Brooke writes, "Ultimately I hope to one day be a German professor who enables my students to achieve an advanced level of German which they can then incorporate into their lives and professions in meaningful ways."

Brooke Kreitinger Excels in the Renowned German Department at Georgetown University

Why German?  What it all comes down to is regardless of which way I have chosen to wander in life, my path always leads me to German. My sophomore year in high school I began learning German from a lively and inspiring teacher. I then went on a class trip to Germany, and after my first “authentic” encounters with the language and culture, my burning desire to become a polyglot was truly ignited. I continued my language acquisition by taking German courses at St. Ben’s and St. John’s with, of course, lively and inspiring professors, and I eventually decided to major in German and French. (Somewhere along the journey I grew rather fond of French also, but that’s another story.)
    More >> Brooke's Salzburg Semester, Fulbright Year in Austria and Enrollment in Georgetown German Department>>

Josh Wittrock Loves Studying at the University of Göttingen   

Tells of How He Made the Decision to Study German Language and Literature

Dear Friends at Saint John's and Saint Ben's!  

John Schmalzer '87
jschmalzer@wi.rr.com

     I wanted to send a note because of an experience I had at work over the past few weeks. Since graduation, I have moved to the Windy City and took a job as a legal assistant with the law firm of Bell, Boyd, & Lloyd. I was recently called onto a Patent Litigation case on its way to trial and once I started reviewing approximately 30,000 of the documents in production, it became clear that almost half of the documents were in German!
    One of the parties involved in the litigation is based in Germany we have English/German translators present at nearly every deposition and proceeding. This has fascinating for me, because while I have not been expected to be able to understand entire documents prior to obtaining a certified translation...it has been my responsibility to have a firm grasp on which documents are relevant to each claim of the suit, and to be able to decipher what each document is, and what claim it relates to at a glance.