It’s only now, in the moment of writing, I realize how similar my day today was to yesterday.
I had two courses which I wanted to have a look at. I had a course on “Analytical Methods for Big Data” in the morning which matches my profile very well and is a “must” course for me. Lots of programming and practical implementations. I found out that there is a conference for the software we will use on Friday in Seoul. The talks will be held by all the big global internet companies: LinkedIn, Samsung, Netflix, Cloudera,… So there are definitively jobs out there for people with this course in their portfolio!
I then had 4 hours spare time and used that time to take over to the climbing wall and try my new climbing shoes. It turned out, as expected after wearing them a little longer yesterday, that they are too small and hurt after half an hour.
At the climbing wall I met a guy who is training there every day and he taught me a few things about bouldering. That was very nice and we had something you could call a conversation, even with quite few words and we tried to find a way to communicate with a little Korean and English. My Korean is getting better day by day and I use my smartphone heavily to learn new words along the way when I need them.
So since the shoes were too small I went back to the shop to get them changed. I came in and I could actually explain in a fluent way that I had bought the shoes yesterday and that they are too small and hurt my feet. Only when the seller wanted to tell me when I can get my new shoes he had to get the calender for pointing. 2 days, then I have new, bigger shoes 🙂 That is fast.
Then there was the second course today, which I had planned as a “must” course, because the topic is really relevant to me and my specialization in “Artificial intelligence and machine learning”. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the class with my tablet in my hand to look up where to go, I saw the note “Language: Korean”. Great! I went to the class anyway. The Korean coming in looked a little confused and maybe frightened at me. Many of the Korean really have a hard time with the courses taught in English, so they enjoy every class that is in their native tongue. When the teacher came in he also started by telling me that the course is in Korean and I replied in Korean that it is okay. I enjoyed to watch the Korean students unfold and act more free in the more familiar environment and had the opportunity to test how much I can understand. It’s not much, but it gets better. Slowly, very slowly.
Now I have to find a third course which matches my schedule, speciality and is not filled up. I have now chosen something on “Information Security”. It doesn’t get closer when it has to be in English…
What I’m looking very much forward to is the higher requirements to the students. The teachers are friendly but expect us to work hard and I have been lazy far too much in the past and being conceited with little respect for the topics we have been studying in my earlier courses. This is one of the things I want to advance on: Take the topics serious and have respect for the traps that are placed along the way to deliver a perfect result. I think the competition is higher here and it will for once not be enough to do hand waving to get good grades.
Modesty, here I come! 😉
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