Came back to Senses:)

After a long break of around 2 months ,I realised that I should have updated this blog regularly as the time I am spending at Tech will never going to come back. This thought came to me after talking to my dad today.He inspired me to note down all the instances when I go out so that I can recall them some time later.He is a Champ!! :)

So here I restart my life story at one of the most painful yet fascinating school in the world :)
I had 2 exams last week one after another on the same day.Both of them were crucial
as far as my grades were concerned.I did not do very well on them as I had expected but
I have stopped worrying a lot abt them as i found them stupid.They do affect my grades
but do not add much to my knowledge database.:)

This is a Thanksgiving week and its considered supposedly the most important
festival by the Americans .They eat Turkey on this day with pumpkins,sweet potato etc..
I had gone out with some Turkish friends to the nearby Piedmont Park on that day.
We carried some veggie and non veg burgers with us and cooked them on the grills in
the park.Of course I was the only veggie guy there.I have this Turkish friend Gurkhan..
He is a good company and he knows a lot abt India.He has many pakistani and indian friends.
So we have a lot to talk abt .We had been to the park in his Daimler Chrysler LHS.Its a good car :)

Today I had gone to tech as I was a little bored at home.When I reached there,
I met Gurkhan in the graduate lab.He is there most of the time.
I did not do much productive work ..I was lazy and enjoying the break.
I went out with Gurkhan to Burger King in the evening to eat something.
After coming back, we saw some good songs from different countries on my laptop.
We saw French, Russian,Indian,Turkish and Englisk songs trying to understand tat every
country has its own entertainment industry and its exciting in its own way..
Though I did not understand the words , I liked the music..:)

I still have a weekend before the final phase of the Tech Battle begins.
Its going to be hard as there will be a lot of pressure building due to projects and exams..
So you wont read abt any more excursion trips till the 15th of dec, the end of the semester.

warehousing systems over

My warehousing systems' test got over today.It was a good, conceptual paper.It touched the minutest of the details that the course includes.There is a very different approach towards solving problems in Tech.It is application oriented and you relate things quickly..though the relation is established only after the professor explains to you:)Till that time, you have this feeling of learning high tech stuff but cant relate really.

I have another test on probability models coming up next thursday.and another one on engineering economy the tuesday after that.So the exam countdown ends in december i guess.
To take a break , i had gone to the Campus Recreational Center( CRC ) to play Table Tennis.I played TT for around 2 hrs and it was refreshing..After coming back home, I had to refer to the data of the project we are going to perform on warehousing systems as i have a group meeting tomorrow morning..So I went thru some excel files thought i really did not feel like doing it as i was tired.But then I was supposed to update myself with the project as my group members already knew abt it..

I have planned wit some friends to play soccer on sat morning and then i hav another project meeting for deterministic optimization after tat..So as usual , you just have to plan your recreational schedule.Tech will take care of ur academics.:)
I m reminded of a statement my Probability models' professor makes when he has displayed homework online..He says," I wont see any one of you in the Gym this friday."That means there is a homework assigned and due in the next week..Similarly U wont find any new posts of mine till probability models exam next thursday:)

tech life after 1st exam results

I m posting this article after 10 days..What possibly could be the reason for this unexpected delay? Well the answer is the same for any graduate student at tech.lots of homework, exams every week, profs teach easy problems and give the tough ones as home assignments and the list goes on..My reason is no different ..In fact ,I have an additional reason to give.i scored badly in my first exam of engineering economy which is the easiest of all the courses i have taken.So i was disappointment by my performance as I had practiced it well but everything went wrong in the exam hall..

I know its a very conventional answer for a student who does not score well ..so i think i had a wrong mindset to solve problems on tat day and accept my mistake:) After that , I was abt to receive scores of another test on deterministic optimization.My confidence level had drooped after the first result and I was a little nervous as I was behind the class in a course.But eventually things turned out well.I got a good score!!

Personal explanations apart, Georgia Tech professors give good quality homework and they keep u busy with problem solving.The approach is practical and it connects to the course in a nice way.Though we feel sometimes tat the homework problems r insignificant, if we take a deeper insight ,they mean a lot!! I submitted 2 homeworks this week and I hav 2 more in the queue:) along with a test on warehousing systems next thursday.So probably u wont find any new post till tat day:)

We r asked to use softwares like Matlab, Gams,Lindo etc..for problem solving and i hav never ever used them in my dreams even..So I have to learn them wit a little bit of SQL for warehousing and only 2 projects for which we will be graded..:)

If God had given humans an ability to stay awake as much as they can , Industrial Engineering at GT has enough work to keep them busy till they are squeezed out..hehe..
Jokes apart,That is the reason for the rank it holds.The rank is more due to the Phd students and the associated research activities.I know some Phd students in IE and had visited one of their offices yesterday.One of them told me tat he finds it really difficult to cope with the courses.But tats al right as grades do not matter much to Phd students as they do to Master's students.

So tats all I can think of right now..
wait for my update after warehousing test..:)

A LONG WEEK

The last week was busy with the usual homeworks .i had two tests , one on tuesday and one today.Since it was the first test , most of the students here were trying their best as there was some fear abt the pattern of the test and the usual panicking that happens due to the unknown nature of the test. Even i studied a lot as i expected the exam to be difficult than wat it turned out to be.It was good apart from the silly mistakes that i usually make.:)

I forgot to mention an incident that happened in the last week.I was expecting a demand draft from India as my housing fees were due.It was sent on the 23rd of sep.so i should hav received it on the 28th latest.My fees deadline was the 25th.So i had gone to the account office here to accept my late fee without penalty.The penalty was 75 dollars.I was taken to a lady to talk abt the issue in the account office..I put forward the situation before her and she agreed to accept the late payment.So i said i will pay it in 3 days which was the expected arrival date of the draft.

But unfortunately the UPS people lost it and i was tensed as i had already exceeded the limited days i was given.So finally i paid the fees from my personal account and i still hav not received the draft.God knows wat they r doing wit it!!!

I have made good friends here , both indian and international.I have not played since a week and i think i should go out some where. I m going to 'SIX FLAGS' this friday.GT has rented a park in atlanta for a day where they hav all the fun rides.It sounds good..will give updates after i visit the place.Only GT students will be there on that day .so it should be fun.

The rest is fine. The profs r good .although the simplest stuff is done in the class and the difficult ones r given for homeworks.:)So thats wat u call MSIE.( Meaning Something Intellectual in Engineering :)) stay tuned!!

a busy weekend

The last weekend was expected to be full of fun as there was a football match and the GT team was full of vigour.I had planned to watch the game.But when i opened the probability models(PM) book on the same day after noon,I switched my plans as i thought i wont be able to complete the homework on time.So from late noon to till god knows wat time, I studied PM and revised calculus which was needed to go ahead wit the course.The same thing happened on the following day as the homework problems were good and my knowledge relatively was scarce to come out wit feasible solutions:)Then in between I had mailed nirav asking him to help me solve a function.tat was the level of curiosity i was going thru.i mailed my friend in india telling him to help me out wit a small problem.Eventually I managed to solve some probs.

Today,i had a class from 9:30-11.Then i solved the remaining probs from 11-1:30 after discussing them wit some of my indian friends who seemingly had the same kind of weekend as i had:) Then another class from 1:30-3 and the final one from 3-4:30.Guess wat the last class was? yes u r right it was PM again bringing new variety in life in the form of markov chains again.hehe. Later around 5 , i went to the library searching for some books regarding the next assignment due on coming friday.could not find relevant stuff.Anyways so i m here at my home giving the latest updates about life after georgia tech.stay tuned!!

playful day

Today i played soccer after 2-3 years may be.i dnt even remember tat.but i felt that i should make the most of my time here.so when some german friends asked to play,i immediately agreed.it was really great to play the game.i was drained out though:)but i scored 2 goals!!
GT students are passionate about american football and the season has begun.its a new game for me .i dnt know the rules even.but i will try to see tat if i get some time.There is a student rally at the atlantic station( a happening place here) before the first match held on 2nd sep.the whole night,food will be served at good deals and the students will hav a blast.mostly the undergrads r more excited abt the game than the grads and Phd students.For those students who could not get a ticket,GT will broadcast it on the big screen live on campus.That gives u an idea abt the level of interest in the game.I spent the day playing soccer after class and then eating and chatting wit friends.so i now i feel guilty tat i dnt study after spending so much for my MS.
So wait till something better happens in GT.

to start wit

Hi !! Before I start blogging, I want to admit that I created this blog after reading the blog of my good friend saurabh.So nirav you can get info about the south east part of US from me.:)
It has been 10 days after my classes began at Georgia Tech(GT).Oh! I forgot to write in my program.Well I have been fortunately admitted in supposedly the best program at GT which is the Master of Science in Industrial Engineering.

I came to know that when I met some students on the first day i went to GT.They asked me my field of study and when i told them,they said,"oh so u r almost settled in life".I dont know how true that will be but yes it made me feel happy.I had planned from India that I will come out of the comfort zone and interact with international students more.That made me select an on campus housing option.My name was on the waiting list for on campus residency.It was around 50 when i came to the US.I did not expect to get in but i just thought to have a talk wit someone at the housing dept.There fortunatelly I met the community director of housing dept. who told me that he will transfer my application to another appt nearby which is also on campus.
I had no other option but to agree to that.He told me to check after 3 days.

Meanwhile ,most of the indians had found accomodation for them and i could not even commit to someone as i had to wait for the answer.This was getting frustrating.Finally i was lucky enough to get thru.i would suggest anyone to have a back up plan though:)

My first day at the campus was enjoyable.I just love the campus and the facilities therein.I found a good restaurant named 'Moes' at Tech Square where i still visit sometimes.I had gone to walmart for the first time and was amazed at their management.its huge.I got food stuff worth 150 dollars :) but half of it is yet to be eaten.I forgot to mention nirmeet , my mentor in the unknown land called america .He is a senior who has passed out from GT in the same program.Whatever i know about Atlanta, its because of him.He took me to restaurants and malls and trained me well to start wit my own life.

On campus jobs are a problem at GT .u dnt find them easily here.i have not gone thru a job hunt so far except at a few places where response is awaited.Regarding the classes,
Its not easy.they squeeze u out .especially probability models.Its like an encrypted text for me.

I have not had any bad experience so far . my room mate is a south korean and we share a good rapport.So tats not a prob.i have made some good international and indian friends in the class.So life seems to be moving on well.I have to start wit the probability models now or i m screwed.....