MEMS
IN MANNHEIM
-- EXPLORATIONS IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE --
Click
here for
the syllabus of MEM 3730
Summer
B – 2008 (note: one week later than the official Summer B!) -
July 4 through August 16, 2008
There are 16
openings in this program
Write
to hasty@ufl.edu to be
included in a listserve of
interested students.
|
The University of Florida’s
MEMS-Mannheim Program
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 A facsimile of the crown of the Holy Roman
Emperors kept at Trifels Castle
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 The Hagen monument stands at the Rhine River by the Imperial
City of Worms. Hagen is a key figure in the legend of the Nibelungen,
which inspired a medieval heroic epic and the famous Ring Cycle of
Richard Wagner.
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MEMS
in Mannheim is a flexible program consisting of a MEMS
component and a German Language component.
Although the components are designed to be complementary, students can
structure their involvement in the program to place emphasis on MEMS or
German. The
MEMS component: MEM
3730: Explorations in the Holy Roman Empire, involves coursework
in English and weekly
fieldtrips to
sites of great historical importance in the Middle Ages, including
cathedrals,
castles, residential palaces, and monasteries. Interested students may
also complete a course of independent study in Medieval and Early
Modern Studies (MEM 4905). The
German language component: Students
have the option of taking
either GER
1120 (the first course in the beginning language sequence) or the GER
1104 (the final course in the beginning language sequence, thus
satisfying the CLAS language requirement. Interested
students
may also complete a course of independent study in German (GEW 4905). |
Housing: Students will be housed in dormitories of the University of Mannheim. Application deadline is April 1, 2008. The space in this program is limited and applications are considered on a space-available basis, so please apply early. Contact Information: UF International Center: Susanne Hill - shill@ufic.ufl.edu - 352-273-1500 Program Coordinator: Will Hasty – hasty@ufl.edu - 352-392-2105 x212. Eligibility: Students in good standing who have completed the first semester of their freshman year, have earned a 2.5 GPA on 4.0 scale, and are at least 18 years of age. Students from other universities and community colleges are welcome to apply. Academic Credits: As this is a UF program, credits taken can satisfy major, minor, and university requirements with prior approval. UF GPA credit will be granted for courses taken with UF faculty. Transfer credit will be earned with courses taught by local instructors at the University of Mannheim. |
Die Stadt
Mannheim
The city of Mannheim, located in the Rhine river valley in the historic Palatinate, is close to the ancient Roman limes, the former imperial cities of Worms, Speyer, and Strasbourg, and provides easy access to a wealth of cultural resources that will be explored in program field trips (for example: the Imperial Cathedral in Speyer, the Luther Room in Worms, the residential palace of Mannheim, the Hapsburg palaces in Vienna, and many more sites).  A view of the residential palace in
Mannheim, where many of the program
events will be held. Much larger than the Palace at Versailles that
inspired it, the Palace of Mannheim and the nearby palace at
Schwetzingen are testimonies from the "Age of Absolutism" that followed
upon the confessional conflict of the Reformation.
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Within a generation of the end
of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the
poet Friedrich Schiller and Ludwig van Beethoven articulated an artistic vision of the unity of peoples: "The Ode to Joy." The "Ode to Joy" was adopted as the anthem of the European Union in 1972. Beethoven's Ninth "Choral" Symphony, the final movement of which includes Schiller's "Ode to Joy," was performed by the Orchestra of Haifa, Israel, together with the Mannheim City Chorus, in the summer of 2007, in front of the palace in Mannheim. The lyrics below are links to brief excerpts from this performance. |
 2007 MEMS in Mannheim students in front of
the Roman "Porta Nigra" in Trier
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Freude, schöner
Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium! Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, Dein Heiligtum. Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt, Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo Dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen. |
Joy, beautiful spark of the gods Daughter of Elysium We enter fire-imbibed Heavenly, thy sanctuary Thy magic reunites those whom stern custom has parted All men will become brothers Under thy gentle wing Be embraced, you millions! This kiss for the entire world! Run, brothers, your race Joyful, as a hero to victory. |
 The Imperial Cathedral, or "Kaiserdom," in Speyer, the largest Romanesque cathedral in northern Europe.When Bernard of Clairvaux came here to preach the Second Crusade, legand has it that he moved from the west door to the altar with only three giant steps. |
MEMS
in Mannheim . . .
provides students with knowledge about the rich cultural history of the Holy Roman Empire and the ways in which this history continues to shape contemporary understandings of Europe. Weekly
fieldtrips
in MEM 3730 include excursions to: -- The Roman and early Christian buildings and ruins of Trier, the first "Holy Roman Empire" north of the Alps, where the Roman Emperor Constantine reigned.
-- The Imperial Romanesque Cathedral in Speyer, where Bernard of Claurvaux preached the second Crusade.
-- The Vienna of the Hapsburgs, centuries- long capital of the HRE. |
The year 2006 marks the
bicentennial of
the official end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. New HRE- related Links: Society for the Study of the Holy Roman Empire Current HRE museum exhibits in Magdeburg and Berlin |
 The Medieval Jewish Cemetery in Worm, with
the Worms Cathedral in the background.
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| Information on Fees and Financial Aid
Opportunities |
| FEES DUE UPON APPLICATION: The estimated program fee is $3350. A non-refundable $250 deposit toward the total cost of the program is required at the time of application. The remaining fees are due no later than 30 days prior to departure. Health insurance is included in the program fee. Students receiving financial aid may defer payment for up to 60 days after departure. Not included in the program fees: Round-trip airfare, additional personal travel and personal expenses. |
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Financial Aid: University of Florida students needing financial aid should apply through UF Student Financial Affairs (SFA).Non-UF students needing financial aid must apply to their home institutions. |
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Scholarships: The deadline for application for summer scholarships administered by the UF International Center is January 11, 2008. Applications for scholarshps are online. Partial scholarships for UF students are available on a competitive basis through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Honors program, as well as the International Center. |
www.abroad.ufic.ufl.eduFor more information, contact any of the persons listed above. Major medical health insurance coverage while outside of the United States is included in the program fee. |
Contact
Information:
Susanne Hill - shill@ufic.ufl.edu
shill@ufic.ufl.edu - 352-273-1500
UF International Center (170 Hub):
Program
Coordinator:
Will Hasty – hasty@ufl.edu
-
352-392-2105 x 212.
Dauer 263