How to train a graduate in Germany Sept

Well, its not Sect, the egyptian god who has been perceived to be evil in many modern fictions. But if you have read the mythologies, he is a morally grey character. Many authors took the liberty to portray him to be evil. Rightfully so, if someone else wrote my biography, I could be perceived as a parasite to this idealistic society (but who would take the time and effort to write about me, so I will do it myself). To display my polyglot skill set, and partly please my baguette loving friend, I have decided to name it in french. My blogs are only helpful in learning few words from some languages (precisely only numbers, and hence I am a polyglot). Some of you might have wondered in the comfort of your overly comfy seat about why I named my blog to be “WitfulMadrasi”. Just like “kinderpunsch”, this is just level zero of cryptology and presented with pathetic level of creativity. If you break the word at the right segment, you should get “Witful” “Madrasi” (and not “Witful“, “Mad” and “rasi” which sounds equally tempting). Sadly, “witful” hasn’t been included in English dictionary yet. But since English is my second language, I took the liberty to adopt this word into my terminology. I would request the gatekeepers of English language to revolt peacefully like the French did. As for the latter word, I will let you guess what it could mean. Beware, this would require a sense of geographical expertise of the sub-regions of India, so do not break your heads too much for it.

Crusher of dreams. Fear me!

One may wonder why prelude to my stories are totally unrelated to the context. Well, you will understand it eventually, for it is related to the inner workings of the human mind. Without much adieu, let us get straight to the topic in hand. I did not describe the preparation for the semester in grotesque detail, in fear of losing the little fan following I have had (what?!). For someone who had been preparing for exams for a short duration, but facing several of them for the same course, German exams were the biggest cultural shock to me (okie, now I have also used an excessively utilized term, which I so frequently encounter in travel blogs). Not to critique in such bad taste, but one should expect cultural difference between different societies who have evolved under different conditions over space and time. Every experience adds to our learning, and it should not be perceived as a shock (for starters I do not see any pressure difference, dunno if temperament counts though). But the exams were a “shock” to me since they were based on the foundations of “quality over quantity“, giving little room for redemption. After interacting with quite a few German high school students, and fellow German students, I find it a bit uncharacteristically cruel. The education system wants to be in par with perfection which I vehemently hated back in India. Though structurally different, their implementation was very similar. Let me explain, for it was only apparent to me in my second year. Preparing for an exam is a skill which I definitely did not possess. I found solace in oral exams in later semesters, but I will get to that later. To be honest, when I said previously that I had prepared well for “Parallel programming“, it definitely felt like I did, because I was able to reach the milestones set by the course. But the very premise of the exam is questionable, since what I had as an exam was just a iteration of previous questions asked in the expanse of ten years. A two hour exam could provide little justice to the months of your preparation. It was not the question of learning the expanse of what the course has to offer, which could further your understanding the fundamentals of it. But rather, answer to a select few questions, you have practised feverishly over a past few months. A constricted exam leads to a constricted mind, to forget about learning and exploring beyond, but rather chain yourself to never ending bandwagon of competitors. And competition was strife with my batch mates, and I could hardly cope up. When there were discussions of grades, I softly excused myself. For god forbid, the grade made little justice to my interest towards the course. I felt like I have failed to strap myself to the ever ending competition for “excellence“. I was quite tempted by the end of the first semester to take “easy” elective courses in order to have a grade I could be proud of. But when I left for Germany from India, I did not want to have it easy, which I could have if I did it in India, so I took courses which matched my interests. Maybe I was not smart enough to crack the education system to my advantage, but I do not have any regrets about taking any of the courses.

A very vibrant red with no candy offerings. 😦

Smile of an aristocrat.

I do not want this blog to be entirely morose, so let us get to the “fun” part. About the time where we left off in the previous blog, there was some joy in between the exams. Though my German friend patiently explained to me the significance of “Karneval” (carnival/festival), I have merely forgot about it. For those interested to know, internet is your best bet. But I will provide you something, it probably can’t, yet, a back story with some pretty pictures. It was the winter of 2018, February sun lazily gazed at us, our eyes sore from staring at our computer screen while our minds brim with knowledge which we would soon forget. Long story short, some of my batchmates and I wanted to attend the rally to celebrate the carnival before we faced the “Numerical methods for PDE” exam. What has been engraved in my mind was the baguette loving friend crowned with the chicken hat. The hat was graciously offered by my macho looking German friend to him.

Aye, aye captain!

Who are the clowns now?

What I was not aware of, is that you would need to wear costumes to stand out in these rallies. This particular information would do no good to me anyways, since I would not want to stand out under any circumstance. It was comforting to note that none other than my german friend were wearing fancy costumes. It must have been painstakingly disappointing for her to have such uncreative friends, but she was too kind to invite me for the next occasion too. Getting to the highlight of this rally, they were throwing (literally throwing!) CANDIES. And not just candies, popcorn, cookies, waffles, cell phone covers (this one was bizarre) and chocolates. What was a particularly jealous moment for most of us there is that my Spanish amiga received a rose from one of the participants of the rally, while I haven’t received any for the past three occasions (that would not stop me from trying anytime in the future). Unfortunately, this friend did not join us the subsequent year, so we as a group did not receive any flowers. We shared our spoils commonly among each other, bid farewell and returned to our prison cells. In the subsequent blog, I would elaborate on the unexplainable joy I had felt when I watched a football match live. Stay tuned !

I mean, look at this beauty! Can’t wait to write about it.

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