The first summer school was in Grindelwald, excellent but very hard on
my wallet, which functioned by purchasing gallons of drink to pour
down students' throats. Here they are, with (I think) the Eiger in the
background. I'm not in this picture, as I left the school before the end.
In 1997 the summer school moved to Karthaus and the Goldene Rose, run
by Paul Grüner. It takes twelve hours to get there, but it is
worth it. The hospitality is frankly stupendous; the food is
excellent, so is the drink, the scenery is breathtaking, and in Georg
Kaser we were very lucky to have a guide who took us on two hikes up
towards the Italian-Austrian border, near where the iceman Ötzi
was found. And the school itself was excellent. Despite this, I'm
still not in the picture, as I left before the end again.
The 1997 school was the last funded by the ESF, but the director, Hans
Oerlemans, was successful in obtaining further funding from a
consortium of Universities, and the school became the COACh school*.
So in 2000, the third summer school was
again held in Karthaus. Again, for the students, an illuminating
experience (I hope), and for the lecturers, a privilege to be
there. Moved by the occasion, I wrote some doggerel and a song, and then proceeded to
perform these on my last night, aided by copious amounts of wine and
(later) grappa.
Katharina Schulz (one of the participating
students) has built a splendid Karthaus website with
lots of pictures, including the group photo here which I finally managed to
be in.
In 2002, the team assembled again. I think maybe the song is now a last night tradition, and there was a new doggerel as well.
There was yet another summer school in 2003. This saw the discovery (by the Dutch, who else) of an old sandy 5 a side football pitch. We played three games, fantastic.
