Some German Thangs

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was very exciting, and I especially felt some pride as a German major. As a treat, one of my favorite professors of all time came to visit my German seminar last night and showed us a powerpoint of her experience as an American visiting East Germany for a teacher's conference in 1987. It was really interesting. My favorite picture was one that she showed of a sign on a restaurant taken on July 14th saying that the next Pizza dinner would be served on August 31st. My German professor, an East German, explained that this happened because there were never enough fresh ingredients to make pizzas in East Germany, so they only had "Pizza Parties" once a month. Unbelievable!

She also complained about how everywhere in the news (in both Germany and America) they talk about the Berlin Wall falling. The wall did not, however, fall on November 9, 1989, it simply opened up. Very good point.

I also had my last (!!!) academic advising appointment yesterday with my economics advisor, also a German man. It was the first time I had seen him since I returned back from Freiburg and he asked me about the classes I took. I told him that both of my economics classes were in English because they don't really offer economics classes in German at the Uni anymore. He was very excited by this and told me he thought it was wonderful that German universities are becoming so globalized and seeing the importance of being active in the world market. I thought it was very interesting to get a German's opinion about more classes being taught in English. Personally, I think it's sad that German students can no longer really take any classes in business or economics in their own language, but I guess my advisor had a good point as well. It will be interesting to see what role language plays in the future as the world becomes even more globalized.