Rock my Worlds of English

Today is all about reminiscing and looking forward - or as Galadriel said "things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass." No, we are not talking about ring lore but instead about our newly founded Media Club, which wrapped up its first season just a couple of days ago. Our guest for this episode is René Schallegger, whose academic expertise and person...

The guests for today's episode joined us at the university to share a little about how English affects their lives--they're not students or teachers here, so they're able to offer us a different perspective on the worlds of English, namely how English brings together someone from Brasil (who loves Kasnudeln) and someone from Austria (who loves pão de queijo - mispronunciation not recom...

Today's guest, Tatjana Vučajnk, has joined us from the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Klagenfurt (Celovec) to tell us about a unique opportunity for students (and non-students, too) to improve their language skills: Summer School Bovec . At the beginning of July, intensive courses in Slovene, German, Italian, Croatian, and Friulan are offered at beginner and advanced levels....

As entertaining as the Rock my Worlds of English podcast episodes *usually* are, today's episode proves to be the exception by being entertaining AND informative. Knowledge (like beauty) is, however, fleeting, so we have prepared a map for you to navigate the hallowed halls of Hogwa... uh sorry... the University of Klagenfurt. This veritable audio Marauder's Map will show you how to find y...

This is an announcement for the Erasmus+ Study Abroad program: “Applications for  Erasmus+ study abroad for the next academic year are still open. The deadline is  February 1, 2026 , so this is a good time to get your applications ready. If you have questions or need guidance, feel free to reach out to the International Office at ⁠ outgoing.exchange@aau.at ⁠, or stop by during office hours, Monday...

While your dynamic podcast duo Tamara and Blake are still on their (much needed) holiday, they have been ably replaced by Matthew and Vanessa in today's podcast episode, welcoming Darrah and Dune (the D&D of Fulbright) in our (provisional) studio to talk about Austro-American relations and the Fulbright programme. Talking about the many opportunities Fulbright offers to students and teache...

Today’s episode features Dr. Peter Muntigl from the University of Ghent, a linguist whose research focuses on helping professions and therapy. Originally from Canada, he grew up in Montreal and studied in Vancouver. He has connections to universities across Europe and spent time in Vienna for a research project. Coming to linguistics from a different academic background, he discovered his passion...

Others might go for the cliché “new year, new me” — we present our very personal and splendiferous “new year, new co-host.” Although he has already hosted a couple of episodes, we wanted to kick off 2026 with a very special one. We almost lost him to politics in Salzburg, but we’re glad he found his way back to Klagenfurt, where he studies English and History and recently started teaching at the B...

This is our quarter-century episode of the fairly new "Rock my Worlds of English" podcast from the Department of English at the University of Klagenfurt! Thank you, dear Listener, for spending all these many hours with us learning about the department, our curricula, our students, our friends, and our colleagues. In this episode we reflect back on what we've learned, what we loved, and what we're...

This episode was ... and that was a great podcast! You might have missed the middle, but that's likely down to user error! And, since we don't want Santa ClausE to know we've been naughty, play along and like the episode anyway. Merry Christmas to you all!  God Jul, Nadolig Llawen, Buon Natale, Frohe Weihnachten, Nollaig Shona, Fijne Kerst, Ekeresimesi, Joyeux Noël, Nollaig Chridheil!...

Welcome to our Carinthian Christmas special with our host Gert and our guest Alex, both born and bred Austrian Carinthian guys. They talk about typical Austrian Christmas traditions and how Austria is, in many ways, an outlier when it comes to traditions: celebrating on the 24th of December rather than the 25th, getting presents from the Christkind rather than Santa Claus, having smoked sausages a...

The tenth episode of our Christmas series features Petra (who lived in England for several years) and her experience at Christmastime in England. In previous episodes we have heard stories of magical Christmases; Petra shares her perspective on what she fears Christmas has become: a celebration of excessive consumption despite a warming planet and starving children in many areas of the world. Addi...

Today's guest, Michael, hails from Hamilton, a hemisphere away on the North Island of New Zealand. He regales us with tales of Christmas in summertime, complete with barbecues and stays at the beach. He has lived in Austria for 15 years, so we also get to hear about his experiences here, in particular how customs from New Zealand meld with those from Austria. Christmas Eve in Austria almost pe...

Welcome to our eighth episode on Christmas traditions! Hailing from Scotland but at home in Carinthia for over four decades, Rachel joins us today to tell us about the practices associated with Christmas and Hogmanay in Scotland. We also learn a bit about Rachel's experiences with Christmas in Austria (where she got the best ever Christmas present just over thirty years ago!) and the influence...

Representing our dear neighbours from Italy in our Christmas podcast series, Marta joins us on air today to talk about Christmas traditions in her home country. Rather than Santa Claus -- or Babbo Natale, as he is called in Italian -- the spotlight is on two women during the the festive season: Santa Lucia, who heralds the beginning of the celebrations on December 13, and Befana, who marks the end...

A Visit from the US! 'Twas the night before Christmas, ... when Matthew came in to talk about the holidays in the United States with us--well, more or less, since Christmas traditions can vary in such a huge country with so many different climates, cultures, and communities. Matthew tells us about his personal experience during the holidays with his family while growing up in Boone, North Caro...

Bonjour et bienvenue to our fifth episode surrounding Christmas. While our host Tamara might already be overwhelmed with Christmas, her good friend and today's guest Frédérick can NOT get enough of it! She's Canadian, after all, and Canadians are really crazy about the holidays: So much so that they decided to celebrate Christmas twice a year and introduced "Christmas in July" as...

Home and back again - all roads lead to the village for a banging Christmas in Nigeria as we hear from today's guests, Paul and Ebuka. Both of them have experienced Christmas in Europe, specifically Germany and Austria, and we hear how much they enjoyed the Weihnachtsmärkte . You'll hear about the Masquerade festival associated with Christmas in Nigeria (Krampus, watch out!) as well as the joy of...

Directly from Spain, arriving on a Steamboat, Iris joins us today to talk about Dutch Christmas - no, wait! I got that completely mixed up. My office colleague Iris is in today to talk about Dutch traditions during the holidays in her birth country, the Netherlands, specifically the celebration of Pakjesavond on December 5th instead of Christmas Day - since they are pretty much too broke to buy pr...

The second guest in our Christmas special, with his unmistakable gift of the gab, is Julian, who shares his Christmas traditions as an Irishman living in Klagenfurt. Even though he has spent the holidays in Austria with his wife and children ever since moving here over 20 years ago, he is still a bit put off by the Austrian Christkind and how children are 'accustomed' to associate Christmas bells...

Always look on the braai side of Christmas (or whatever Monty Python said). We are kicking off the festive season with our very own little advent calendar, introducing you to various countries' holiday and Christmas traditions and customs. Our first guest, Lisa, talks about growing up with white Christmases - but instead of snow it was the white sand of sunny beaches that she remembers along w...

Austria, Bachelor's, Coaching, Dissertation, Ecuador, Finland - or Fleischhacker? You decide! We could probably go through the whole alphabet to describe everything Melanie talked about in her interview. A Klagenfurt local who finished her BA and MA at the Department of English in Klagenfurt, she is currently working on her dissertation (Pretty hard Degree) on a linguistic topic (questioning s...

Today's podcast features Prof. Aidan O'Malley, who was invited to speak at the Klagenfurt Centre of Irish Studies at the Department of English. Currently working at the University of Rijeka, he shares his past and present research interests with us along with some background on his academic career. We also learned a little bit about the Field Day Theatre Company , the field of Irish Studie...

There are no snakes in this episode - but there is research galore. Our guest today is Prof. Dr. Roger Dale Jones who specialises in the field of English language didactics at the University of Klagenfurt. Nothing he researches belongs in a museum because the topics he is interested in are all relevant to modern society (video games, poverty, and AI). Dr. Jones talks about how important it is for...

What lies in the future for the Bachmann Gymnasium pupils who came to the University of Klagenfurt for a campus visit? Only the future will tell. What we can tell you now though is that they had a great time. Today's podcast features an interview/interviews with students from the Bachmann Gymnasium in Klagenfurt and our dear colleague Vanessa Walzl who elaborates on our new departmental outreach p...