American Interns 2008
Ben Kreider at U.S. Consulate General Leipzig
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| U.S. intern Ben Kreider in Bautzen, Saxony |
June 2008–July 2008
Ben Kreider comes from the Philadelphia area. In the summer of 1991, not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, his family participated in an exchange program through their church, hosting a family from Western Germany and an older man from the former East Germany. This proved to be a formative experience that also made him more curious about his own German heritage. In 1995, Ben made his first trip to Europe to visit the two families. He enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to start studying German rather than Spanish the following year. Since then, he has only expanded his interest in the German language and culture, traveling to German-speaking countries on five more occasions. He graduated in 2006 from Bowdoin College in Maine, where he majored in Government and German with a minor in History. In the spring of his junior year, he studied in Berlin through IES (Institute for the International Education of Students) and Humboldt University. Following his graduation, he spent a year living in Dresden and serving as a Fulbright Foreign Language Assistant at a high school in Kamenz, Saxony. After his internship, Ben will return to Washington, DC to complete his MA in German and European Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He plans to write his thesis on government and civil society efforts to combat right-wing extremism and anti-Americanism in Eastern Germany and looks forward to using his time at the consulate to engage in cultural dialogue with Germans, particularly with youth.
Joe Semrad at U.S. Consulate General Leipzig
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| Jessica Levin, German intern and Joe Semrad, U.S. intern |
May 2008-August 2008
Joe Semrad is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is currently on his eighth trip to Germany. He is double-majoring in political science and German with a minor in TESOL at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout high school and college, he has been fortunate to participate in several exchanges throughout Germany. Most notably, in 2003 he was a recipient of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship which enabled him to spend his senior year of high school with a German host family near the city of Worms. As a junior in college Joe returned to Germany in 2006 to study political science at the Freie Universität Berlin while working for Member of Parliament Klaus Hagemann in his Berlin office. Throughout these exchanges, Joe has also had the opportunity to travel to several different countries throughout Eastern and Western Europe. After returning back to Madison in August, Joe will complete his bachelor’s degree and begin preparations for post-graduate studies in American foreign policy. Joe anticipates that his internship at the US Consulate will provide him with useful insight into the Foreign Service in preparation for a potential future career with the State Department.
Sunshine Moore at U.S. Consulate General Leipzig
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| U.S. intern Sunshine Lindsey Moore and German intern Thomas Bergmann |
Sunshine grew up in southern California and then Sacramento. Since high school, she has traveled to 17 countries in Western and Central Europe. She has taught English in Belgium and studied abroad in France. She received her B.A. in International Studies from the University of California, Irvine and moved to Dresden, Germany in 2005. Currently, she teaches English and studies international relations at Dresden University of Technology in the master’s program. Sunshine intends through her internship to promote German-American relations and to strengthen personal opinions of Americans and the United States. Her hobbies include snowboarding, cooking, and independent film.
Janette McGrain at U.S. Consulate General Leipzig
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| U.S. intern Janette McGrain and Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig |
March-June 2008
Janette was born in
