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My PhD experience in Germany | Geosciences | Anusha Sunkisala


*This is a Guest post - I am happy to collaborate with Ms. Anusha for this opportunity*
I am a PhD student in the University of Hamburg since June 2016. I am working on the project titled "Coupling concepts based on Domain Decomposition methods". The final goal of my PhD is to couple  models (for example, ocean and ice) through domain decomposition methods.

I did my Master's in IIT Bhubaneswar, India in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences. But now my PhD is in the Department of Numerical methods in Geosciences. Its  all about Application of Mathematics to the Geoscience problems.

How I applied for PhD in Germany:

If you are interested, there is a youtube video of mine which was done by Bharath Choudary. I think it would be useful to watch this increased volume as I spoke softly. I didnt realize it until I listened to the video myself. So here is the link - YouTube

Funding for my research:

This is most important. I have a employment contract for three years with a pay of TVL 13, 65%. There are several levels of salary in Germany, but this is what they generally pay for PhD's. I would say its quite good amount of money to survive and save (of course it depends how you spend ;) ).

So, I would like to start with the major challenges I have faced while starting my PhD in Hamburg.

1. Mathematics and Coding:   I learned more about different numerical methods like finite difference methods,  explicit and implicit methods for different equations, decomposition methods .  I also implement them by coding in Python. I am not very good in coding in the beginning, but i learned and still learning.  But its cool that I get my PhD in Mathematics. ;)

2. Language: Even though most of the people speaks English, I faced difficulties as everything will be written in German  in public places, super markets and while filling some documents. But its always good to know the basic things, so I think i can manage now. I did a German course for every semester in the university. By now, I am in level A2.2 till January. I will be going to the next level hopefully :) (There are different levels in learning German).

3. Food: As a Indian, I am really not used to have bread, sausages which are famous in Germany. I generally cook Indian stuff as all kinds of vegetables, rice, masala and mostly everything is available from Indian and Asian supermarkets. But I generally have lunch outside in the mensa (canteen) or nearby restaurants with my colleagues. Anyway, its good time to communicate with your group.

4. Weather: I think its the difficult part for me. In the South part of India, from where I came from is generally hot ,it reaches 50 degrees in summer sometimes. In Hamburg, its mostly windy and rainy even in summer. But I am somehow getting used to it.

But understanding and implementing complex mathematics is difficult than all these things of-course. I am actually enjoying the process of continuously learning new things. Its quite stressful sometimes to be honest, but  there is always a hope within me that this journey is going to lead me to a better position at the end. And so, that makes me keep going. Its only the quality of work and satisfaction from it what matters at the end.

PhD is not easy!! It needs patience, commitment and love for your work. If you want to know further about my research and the journey of my PhD, visit my blog MyPhDJourney

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