2027 CCS Study Abroad

15 days in Germany

One object, carried from idea to made artifact. Berlin is where the idea forms. Weimar is where it becomes a design. Nuremberg is where it gets made, by hand, and then measured against a global brand's archive.

15 days · 14 nights · a free day in each city. Every day with a seminar or workshop. Free days are yours, with a short assignment that feeds the next city.

Working schedule for faculty review. Venues and partner visits are confirmed in writing before the February deposit deadline; the order of days within a city may shift.

Berlin · Days 1–5 · May 31 – June 4

Inspiration: contemporary fashion and creative culture

Berlin introduces the program's research method: look closely, document, and concept branding methods.

Students arrive individually at Berlin Brandenburg Airport and stay at The Social Hub, Berlin Mitte.

Day 1 · Monday, May 31 · Arrival and orientation
Arrival through the day. Welcome reception at the hotel, program overview, expectations, safety briefing.

Evening walk through Mitte to set the city's design context. Reflective journal begins.

Day 2 · Tuesday, June 1 · Studio seminar: contextual research methods
Morning city bus tour.

Discussion about designers read a city: street style, brand identity, merchandising. Afternoon field sketching and journaling in a selected retail district.

Guest speaker: a Berlin-based designer.

Daily debrief.

Day 3 · Wednesday, June 2 · Experimental fashion workshop and retail futures tour
Design workshop and discussion with one of Berlin's experimental fashion studios. Afternoon guided visits to a curated set of Berlin concept stores with a focus on merchandising systems and material sourcing.

Day 4 · Thursday, June 3 · Free day: find your own Berlin
Self-directed research and mood-boarding.

Capture the sensory impressions of Berlin's design language: visual, tactile, spatial. Assignment: TBD

Day 5 · Friday, June 4 · Design analysis seminar and Berlin celebration dinner
Group critique of the week's observations. Introduction to visual synthesis: moodboards, pinboards, spatial mapping. Museum visit focused on contemporary art and design. Evening: the first of three city celebration dinners.

Berlin learning focus: contemporary fashion practice, independent design thinking, creative research and visual documentation.

Weimar · Days 6–9 · June 5 – 8

Design: Bauhaus principles

Weimar is the birthplace of the Bauhaus- a small town you can cross on foot.

Students stay at the Leonardo Hotel Weimar.

Day 6 · Saturday, June 5 · Train to Weimar and orientation
Group rail transfer from Berlin. City tour.

Transition seminar on Bauhaus principles and reflection on the Berlin experience.

Evening orientation and tour of historic Weimar.

Day 7 · Sunday, June 6 · Free day: Weimar at walking pace
Parks, Goethe's garden house, the market.

Day 8 · Monday, June 7 · Bauhaus Museum and drawing workshop
Morning at the Bauhaus Museum Weimar.

Afternoon faculty-led drawing and visual communication workshop: translating Berlin fieldwork into an accessory concept. Peer critique and iterative refinement.

Day 9 · Tuesday, June 8 · Product design workshop: preparing the uppers
Full studio day.

Design strategy session on cultural insight and consumer relevance, preparation for travel to Nuremberg.

Weimar celebration dinner.

Weimar learning focus: Bauhaus philosophy, design fundamentals, sketching and product development, preparing components for manufacturing.

Nuremberg · Days 10–14 · June 9 – 13

Making: from design to manufacturing

Nuremberg is where we begin more hands-on making and a deeper dive into global brand's archive.

We stay at Five Reasons Hotel in the old town.

Day 10 · Wednesday, June 9 · Train to Nuremberg and Puma headquarters
Morning rail transfer.

Afternoon at Puma headquarters in Herzogenaurach: guided archive tour, design presentation, and career discussion with Puma designers. Studio design brief issued, inspired by archival products.

Day 11 · Thursday, June 10 · Schuhmanufaktur Nürnberg, day one
Hands-on footwear production in a working manufactory: leather selection, upper assembly, cork footbed construction. Each student builds a pair of Birkenstock-inspired sandals.

Day 12 · Friday, June 11 · Schuhmanufaktur Nürnberg, day two
Logo embossing and finishing techniques.

Pairs completed.

Afternoon studio time on the Puma brief.

Day 13 · Saturday, June 12 · Free day: Nuremberg
Old town, the castle, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Assignment: photograph the finished sandals in the city and write the product story.

Day 14 · Sunday, June 13 · Final presentation and farewell dinner
Presentation of the finished object and the product story, with feedback from faculty and the group.

Documentation and peer review.

Closing circle, written program evaluation, and the Nuremberg celebration dinner.

Day 15 · Monday, June 14 · Departure
Train to Frankfurt Airport for individual flights home.

Nuremberg learning focus: footwear manufacturing, sustainable production, brand heritage, product storytelling.

Portfolio Artifacts

A pair of sandals you made.

A portfolio piece that documents one object from Berlin research to Nuremberg production.

Three credits.

Contacts at a global brand and a working manufactory.