Freud und Heine; Karl Marx; Friedrich Engels; Otto von Bismarck; Max Weber; Oswald Spengler; Hitler und Kästner; Albert Schweitzer; Erich Maria Remarque; Karl Jaspers; Albert Schweitzer; Werner von Braun; C. G. Jung; Heine und Kant; Wolfgang von Goethe; Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Ute Frevert; Erica Fischer; and Christa Wolf.   Give it a try!  Mark Thamert

The CSB/SJU Salzburg Group is Thriving!

CSB/SJU is among the very top German Studies Departments nationwide to send so many students abroad for entire semester. Some students stay on to complete an entire year in Salzburg. Many go on to become Teaching Assistants in Austria and Germany for a year or two after graduation as part of two different Fulbright programs. Thank you Professor Lisa Ohm and Stuart Golschen for your guidance of this remarkable group.

Hallo from Salzburg! Students on the Salzburg Program are absorbing German and culture at a fast pace. We just returned from a field trip to Vienna, where we absorbed the art, architecture, music, and cosmopolitan air of the nation’s capital. The impressive imperial buildings of Vienna remind visitors of the vibrant history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s capital situated in today’s (rather small) Austria. It’s great to have friends in Vienna: Robert Mewissen gave us a delightful tour, and Andreas Raab attended the concert with us. We visited the imperial rooms (20 of the 180!) in Schoenbrunn Palace and attended a concert in the Kursalon. Nearly everyone adventured up the lift + stairs to the top of the cupola in Karlskirche. The restoration of the paintings on the ceiling gives visitors (without a fear of heights) this opportunity to feel like Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel—or a bird! In Salzburg we attended a Mozart opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio, which had not been produced often until recently because it deals with a harem in the Islamic world. It was presented by students from the Mozarteum, the name of the University of Salzburg’s world-famous music and theater department. At Kehlsteinkopf (Eagle’s Nest) in Bavaria we had the Baroque sensation of being pulled between the thrilling beauty of the surrounding Alps and the morbid underground bunkers in the Hitler complex. At Salzburg’s Open-Air Museum we saw typical rural homes from two of the five “counties” in Salzburg Land: Flachgau, & Tennengau, the oldest home dating from 1640. Houses from Pinzgau, Pongau, and Lungau were also represented. During a longer break at the end of the month students will be testing their new socio-cultural skills in trips further afield in Europe. Gute Reisen!

Oktoberfest at Brother Willis -- Songs, Dancing, Brats and Bretz'n

On October 16th, Maren Gotchnik and Phil Roye graced the festival with their authentic costumes.

Over 200 CSB/SJU students attended and learned new dances and sang German songs.

Unsre Schuplatterbuabn.

Our Fulbrighter Ralph Neumayer from Austria did the DJ honors.

Dear German Club students. You can be very proud of all the work you put into making this first Oktoberfest at CSB/SJU such a success.  Herzlichen Dank!