On Christmas morning in Hue at breakfast at Poetic Hue Hostel, I met Julia and Klaus from Cologne, Germany. Julia had gotten a Master’s degree in the Netherlands (for $10,000, a bargain by American standards) in a subject I had never heard of–tourism destination management. Her program met in the Netherlands for six months, Australia for a month, Cambodia for a month and Bali for a month.
Julia worked on a team of four–herself, a Dutch woman, an Italian man and a Turkish man. Throughout the program, the two women had to make the men work. Not surprising given how different their cultures are. It would be interesting to hear each team member’s perspective. I was fascinated by this Master’s program of 30 people from 17 nations. The program was flexible enough to allow Julia to take a two month break halfway through that she spent in Lubbock, Indonesia, a place she highly recommended visiting.
I loved Julia’s sense of humor about her current job for a company that sells medical devices–a far cry from her Master’s degree. She uses this medical device on her grandmother whose arthritis is greatly eased by it.
Klaus has a very different school and work history. After high school, he got a job as an auto mechanic at Ford Motor Company. Little by little he got his Bachelor and Master degrees in engineering. He is still at Ford but working in a completely different and more intellectually demanding capacity.
By the way, if you think Klaus has a strange expression on his face, it’s because he’s in the middle of swallowing a banana.
