My EMJD-DC Erasmus Mundus Journey

View from my apartment in Rijeka, Croatia

My Ph.D. started 19 days before my MSc. defense. :) I got the happy news that I had received the Category "A" EMJD-DC Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, while I was attending the EMDC Winter Event in Evora. I started with IST, ULisboa, Portugal, as my first university. I continued with my MSc supervisor as my Ph.D. advisor also, as he is really a great supervisor and mentor.

Following my MSc defense, my Ph.D. started smoothly. I finished all my course requirements for the first year. I also went to the University of Rijeka, Croatia, for a short-term scientific mission (STSM). It was fun, spending the summer in Rijeka. I also had the chance to visit nearby countries (Italy, Slovenia, and Serbia) by bus, for a very low price. On the other hand, my stay in Croatia was also very productive. My research work there became a core of my thesis.

Night walk from KAUST

I did 2 Google Summer of Code (GSoC) from Portugal. Once during my MSc (2014) and the other during my Ph.D. (2015). I also did an OpenDaylight internship. Then I moved to Atlanta for 7 months for an extended internship at Emory University, as a continuation of my GSoCs. When I returned from Atlanta to Lisbon, I had to apply for the Belgium visa quick since I was already in my third year and I must move to my second university (UCLouvain) in Belgium. After a short period of 4 months in Lisboa, we moved to Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium in February 2017. Later in 2017, I also spent 2 months in KAUST, Saudi Arabia, the 5th university of my Ph.D. Finally, I returned to Portugal for my 4th-year 2nd semester, December 2017. In the next 6 months, I made sure to satisfy all the thesis requirements of IST and UCLouvain, including the UCLouvain Thesis Confirmation and IST CAT. I also finished the thesis draft and moved to Emory University again before the defense. 

Évora, Portugal

I should have finished my Ph.D. before leaving Portugal last year. However, it dragged a bit longer than what I anticipated due to administrative tasks and journal acceptances that were arriving at the last minute. Consequently, in early 2019 I submitted the CRC of the last journal of my Ph.D. and also submitted the final-final version of my thesis to both universities to print.

I came back to Portugal to defend my thesis. My defense went very well, and I passed with a distinction! With the successful defense of my PhD in IST, I was already a Ph.D. (Dr. Pradeeban Kathiravelu ;) ). But as far as UCLouvain is concerned, I still had to do my public defense in Belgium. That intermittent period of almost 2 months (July - August 2019): it was complex to explain people where I stand in my Ph.D. - as both a Ph.D. student (as far as UCLouvain/Belgium is concerned) as well as a Postdoc (elsewhere). Especially an interesting conversation to those outside the EU who were not familiar with double degree programs such as Erasmus Mundus.

Brussels: Fiesta Latina with friends

Yes, EMJD-DC is a double degree. I had to defend my thesis in Portugal and Belgium.

This year, I visited Belgium twice, for my Ph.D. defenses. For my IST/ULisboa defense, I visited Belgium first before flying to Portugal (June - July). Then, of course, I visited Belgium for my UCLouvain defense (August). My time in Belgium was like time-traveling to 2017 - meeting the familiar faces after quite some time and visiting the same places all over again. My 2nd defense (i.e., the UCLouvain public defense) was on the 23rd of August 2019, exactly 7 years since my arrival to Lisbon on the 23rd of August 2012 for my MSc. A pleasant coincidence.

Since I already had the Ph.D. degree from IST, I was more relaxed during this second one. I also had ordered to print the thesis book, as per UCLouvain requirements, prior to my arrival in Belgium. I had to go and collect the printed books from the printing shop, in an extreme corner of the Louvain-la-Neuve village. A neighborhood that I had never visited before. In fact, I wasn't even aware of the existence of those neighborhoods. My UCLouvain public defense also marked the end of my life as an Erasmus Mundus student. An interesting coincidence was, I first arrived in Portugal on August 23rd, 2012 as an EMDC Erasmus Mundus masters student. I defended my thesis at UCLouvain on the very same day, after 7 years. Is the universe sending me signals already? :D

Lullwater Park, Atlanta, GA, USA

There are a few things I could have done better. For instance, looking back, I feel I should have defended the thesis before moving out of the EU. It was just defense pending, and moving away from the EU made the process much longer. Similarly, I also think I should have started writing the thesis early on, making sure the LaTex variables across my various papers do not have naming conflicts. That would have helped me when I consolidated the content from my various papers to the thesis document. But I am still happy with how everything went. During my two trips to the EU for my defenses, I also had to practice my presentation. I still managed to explore the cities a bit. It was a happy moment. But that also made me miss the EU, as my student life attached to the EU came to an end with my Ph.D. defense. Somewhat bittersweet indeed.

Weekends

Coffee during a weekend

Weekends - who do not love them? They are a welcome change in a daily routine, to catch up with the other things that are left behind in a tight weekly schedule.

Weekends in Sri Lanka

My perception of weekends, of course, changed with time. During my school days, I had lots of tuition classes during the weekends. As a result, weekends were not really free. Sometimes we had long weekends, thanks to public holidays coming on Fridays or Mondays. Every month had a full moon day, which is a public holiday in Sri Lanka. Weekends were always a welcome change from the daily school days routine. During my undergrad days, I was usually free during the weekends, except for a few Saturdays when we had lectures. When I started working, that was when the concept of free weekends took a full shape. I was free during the weekends except when I had deadlines.

Weekends in the EU
Then I moved to the EU for my higher studies. During the MSc days, we had loads of fun during the weekends with friends that I fondly recall. My PhD time schedule was very flexible. Sometimes I worked during the weekends while having fun during the weekdays. Therefore the differentiation between the weekdays and weekends became blurred once again. Still, weekends were the days I usually went to beaches or movies. I always loved the weekends for some coffee in Portuguese cafes (I miss those Portuguese cafes and their cheap, but quality coffee) or for a stroll in a shopping mall.

Weekends in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
When I went to Saudi Arabia, the weekends consist of Friday and Saturday. But we often worked on Friday due to our international collaborations. Similarly, our work was somewhat relaxed on Sundays due to lack of collaborators present on Sundays from other countries. Therefore, depending on how you see it, the weekends fluctuated between 1 (Saturday), 2 (Friday and Saturday), or 3 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) days in the Kingdom.

Weekends in Atlanta

Now in Atlanta, I spend my weekdays at work. With a routine schedule, weekends have become yet again well-defined. I spend most of my weekend, catching up with shopping, attending to non-work stuff, and listening to some music. :)

Experience as a Visiting Student at KAUST, Saudi Arabia

The beautiful KAUST Grand Mosque

I am back in Portugal after my 4 months of migrations including 2 months at KAUST, Saudi Arabia. Now I am full-time into my core Ph.D. research.

Overall, my experience of 2 months at KAUST was very positive, though a few experiences came as pretty shocking. I list below a few observations I found may be relevant to you as an upcoming visiting student/scholar to KAUST. Several points in this post may not be accurate for you if you are a KAUST faculty, employee, or student.

1. Frequent Apartment migrations

My 1st apartment, all for me!

I was asked to move out of my beautiful apartment after 2.5 weeks of arrival. Upon questioning, I found that visiting Ph.D. students are usually given a room in a 3-room apartment. Since KAUST did not have a room empty for me right at my arrival time, they let me stay in an apartment. Then they still did not have a "regular" room. So they let me stay 10 days in a room in a 3-room apartment managed by KAUST-Inn. I had the master bedroom. There was a  SHARP-brand TV in my room. Cleaning service thrice a week, including the room. Nevertheless, I never let them clean my room, as I find that unnecessary for the 10 days. I also had my own bathroom. However, the other 2 rooms had to share a single bathroom.

My room in the second apartment

Finally, they got a room for me in a regular student apartment - my 3rd place during my 2-month-long stay. The apartment had 3 rooms. I was in the smallest room. But all the rooms had their own bathroom. So we just got to share the kitchen and the living room. I stayed in this room for a month until I left the Kingdom. Even this small room was big enough. We do not have a cleaning service for these student apartments, unlike those managed by the KAUST Inn. It is not necessary anyway for just a month-long stay.

This will be the typical view from your apartment

One would wonder what is the necessity for such a weird migration strategy when there was plenty of empty space. I later learned that it is a resource allocation strategy according to the policy (i.e., they must maximize the time I spend in a shared student apartment). It sounds weird, and especially when this migration plan comes as a surprise to you only days before you really have to move. But that is KAUST for you.

A nightly walk

No one from KAUST has blogged or mentioned about these KAUST apartment migrations before. If you happen to visit my blog, be informed that you may have to switch your apartment in the middle of your stay. My advice - when you get your keys from the SGA (Students Guest Apartment) for the first time, confirm whether you will indeed stay in this apartment during your entire stay, or ask them to give your migration plan (which dates you will be expected to move to a new apartment). It will help you plan when to buy stuff (you don't want to move between apartments with lots of food items). Of course, you can get a taxi free of charge from KAUST for these inner-mandatory-migrations. Also, remember that these apartments are free and registered free of charge for the students with no effort from students' end. Much kudos for that!

The major shopping square

Make sure to bring ethernet cables and a router. There is an Internet connection with several Internet sockets in the apartments. But you will most likely need your own cables and the router. It will help if you bring them with you so that you can connect instantly once you are home in KAUST. Especially if you are the only one in the apartment, you won't even have the choice to ask your roommate for the password of their router.

2. Noisy Open Workspaces

A lonely sunset

I am okay with sharing office space with 5 - 6 Ph.D. students. We do that in INESC-ID. But all the students are silent and do not make random noises. In all my universities of my Ph.D. time, I shared office space with 0 - 5 students. What came as a surprise? KAUST loves open workspaces with up to 30 students. Our open room is on the ground floor. The laborers and security guards love to walk around and even play music without earphones during the weekend (yes, I like working on weekends too). Also, other students in the room like to make calls and do meetings right in the room, making it have a large white noise. It is not a productive environment for students at all.

Uniform apartment buildings

Just like others, I learned to play some music (usually Chinese or Romanian music) in my earphone, so that I do not need to listen to random people (workers and students) speaking in Malayalam, Arabic, Filipino, Chinese, or Russian. Who invented this open workspace for Ph.D. students and developers who need to use their brains? Is it to show the developers are the new blue-collar? I would recommend KAUST to invest some money in making workspaces with smaller (up to 6) number of persons in each room. To give a balanced overview, my friends were okay with the noisy environment wearing noise-canceling headphones. I am not really into headphones or earphones, though.

3. Communication black holes

Line of apartments

There was a guy in SGA. He is like a communication black hole. You give him some requests. He will reply, "Yes, Sir. Sure, Sir. I will make it done soon, Sir", with a big smile. His task finishes here. He does nothing except this kind gesture and a big smile to you. You better send an email to the system - you will get the work done. There are also these stateless support call centers I experienced in many places (not really in KAUST). Every time you make a call, details discussed in the previous calls are lost. You must always start from Ground 0. Actually, sending an email always worked in KAUST (better than dealing with the communication black hole I mentioned).

4. Queue Jumpers

Queue jumping is quite the norm in many Asian countries. KSA is not an exception. Be prepared to face the person behind you counting their chance to jump the queue when possible, especially outside the university, such as the airport.

A Magnificent View

5. Stipend and Reimbursements

You are going to get the stipend or scholarship in cash, by default, as a visiting scholar. I don't think you are going to open a local bank for such a short period.

Initially, I asked KAUST whether they can send the money to my bank in Portugal. They were willing to. But then I checked with my bank and found they are going to charge me for incoming currency exchange fees. Also, my actual funding was from Belgium while I was in KAUST (my case was a bit more complex than a regular case). So what KAUST had to give me was just the visa fees and some travel expenses I incurred. So it was not huge money, and I chose to get it in cash.

 

6. Currency Exchange

Line of date palms

The airport gives you the best transaction rate (I know that is unbelievable). Saudi Riyal (SAR) -> USD is fixed at 3.75 -> 1 always throughout the country. So getting it in $ will be the best. But even Euro, although fluctuates, gives the actual transaction amount, rather than a reduced amount other airports give. I just exchanged all my remaining SAR into Euro in cash at the airport before flying back to the EU. Just make sure to exchange all the money before you leave the country to Euro or USD. SAR is useless outside Saudi Arabia. The airport offers options to exchange money from SAR to a wide range of currencies, including several Asian countries' currencies, which are typically unexchangeable outside those countries.

 

View from our lab building

You can get excellent currency exchange rate between SAR -> USD, as USD -> SAR is fixed at 3.75. At the airport, you can get 3.72 SAR for 1 USD, and buy 1 USD with 3.77 SAR. However, the USD often runs out for a smaller amount. Remember, it is the best deal in KSA to convert back and forth between USD and SAR than from another currency. The time I left the country, the money exchanger at the airport had only 100 USD notes. Not the small notes. Same for GBP. However, he had 20 Euro notes. So I got 20 Euro for 91 SAR. Not a bad deal either. So exchanging money at the airport is a great deal at Jeddah airport compared to many other airports in the world. Airport money exchanges in the US and the EU eat your money. 

7. Expensive Local Supermarket

View from the canal bridge

Things were quite expensive in the Tamimi supermarkets, the only supermarket chains in KAUST. Almost all the things were imported from the USA. I heard from my Saudi roommate that the 800 g dates I bought for 89 SAR (around 20 Euro) can be bought for 5% of its price (for 1 Euro) outside KAUST (in Thuwal or Jeddah).

8. Clumsy Airport
The Jeddah airport is clumsy, dirty, and nasty. The need to put the electronics into the checked-in luggage for the flights to the UK gives an additional overhead. The flights are booked by KAUST (thanks for them to manage this and pay for the flights). However, that also means they will book you the cheapest of the flights, understandably. I could have transited through any other airports to arrive in the EU/Brussels. But they chose British Airways (BA)/London LHR for me, making to go through this painful exercise of placing the computer, tablet, and digital camera into the checked-in luggage. Regardless of my previous bad experience, British Airways did not damage or delay my luggage. My electronic items were safe, also thanks to my careful packing (I placed my laptop between two pillows!). The airport was chaos, with lots of clueless pilgrims (it serves as the primary airport for the Hajj pilgrims going to Mecca) wandering around and jumping queues. Probably the airport will remain the worst part of the visit to KAUST.

9. Lots of Savings $$$

The Red Sea

There are, of course, lots of freebies from KAUST, including accommodation and transportation - including flight and ground transportation. Your money is just for your food. 3.5 $ for lunch or dinner from the canteen, which probably gives the best canteen food in the world (I have tried university canteen food in around 10 countries, including, Sri Lanka, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Croatia, and USA. ;)) Assuming you have both lunch and dinner from the canteen, and some cereal for breakfast, your daily expense would be 8 $. 240$ is sufficient for your food. You can watch movies at the cinema! Very cheap - 5 SAR or 1.50$. 300$ is adequate for you for a comfortable life there. Remaining money you get from KAUST is for your entertainment or savings. Your choice.

Sunset in the Red Sea

There were times my friends and I were watching several movies at the cinema there (they even show Indian movies, and change the movies every few days) - because it was very cheap! We did bird watching and fine dining (for a low price and often free with the professors when we welcome faculty candidates or visiting professors!). There are many good aspects of KAUST that you won't find anywhere else in KSA or elsewhere. I was in KAUST during autumn to winter. KAUST winter was equal to the Portuguese summer. Enjoyable weather. One day it rained and flooded Jeddah city. No big damage in KAUST, though. We also encountered a minor sandstorm one day.

If you have read until the end, most likely, you are considering to visit KAUST yourself as a visiting student. Go for it. It is a pleasant experience overall!

Further Reading: 
[1] My arrival at KAUST.
[2] My research at KAUST.

Arrival at KAUST

The picturesque grand mosque

I am visiting King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or commonly known as KAUST for two months. It was kind of them to receive the students and visitors (not just the professors and leaders) at the airport. I had someone from KAUST waiting for me to direct me towards the immigration (not that I am new to immigration, and honestly I would have done that myself without help. But the kind gesture matters). Then he also leads me towards the taxi driver, who was holding my name "Welcome Mr. Pradeeban Kathiravelu" in a big piece of paper.

The taxi driver, authorized by KAUST (only authorized taxies can enter the KAUST compound), was from Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. He asked me "Hindi Malum?" (Do you speak Hindi?). I said, "No, in Sri Lanka, only Sinhala and Tamil." He is a Muslim. Very pleasant guy. He also had a Sri Lankan friend (a Muslim from Colombo), who is also a driver. He called him on his mobile, and we talked in Tamil!

Finally, arrived in KAUST, got the temporary visitor ID at the visitor office, and then we entered the compound. The taxi took me to the SGA office where I signed the accommodation contract and got the key to my apartment. It was a huge apartment - all for me. A large living room with a TV, big kitchen with stove, oven, microwave, and fridge, a small storeroom, a little enclosed space for washing machine and dryer, a WC - all on the ground floor, together with a large balcony that connects to the street. In the first floor, I have the master bedroom with a balcony, a study room, and a WC+bathroom. My bedroom has two beds, though the apartment is just for me.

Sorry female persons!

KAUST town has many apartments split into three basically. Male only apartments for single males and males who cannot or did not bring their wife/family, female only apartments for the females in the same situation, family apartments for those who came with their spouse or family. It was interesting. KAUST has a cinema (which shows movies for 5 SAR, which is around 1.13 Euro), some mosques (one is the biggest mosque), and one big supermarket (Tamimi) and another Tamimi close to the campus. There are a few restaurants. The campus canteen food is pretty nice, and I like it. The budget option is 15 SAR. It is pretty decent (the main dish, salad, soup, dessert, and a drink). The meal is available for lunch and dinner, all seven days a week. We work from the lab all seven days. The weekend here is Friday and Saturday. However, since we collaborate with EU mostly, we have to work on Fridays for the meetings. That leaves us with Saturdays as the only free day. However, since nothing much to do for me (not to mistake - there are many activities - just I am not so into them as I am busy with my research), I like working from the lab every day. Even my lab friends do the same! 

In average I spend 32.5 SAR per day. That is 7.34 Euro. 15 SAR goes for lunch (fixed expense as I have my lunch in the canteen every day), and the remaining for dinner, breakfast, and other variable costs (such as fruits, tooth paste, etc). Apartment and transportation are free! Right now, the weather here right now is enjoyable. Just like in Colombo or Maldives.  I heard that I am just lucky that I arrived when the weather is not too hot. We also went for bird watching, which was quite fun (I have seen all those birds in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. but the experience of bird watching by the mangroves of the Red Sea was quite fun).

Coming from Europe, there was of course a significant cultural shock. If I came from Sri Lanka directly, probably the cultural shock would be smaller. I could also write a weekly blog post on my stay here as each week I was experiencing something new. I had the same feeling when I came to Portugal in 2012, and I had a habit of weekly blog post. Afterwards, I moved to many countries - Sweden, Croatia, USA, and Belgium. However, there was not much difference. Coming back to Asia had a drastic change. I am actually missing the west (Europe and the USA). 11 days out of my 58 days-long stay have already passed! Time is passing quick. Though I can write more about my experiences, time is quite limited. I might recall and blog more on my experience in December once I have returned to the EU.