DISPATCH | A BRATislava Summer with Princeton in Vienna

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional.

This summer, I had the pleasure of participating in one of the German Department’s premier programs: Princeton in Vienna (PinV). Before I begin, it would behoove me to provide a land acknowledgement for the area I occupied during my study abroad:

“I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are in Vienna, Austria, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Hapsburg Monarchy, most notably led by Kaiser Franz Joseph I and Empress Maria Theresa. Their rightful land was unjustly ripped away from their hands in 1918, and we work every day to correct such a gross transgression.”

With that out of the way, let me share my experience! Aside from the rigorous German language immersion and meticulously constructed literature curriculum, PinV offers students many once-in-a-lifetime cultural experiences that other programs cannot.

In my language class, I met a mother and chemist originally from Iran who was learning German for her job. I learned that she had over fifteen years of experience across pharmaceuticals and chemical engineering. She and I had such wonderful conversations in German, although I couldn’t figure out exactly how to translate “bunker buster bombs” into Deutsch. Only after getting to know her did I realize what a shame it is that Iran doesn’t have more opportunities for women in STEM. If they did, maybe they would have that nuclear bomb a lot sooner.

I also met other college students from the U.S., and we connected over our shared experiences learning German. Most of these students came from Harvard in Vienna (HiV), and their spirit was quite infectious. It aids me in my German language acquisition to be around other new speakers, so I was quite glad to come into contact with them. After a while, we did get sick of their company, but I still hope next year’s cohort of Princeton students can embrace HiV as much as we did.

Another important aspect of our time in Vienna was learning about the history of antisemitism and how it shaped society there at the beginning of the 20th century. Thankfully, we met some student experts from Columbia University who showed us how they blend theory and practice.

At the end of the day, I hope everyone who has the opportunity to participate in PinV does so. If you are already planning to spend your summer in a city with homelessness, tourists, tensions over migration, and McDonald’s, you might as well spend it in a city with no open container laws.

Tarun Iyengar is an Associate Humor Editor. When he’s not traveling, eating, and/or gambling on the University’s dime, he can be reached at ti7371@princeton.edu.