With a one-way ticket and little money, Sandra Erdmann came to Dresden 30 years ago. Since then, the beloved English lecturer has built a family, a social circle, and a career in Germany. And yet, being Irish is still at the core of who she is.
“Next!”
After waiting in line for half an hour behind the slew of students who had come to see her during her office hours, Sandra Erdmann calls me into her room.
She greets me with a grin and a friendly “Hello, pet!” and waves me closer. She has bright red hair – which she assures me was her hairdresser’s choice but nevertheless fits well with her reputation as ‘the Irish lecturer’ of the English and American Studies department at the Technological University in Dresden, Germany.
Sandra teaches different language courses like ‘Listening and Speaking’, ‘Pronunciation and Intonation’, ‘Advanced Essay Writing’, or ‘Classroom English’ to English majors and future teachers. Known for her storytelling, she is popular with students and colleagues alike.
Originally from Newbridge, County Kildare, Sandra first came to Germany while completing her National Diploma in International Marketing, German and Spanish. In 1992, she spent a few months in Leipzig and Copenhagen, before returning to Ireland to finish her degree.
Throughout her life, Sandra has had a variety of jobs, starting right after her graduation. “There were no jobs when I finished my studies,” she said. So, she first worked as a cleaning lady in a hotel, then capped mouthwash bottles for a few months, before landing what she thought would be her dream job at an insurance company.
“My parents were thrilled. Safe job, good money.” But Sandra soon began to hate it there, not least because she wasn’t able to travel or use her language skills.
“So after a year, I quit, booked tickets to Germany and decided I was going to work and travel my way down to Australia.”
Like many young people, she wanted to leave Ireland to broaden her horizons and gain some international experiences. Even recently, of those emigrating from Ireland in 2024, over a third were between the ages of 15 and 24, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office. Overall, last year saw the highest number of emigrants from Ireland in the last decade.
“I think it’s a national neurosis in Ireland. The Irish have always left the country when times have gotten rough – to survive,” Sandra said, referencing the long tradition of Irish emigration, from the Great Famine of the 1850s to more recent economic crises.
“I think work is definitely still an issue why people leave the country, although things in Ireland are improving,” she added. As the CSO found, the number of people who return to Ireland is slowly increasing. Nevertheless, the number of Irish citizens who left the country last year still outweighed those who came back.
When Sandra left Ireland again, her first stop was Leipzig, where she still knew some friends. In the end, she only made it about 100 km further to Dresden. “I had no real plan. I had an open-end ticket when I left Ireland, so I thought, I just keep going until I’ve had enough or don’t get any further and then I’ll come back.” That was in 1995.
When she first came to Dresden, she didn’t have a lot of money. She started working in one of the few local Irish pubs, where she met many friends and the man who would become her first husband. They had a daughter together and Sandra’s travelling plans were put on hold indefinitely.
“I thought, okay, I’ll just stay maybe a year. And then I had my daughter and I said, okay, before she starts primary school, I’ll go back to Ireland. And then she started primary school. And then she was just finishing primary school before my second daughter started. So I said, maybe I’ll go back… – No!”
Working at a pub with children at home became more difficult, so she pivoted once again. She worked for a lawyer, even completing a year in German tax law, then went back to marketing, before starting to teach freelance at different companies – until she was approached by a friend with a job offer.
“They needed some people to give one or two courses here at the university. And I said no, I’m not qualified to do anything at the university. But he convinced me.”
Her classes were a success, and she soon became a full-time freelancer.
“And then I started to realize that my students possibly knew more than I did. So I studied again.” Over a decade after completing her first degree, she took on a Magister in British literature, British cultural studies and German literature at the TU Dresden. While writing her thesis, another unexpected job came along. A permanent position opened in the English and American Studies department, and although she didn’t think she had a chance, she applied.
“I got the job and I have been here ever since, and I am delighted that I am here.”
If someone were able to tell her younger self about her current job, she probably wouldn’t have believed it. “My mother told me when I was young, ‘Be a teacher’, and I always said, ‘No way José am I going to be a teacher’. The thought of standing up in front of so many people… I was actually quite shy, nobody believes that,” she said with a loud cackle.
“And then after the first session, I went: ‘Why didn’t I listen?’ So, I’m delighted that I ended up where I am now.”
Even though she has been living in Germany for 30 years now, feeling at home is something she can struggle with. “I always feel like I’m sitting between two chairs, kind of hanging in the air. When I’m in Ireland, I say I’m going home – meaning Dresden. When I’m in Dresden, I say I’m going home – meaning Ireland.”
But, she told me, there’s still a difference in how connected she feels to each country.
“Sometimes I feel lost at home because I’ve missed things, even political developments. Like, you try and read the newspaper, but you’re not talking to somebody about it. I feel like I’m more in the loop here. I know what’s going on here – politically, socially, culturally, also with young people because I’ve seen my own grow up here.”
Nevertheless, her Irish identity is incredibly important to Sandra – something that she hasn’t really found with her German peers. “The people still have some kind of hesitation or inhibition to express their pride in being who they are. I am proud to be Irish, and if anybody asks me, that is what I say.” For example, she said she never changed her passport to a German one.
Sandra’s daughters, on the other hand, are half German and half Irish, and therefore have dual citizenship. According to Sandra, their identity depends on the day. “If they’re being really well behaved, then they’re 90% Irish, and if they’re misbehaving, then they’re 90% German. That’s what I told them.”
Her daughters grew up bilingual, but sometimes “have a little slip on a word”, which she finds cute. Being a pronunciation teacher, however, Sandra does tease her children about their accents sometimes.
“Lily sounds like the Queen of England, it’s mortifying. I don’t know where she got it, it’s not from me. Emily has a bit of an Irish accent, but she’s got kind of a German touch every now and then.
“They weren’t listening enough,” she accused with a cheeky grin. After all, pronunciation is no joke to her, let alone being compared to the English.
When she first started working at the university, she was asked to teach British English pronunciation, among other things. “And I remember being told, when you go to the class, just tell them that you’re British,” she said and slapped the table indignantly.
“So that was my first day of work, and I nearly lost my job because I said no. ‘Yeah, but geographically speaking, …’ – I said, geographically speaking my elbow, I am not telling anybody I’m British, I’m Irish.”
Since then, her Irish heritage and her background have become an integral part of her classes, mostly through the tales of Irish people and places that she likes to regale her students with. “That’s a cliché about the Irish, but I actually do think it’s true because I love to tell stories,” she laughed.
Sandra told me that she misses her family back in Ireland, she wishes she could see her nieces and nephews growing up, and worries about her parents, who are getting older. Still, she loves her work and the friends she has made in Germany, and her husband is very attached to his hometown of Dresden. “He’s staying here forever, and I’m staying with him.”