Our choice of Scotland for the English Department’s “Landeskunde” excursion this year was certainly greeted with student enthusiasm! The excursion (19-26 June, 50 participants) was basically part of the General Language Course 2a, with Scotland serving as the summer semester’s “case study” for life, culture, institutions, and language in an Anglophone country. All GLC 2 students, both the excursion members and those who stayed at home, worked on Scotland projects and presented them to the public in a “Scottish Fair” on 17 June, then documented both events in this website. For excursioners in more advanced semesters, the trip to Edinburgh/Scotland provided a first-hand encounter with an English-speaking culture. For everyone concerned, the interaction outside the classroom created new friendships and – as far as we can judge – has increased the students’ commitment to English Studies.
We began this strategy for “authentic cultural encounters” with Dublin 2001, followed by Malta 2002. We would like to thank the students for their eager and generous investment of time and energy, particularly Vera Fohr, who ably served as our conscientious student coordinator! Special thanks to our excellent and cooperative webmaster Dennis Pusch, to Stephan Schopp in the Media Center for expertly assisting the excursion film crew, to the Mensa manager Elmar Köninger for kindly helping with the Fair preparations! Angela Holzhauer and Alexander Böpple, assistant teachers in the Edinburgh area were invaluable in organizing the Scottish school visits, as were the contact teachers at the high schools in Dunfermline. Many other people encouraged us in our project – we are grateful to all of you!