Next to me in the Kolding Caffe there sits a woman in her early twenties who holds several handwritten pages in her hands. The pages are covered with marks in several magic-marker colors. She reads a little, and then she covers most of her face with the pages. Then she talks to herself in a low voice. And she talks about pharmacology. Although she is doing her best to be inaudible, the pages in her hand only sharpen her voice. She sounds a bit like an old announcement system at a railway station. Many a foreign tourist would be surprised by the spectacle. What in the world is the woman doing? Everyone from Croatia would know the answer at once: she is preparing for an exam at her university by mastering the lecture notes. She is learning the correct answers by heart and she is practicing them out loud because the bulk of exams in this country are still oral. Rote learning is what most university professors in Croatia are perfectly happy about. In fact, they encourage it. Critical thinking is nigh impossible to examine, anyhow. Oral exams are rather quick, as well. On top of everything, they are impossible to check, giving the professor all the power. The mystery resolved.