Tsang's RISE Trip

Last week of work :D

Being excited to be finished is an understatement. These past days have been rainy, stressful, and frustrating as I frantically searched for results and prepared for my presentation. I have been here almost 3 months and I've realized even with all the work that I have done and the research that I've been doing, I've only managed to scratch the surface of the fields of study that my collegues are experts in. Well to be fair, they are doing their PhD's in these fields not to mention completed their Diploms (direct M Sc equivalence) in these areas.

My presentation was yesterday and I think it went okay. I was nervous and unsure of some of the background information in the slides. Not to mention, due to complications, I was only able to obtain enough data for one set of parameters and unable to compare others due to a lack of time. The professor asked me on several questions but I seemed to have managed to get through them with some of the background information and inferences that I somehow absorbed during my time here. It's funny how you much you really know about something when you are asked the right questions. However, some of the more challenging ones required a broader knowledge in the field and not being a control expert, it stumped me. Luckily, it became an open forum and the other PhD students began to answer some of these inquires for me. At the end, Professor Dr. Engell suggested that I stay in touch and perhaps we can set up an exchange with Queen's University which I personally think is a GREAT idea.

I was finally finished! We celebrated by going out to dinner at a Spanish restaurant with Tapas. My friend Vehniah also showed up yesterday afternoon as we are going on a blitzkreig tour of south Germany. Regarding my presentation, my coworkers told me it was funny hearing a native speaker talk in English in my "funny" accent. Also my presentation had included a reflection of my time here, something that was original to them as their presentations were usually all business.

I'm pretty tired so nothing really comes to mind other than I am looking forward to travelling and coming back home to Canada.

My experience I would say has been really interesting and I would highly recommend it for anybody else to try. Living and immersing yourself in another culture is a challenging experience and really makes you independant. You hone up on your independance and your socializing skills which I think are key components to making it through your stay. Overall, I have learned a great deal about a topic I had grazed upon at school and made some good friends and connections over here in Deutschland and have many great memories of working here. The next couple days will be spent traveling to Berlin and Munich so I will update those once I get back.

posted by ktsang @ 12:59 PM