Whoops! I went for a very long time without posting here. I have an important funding application due in a week (I really hope I get this one, because it would pay for my flights and expenses for my entire research trip to Germany), and it has taken over my brain.
This is much more work than the [Shirk-alike] applications. Yes, for [Shirk] I had to go to tons of meetings, fine-tune a Program of Study and track down recommendation letters. But [major German organization] wants me to have all that, plus an official invitation from a German university,* a whole bunch more documents (including my high school grades!), and also a German language proficiency test. And then I have to mail this huge application across the continent, along with three photocopies of everything. And the instructions are confusing and sometimes contradictory.
And you have to do their online application in one sitting!
So, I've been dreaming in German and longing for the simplicity of Canadian bureaucracy. There's something troubling about that.
(And now I'd better spend at least another hour working on German before Chris gets home!)
* But at least, after a full year of trying to track down a German Doktorvater, I have an invitation from a German university! Dr. Supervisor is a miracle worker. Yesterday I sent him an email, worrying because we hadn't found anyone, and today he found someone who will fax me an invitation on his university's letterhead. This means I'll have a stronger chance of winning funding!
3 comments:
When it comes to bureaucracy, government, taxes and most other things, Canadians have no idea how well of they are.
But the Germans are SO efficient. I don't think I understand.
I need to lie down.
my fingers and toes are crossed, but i am pretty sure you will get it! i bet you all the work they make you go through is just to weed out the unworthy!
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