Les Hannah, day 18, part 1

I checked the news on the Chilean miners this morning as I was leaving for school; three had been rescued so far. Watching and waiting for the others.

After I arrived at school today I discovered, actually was informed, that I had been in yesterday’s Esbjerg newspaper. I got a copy and saved it, for what good it will do me; I suppose someday I may learn to read Danish. Until that day however, I will take as gospel the translation of those who read the article to me. Actually, I know exactly what it says. Once the article was read to me I knew immediately what the source was. I state that thus because no one from any Danish newspaper interviewed me for this article. How the article came about is interesting.

The deputy director at the school here, sent the newspaper a brief blurb about my presence at the school. She suggested they contact me or come by the school for an interview and dialogue about my time here in Denmark. No one did. How the paper “got” their interview was to take what little information she sent them and then they Googled me, found an old interview I did while still at Kansas State University (it was published in The Collegian, the KSU school newspaper) and they reprinted that – translated into Danish though, of course.  They also took some things from podcasts I did on the K-State network.  Why reinvent the wheel I guess, huh. A warning to my students however; don’t try this with any of your assignments.

Well, the 80s were still alive and kicking in the halls of Esbjerg Handelsskole today. I had lots of students visit with me today. Several groups stopped at my table, a few individual students; all were curious about me mostly, wanting to know what I thought of Denmark so far. And so far I am loving it here. I really do enjoy the time at the school. I am treated well there. One young lady sat with me for several minutes and told me that all of the classes want me to come back; she actually said, “You are like a rock star here. Everyone wants you in their classes.” Rock star. Wow.

Following that boost to my ego several more students stopped by just to chat. Many would come when they were taking a break from the research and just sit and talk, wanting to know more about Indians, wanting to know more about the States, some just wanting to talk. I enjoy this type of dialogue; often I like to just sit and talk with students at NSU, especially the grad students. Teaching and learning can happen over chips and salsa or pizza, a cup of coffee, or just across the table as well as in the classroom.

I wrapped this school day up with a walking discussion of the influence of Microsoft products in the education arena in the US. Certainly was not a technical discussion, but a general observation of the popularity of MS products in American higher education.