How:
My internship was a research based one. Research-based internships are funded by some Universitiy or Research Institute. I started mailing early, way earlier than usual. I was desperate for an FT, and was ready to send as many mails as necessary. Imagine my delight when I got a positive reply to just the 15th mail. The more unfortunate guys need to send an order or two more. After a Skype-interview, it was final, and I was going to MPI-Software Systems, Germany. Plus, the Professor even wanted to fund me of his own, so I didn’t have to go through the process of application with DAAD, which I had initially planned on doing. I think the projects that I had done were conducive to my selection. Grades might also have mattered. I do not know for sure, but it is true that only on the basis of a CV, Professors make a selection. Passport, tickets and VISA, everything was ready as soon as possible, by February. I was over-cautious, and did not want anything to go wrong. Bongs are over-cautious by birth.
What:
For one week, it was literally ‘too good to be true’. It felt like a dream. Germany! [:dreamy] The first lonely and boring weekend shook me out of the dream. I had reached a week or two before any one else. So, I was all alone. The Professor was on a sick-leave, and my PhD-mentor was getting married, some 3000 miles away, and would be there for another three weeks. In the meantime, I had the task of reading and understanding some half dozen research papers. For a CS guy, life can get very dull if his work is devoid of programming. Add to that, the loneliness.
Thankfully, two other interns joined in some time, and soon we were planning on ‘utilising’ our weekends. Our stipends were enough to fund a reasonable EuroTrip. So, we travelled a lot, and we travelled inhumanly. It was as if we were challenging the three basic needs – ‘Roti’, ‘Kapda’ and ‘Makaan’, not to mention ‘Neend’. Red Bull made it all possible. Paris, Venice, Rome and Vatican, Florence, Berlin, Hamburg, Heidelberg, some fine places in Switzerland and Amsterdam were our picks. There was a day when we saw 2 wonders of the world within 6 hours of each other. Booze made each place even better. Fellow researchers at the Institute were saying that we had travelled more places in Europe in 2 months than they had despite staying there their entire lives.
I worked too. I did a lot of thinking (read research). My task was to reduce the complexity of a pretty well-known problem from big-O(n^3) to big-O(n^2), and I formulated a possible solution with more than a month remaining. My guide found it reasonable. The rest of the internship period comprised writing down all the results and proofs in a readable format. Towards the end, I gave a talk too. From what it seems, I did one hell of a job. The Professor hinted that he would like to work with me again, just a humble way of saying that he offered me a PhD position with his group on completion of my Bachelors’.
Returns:
Before I left for Germany, one experienced person had said to me: “Learn the German way of working”. That was good advice. They are one hard-working lot. When they work, they go weeks without sleep, and when they play, they party hard and again go weeks without sleep. I’m not kidding. From what I see now, my summer went way better than I had hoped. There was work, and there was play. As a result, Jack remained bright.
P.S: There was one question that I had to face several times: “Why Germany?”. It came mostly from presumptuous Germans, who wanted to hear some foreigner praise their ‘Father’land. And that, I did.
P.P.S: I have been supporting Germany in the FIFA World Cup since 2002. I didn’t watch football before that. 
Amit Datta
Fourth Year Undergraduate
Computer Sc. & Engineering
