Coffee Connections

Today’s Coffee Connection is another musical episode. I chatted with Martina Barta, a current DAAD scholarship recipient, and Jazz Singer.

Martina is originally from the Czech Republic and is now at the Manhattan School of Music where she pursues a master’s degree. We talked about her career path, her impressions of New York and her goals as an artist.

Facebook:

Artist profile:

https://www.facebook.com/martinabarta.official

Personal profile:

https://www.facebook.com/martinabarta

Instagram:

martinabartamusic

YouTube:

Martina Barta

https://youtube.com/user/MrsBartas

Today’s Coffee Connection is another musical episode. I chatted with Alexander Liebermann, a current DAAD scholarship recipient, and a German-French composer.

Alexander is originally from Berlin and is now at the Manhattan School of Music where he pursues a doctoral degree. He shares three of his recent pieces that show his talent as a composer.

You can find Alexander on Soundcloud, Youtube and Instagram.

To commemorate Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, I had the honor of speaking with Evelyn Lueker, a 3rd generation Holocaust survivor, about her family’s history and the important role her grandparents played in the Nuremberg trials.

Now, Evelyn works as an international educator in the US where her personal story and professional career intersect.

A disclaimer: We recorded this episode in 2020, so you will hear some references that are not as recent. The overall conversation though is as relevant today as it was then.

Today’s Coffee Connection is a musical episode. I chatted with Felicitas Schiffner, a current DAAD scholarship recipient, and a German violinist.

Felicitas is originally from Luebeck and is now a Master’s student at the New England Conservatory in Boston. She shared her path from playing a tiny violin as a four-year-old to being accepted at Julliard to studying in Boston.

Felicitas talks about her love of classical music, and she shares two of her beautiful performances.

Zachary Nanji is currently a Senior Honours International Development and Management Student at McGill University in Canada. Originally from the UK, he started learning German at Eaton College and visited Munich and Bonn via a school exchange that planted the seed for a 6-month stay at the Ludwig Maximilan University of Munich during the 2019 academic year. As a DAAD Young Ambassador, he shares his passion for international travel and offers insightful best practices to get the most out of an international university exchange. In 2021 he was nominated by DAAD to participate at the Diversity Abroad Global Student Leadership Summit where he got to reflect further on his experience and further develop skills related to global diversity, equity, and inclusion.

You can find Zachary at https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharynanji/

Today’s Coffee Connection is my DAAD colleague John Paul Kleiner who is responsible for our Canada office in Toronto and who is also a historian with a special interest in the GDR.

John Paul is the creator of the blog GDR Objectified where he presents his collection of objects produced in, or related closely to, the German Democratic Republic (GDR)with the aim of providing a window into East German history in a historical and/or personal way. John Paul has a unique point of view as a Canadian historian who personally experienced Germany before, during and after the fall of the Wall.

I was born in East Berlin and was only 7 years old when the Wall came down. In this episode we talk about our experiences with the GDR from our unique viewpoints .

We talked about his blog, GDR movies, cultural artifacts and East Berlin architecture. Our conversation led to the Palace of the Republic, as an example of the challenges of reunification and how Ostalgie fits into the negotiation of the past and present.

Links:

DAAD Canada www.daad-canada.ca

GDR Objectified blog https://gdrobjectified.wordpress.com/

Kanopy (free streaming through public library) https://www.kanopy.com/

Today’s Coffee Connection is Amy Lebanoff, DAAD RISE Germany and DAAD Young Ambassador Alumna.

Amy participated in the DAAD RISE Germany program – a paid 10-12 week summer research internship program for undergraduate STEM students. In our conversation, she talks about her experience as a research intern at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and her activities outside of the lab. For interested applicants, Amy shares detailed information about the application procedure and what applicants can do to stand out in the selection process.

You can connect with Amy via [email protected].

Today’s Coffee Connection is Tony Jackson, German Master’s Graduate and Voice-Over Artist from Arizona.

Tony shared his strategies for engaging with German, Germans, and German culture from the US. For Tony, his German experience was limited to immersion at home, because as a student with a disability, he was faced with challenges that prevented him from studying abroad. Despite that, he completed a Master’s degree in German and worked as a teaching assistant. We discussed whether you can be an authentic language teacher when you’ve never actually spent time in the country where the target language is spoken.

Finally, I asked Tony how to approach someone with a visible disability.

Visit Tony's website for more information at www.tonyjacksonvo.com.

Today’s Coffee Connection is Peter Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the University Alliance Ruhr office in New York.

In our conversation, Peter shares some insight into his work and the Ruhr region he represents as the Executive Director of the University Alliance Ruhr.

We both grew up in the GDR, so I asked Peter about his childhood memories and how he reflects on the divided and now unified Germany.

And finally, Peter has a few travel suggestions: Jena, Unna and Rügen, and also Scotland as a great place to visit in Europe.

I yet have to contributed to the travel suggestions: this week I recommend the Spreewald, around the world most notably known for its pickles, but the region itself is worth a visit.

University Alliance Ruhr online: http://northamerica.uaruhr.de/.

You can reach out to Peter via [email protected].

Today’s Coffee Connection is Carol Anne Costabile-Heming who is one of our most dedicated long-term Research Ambassadors. She is a Professor of German at the University of North Texas, Denton.

I had the opportunity to chat with Carol Anne about her path from focusing her studies on Chemistry to graduating with a PhD in German. Carol Anne spent time in Germany and specifically Berlin in 1990 and she shares her unique experience during these tumultuous times. Some of her experiences are reminiscent of the movie Good Bye, Lenin! (7:40 - 22:00)

As a Research Ambassador she has a lot of experience advising researchers and students on funding applications – during our conversation she shares valuable tips for success. (25:30 - 34:30)

This week’s travel suggestions are Leipzig and Marbach.