I hope you won't hold it against me that the OeAD was not the reason I applied for a lectureship in Mexico City. First there was something like love. And then came the love for this city. Back in Vienna I knew: it would be great to live and work in Mexico City! I applied, I trembled, I got accepted. After initial visa difficulties and a broken arm I was able to start my lectureship in the autumn of 2018. In the chaos of hora pico, between tacos and tortas – always with the sound of a jaunty cumbia rhythm in the air somewhere – I have slowly arrived.
I have learned to go with the flow of the underground riders and to no longer ask whether this or that salsa is hotter. I have learned that ahorita can mean “soon, but maybe never” and that time is generally regarded as a much more flexible concept here than in Austria. Despite the huge population of this city everything here is somehow slower and more leisurely and one likes to sit a little longer during coffee breaks with the boss.
When I sit on the roof of my apartment building in the evening and watch the sun go down I am always amazed at the expanse of this city that ends somewhere on the hills on the edge of town, listen to the sound of ambulancias rushing by and feel “at home”. A village in Lower Austria exchanged for the biggest metropolis in the Americas.
The OeAD may not have been the reason but it was the driver behind it all. The enabler of a dream. I owe this institution incredible personal and professional growth. The one love has gone but the love for the city has remained and grown and this would not have been possible without the OeAD lectureship abroad programme. Feliz cumpleaños!
The OeAD lectureship programme is a mobility programme to promote the German language and teach Austrian culture abroad. More than 100 lecturers work in around 100 locations around the globe. Their task is to teach German language, literature and Austrian regional studies at universities abroad. Whether you would like to go to Mexico, Japan, Spain or Russia – you will find OeAD lectureships in 31 countries. They span 16 time zones and four continents.
The lectureships, which last several years, facilitate the development of sustainable relationships between Austria and the host countries and thus form an important instrument for teaching Austrian culture and science at higher education institutions worldwide.
Every year the OeAD lectureship programme invites graduates with Magister/master's degrees in humanities and cultural studies to apply for a lectureship position abroad.
Further information: www.oead.at/lektorat
