Professor Ivanics

“...the term professor generally is used as a form of address for any lecturer or researcher employed by a college or university...” (Wikipedia)

Though the Ivanics brothers have become more and more well-known and well-received, no one expected this sudden scientific career. Of course they are not real professors, but thanks to an unexpected and strange encounter they were asked to give a talk, in fact, two talks about WorldWalk-Peacetour to the students of the Texas Tech University in Seville.

by FERENC IVANICS
Some time ago, still in March, we were sitting at our casual spot on a crowded street in Málaga, with all our equipment. Some passers-by threw some coins into our box, but most of them indeed passed by us with a neutral look on their faces. Time was crawling, just before we almost fell asleep with our eyes open, a long-haired, bearded young man approached us. After some short questions we had a quite enjoyable chat.

He told us that he was Kurt Caswell, a writer, and an assistant professor of creative writing and literature in the Honors College at Texas Tech University. TTU has several study abroad programs, one of which is located in Seville and focuses on studies in Spanish language and culture. Students from Texas Tech travel to Seville, live with host families, and study at the TTU Center, usually for one full semester.

After we introduced ourselves and told him some stories about our journey, our goals, he was impressed with the WorldWalk-Peacetour project. He really found it so interesting that he asked us to take a stop in Seville before we fly on to the USA, and give a talk to the students of the TTU. With a small hesitation we said OK. There were various aspects that lead to the decision. Besides gratifying the curiosity of the students and giving a talk at a university, we had a fair share of practical and—let’s say—selfish concerns: we hoped that we could have a good meal and maybe a shower, we could wash our clothes, and due to the American links of the University we might give a boost our fame in the USA. The final push was Kurt’s mail, he told us that the University offered 200 euros as a compensation for the talk.


When we arrived to Seville we tried to contact Kurt, but we found out that he had left with a group of student on a trip. As we did not have any other options, we found a proper spot and deployed our begging equipment. We had been begging for a week when, to our great delight, Kurt reappeared with the news: the University would like a double treat, two talks for 300 euros.


We gave the first talk on the second of April. This was an open program, all the students were invited. Roughly thirty of them formed our first audience. We split the lecture in two parts—Europe and Africa—and following Kurt’s advise we focused on the funnier episodes of the tour, sparing them the details about the philosophical and ideological background. We prepared only the photos to be shown, we felt sure about that the pictures will recall the right memories and stories.

While I talked, my brother controlled the slide show, and our audience were listening silently or sometimes they laughed out loud. They liked the episodes when István couldn’t contain himself and added his comments or punchline to the story. The second talk was directed to Kurt’s student group, and this really wasn’t a lecture but an open chat. They asked questions, we answered the best we could.


I think all of us—the audience and ourselves—left satisfied from the gatherings. We’d like to thank Kurt for his hospitality, foods and drinks, for letting us use his washing machine. :) And not least for the first copy of his recently published book: An Inside Passage. It arrived from the USA before our very eyes, Kurt just checked it out and then gave it to us as a present. It’s an interesting and useful read, of course, about travels.

Read about it on Kurt’s blog.