How to train a graduate in Germany

Aachen Katschhof, captured by me

Aachen, captured by me.

What better place to start writing a blog in the internet than the very place where there is no access to internet. Many of you would have this question, what, why and how, but the best way to answer this, is to write a main thesis.

Eight months of writing on LaTeX without internet makes your thoughts to flow more effortlessly, keeping distractions at bay (If only this happened in reality). Of course, after you have downloaded your references, it’s just you, relevant papers, thesis and your code. What a blissful life!

In our short lifespan, we encounter countless life experiences that teaches us some values, but man this was just cold irony. When I was brainstorming about what I need to write, probably the first thing that struck my mind would be about my main’s (master’s) program (brainstorming is a strong word in this context, couldn’t think of weaker substitute).

Most of you would be aware of GitHub’s initiative to curb master terminology from their repository nomenclature to support “Black Lives Matter” movement, I would like to do the same for this blog by adopting main as a replacement to master (imagine Education council uttering “Wait, that’s illegal”).

When I visited our course website, it was a pity to see that there were only tailored student experiences, and not a realistic blog about this program. Before I start writing about the program, I must warn you that it recounts my experiences and it would be advisable to take it with a pinch of salt or sugar, whichever you like better.

Enough of introduction (babbling), let us spin the time wheel back to 2017 (I can hear the physicist cringing at this, Marvel please do not do this to them), when I was in the final stages of my bachelor thesis. (I would write about my bachelor thesis and my application for higher studies later, should be an interesting read filled with self-deprecating humour).

I received my acceptance into RWTH Aachen, for the main’s (master’s) in simulation sciences while refreshing my email for probably the 50th time of the day after getting a sea of rejections (stop exaggerating). The Indian sweet I had after this, was probably the sugar rush which could get me to have type 2 diabetes.

I received my acceptance in about the third week of May, which left me four months to prepare for my departure. I was quite casual back then, but thankfully my family were strictly well planned for this scenario. And god (insert any supreme entity associated with events that science hasn’t been able to reason with) they were right. Getting a visa is a massive bureaucratic overhaul and things are just starting to take shape (soon you will have nightmares about paperwork once you reach Germany, so good prep, the way education must be).

It is also about the same time when I started learning German with an institute in India. I thought it would be a good investment to be able to get by myself during my initial stages in Germany, and boy was I wrong!

It is also about the same time when I started learning German with an institute in India. I thought it would be a good investment to be able to get by myself during my initial stages in Germany, and boy was I wrong! To put to context, A1 level (Beginner level) in German language in India, would not guarantee you to be able to even initiate conversations.

I admit, I did have social anxiety (maybe I still do, don’t we all? ), but not being comfortable with the language served as conversation killer for me. Looking back at my two and half years, there were numerous window of opportunities to make good bonds if I had put more effort into learning the language. But I made some great friends nevertheless, though a Mexican (taco bell fanatic) friend of mine, would always have reasons to kill me. I would not like to name him to protect his identity, but he is a physicist, and they are quite rare in our program (Sad piano noises).

Let’s fast forward to October 2017, having completed my visa process, mastered German (I wasn’t too bright back then, nor am I now), secured an accommodation (ah, another idea for a blog) and stayed in Munich for a while with a family friend. I was ready for Aachen with my 55 kilograms of luggage (haha, it is quite hilarious when I think about it now, but was definitely painful back then, a story for later).

To add cherry to the top, I took a bus from Munich to Aachen for 11 hours without any food or water along with me. Given it was a Sunday, people in Germany can relate to what that would mean. Yes, most of the shops on Sunday are closed in Germany.

After such a traumatic start to life in Aachen, life was such a sinusoidal curve during the first semester. Before attending the orientation, get ready to hone your paperwork skills in order to get enrolled into the university. I heard from the juniors that the process is much smoother now, given that the process has been shifted to being completely online.

God, I was strong in paperwork back then (imagine Robert Baratheon’s voice, but would not imagine a similar fate since I don’t hunt animals). Initial orientation was given by the university to all master(main) students. Just personal opinion, I did not gain much information or make any social contact during their “events“.

Sure some people did make some friends, but my social awkwardness didn’t help back then. I did try to engage with some student clubs, but I did not find much traction or interest to continue with them. Just when all felt lost, we had our department orientation.

Things only went downhill from then, since I made some lifelong enemies friends. We were very grateful to have such a caring study counsellor, who was also a good friend of mine. During this orientation, we had some ice breaker sessions, which left us interacting with only familiar nationalities, or fellow countrymen and women.

Great way to start to inter-cultural social interactions don’t you think? Things lost much traction when we had a food get-together, which in my experience is one of the greatest ice breaker ever. Before this food together, the previous night was a pub crawl with our seniors.

For the uninitiated, it is an esteemed diploma program wherein you can progress to even get a doctorate. In order to obtain this degree, you must visit 12 pubs designated by the association and have their suggested drinks with many other quirky rules. If I recollect correctly, there were only 4 of my batch mates with few of our seniors. I cannot reveal much about the pub crawl, since it would reach the utmost level of embarrassment.

Alright, there you have it, I do not drink alcohol, I ended up ordering coffee at different pubs. Since all of us had a good time, the stares I got from almost everyone in the bar did not matter much to me. Apart from having a good time, we got to know many intrinsic of the program and what one could expect in their coming semesters. Sadly, we never conducted or participated in a pub crawl for our immediate juniors or junior of juniors (our batch wasn’t as cool as our seniors).

The following week, our lectures had started for the new semester and guess what, the first lecture was on Monday at 8 a.m. in a rather chilly morning. While I leave you guessing what the lecture might be on, I hope you found it informative until now (hardly). I would continue this as a series of blogs if enough people find it interesting enough.

If you were able to read until now, I must say that you have a brave heart and a strong mind to enrol into this program.

Heimbach, Germany. Picturized by me. Head to my travel blogs to view more.

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