April 25 started early for a group of students and three faculty members of the English Department, who gathered on a platform in Göttingen at 6 a.m. to take a train to Hannover: The U.S. Consulate had invited a number of North American Studies students to attend Barack Obama's last speech as President of the U.S. on European ground. In his speech, Obama appealed to his audience to believe in a unified Europe, saying "that the United States, and the entire world, needs a strong and prosperous and democratic and united Europe."
The students from Göttingen were happy to be part of a select audience of just a few hundred people who received a personal invitation to the event. One of our students, Laura Cavallaro, even shook Obama's hand to bid him goodbye. So the three hours of waiting in order to go through security before being admitted to the venue was quickly forgotten - it was well worth it to experience President Obama live. Many thanks to the U.S. Consulate General in Hamburg for the invitation!
For more photos see here.