AW: Where did you grow up?
EIH: I grew up in Germany - southern Germany.
AW: Where did you attend college?
EIH: Germany.
AW: What is your favorite way to relax after class?
EIH: Don't really have time to relax. I don't know. I go home and have two little kids, so I am not sure if it is relaxing. It is relaxing from teaching, but not relaxing in that way. I don't really have time to relax. I mean, I go home and have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old, and they keep me busy. They have high energy and are waiting for us to come home, and I commute for one and a half hours home every day. So I assume reading, if I have time, reading for anthropology would be relaxing, but I'm not doing too much of that right now.
AW: What classes do you teach?
EIH: I teach in the Spanish department. I am the coordinator for Spanish elementary levels, and this semester I taught Elementary I, and I taught a course on Spain and civilization of Spain.
AW: What is your favorite thing to see or do in D.C.?
EIH: Probably go to the Chesapeake Bay. Go on a boat, be outside.
AW: What is your favorite movie?
EIH: There is a Spanish movie about the Spanish Civil War, which I watched recently, "La Lengua de las mariposas," or "butterfly" in English.
AW: What is your favorite book?
EIH: Probably "Le Petit Prince," or "The Little Prince" in English. It's a French book, with a French author. It's a book that works for adults and children, and it's called "Le petit prince" or "El pequeño principe" in Spanish. It is probably my favorite book. I read it a long time ago in French class. But it's one of the books that I've repurchased to give to people, so I'd assume if I had a favorite book, it would be that one.
AW: What is one thing your students or colleagues don't know about you?
EIH: Some might not know I grew up in Germany because I speak Spanish and I teach Spanish, and I am from Spain. So a lot of people don't associate me with Germany, I think. Some of the students might not know that I am a student myself, that I'm doing my Ph.D. in anthropology here. Other than that, I think people know that I have kids usually because I mention it. I have pictures in my office.
AW: What is one piece of advice you would give to your students as a student yourself?
EIH: To go out to the real world. I think we have a great program here at the university with the community service-learning project and encourage students to do that every semester independently. I'm teaching this Spain class, and I have students go out to work with Latino immigrants in the community. It has indirectly to do with Spain, because usually they are not from Spain, but they are from different countries. But it has to do with real world exposure and not just the academic campus world, and to experience what the working world is, what people are doing in their communities, not necessarily in academia.