A while ago I arranged to take a break from my Biology Masters in favour of an intensive German course. It's not only the language that's becoming clearer through class discussions with open-minded teachers, the German character is also starting to make sense.

One of the scariest people I have ever met is a Biology professor at my college, who I went to see with a question, unannounced, at the start of last term. I spent five minutes in front of her door, reciting what I wanted to say. Finally I knocked and went in. "Good morning", I ventured. "I'm " "What are you doing here without an appointment?" she barked. "These aren't my office hours you can't just turn up! Haven't you seen the lists on the notice-board?"

I hadn't there turned out to be three boards for the Biology department on different floors, each used according to which one was nearest to the person putting up the notice. Eventually she answered my question and I escaped, tail firmly between my legs.

In class, if you said something stupid she would stare icily at you as if wondering how you'd got in. She'd breathe down your neck in the lab until your hands shook or cry "No, no, no! I'll do it!" Her jokes were greeted with sophisticated laughter from the German students, who knew her from their Bachelors' course and were jostling to catch her eye - she'd mentioned influential friends who could get us well started in our careers

Yet most of them genuinely seemed to like her. Even though she'd reduced a few of them to tears in the past they stuck by their judgement. My American friend and I could not understand it, until we went to the class party. To our horror, she cornered us...and turned out to be perfectly charming, asking us how we were, how our German was coming on.

Months later, my German teacher explained the whole thing. Germans make a big distinction between work and play. At work (for which our professor was training us), efficiency is expected, and an ability to criticise and argue is considered a positive trait, designed to improve output and further ambition. Less emphasis is placed on praise, but when it comes it is all the more valued my one compliment from Professor X kept me happy for a week.

But in my experience, the off-duty German is more genuinely friendly than your average Brit, who has to be nice all day.

HELEN FRYER

One Covingham woman living in Germany