Did you know that in German, Vienna is spelled Wien?
I had a great visit at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Big thanks to Christoph Feichter for inviting me and Kate Patterson for organizing the visit.
I presented a new paper. The paper is about how being over or under a time budget is perceived differently depending on whether you are initially liked or disliked by your supervisor. The theory is that if someone dislikes you, then they will see all future ambiguous behavior in a negative light.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to relate the theory to The Sound of Music. I showed a picture from when the nuns are singing the song, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria.” I then pointed out that the nuns had different preconceptions of Maria (“She’s an angel” vs “She’s a demon”) which color how they interpret her other ambiguous actions.
I thought it was a great example. Unfortunately, no one in the audience had seen the movie. Apparently it’s too apocryphal for Austria.
After the workshop I went out for a great dinner and got Schnitzel! In the process I also learned that no Austrian would ever eat schnitzel with noodles. You can’t eat schnitzel with sauce, but you also can’t eat noodles without sauce. They are simply incompatible dishes. Yet another dream dashed.
In 2016 WU Vienna got a brand new campus! As part of the process, they put up a plaque/statue thanking the Austrian taxpayer. At graduation and other similar events, they also publicly thank the taxpayers for making the university possible. I really like that sentiment!
Dutch Bentleys 