An Exhange Student Who Studies. (somewhat)

Technische Universität München, one of the finest institutions of technology and engineering in the world.

Sometimes I wonder, how much time do i actually spend studying here on exchange? Probably just five, six hours of classes per week, maybe throw in an hour or two for the sporadic tutorial...

Yet, how much exponentially more do i feel that i learn and experience much more than the typical lessons back in SG! Here, the independent style of teaching has been a huge challenge to me from the start, from catching up on presupposed knowledge that i do not have, to the take-it-beyond-the-classroom approach that leaves external readings and exercises up to the learner. Lectures and tutorials give you completely different sets of teachings and stimulation. And i guess you could say the level is pretty high, if a double deans lister feels like an idiot in every class :)

I am lucky, of course, to take some of the most interesting modules available in computer science now. Admittedly, there are also professors here who have found the cure for insomnia, course materials impossible to arouse any form of interest. My solution is to go for classes very, very discriminatingly :p

Anyhow, the modules i go for are pure fun and amazement, and i'm constantly thinking of ideas to incorporate them in my research project this coming year back in SG :) There's Machine Learning, that enables the evolution of computers based on data fed in. It is perhaps the most important discipline for things like Google, Facebook. Or Algorithmic Game Theory, a cutting-edge field where computing truly is empowered to solve complex human, real world problems. As well as Social Networking: User Modeling and Personalization, again a highly fascinating and useful area of knowledge that I'll be phasing into my research algorithm.

I once asked my mentor back in NTU...Why is computer science so boring? To which he replied, you just haven't gotten to the fun part yet. And it is fun. At the higher levels, i can see Math, Economics, Psychology, and perhaps any other field and discipline, being melded together to form useful tools, machines, by the forge of Computing.

Now that's what i call Technology.

Perhaps now, my friends back in SG are experiencing the same euphoria and excitement with these higher level subjects. If not, then i should point out this serious gap in teaching and curriculum standards to the school. It is a sin to let students graduate in Computer Science, or any other course for that matter, without the same sense of curiosity and excitement for the unknown that propelled them to enter this vast, unexplored world in the first place.