Friday, June 30, 2017

Time to Say Goodbye

With a little more than 1 month until I leave Brazil, it's time to start saying my goodbyes.

Yesterday I visited an old friend. We have known each other for 25 years. There was a time when we used to meet all the time, when we were a lot younger. That was a life-changing period for me, for several reasons. One of the reasons is that I learned English, mostly because that friend had lots of comics, books, and games in English. So, I have to thank that friend for my knowledge in English. I really don't think I would know English if not for his friendship. And, without knowing English, I wouldn't be able to get into a PhD in the US, of course. So, I visited him, to say thanks and goodbye.

Today is also a day of goodbyes here at Senac. I will still be back here tomorrow and Monday, but a few people are also leaving the school (like one of the co-ordinators who is retiring) and also other people who I will probably not be able to meet in the next days.

So, the goodbyes season has officially started for me.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Countdown

Lots of people asking me when I'm going to move to the US, if I'm already in a countdown. So, a little of my schedule so far.

I will stop working at Senac on July 3rd. I taught a class yesterday about personal finance, and tomorrow I'll record an interview for an entrepreneurship contest. Probably my last contributions as a teacher here in Brazil before moving to the US. Really gonna miss teaching some courses.

Going to doctors and doing medical examinatons while I still have my health insurance. Very busy with that this month.

After I leave Senac, I'll probably spend a few days in the city of Ibiúna, where my parents live. A few things to take care over there, and I want to get them off the table as soon as I can.

I also expect to meet some friends to say good-bye by then.

Middle of July will be mostly dedicated to getting everything ready to move and spending time with my daughter during her school holidays.

In the last week of July I'll get trade union's approval for my dismissal from Senac, allowing me to go for the finishing touches on the financial side.

On August 1st I take my flight to the US, arriving in Houston the next day.

Once in Houston, things are going to be pretty hectic, I guess. Lots of things to buy, specially to get the apartment ready to live on it.

PhD classes are expected to start on August 21st. But there are several things to do at the University of Houston before that. A math bootcamp starting on August 7th. Several orientation events (new PhD student orientation, international student orientation, graduate school orientation, I think I'll be disoriented after all that orientations). Lots of paperwork.

Friday, June 2, 2017

Cancelled Coursera's "Statistics with R" Course

I had posted that I was learning R using an online course at Coursera. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations, so I cancelled my subscription today.

The statistics video classes were really good. If the whole course was at that level of quality, I'd be happy to continue. However, I enrolled because I need to learn R. And that's the weak section of the course. The course is good to teach statistics, but not to do it using R.

The R sections is a lot like "follow the instructions you are given". So, if you are able to follow the instructions, you will get the results expected for the course. However, instructions sometimes are very confusing, and I had to go to forums to understand them (and then see many people with similar questions), wasting precious time. And, most importantly, being able to follow instructions does not mean being able to undestand what one is doing. I felt like I was not really learning R, even when I was able to do the required steps. So, now I'm studying with a book. So far, it has been a lot faster, less confusing, and with a better understanding of R. Let's see if this works out for me.