Documents On Their Way

Finally, after one of the most stressful days in a long time my visa application is on its way to CIEE. I filled out the last forms today from 9am to 4pm. Then I went to the copy shop, duplicated them, put everything in an envelope and ultimately sent them out to CIEE.

Unfortunately, I was pushed for time on the way to the copy shop, because the post office would close at 5pm, so I was much too fast and got caught by a speed camera, once again! Damn it! I guess my speed was something around 80 kilometers per hour, while permitted are only 50 kilometers per hour in the city. So I will probably get another 3 points! ;(

Hope my parents will not read this...

Visa Problems Resolved

On Monday I wanted to send all the required documents to CIEE, but I decided to call them before to ensure that everything would be alright. They said that they wouldn't accept my application because of time problems: the internship would start in 9.5 weeks and they would need 10 weeks to provide the visa. I argued that only one weekend and a lousy business day are missing, but I had no chance. Yes, German bureaucracy!

So I had two options:

1. I could either try to get the visa with the help of another organization, or
2. start the internship four weeks later, which would give CIEE enough time to provide the visa (my prefered option).

I tried both! ;) First, I tried to contact my supervisor at DaimlerChrysler, but unfortunately (of course) he wasn't available for the next three days, due to a business travel (murphy's law, hint). So I left a message on his voice box and hoped that he would contact me.

The reasons why I wanted to avoid the other organizations are that CDS expects an interview with a prof and two letters of recommendation and that AIPT is twice as expensive as CIEE and also expects a letter of recommendation. Also, postponing the internship would imply that I could fly together with Christoph to the U.S. (who does the internship with me, but will start at May 1st), stay the first week with him at his uncle's house and organize all the elementary stuff with him.

However, I went to university today again (the third day in series, which is record in a long time) and tried to get this damn letter of recommendation. So I went to five profs and scheduled appointments for the next days.

Then later this day my supervisor sent me an email, confirming that it would be no problem at all to start the internship four weeks later. Yippie, suddenly all my problems were gone! ;)

So I will just fill out CIEE's forms again and that's it...

Bosch RTC rejects Internship Application

This night Bosch RTC at Palo Alto, CA, contacted me to reject my internship application. This comes not so much surprising, due to my "not so advantageous" telephone interview some days ago. So fortunately, I will not have to worry how to tell them, that I have already signed at DaimlerChrysler! ;)

Internship Contract Arrived

As expected, my contract from DaimlerChrysler was fedexed this evening, so I will have to fill out all the documents for CIEE this weekend. (Don't get confused, my blog is already running at PST, while I am still (more or less, I'm a student, eh?) living at CET.) Hope to get my visa soon.

Second Telephone Interview

Two days ago on Wednesday, January 19th at 10am PST (which is 7pm CET) I had my second telephone interview with Bosch RTC at Palo Alto, CA. This time I was interviewed by Bhaskar Srinivasan, head of the communication technology department.

The interview was more or less for fun, since I already got a serious internship offer from DaimlerChrysler RTNA at Palo Alto, CA, last thursday (the contract is already on its way via FedEx, the last time I tracked it, it was already in Tamm, Germany, so it should be delivered this evening). For this reason I wasn't well prepared at all, I didn't even remember my resume correctly! ;) So the interview wasn't that good.

First I was asked about my C and C++ backgrounds and on which projects I had participated. Then he asked me about my software project at university where we did some programming based on the Linux kernel and I had to explain what a virtual address space is and what it is used for in operating systems. Later he wanted to know my favourite development tools (editor, compiler, debugger) and if I would prefer developing low level software for hardware modules or applications on a much higher level of abstraction.

All in all I think it wasn't so bad, although it could have been a lot better. I'm curious if they will contact me again! ;)

First Post

Hello World!

This is my first post to my newly created blog!

Actually, I should be learning Linux kernel programming, but I am much more curious about how to create my own personal blog right at the moment. The date of the exam isn't scheduled yet anyway! ;)

Have fun and expect more to come soon.