Accommodations
Students participating in the fall/winter and spring/summer programs live with families during their stay in Berlin. The homestay experience is frequently cited as the absolute highlight of students’ Berlin experience. Over the past twenty years, the Resident Director ,Jochen Wohlfeil, has worked to carefully select families and place students such that the interests and needs of both are well-aligned.
In the application, students are asked to specify the degree to which they would like to be integrated into a host family. The Resident Director works with this information to find each student an accommodating living situation. If, for any reason, a student feels uncomfortable, the director will work to facilitate communication, mediate, and, if necessary, re-locate the student.
Duke-in-Berlin students are encouraged to think of themselves not as tourists, but as residents. To improve both their cultural and linguistic fluency, students are asked to immerse themselves in city life. Host families are not only an instance of this immersion, they also help students to navigate and appreciate Berlin’s changing physical and human geography.
Students with further questions or concerns should contact the Resident Director, Professor Jochen Wohlfeil at wohlfeil@zedat.fu-berlin.de, who can provide more detail regarding the home stays or put students in contact with program alumni.
