The pride of Fulbright

Today was the first day of classes for Mom. In the morning she took the Bulgarian Folk culture course. That was the only required course for Fulbright grantees in Bulgaria. She and Carolyn were never asked to register for other courses, but when they got here they were told that they can attend whatever they like.

So they chose the class titled "Logic in the continental tradition". Mom used to be a big fan of philosophy - she even wanted to get a PhD in it (before realizing that had she done that, she would end up working at McDonalds' all her life). Even more so, she loved logic so the course sounded perfect.

But here's the thing: because they had not registered officially for the class, they had not received the preparatory materials, nor the details about the class. As it turns out, the class was about Hegelian logic, and the participants were philosophy majors or PhDs. Nice! Mom spent one third of the class trying to understand, another third trying to stay awake, and the final third looking for a way to get out of it. In the end, she did what she always does, for better or for worse: she told the truth. Fortunately, the professor was very cool about it. Mom felt bad because she wanted to be able to understand, and remembered her logic professor in college that had once explained to her the difference between European and U.S. schools of philosophy. She wished she had remembered that earlier.

So, being out of class early, the two Fulbright dropouts went to the pool. The pride of Fulbright in all its glory...