The first Fisch Out of Water of 2015 was held on Wednesday, Oct 28 in the Biergarten of Café Passé. Fisch is an event held to encourage students to read, sing, or share poetry in their non-native language. Even with over 50 attendees, the event nonetheless had a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere with a spread of traditional German food, including Currywurst and Kaiserschmarrn, as well a wide range of German beverages on offer from the Café. While many students were hesitant at first to read in front of their peers, as the evening went on, more and more students were willing to get up and perform a selected piece or their own work. Among the crowd were about 40 undergraduate students, a number of Graduate Assistants in Teaching, and two German Studies professors. There were about 15 readings throughout the evening, including a few in Turkish, a self composed poem in Hebrew, and multiple contributions in German—ranging from original works to the famous Erlkönig by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to a self-composed song to top it all off! The event was sponsored by the Deutscher Studenten-Club and the Department of German Studies.
Image caption: The officers of the Deutscher Studenten-Club read a 250-year-old German poem from their hand-held devices. (Photo credit: Diane Richardson)
Reporting contributed by Stephanie Della Cella, President, German Students Club