Only human
It's kinda strange, looking back.
Oh, right, you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, sorry about that. I'll start from the beginning.
It's been two years (and some spare change) since I came to Toulouse the first time. I'd commenced my PhD sometime before that, but I had no real experience in the sort of things I'd be working on (computer vision, for those interested).
During the year I stayed here, the biggest help in learning what I needed was my co-advisor (to separate the both of them, I'll be calling the one in Toulouse my co-advisor, and the one back home my advisor, as that's their official status), who knows a lot about computer vision, and more specifically the kind of things I've been doing for me thesis. To a guy like me, who knew almost nothing of the topic, it was like he was some sort of guru.
As an aside, that's a funny thing, 'cause I never had that relationship with my advisor. That's probably because I knew his area of expertise much better, so the gap wasn't quite as big.
But anyway, as I was saying, looking back I'd kinda idealized the level of knowledge of my co-advisor. That hit me today, as he came to ask me to help him understand some article. Now, I don't mean to paint myself as some sort of wisdom-dispensing genius. He probably just needed someone to trade ideas with someone and I was the one who had the most experience on the topic out of those available, I know that.
Still, it feels weird to realize that he doesn't know that much more than I do about the topic. It's kinda like when a kid realizes that his parents are only human, only much, much weaker. It's not quite an earth-shattering truth, but it did make my world lurch sideways a little.
Oh, right, you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, sorry about that. I'll start from the beginning.
It's been two years (and some spare change) since I came to Toulouse the first time. I'd commenced my PhD sometime before that, but I had no real experience in the sort of things I'd be working on (computer vision, for those interested).
During the year I stayed here, the biggest help in learning what I needed was my co-advisor (to separate the both of them, I'll be calling the one in Toulouse my co-advisor, and the one back home my advisor, as that's their official status), who knows a lot about computer vision, and more specifically the kind of things I've been doing for me thesis. To a guy like me, who knew almost nothing of the topic, it was like he was some sort of guru.
As an aside, that's a funny thing, 'cause I never had that relationship with my advisor. That's probably because I knew his area of expertise much better, so the gap wasn't quite as big.
But anyway, as I was saying, looking back I'd kinda idealized the level of knowledge of my co-advisor. That hit me today, as he came to ask me to help him understand some article. Now, I don't mean to paint myself as some sort of wisdom-dispensing genius. He probably just needed someone to trade ideas with someone and I was the one who had the most experience on the topic out of those available, I know that.
Still, it feels weird to realize that he doesn't know that much more than I do about the topic. It's kinda like when a kid realizes that his parents are only human, only much, much weaker. It's not quite an earth-shattering truth, but it did make my world lurch sideways a little.