Coburg Chronicles 1

Day 1

21^st May 2013

Introduction and tour of the city

the participants of the summer school met at about 9:30 at the hall and started the interactions. There were people from Namibia, Chile, India, Russia and Ethiopia. In all there were about 60 people including the Students of Coburg University.

As we entered the hall, Lisa, a student who was with us in Chennai greeted me with a Vanakkam without even seeing me. She was once considered as a trouble maker by the CIP, though I do not subscribe to that opinion. Then I looked at her and said, “I know you!”. She was a bit startled and got up and said, Yes Yes Yes of course! She gave me a name tag and we were ready to get started. In the mean time I was curious to see the Indians from MSSW. As we waited they walked in. Was happy to greet them. All the while I was thinking of Jerry, Christin, Saswathan, Karunya and Arulmani who could not make it. What a missed opportunity.

The introduction got underway with a lot of games, Claudia was in-charge and make it look so simple. She used some of the theatrical warm ups to lighten the mood. It was funny and useful. Now it was time to sit and listen to the inaugural address. Susanne the dean of the School was there to welcome. There was simultaneous translation in Spanish for the Chileans. So it went on back and forth.

Gaby rolled out the entire program and it sounded pretty tight packed for two weeks. It has been a while since I stayed in a place for almost two weeks. The last time I remember doing this was in Oxford for three weeks. I hope to take back a lot from this program as the contacts were good and the topics were also interesting. It all goes well at the end I will have a lot to share with my students and friends.

Lunch was organized at the mezzanine level, it was bread, cream of broccoli soup, chicken wings, and some fruit with cheese. I had to motivate the students from MSSW to eat as they really found it weird to eat bread and soup. One of them was already ill from the journey but was coping well with the pressure of being in a foreign land. They showed good initiative in their participation. Their faculty was also a good sport.

Post lunch was the walking tour of the city. We had to climb down the hillock, under the railwaystation, to the market, through the old streets and heritage buildings that were well preserved over 600 years. Student guides were well prepared to give us an orientation to the history of coburg along with its monumental structures.

An interesting fact was the manhole cover. It had a symbol of a black man's head. It was the head of Moor, a black warrior of the Roman who valiantly protected the city in the 3^rd century AD. The students paused for a moment to reflect on it and asked for impressions on the manhole. The chileans had some interesting ones.

We later strolled through the town hall area were a music festival was on. It was a square where plenty of bavarian beer was served. It was funny to seen the people in traditional attire, some looking like they were from the fraternity and the Nazi outfit proving their identity. The music was great.

A decision was made to go up to the castle, where Martin Luther of the reformation had lived for about six months to protect himself from the tyranny of the church. This compelled me to walk up the hill despite my disabilities.

On our return we were taken to a good restaurant for dinner, and the surprise was in store. Meat, potatoes and so on....

came back and just crashed as I was so tired of the walk and jet lag.