Meet Jan!

Jan Eichhorn, Integrated Social Sciences, Germany, Class of 2009

Click here for more information on the Integrated Social Sciences program

In His Own Words ...

My name is Jan Eichhorn and I am about to start my fifth semester at Jacobs University Bremen where I study Integrated Social Sciences.

Up to my 17th birthday I lived in a city called Magdeburg in the East of Germany. I went to a school with a specialized profile in Math, Sciences and Technology, but also placed emphasis on humanities and social sciences. A lot of my free time I spent doing school student interest representation work , playing tennis and the usual stuff you do as a teenager.

My last two years of high school I got the chance to spend at the United World College of the Atlantic, a school where students from more than 80 countries lived and learned together enabled through a generous scholarship program. The experience shaped me a lot and I took up activities such as Model United Nations, became a lifeguard myself and trained others as lifeguards and roomed with three people from very different cultural backgrounds.

It was the focus on internationality that drove me to Jacobs University, as well the fact that the course in Integrated Social Sciences catered strongly to my interests, approaching an understanding of societal debates. At Jacobs I enjoy the MUN society and student representation still, but also I enjoy the amount of fantastic people that you can meet at any time during the day and the night to spontaneously get up to sometimes strange - but always entertaining - things…

After my last three summers on different projects, working in Russia, Nigeria and Tanzania, now I am doing an internship in London as a research assistant to the Social Market Foundation – a political think tank – and enjoy it greatly.

First thoughts on the show ...

"It is a little odd to be followed by a camera when doing just your normal stuff from work to fun things. But at the same time it probably is the best way to give an inside into what life at this place really is about. I'm quite excited about seeing what came out of it, but really hope there aren't too many scenes which turned out too weird about us ;-)"

About Jacobs University ...

"Jacobs is quite rough at times. But making your way through the academics and combining it with all that it offered in addition to this really helps you to manage your time and life. It also makes you appreciate small things like a free weekend on a couch, but keeps you even restless then, because after the semester I greatly enjoy recovering well, but can't stay calm for too long - one just gets used to a busy way of living. I love being around people from many nations, because that is what makes you aware that your home perspective might be very distorted. Learning about different perceptions allows me to understand new problems and to reach out for new sorts of ideas. One of the best things is the close relationship to faculty and the chance to be involved with the research process at such an early stage."