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‘Field trip’ to Germany a unique educational experience

Bridget Rutherford
Just after arriving in Germany, I quickly scurried across the Hamburg Airport in search of my waiting German acquaintance, anticipating the adventures ahead. As I rushed with excitement from the baggage area, I spotted a familiar sight that was at the same time a unique experience. My eyes were quickly overwhelmed with the native German surroundings, and lit with excitement when I depicted my name written in English on a sign in this German setting. My adventure had begun!

The adventure was a two-week field trip to Germany between the spring and summer terms at LSUS. Dr. Wolfgang Hinck, assistant professor of marketing, organized for a total of 18 students from three U.S. schools a trip that consisted of lectures, road trips and cross-cultural activities with German students.
As the growth of technology rapidly increases, so does the need for international connections across the globe. LSUS provides just such an opportunity through an educational exchange at the University of Lüneburg in Northern Germany.

The exchange allows students to explore Germany while earning credit hours. Its objective is to teach international management and approaches to business from a global perspective, helping prepare students for a growing international market. The intensive study excursion, which is available to all LSUS students, investigates the hard economic and legal aspects of international markets, as well as psychology and intercultural soft skill training.

Hinck lined up 12 professors from four countries who came to Lüneburg and conducted seminars covering a variety of international business topics. Just a two-week overview of these topics provided a great deal of awareness and knowledge of European business and its conditions. Students also visited companies such as AutoStadt Volkswagen and toured cities such as Berlin – for a weekend – and Hamburg.

Evening activities were organized by German students who also provided free accommodations for us. The other LSUS students on the trip were April Acree, a senior marketing major; Maura Dees, an MBA student; Dustin Heaberlin, a senior management major; Jeremy McKeever, a May graduate with a degree in mathematics; Michel Fortenberry, a senior finance major; Claribel Ubeda, a junior criminal justice major; Allison Stedman, a junior English major, and Robert Parker, a May graduate with a degree in marketing.
“The Germany trip was a once in lifetime experience,” Parker commented. “The country is so beautiful and clean to enjoy while learning their culture. The friendships I have with the Americans and the Germans from the weeks of my stay will be memories for a lifetime.”

Discovering differences among cultures, surviving the language challenge were just two of the many exciting experiences none of the students are likely ever to forget. While traveling through Germany, we toured the town of Lüneburg, including the Lüneburg Watertower, and visited the Scharnebek Ship Lift and the Concentration Camp Memorial Neuengamme.

“I felt like I was given the chance to really experience the European student lifestyle,” Dees said, “because we not only attended classes and functions with German students, we lived with them, too. It was enlightening to experience business classes on a whole different cultural level.”

Germany is a very clean country and focuses directly on conserving non-renewable resources, using other effective forms of energy, such as wind and organic fuels. Recycling is also an important aspect of German life. Cars are not a necessity for people in Germany. Cycling, walking and public transportation are predominantly their choices for travel.

In all, the student exchange program provided an incredible 14 days of international travel, unforgettable sites and sounds of the German culture, an endless supply of stunning architecture and memories for a lifetime.

For information, visit the Web site www.lsus.edu/ba/germany.com or contact Hinck at 318-797-5268 or whinck@lsus.edu.

Bridget Rutherford is a May 2006 LSUS graduate with a B.S. degree in marketing. She is currently administrative assistant to the vice president of manufacturing at Frymaster Corporation in Shreveport.