from Germany

We interviewed Prof. Mauch to learn more about her experience at VIU in the Globalization Program.

“Sometimes you do have to adapt, because of the diversity of the students, also because for some of them it can be difficult to follow and you may need a break. So what happened recently for instance is that my students said, it was a beautiful sunny day, why don’t we go outside? We had to do something inside but we decided to go outside and we were sitting on the lawns of the island. We decided to discuss from an environmental history perspective the story of the lawn, of grass.”

“The dearest part of this program is the fact that we are all sitting on the same boat. And I don’t mean this only metaphorically but I mean it – it’s a small community and every day you come by vaporetto from San Zaccaria to San Servolo for ten minutes, and then ten minutes to go back. And there are the students, and professors, everybody sitting on the same boat. You can talk, professors talk to students, students to students, ecc. It is a small community and you get to know everybody within a short time.”

“I think everybody would gain a lot by being a professor here. Not only because of the internationality of the place, not only because of the beauty of the place. I mean, where can you teach on an island? But also because you can learn something about Venice that you can never learn unless you are here for several months. (…) If you live here for three and a half months, you are really involved with the city. It makes it enjoyable and a very memorable experience.”

Find out more about Prof. Mauch’s VIU experience in her interview.