AmericanAnDerTU

This is going to be a blog post that only people studying here in Vienna will really be able to appreciate, but anyone studying at a university with a strong group of science faculties should also be able to have a laugh…

So I read this blog entry from a Viennese lifestyle site and thought they didn’t address the TU Wien’s fashion style very well. Allow me to correct this grave journalistic mistake…

The TU is an institution with many different faculties, all of them revolving around topics of a technical nature (if you don’t count the hippies over in the architecture department). Since not all sciences are exactly the same, obviously not all of the students dress the same. Let me break it down for you by department.

Architecture: Let’s go ahead and get the odd man out over and done with. These are some of the more fashionable ones amongst us. They know what design is, they know that colors actually have other colors that go together and they often even know how to work their washing machine. They’re quite easy to spot on campus because they’re typically female and attractive. There’s a saying at the TU: From 10 people you have 3 women and only one of them is worth a second look. Here, the architecture students are mostly female and almost always worth a second look.

Engineering: Due to a lack of time, I’m going to be forced to lump all of the engineer students all into one box. Sorry guys. No worries, though, you’re not the fashion abortions that are the IT guys (more on them later). You have to actually leave the basement and interact with the real world, so consider yourselves lucky. The engineers are what I would call normal. Not dressed poorly, but not dressed like the fashionistas over at the WU (University of Business and Economics). If I wasn’t studying IT, these would be my people.

Mathematicians: Oddly, they’re not the worst of them all. Surprised me, too, when I first starting studying and spending time checking out everyone out. I’m going to lump in with the engineers in terms of style.

Physicists: Now here’s an eclectic bunch. I know a few physicists and I can’t honestly apply a single label to any of them. They’re more leaning in the direction of the IT guys, though: dressed more for comfort than looks. To hell with whatever anyone says about them (an attitude I like). The social awkwardness is definitely climbing with these guys, though.

IT: Oh boy. What can I say about my fellow IT nerds that won’t get me locked up for libel? Social awkwardness to the max. Facial hair? To their bloody knees. This is a group that knows not what laundry detergent is, much less how to operate a washing machine if they did (there’s no mouse or keyboard and it won’t run Linux - what’s a nerd to do?). I’m of course exaggerating (or am I?), but luckily for the vast majority of the IT students they have business-IT students amongst them to help make them look a bit better. Good luck on finding a pair of tits in an IT lecture, though. If you find any, I guarantee they’re more likely to be post-op rather than real. I love the IT guys, though. They’re the true snobs of the TU. They think they can do everything better than everyone else and will be that arrogant to the last moment. I love ‘em. You are my people.

I think what I am going to do is grab a camera and maybe wander around the uni next semester and see if I can find some stereotypical students from each department. Shame it’s exam week right now, no more lectures and everyone’s locked in the library studying away making it hard to separate the physicists from the computer nerds and the engineers from the mathematicians.