Martin Spendlhofer, 2013-2014, Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant from Austria visiting Hawaii
To give you insight into the Fulbright year I spent at St. John’s University in Minnesota (Oh ya, you betcha!), I would like to describe four things that I really enjoyed.
Every semester, there is something called the “24-hour Play Festival” at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University (CSB/SJU). A group of incredibly talented students get together to write, direct, rehearse and perform a total of eight plays in 24 hours. Last January, I wrote an eight-minute play and acted in it as well. Even though I had about an hour of sleep (and there was more blood in my caffeine than caffeine in my blood), I enjoyed every second of the experience and it was a total blast. Having taught in Austria before coming to the United States, I was able to gather some valuable experiences as well.
One of my German club related highlights last semester was Oktoberfest. We served authentic pretzels, danced the polka, and had a gummy bear guessing game. We put a lot of work and effort into it, and I think it paid off! For advertising, we had a great flash mob with traditional Austrian music at the Gorecki dining center, and we also handed out hot cider at the bus stop. All in all, I enjoyed working together with an ambitious team of German club officers.
