My first admit!

Hello everybody,
I'm excited to announce today that I received my first admit to pursue my Masters at a reputed university in USA! As I mentioned in earlier posts that this year would be a year of change for me, this was what I had in mind. I wasn't sure earlier about how things would turn out and hence hadn't told you that I had applied. But now that I've received an admit, I'm pretty sure that I would be taking up the seat if all other things fall into place.
The application process to US universities in a very long process and is quite complicated. When I joined my undergrad college, choosing a college was so simple. Where I live, admission to (most)undergraduate colleges is based on a board exam. Once the ranks are announced, counselling is conducted in 5-6 centers (in different cities) and there is a central system that displays the available seats. Students are called to pick their seat in the order of their ranks. If a seat you wish is available, you pick it up. Its simple and straight forward.
But in the US, the application process itself involves a long procedure. You need to take up the exams, fill in the application forms, write a statement of purpose, request letters of recommendation, pay the application fees and then apply. And even after applying, it takes close to 4-5 months before you get a response. Waiting for a response is quite scary especially when you see others receiving multiple admits. However, I wasn't really nervous as I already have a job in hand; but still, I was a little anxious. Every time I logged in to my mail I would cross my fingers and pray that I hadn't received a reject. Getting no response is better than getting a reject I feel.
Yesterday, just before leaving for work, I checked my mail on my phone. I saw a new mail with the subject 'Update on admission status' and I could see the word 'Congratulations' in the preview line.I was super excited and skimmed over the important details and read it out to my parents who were equally thrilled. I received my first admit from the university I was most keen about.
I still have to finish a lot of procedures that are required before I can be admitted. I still can't imagine moving away to a new country and living away from my parents. I will write more about this in my future posts. Do let me know if you have any thoughts about studying abroad.
Until next time,
Bye! :D

Saying prayers

Hello everybody,
I hope you're having a great day. Today I thought I'd do a post on why I think prayers are helpful. I do believe that there is some power that controls the universe. I don't endorse idol worship and complex rituals, however, I think giving a form to that power/energy makes it easier to imagine. I'm in the habit of saying prayers in the morning before leaving home. I don't really believe that there is some entity called God who sits in heaven and makes a note of all our prayers and goes around trying to make them true. I think prayers help us to take a moment and think about what we'd like to accomplish that day. It helps us make a mental list of goals for the day or week. Once we have goals set, it is easier to work towards them. This is the reason I think saying prayers in the morning is helpful.
Also, the thought that there is some super power that can help us in difficult times, reduces the stress on us. Isn't it soothing to think that there's someone to help you out during tough times? We usually think about positive things when we pray. Positive thoughts give us energy to face tough situations.
These, according to me are the benefits of saying prayers. Do you pray everyday? What according to you are the benefits of saying prayers? Do let me know in the comments
Bye! :)

Struggles of being a Socially Awkward person

Do you feel anxious to meet someone you don't know very well? Do you prefer to send an email or a text message rather than make a phone call if you are given a choice? If your answer to those questions was yes, you probably are socially awkward. But relax, a lot of people are... just to different extents. How do I know? I've been reading about this stuff for quite sometime. I have always been awkward in social settings. I prefer to stick to my close set of friends and avoid situations that may require me to interact with strangers. I recently took a quiz that said that I was 67% socially awkward! (not surprising... but the quiz did not look very authentic so I'm not going to leave a link to it here)

To give you an example of the kind of struggles I face on a regular basis, recently, a person in my team whom I worked with closely, resigned. During his send-off, most people spoke a few words about him and thanked him. It was a small gathering of about eight people and I could have spoken if I had wanted to. But I over thought (as always) and decided not to because I felt only people who knew him for a long enough duration had the right to talk then and it would be silly of me to say something, having worked with him for only about a month. So I kept quiet. After the "send off", I felt guilty for not having thanked him as he was the only person in my team with whom I had had any form of interaction (except my manager of course who had hired me). By then, a lot of people were coming to talk to him, wish him luck etc. I had to find someway to say thank you. So, at some random point of time, I went to him and gave a kind of a mini speech that I had said at least ten times in my mind by then. It was such an awkward thing to do! I literally died of embarrassment; but at least I was able to say thank you. I still don't know how I could have done it in a less awkward kind of way. 

This was just one incident when I've felt the need to become more confident and social. I had no problem discussing about codes, logic and other work related stuff; but when I had to express a human emotion like gratitude, my brain just switched off. I've made up my mind to make an attempt at improving my social skills. I will do a follow up post on tips that I've found online, observed others follow etc that could help one become more sociable. I also hope to follow those tips and let you know about any progress I make. Do let me know in the comments if you have some tips.

Hope for the best!
Bye! :)