After a few years of work, I realized that a Master degree would help me climb the career ladder a bit more loosely.And so, I decided to do my masters.
But getting into a good university here in Korea with no knowledge of korean language seemed almost impossible until I met Ms. G. Thanks to her, she introduced me to a professor in one of the reputed Korean universities , which is conveniently in the same place I was residing.
Interview :
So, I decided to go on and meet the professor. I was nervous about her attitude. I thought to myself, All I wanted was a master degree. However, as long as I am on tracks, I sure would not have a problem with anyone. And more to say, Its never a good way of judging a person until you have personally experienced the person.
I was a little nervous to meet her. However, I fixed for an appointment with her. It was a rainy sunday. Hubby and son were curled up all cozy on bed watching an animated movie, while here I was preparing for the meeting. I moved on and reached the scheduled spot. I was clearing my mind and revising of all the ways I am to advertise my eligibility to her lab and subsequently, the University.
When I rang her bell, her husband opened the door with a smile, which was quite a relief. And then there she was , all smiles. The situation was contradicting to what I had imagined. The couple had zero attitude. Well, I was now a little more confident. The interview went fine and I was given a test project(laboratory website) for completion in a few weeks. I could successfully complete it and had submitted the same to her. That was step 1.
Admissions :
I was able to complete her website as quickly as possible. But maybe the design wasn't great, but the site was fully functional. I hoped she would consider the functionality over the design.I'd also assumed that my prior work experience could add up in getting me eligible to the university. Sungkyunkwan University(ranked 4 in south Korea and partly sponsored by Samsung Electronics) is a well-recognized University in Korea with capable graduates and researchers graduating every year. So, I was rather hoping to get through for admissions.
Well, now, she had cleared off her eligibility test on me... and step 2 was the application for scholarship. At the time of my application(2008 feb), foreigners could enjoy the 50% scholarship benefits. I was one lucky of the many. Apart from them some more formalities from my earlier University in Bangalore, for which I had to personally visit India. Professor and her parents(professors in India) did great help to me for getting those benefits using their positions in the field. So, there I was, cleared on the financial side too.
My son was only 2.5 yrs at this point and I was a little worried about the hardships we might take up to achieve my masters.. But the end result was compelling. He too could take pride in talking about my masters later in life. So my hubby told me to be a go-getter and not to look back at this point when everything was in place for me to "just start".
First Day as a student again :
With a prayer, I started my journey as a student. It was very exciting to be a student again. I picked up all those funky clothes out of the cupboard all set to rock as a student again. Ofcourse with caution since I am a mother too this time. I hoped to explore all possible opportunities not just in academics but also in MUSIC which has always been my passion. To my surprise, the lab had the abbreviation, MUSIC(Mobile Ubiquitous Systems Information Center). Now, thats an exciting fact!
Our first lab meeting was very exciting. I had a senior, Ms. P who was to graduate a year before me. I found her to be very active and a little distant from the new comers. I totally understood the attitude that needs to be maintained when you are the senior. But very soon, she proved me wrong. She was a very helpful senior afterall. It was even to an extent where the lab would go haywire without her. She did a lot of guidance and help in various administrative formalities. I had 2 batchmates with me, Ms. A and Mr.W. Ms. A seemed to carry an attitude all the time , but as I told you.. I am not to judge anyone before I personally experience them. And Mr.W, a very very sweet person indeed. Very helpful and very affectionate towards the lab. He was from China and wow!.. their unity is like SOOOOOPERB. He gave us lovely traditional chinese wall-hangings. Was I supposed to gift too?? Well,.. yes.
There's one interesting fact about the Korean tradition where you ought to keep gifting your seniors. A gift to your senior is an untold expectation. However, their culture on unconditional respect and acceptance to the seniors though did impress me, also amazed me at how it really did help their over-all system to grow.
The first semester had passed, and I got to know a lot more about how a University works here in Korea. I was introduced to Mr. lee from the admin office who was very helpful to all the foreign students. He would go extremes to help one of us. This is probably due to his respect for our professor.
Ms. P was getting to look more clear by this time. I have started to like her a lot. Mr.W was always on my good books with his patient and helpful attitude.
Friendship Deals :
I generally take a really long time in making friends. People say that I have an attitude or so they thought before they acquainted with me. However, they tell me later that I am a totally different person than to whom I seem in the first meet. There is a reason for this. I am very scared of emotional attachments towards anybody as I am too sensitive a person when it comes to relationships. So, I only intend to get close to pals whom I am sure to keep the bond with. Being in this international University, I was eager to make some good friends. Maybe Ms.P or Mr. W or Ms. A or all of them.. I didn't know at this point.
First Cultural Participation :
My passion for dance slowly started to fade after having a kid. However, I didn't want to be no-one all of a sudden. I tried to dig deep within me(Like my grand-dad used to say) to discover what more I had in me. I had always enjoyed singing; But was I really good at it? I wasn't sure. But due to family restrictions in India, I had to slow down in dance. But picked up with singing. I gave a small Medley performance with one of my co-workers in India which lifted my spirits in singing. My co-singer/friend told me about my potential in singing. This gave me more confidence in singing, as he was a professional singer himself. I made it a routine to sing everyday. As an ultimate, I had my first music album of my own ("Love in Bangalore"). And I enjoying doing my first ever recording for it.
So, this took me to heels to sing for a western number in my campus in Korea. And wow, I was titled, "SKKU IDOL 2009". I received a Samsung yepp for prize. :) So, I had decided to make sure that my next signing would be for a korean number.
Apart from singing, Ms. P, Ms. A and myself performed a very short fashion show with traditional indian costumes to introduce our traditional clothes to the university. It was funny as we hadn't prepared for this. We had our exam till the previous evening and had absolutely no time in preparing for this. However, Ms. P encouraged us in performing the walk. It was fun!
We had a bitter experience during the show, I had emailed all my fellow-indian friends to come over as a ground support for the event which was within the campus just to cheer us up. However, very few, my professor, an Indian couple and a few Indian friends turned up for the event. It was a little disheartening. It surely will take a long way to get the unity like in chinese to flourish on us; Probably because of the vast diversity?? Anyways... This didn't let us down.. We were happy about the few who came.
New lab-mate :
During my 2nd semester, We had a new lab-mate from France, Mr.M. A very intelligent and care-free guy. I couldn't know much about him as I was doing my internship at this time and was hardly in the lab. However, he was soo carefree that I assumed that this guy was only showing off. But he proved me wrong with his marks in mid-term for a very difficult course. I faired average and scored a..??..no no no.. not in here..:). Ms.P and Mr.M were good friends already. But we all got-along pretty well though from multiple nationalities.
Novel - Addict :
Ms. P was getting more and more into my friends-list. She is hard-working, very conscious and concerned of each person involved in anything she does; a very trustworthy friend and a great mom. There was a lot I had to learn from her. The one thing she forced me into was reading novels. She is a novel-addict. And me? Well, I just couldn't even withstand the sight of novels. So, once when we lab-mates had been out to CoexMall(one exotic day). She dragged me into a book shop and literally forced me in buying a book. The most obvious for first-timers, "If tomorrow comes - Sydney sheldon". I was not convinced to her argument that this book is one of its kind. So she showed me few romantic tweeks in the book which easily attracted me into buying the book. I was quite amazed at how smart she was in convincing me to get the book. And today, I maybe a beginner but am already an addict towards novels.
My competitor :
As the pressure of exams came up, I was taking things slightly at first until I realized how academically sharp Ms. A was. Now, this is the start of my stress for competing. I end up hating the person I compete with , until I win them. But Ms. A was already getting to be a good friend of mine, which made it soo tough. I admired her intelligence as how organized and calm she was during the exams. She happened to score atleast a mark more than me in atleast one of the subjects for the semester. My hubby has always been my mentor in all fields of life. He advised me to focus on greater things and not to get too carried away with just the marks. So, I decided to calm down and let Ms. A prove her ability while I shall prove mine. This didn't lead me in scoring any more than her, but did help me focus in hunting for an Internship and a Job ultimately. I however didn't want Ms. A to be in my hate-list since she was already getting to be a good friend :). We shared a lot of secrets and gossips. And so was the competition part. Luckily ended up having my competitor for my friend. We spent hours on traveling to and fro to the University.
Myself, the Teaching Assistant(TA) :
During my Masters, I also had the wonderful opportunity of being a Teaching Assistant to my professor. I had various courses in hand such as Java(my favorite of all), C++ and Web designing fundamentals. It was an interesting experience. During my bachelors, one of my fav lecturers frequently quoted, "Teacher is just an hour wiser than her students". Well, I completely understood what she meant while being a TA myself.
During my very first class as a TA, I rushingly entered the class and sat on one of the student desks just to settle down with my usb for the presentation. As the initial murmurs in the class hadn't settled even after I entered, I realized that the students were yet to realize that I was the teacher for the day.. hahahaha... As I walked to the projector's desk, all the students starred at me in confusion. And I said, "Good evening!, Anyunghaseyo, Well, I am the teaching assistant for your class." And I proceeded with my self-intro. Among all the students, I had 2 favorites; One tiny cute girl, who always wished me with a wide smile. Another was a boy who annoyed me at times with his intelligent questions. However, I enjoyed the 2 of them as they always smiled at me and wished me anytime they saw me around the campus. Of course, they didn't have to do all this to impress me as they were already the best of the bunch in programming.
This experience has pushed me into thinking on becoming a teacher or a lecturer when I am tired of IT. So, you may see me as a teacher/lecturer in some school 10 years from now... :)
But getting into a good university here in Korea with no knowledge of korean language seemed almost impossible until I met Ms. G. Thanks to her, she introduced me to a professor in one of the reputed Korean universities , which is conveniently in the same place I was residing.
Interview :
So, I decided to go on and meet the professor. I was nervous about her attitude. I thought to myself, All I wanted was a master degree. However, as long as I am on tracks, I sure would not have a problem with anyone. And more to say, Its never a good way of judging a person until you have personally experienced the person.
I was a little nervous to meet her. However, I fixed for an appointment with her. It was a rainy sunday. Hubby and son were curled up all cozy on bed watching an animated movie, while here I was preparing for the meeting. I moved on and reached the scheduled spot. I was clearing my mind and revising of all the ways I am to advertise my eligibility to her lab and subsequently, the University.
When I rang her bell, her husband opened the door with a smile, which was quite a relief. And then there she was , all smiles. The situation was contradicting to what I had imagined. The couple had zero attitude. Well, I was now a little more confident. The interview went fine and I was given a test project(laboratory website) for completion in a few weeks. I could successfully complete it and had submitted the same to her. That was step 1.
Admissions :
I was able to complete her website as quickly as possible. But maybe the design wasn't great, but the site was fully functional. I hoped she would consider the functionality over the design.I'd also assumed that my prior work experience could add up in getting me eligible to the university. Sungkyunkwan University(ranked 4 in south Korea and partly sponsored by Samsung Electronics) is a well-recognized University in Korea with capable graduates and researchers graduating every year. So, I was rather hoping to get through for admissions.
Well, now, she had cleared off her eligibility test on me... and step 2 was the application for scholarship. At the time of my application(2008 feb), foreigners could enjoy the 50% scholarship benefits. I was one lucky of the many. Apart from them some more formalities from my earlier University in Bangalore, for which I had to personally visit India. Professor and her parents(professors in India) did great help to me for getting those benefits using their positions in the field. So, there I was, cleared on the financial side too.
My son was only 2.5 yrs at this point and I was a little worried about the hardships we might take up to achieve my masters.. But the end result was compelling. He too could take pride in talking about my masters later in life. So my hubby told me to be a go-getter and not to look back at this point when everything was in place for me to "just start".
First Day as a student again :
With a prayer, I started my journey as a student. It was very exciting to be a student again. I picked up all those funky clothes out of the cupboard all set to rock as a student again. Ofcourse with caution since I am a mother too this time. I hoped to explore all possible opportunities not just in academics but also in MUSIC which has always been my passion. To my surprise, the lab had the abbreviation, MUSIC(Mobile Ubiquitous Systems Information Center). Now, thats an exciting fact!
Our first lab meeting was very exciting. I had a senior, Ms. P who was to graduate a year before me. I found her to be very active and a little distant from the new comers. I totally understood the attitude that needs to be maintained when you are the senior. But very soon, she proved me wrong. She was a very helpful senior afterall. It was even to an extent where the lab would go haywire without her. She did a lot of guidance and help in various administrative formalities. I had 2 batchmates with me, Ms. A and Mr.W. Ms. A seemed to carry an attitude all the time , but as I told you.. I am not to judge anyone before I personally experience them. And Mr.W, a very very sweet person indeed. Very helpful and very affectionate towards the lab. He was from China and wow!.. their unity is like SOOOOOPERB. He gave us lovely traditional chinese wall-hangings. Was I supposed to gift too?? Well,.. yes.
There's one interesting fact about the Korean tradition where you ought to keep gifting your seniors. A gift to your senior is an untold expectation. However, their culture on unconditional respect and acceptance to the seniors though did impress me, also amazed me at how it really did help their over-all system to grow.
The first semester had passed, and I got to know a lot more about how a University works here in Korea. I was introduced to Mr. lee from the admin office who was very helpful to all the foreign students. He would go extremes to help one of us. This is probably due to his respect for our professor.
Ms. P was getting to look more clear by this time. I have started to like her a lot. Mr.W was always on my good books with his patient and helpful attitude.
Friendship Deals :
I generally take a really long time in making friends. People say that I have an attitude or so they thought before they acquainted with me. However, they tell me later that I am a totally different person than to whom I seem in the first meet. There is a reason for this. I am very scared of emotional attachments towards anybody as I am too sensitive a person when it comes to relationships. So, I only intend to get close to pals whom I am sure to keep the bond with. Being in this international University, I was eager to make some good friends. Maybe Ms.P or Mr. W or Ms. A or all of them.. I didn't know at this point.
First Cultural Participation :
My passion for dance slowly started to fade after having a kid. However, I didn't want to be no-one all of a sudden. I tried to dig deep within me(Like my grand-dad used to say) to discover what more I had in me. I had always enjoyed singing; But was I really good at it? I wasn't sure. But due to family restrictions in India, I had to slow down in dance. But picked up with singing. I gave a small Medley performance with one of my co-workers in India which lifted my spirits in singing. My co-singer/friend told me about my potential in singing. This gave me more confidence in singing, as he was a professional singer himself. I made it a routine to sing everyday. As an ultimate, I had my first music album of my own ("Love in Bangalore"). And I enjoying doing my first ever recording for it.
So, this took me to heels to sing for a western number in my campus in Korea. And wow, I was titled, "SKKU IDOL 2009". I received a Samsung yepp for prize. :) So, I had decided to make sure that my next signing would be for a korean number.
Apart from singing, Ms. P, Ms. A and myself performed a very short fashion show with traditional indian costumes to introduce our traditional clothes to the university. It was funny as we hadn't prepared for this. We had our exam till the previous evening and had absolutely no time in preparing for this. However, Ms. P encouraged us in performing the walk. It was fun!
We had a bitter experience during the show, I had emailed all my fellow-indian friends to come over as a ground support for the event which was within the campus just to cheer us up. However, very few, my professor, an Indian couple and a few Indian friends turned up for the event. It was a little disheartening. It surely will take a long way to get the unity like in chinese to flourish on us; Probably because of the vast diversity?? Anyways... This didn't let us down.. We were happy about the few who came.
New lab-mate :
During my 2nd semester, We had a new lab-mate from France, Mr.M. A very intelligent and care-free guy. I couldn't know much about him as I was doing my internship at this time and was hardly in the lab. However, he was soo carefree that I assumed that this guy was only showing off. But he proved me wrong with his marks in mid-term for a very difficult course. I faired average and scored a..??..no no no.. not in here..:). Ms.P and Mr.M were good friends already. But we all got-along pretty well though from multiple nationalities.
Novel - Addict :
Ms. P was getting more and more into my friends-list. She is hard-working, very conscious and concerned of each person involved in anything she does; a very trustworthy friend and a great mom. There was a lot I had to learn from her. The one thing she forced me into was reading novels. She is a novel-addict. And me? Well, I just couldn't even withstand the sight of novels. So, once when we lab-mates had been out to CoexMall(one exotic day). She dragged me into a book shop and literally forced me in buying a book. The most obvious for first-timers, "If tomorrow comes - Sydney sheldon". I was not convinced to her argument that this book is one of its kind. So she showed me few romantic tweeks in the book which easily attracted me into buying the book. I was quite amazed at how smart she was in convincing me to get the book. And today, I maybe a beginner but am already an addict towards novels.
My competitor :
As the pressure of exams came up, I was taking things slightly at first until I realized how academically sharp Ms. A was. Now, this is the start of my stress for competing. I end up hating the person I compete with , until I win them. But Ms. A was already getting to be a good friend of mine, which made it soo tough. I admired her intelligence as how organized and calm she was during the exams. She happened to score atleast a mark more than me in atleast one of the subjects for the semester. My hubby has always been my mentor in all fields of life. He advised me to focus on greater things and not to get too carried away with just the marks. So, I decided to calm down and let Ms. A prove her ability while I shall prove mine. This didn't lead me in scoring any more than her, but did help me focus in hunting for an Internship and a Job ultimately. I however didn't want Ms. A to be in my hate-list since she was already getting to be a good friend :). We shared a lot of secrets and gossips. And so was the competition part. Luckily ended up having my competitor for my friend. We spent hours on traveling to and fro to the University.
Myself, the Teaching Assistant(TA) :
During my Masters, I also had the wonderful opportunity of being a Teaching Assistant to my professor. I had various courses in hand such as Java(my favorite of all), C++ and Web designing fundamentals. It was an interesting experience. During my bachelors, one of my fav lecturers frequently quoted, "Teacher is just an hour wiser than her students". Well, I completely understood what she meant while being a TA myself.
During my very first class as a TA, I rushingly entered the class and sat on one of the student desks just to settle down with my usb for the presentation. As the initial murmurs in the class hadn't settled even after I entered, I realized that the students were yet to realize that I was the teacher for the day.. hahahaha... As I walked to the projector's desk, all the students starred at me in confusion. And I said, "Good evening!, Anyunghaseyo, Well, I am the teaching assistant for your class." And I proceeded with my self-intro. Among all the students, I had 2 favorites; One tiny cute girl, who always wished me with a wide smile. Another was a boy who annoyed me at times with his intelligent questions. However, I enjoyed the 2 of them as they always smiled at me and wished me anytime they saw me around the campus. Of course, they didn't have to do all this to impress me as they were already the best of the bunch in programming.
This experience has pushed me into thinking on becoming a teacher or a lecturer when I am tired of IT. So, you may see me as a teacher/lecturer in some school 10 years from now... :)
Mr.Lee :
A person to acknowledge my gratitude apart from my Hubby and professor was Mr. Lee, the administrative officer. This person, Mr. Lee is a thin, tan short old man who always dresses very elegantly in Business suits, who did all the help for the smooth sail through my masters. I wanted to do something for him with my first pay after I graduated. I managed to find a job and was waiting for a right occasion to give him my gift of gratitude.
I had acknowledged his name as a sign of gratitude in my thesis. I made sure to show him that I really meant when I said "Thank You" by showing him the page in my Thesis where I had mentioned his name. He just gave me a wide smile..:). I dont know what that meant, But I was very happy. However, I had a gift pending, that I had planned for him with my first pay.
Once I started working, I kept aside $100 from my first pay to visit the University someday when time permits and to give him this piece of appreciation. 2 months had passed, and I still didn't find the time to drop his gift. One day, my friend, Mr. W emailed me saying, "Sorry to say Di, Mr. Lee is no more". I was very sad to hear this. I realized how many of the new-coming foreign students would be missing his helping hands. I was feeling the guilt for not being able to give him the gift I had meant for him. Now, I guess it was tooo late.
Out of the many lesson I learnt as a student when I was a mother, I also learnt this valuable lesson, 'Do not delay to appreciate, since you might never get another chance'.
Some of my professors:
Apart from our professor, I had 2 other favorites. Prof. Dong in Kim(Extremely brilliant in the field and very concerned about foreign students understanding the concepts since the majority of the class were koreans) and Prof. Seoko Yoon(Happy-go-lucky kind of a person. Brilliant, but not very clear on conveying his knowledge. However, he was a dude and we girls had our fun-time teasing each other).
And when these korean professors were all concerned in leniently grading us, we took up one of the courses under an Indian professor. Oh My Goodness! His grading was based on even the .00001 difference. If you hadn't got it right till the last digit, then all your work goes down the flush with a zero for the entire problem. I am the fighting kinds when it comes to the marks I deserve. After the mid-terms in his course, I realized his grading policy. He had cut marks for all possible .00001 difference errors. I was wild. I was even mad that he was an Indian and doing this to us. Yea.. all Indians in the class did get the same effect too. Like those typical Indian professor with the strict attitude, he assumed that we smiled at him and wished him only for marks. Ridiculous!! However, I wanted to fight over the marks he had soooo numbly taken off from my hardwork. I met with him for a review of my paper.
"Sir, If your decimal points were soo important; You could have probably informed us in class itself prior to the exams about how many decimal points we needed to maintain", I demanded.
He was probably too shocked at this and replied, "You know, In India, students couldn't even get to meet me, and you guys are all arguing for the little marks you want".
And somehow, I managed to get a better grade. I decided to never again make the mistake of taking up a course under an Indian professor again. Probably I was wrong at this decision, But this was the effect of having taken his course. :(:(. However, I had known of other Indian professors in the University who were much more liberal in thoughts; But was it really worth to take a chance in my GPA.? No way!.. My professor was a complete exception. Her classes were more open-ended for students to think.
I had acknowledged his name as a sign of gratitude in my thesis. I made sure to show him that I really meant when I said "Thank You" by showing him the page in my Thesis where I had mentioned his name. He just gave me a wide smile..:). I dont know what that meant, But I was very happy. However, I had a gift pending, that I had planned for him with my first pay.
Once I started working, I kept aside $100 from my first pay to visit the University someday when time permits and to give him this piece of appreciation. 2 months had passed, and I still didn't find the time to drop his gift. One day, my friend, Mr. W emailed me saying, "Sorry to say Di, Mr. Lee is no more". I was very sad to hear this. I realized how many of the new-coming foreign students would be missing his helping hands. I was feeling the guilt for not being able to give him the gift I had meant for him. Now, I guess it was tooo late.
Out of the many lesson I learnt as a student when I was a mother, I also learnt this valuable lesson, 'Do not delay to appreciate, since you might never get another chance'.
Some of my professors:
Apart from our professor, I had 2 other favorites. Prof. Dong in Kim(Extremely brilliant in the field and very concerned about foreign students understanding the concepts since the majority of the class were koreans) and Prof. Seoko Yoon(Happy-go-lucky kind of a person. Brilliant, but not very clear on conveying his knowledge. However, he was a dude and we girls had our fun-time teasing each other).
And when these korean professors were all concerned in leniently grading us, we took up one of the courses under an Indian professor. Oh My Goodness! His grading was based on even the .00001 difference. If you hadn't got it right till the last digit, then all your work goes down the flush with a zero for the entire problem. I am the fighting kinds when it comes to the marks I deserve. After the mid-terms in his course, I realized his grading policy. He had cut marks for all possible .00001 difference errors. I was wild. I was even mad that he was an Indian and doing this to us. Yea.. all Indians in the class did get the same effect too. Like those typical Indian professor with the strict attitude, he assumed that we smiled at him and wished him only for marks. Ridiculous!! However, I wanted to fight over the marks he had soooo numbly taken off from my hardwork. I met with him for a review of my paper.
"Sir, If your decimal points were soo important; You could have probably informed us in class itself prior to the exams about how many decimal points we needed to maintain", I demanded.
He was probably too shocked at this and replied, "You know, In India, students couldn't even get to meet me, and you guys are all arguing for the little marks you want".
And somehow, I managed to get a better grade. I decided to never again make the mistake of taking up a course under an Indian professor again. Probably I was wrong at this decision, But this was the effect of having taken his course. :(:(. However, I had known of other Indian professors in the University who were much more liberal in thoughts; But was it really worth to take a chance in my GPA.? No way!.. My professor was a complete exception. Her classes were more open-ended for students to think.
Day-out with dear lab-mates :
We(Ms.P, Mr.W, Mr. M and myself) wanted to spend a day for a fun-trip before Ms. P and Mr.M were to graduate. They were graduating during my 3rd sem. I am sure gonna miss these guys. And the lab??, would go haywire(as I mentioned earlier), without Ms.P around.
hmm.. Ok.. And so, we planned a day out, the 4 of us. We watched a movie, Walked around CoexMall and the BookShop.. which is where Ms.P managed to get me addicted to novels. It was a great day. Had a nice feeling of good friends around. I wish these guys remain in touch and in good terms forever. As for this day, we are all still in touch through emails. :) . Ms. P desires to be a lecturer in India.. and her strong-will, she is one now :). Not to mention, she is still one of my Gooood friends. Mr. W is soon to travel to Italy to pursue his PhD, his career plan in place too. Mr. M, is soo carefree that I could never figure out his dream or future.. and to this day, though we keep in touch, have no clue about what is up with him. Ms. A ? She is doing great with loads of personal happiness(Soon to be a mom! :))..
My first ever conference :
On august 10th, 2009 at around 2:00am, I got soo phsyched that I suddenly woke up out of fear and started doing my research. I was suddenly desperate to finish my research so that I don't have to prolong my masters more than a year. This fear hit me when I heard about another friend who had to extend 2 semesters inspite of having completed the courses. And the reason was that his research wasn't accepted in any conference. My hubby(Sweetie) supported me throughout and on the day of independence, I had submitted my paper to a conference wishing that it would get accepted. And well, soo unexpectedly, we were able to attend the trip arranged by Indian friends for celebrating independence-day.
My research result came out in 2 months, and to my pleasant surprise, my research was accepted!!!!!!!!!! I was extremely happy. I thanked my professor and of course my dear son and hubby who had been soo co-operative through all those sleepless nights and the harsh days when I had to be rude to catch up on my assignments, exams and research. There were days, when I silently cried in the University restroom, thinking about the way I had screamed at my son when he had interrupted me during my research. On 11th July2009, my first conference, the day I had presented my research to wise-men in the field, I felt all that was worth-it. "Handover Management for Inter-RAT networks" in ACM publications, was the end result. What more can I say?? Thank God!!
And so, am an MS grad today working in IT as an engineer! :):):):):)
And so, am an MS grad today working in IT as an engineer! :):):):):)
This reminded me of the similarity the Indian women shared with the Korean women. In India, Women are more towards home-keeping while the men work for their family. Well, I somehow noticed a similarity in Korea where the women would prefer to quit work and take care of the family once they have kids.
And talking about arranged marriage, modern India would rather go for a love marriage while most part of India is still in the concept of arranged marriage. It’s where the parents chose the bride or groom for you. This also reflects as to how obediently the kids suppress their desires towards their parent’s choice and how much they trust on their parent's decision for their life. India and Korea also share similar religious background. 