I was one of those spammers from my college who would write to foreign professors to grant an internship. I however practiced it a bit morally, writing down each mail separately rather than a standard cover letter so sort of real interest manifests itself. Also tried reading few papers of the professor. So one day a Professor at TU Delft, Netherlands seemed to like my profile and there was a partial positive indication (April 2010). I caught through on him and could manage to negotiate accommodation costs and enrolling me into a conference for 2 weeks. Now being a third-world citizen, the exchange rates against Euro of 1:60, made managing the rest of amount including flight still seem infeasible. Luckily the topic was not far off from a field I had been willing to work in-Game Theory and Netherlands was a country of which I had fantasized, because it's football team was so good, I liked their orange color. Silly reasons, but I'd just loved the thought of going there.
And thus I was confronted with the dilemma: "To ask or not to ask?" Ask for money from my father and fulfill my dream or not ask from him, earn myself later and then go. I took lots of advices, varied opinions- more towards "many such opportunities would come". And then one day I opened Visa application website to a shock. There were no available appointment dates and while I struggled with the thought I may not get a Visa within the requisite date the dilemma was over. I realized how badly I wanted it as the thought of seeing my trip cancelled made me restless. I pursued the process with lots of vigor, accepted Dad's money and ended up getting Visa a day before the flight and flied off on 7th June'10.
How the trip changed my life?
I've never seen life the same way since. I was verging on cynicism before. But this was a whole new world- different manners, different culture, nothing was the same. It was exciting. I got to know another world exists. Many associate this delight with knowing lots of money is to made. On the contrary, I was fascinated on seeing so many people using cycles despite being rich, following traffic rules, not stealing anything while no one was watching. I was fascinated by the system of trust. Roads like the above kept me happy. It was FIFA WC 2010 time, and Netherlands made it to the finals. My cynicism was undone, I discovered another facet of life.
How the academic internship changed my life?
I began coding. I developed theory, knew I could do something. I was capable. It was these words of my supervisor which I value the most "You may develop all the theories you want, but only when you see the results do you know you've made a difference". And I coded my way to develop the project. Today as I have been offered an Epic job at USA, I attribute it to the coding I picked up then.
I went to UK as well 2 years later again, so the point is not I went abroad. It was the timing. It was the correct age. The young boy needed it, he got it. And it was that one decision of resolving the dilemma which changed it all.
Also see my answer to Ways to support oneself during an unpaid internship.
Read other answers by Siddharth Bhattacharya on Quora:
- What are ten things you should have learned by now?
- What is the best thing that happened to you in 2012?
- Life Advice: How can I make myself more broad-minded?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2dRobjq
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