Furthering my Education....

Hanging out at the Studentenheim, my friends are constantly talking about their marketing professor. The class is held in English and taught by a Czech woman who doesn't speak any German. They always complain about how she is impossible to understand, and that she doesn't understand anyone who can speak English well- only the people who have very limited capabilities of expression in the language. Being the troublemaker that I am, I decided I had to find out for myself. Yes, I woke up at 8:00 today, specifically to go to a Marketing lecture at a university I'm not even enrolled in. I met Sandra, Björn, Gabi, and Nina outside the Heim before their class. They are all eagerly awaiting this blog entry. So, going into the class, I noticed that European lecture halls have a different feel to them, just like I had seen in films. They are all very vertical, such that you have to climb steep steps and each row is substantially higher than the one before it. People started sifting in, looking bored and tired, and the professor wouldn't start until more people arrived. Niko the Finn came in and looked at me funny and said "What are you doing here?". The prof waited for about 10 minutes before starting up the computer and starting her lecture about branding. She did indeed have a very thick accent, but she was nice enough and I found her vocabulary to be sufficient. There were definitely a few funny moments though. For example, she was talking about how a company can be named after the founder's family, which can be good because it has the ring of a personal promise. "Buttaaa.... if your name means something bad... do not name a company this". At this point she wrote the word "Death" on the board, and the crossed it out. What?? Who is named death??? She went on, talking about how a corporate name should be easy to pronounce and the same across borders. I decided to mention an exception to her, the fact that the grocery store chain "Aldi" (German) is actually called "Hofer" in Austria. As Sandra predicted, she didn't understand a word I said. Looking around the classroom, everyone was playing solitaire on their laptops (Gabi!! I saw you doing that! And no I won't let you copy my notes!!), reading magazines, talking to their neighbor, or doing a crossword. Of course the situation was funny and all, but I did begin to feel a little sympathy for the poor teacher.... She did seem nice enough after all... and that certaintly can't be easy for her. Of course, this is speaking from the new-teacher-myself perspective. Also funny: I signed my name on the attendance list, which will probably cause some confusion in the main office. WHO is Arthur Cornwell??? Björn said I should go to the office later and ask for a certificate proving my attendance (A Bestätigung- one gets one of these for almost everything in Austria... like crossing the street, for example. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration....). Everyone thinks the situation was very funny. Good times.