There were two main goals for my 2012 summer enrichment project. First, I wanted to delve into the history and theory of the art museum. Second, I wanted to begin the process of learning the language and culture of Germany. I began the summer project by spending two weeks alone in southern Germany, visiting and analyzing Munich museums. I next spent a month in Berlin with the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) Program where I completed two classes – one in Introductory German and another that focused on museum exhibition and display. Over the summer I gained insight into my project topics, as well as insights into my personal development, academic and career interests, and perspectives of the world. Ich hatte einen großartig Sommer!

1. ein Sommer in Deutschland
Abstract
There were two main goals for my 2012 summer enrichment Results, Impacts, and Conclusions
project. First, I wanted to delve into the history and theory of the
art museum. Second, I wanted to begin the process of learning
the language and culture of Germany. I began the summer
project by spending two weeks alone in southern
Sara Loy Centre College Academic Interests: At the start of my summer, I was a
French/German double minor. However, living and
studying in Germany made me realize how much work it
Germany, visiting and analyzing Munich museums. I next spent A Look at German Culture History, Theory, and Politics of the Museum takes to be fluent in a foreign language, and I can‘t handle
a month in Berlin with the Kentucky Institute for International
two at once. I dropped German with the aim of studying it
Studies (KIIS) Program where I completed two classes – one in Photographs from my travels
Within my class ―Museum Exhibition and Display,‖ I wrote museum after Centre and after I‘m proficient in French.
Introductory German and another that focused on museum analyses, along with a final: ―Museums as Reflectors and Directors
exhibition and display. Over the summer I gained insight into [of Society].‖ On my own, I wrote a travel editorial. I have submitted
my project topics, as well as insights into my personal Career interests: My desire to be an international traveler
Postcard my editorial to Arts Across Kentucky Magazine and the Lexington
development, academic and career interests, and perspectives of picture perfect as part of my career as an author have only been
Herald-Leader.
the world. Ich hatte einen großartig Sommer! in Bavaria: encouraged. Not only did I get comfortable spending time
the view from Journal Notes: Munich alone, I understood traveling and practiced interacting
Introduction my apartment. with professionals in a business way.
Project goals: Alte Pinakothek: the frames are very traditional. Renaissance for
• To learn beginner-level German. Renaissance paintings, ornate for Baroque, etc.
• To understand museums, particularly German art Neue Pinakothek: there are no large signs on the outside of the Berlin Subway Map
museums, in new ways. buildings; you have to know where you‘re going.
How did museums evolve over the centuries? Museum Branhorst: My guidebook says that ―there is no particular
What is it like to be an American student in German In 1990, 105 artists
route to follow,‖ which is the opposite of the precise
museums? painted murals on chronological/academic arrangement of the Alte and Neue. Very
How have museums influenced society, and how has what was the Berlin contemporary.
society influenced museums? Wall. Today, the East
• To practice independent leadership, to step out of my Side Gallery is a 1.3 Excerpt from Report on Jewish Museum: Berlin
comfort zone, and to gain experience with km long international
memorial to freedom
…Bennett says, ―The museum, as ‗backteller,‘ was characterized
international travel. by its capacity to bring together, within the same space, a number of
Where I Studied different times and to arrange them in the form of a path,‖ and the
The German
Jewish Museum has done this…The zigzag of Libeskind‘s section
Parliament, the emphasizes the different times and hardships undergone by the Jews
Reichstag, in Germany... Here, ―the past is made to connect with contemporary = Senefelderplatz, the stop for my hostel
sculpted out of social, cultural, and political preoccupations,‖ as the viewer cannot
traditional disentangle himself from the effects of Jewish culture on German
German milk culture and society today…. Personal insights: The train system in Germany—both for
chocolate.. intercity trains and the subway—was extremely
Excerpt from Final Class Paper confusing. I have never liked airports or train stations
because I like knowing exactly where I‘m going and how
…While they are still (and always will be) in motion, museums
―Work makes you to get there. And yet I was able to become an adept
today as public institutions play the dual role of both reflecting
free,‖ says the navigator of trains. This is a strong example of how
and directing social trends. They are both able to reflect the
sign on the entry confident I became in myself. I thought I knew who I was
ruling power of the time and direct transfers of that power; they
gate to and that I could handle obstacles in life without much
Sachsenhausen act as instructors on etiquette and social behavior; and they
trouble, but nothing showed me what I was capable of like
concentration respond to and influence movements of community
organizing my trip to, traveling to and around, and living
camp. values, especially the value of education. With such
in Germany.
power, museums are clearly an integral part of society yet a
mirror thereof….
At the Brandenburg Gate, Museums visited in Berlin
cheering on the German
Fußball team during the East Side Gallery (on the Berlin Wall)
Euro Cup. Reichstag: the German Parliament
= main places of study German Historical Museum
Kunsthaus Tacheles
Museum Exhibition and Display Sachsenhausen Museum
In this class, I analyzed the museum from various Jewish Museum Next year I hope to go to the United Kingdom
viewpoints: as an American, as a student, as an Hamburger Bahnhof and the Edinburgh Book Festival. Because I had
artist, etc. I used Tony Bennett‘s ―The Birth of the German 100 Pergamon such an enriching experience exploring
Museum‖ as my text. In the theoretical aspect of the Altes National Gallery continental Europe, I intend to travel there again
Introductory German familiarized me with the basics of
course, I learned the history of the evolution of Neues Museum while doing my project next summer to do
German, such as die Zeit, die Zahlen, und das Wetter
museums, as well as the evolution of thought: that real Nicholaikirche research on international writers. Further down
(time, numbers, and weather) and Essen und Getränke (food and
pieces are better than copies, the debate on how much dOCUMENTA the road, I am thinking about getting a work visa
drink). I studied grammatical structure, such as how the German
written information curators should put beside each A German royal coat Van Gogh‘s ―Sunflowers‖ to study or work in Germany. I fell in love with
verb goes at the end of the sentence, the three genders of words, and
artwork, and so on. For practical use, I learned how to German culture, and while I may not be studying
the cases—which allow word order to be rearranged, since the
approach museums with a critical eye because I was the language right now, I hope to—nowhere
conjunction of the demonstratives shows what word is what part of
forced to analyze museums as collective institutions that would be better than Deutschland itself for that.
the sentence. Images from:
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/european-
meant to present a message. Museums are an interaction Most commonly used sentence: Ich möchte eine Kugel Schokolade union/germany/map/index.htm;
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1144763.The_Birth_of_the_Museum;
between gallery, artwork, and patron,. What one‘s http://www.betterworldbooks.com/langenscheidt-pocket-dictionary-id-346898135X.aspx;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31727570@N07/6900709663/sizes/l/in/photostream/;
http://www.mhrd.k12.nj.us/mhhs/world_languages/german/links.htm
experience is defines the influence of the museum.