My fifth video post!

Testing 1 2 3

I have four exams starting tomorrow. I feel adequately prepared for the first two, completely inadequate for the third and indifferent about the fourth. The point has been reached, however, where I don't know what to do in order to further myself. So I guess I'll take the tests and see what happens. Luckily (or unluckily) the teachers have to hand in grades fairly quickly after the exam period. For the last test, the teacher has something like 5 days to read and grade all 60+ of our test booklets...hmm...

This has been my life for the last week or so

I feel conflicted at times. I wonder how my knowledge will be graded and compared to the standard; to others' knowledge. I'm sure that I know enough about the topics to satisfy myself. But I guess that's not why we play this institutional game. I have to satisfy some requirements in order to get that arbitrary number, in order to get a good GPA, in order to have as many options as possible after graduating. 

My honor guard on the way to the library

I've heard horror stories of how some students fill two booklets or more, meaning over forty pages of information. I'm not certain how this is physically possible but I think it does highlight an issue that I don't appreciate: quantity over quality. The emphasis on rote memorization here leaves much to be desired. One of the admittedly small number of things that I find not so ideal about this university. 

So, I have a test tomorrow, Wednesday, Saturday and then next Wednesday. After that, an oral exam of sorts on Thursday and then I'll be officially done with my third semester! Time has really flown. 

Grades...

     I have, up until this point in my life, cared very little about grades. Especially during this degree program, I've always been more focused on the experience of living abroad and learning languages. I didn't even check my grades from the first semester until a few weeks ago for the scholarship application. My motto has been "I know what I know and numbers aren't going to change that". This was largely reinforced by the fact that up until this semester I didn't think that doing a PhD was in my future. But now that I've considered that as an option and seen that some programs have a GPA cut-off (that I currently don't meet) I've begun to freak out a little.
     My grades in Argentina were okay. But definitely not high (low? weird German system) enough to balance out my inexplicably dismal grades from the first semester. I think that stems from the fact that I'm not really used to German academia, with its whole mentality of "Final exam? That's your grade" while working and living life. Funnily enough, I've pretty much always had a job while going to school. But, I guess in the US (the system with which I'm familiar) I could negotiate that a bit more easily.
     I've long since separated my self-worth and identity from academic achievement. That's one of the many benefits attending music school (and actually completing, despite myself) has brought me. I know that even though my grades might not be good enough I am good enough. Still, the fact that this might prevent me from doing what I want looms in the background. I guess all I can do is try and study and study and study. Final exams are coming up. I guess this will be my motivation.

vloglet

not much to say that I haven't already said in text form. But it's been a while so I thought I should!

39 days left

I'm incrementally getting slowly closer to maybe being close to kind of getting done. Like I've said a thousand times over, this semester has definitely been the most academically stimulating. I'm currently in the process or writing final papers for my classes. It's actually going quite well. I tried to get a lot done before going to Varanasi so luckily everything is falling into place.

Fun stuff has been going on. This wednesday, I was a speaker on a panel. The topic was "Opportunity or Problem to be a foreign national". The whole thing was a bit haphazard but ended up okay. No audience members were hurt or maimed in the process of me giving my impromptu speech that was basically "hey...I'm Gian...I do GSP...Berlin, Argentina, India...they're nice. Transnational capital, people having privilege blahblahblah"...anyways here are some pictures

The other speakers were a former Gspian who is now living in India, a Korean girl who they asked to do it a few minutes beforehand, the very articulate Dr. Rehka who I know from the German book club and Dr. Sahni who was really legit. All in all, I think it was a good experience. 

Other than that, I also got my (probably last) opportunity to go to a hostel cultural night. Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of that but it was the same old spiel: nice food, belly ache probably from eating too much, people dancing and talking to random folks. It was nice to do something on the weekend. 

I've realized that I only have 39 days left. I'd better make the most of them! I'm 100% sure that I'm going to miss India when I leave. 

Varanasi

Last week, the Gspians were offered the awesome opportunity to go to Varanasi for four days to do some field research in an Ayurvedic hospital. I couldn't turn it down, despite being swamped with work. Here are some of the pictures that I took

The train we took was a sleeper car, due to the fact that from Delhi to Varanasi the ride lasts 13 hours. It was surprisingly comfortable.

Our hostel was quite nice as well. I did yoga on the terrace a couple of days.

Can't do without a bit of mosquito netting

 

The main purpose of the trip was to visit BHU (Benares Hindu University) which is the only ayurvedic hospital/university with different specializations within ayurveda. We got to see a lot of interesting things within the hospital, including the pharmacy and the botanical garden where ingredients are harvested. 

 

Our hostel was right near Assi ghat, which is a port on the river (I think) There were many places to see people bathing, watch funeral pyres being lit and witness general hustle and bustle on the shores of the Ganges river. 

 

It's hard to tell but those are dead folks being burned...

 

One of the coolest things I've ever done: an evening boat ride on the Ganges. The atmosphere was amazing and we got to witness some sort of festival put on by the Varanasi government. There were so many boats and people watching, you could actually walk to shore from where we were anchored. 

 

The market place in the old part of town was pretty much what one would expect from India: chaotic and amazing. We went out to various parts of the city and ate alllllll kinds of food. 

There were cows EVERYWHERE. In Delhi, you see the occasional cow roaming the streets. In Varanasi, the cows essentially had free reign wherever they pleased. It was a bit alarming sometimes. 

 

We also went to a silk factory/weaving place where they make saris. The cloth was beautiful and the way they showed us was very intense. Basically they kept throwing saris at us until the "showroom" area was covered in shiny material.

I'm so glad I went to Varanasi. Despite being completely behind with school, everything I did there was completely worth it. It's exactly for reasons like this that I decided to do the Global Studies Program. All in all, I had a great weekend.