u/DominaTemporum

My heart is in pieces. I was so pumped about getting a dumb phone, and I was thrilled to get a barbie phone (international version) because it looked silly as fuck, and I'm a guy who's very into silly and fun stuff.

The phone arrived and looked just as outrageously pink as I hoped it would be. It turned on and yelled HELLO BARBIE! ✨️💅 so loudly that it scared my cat. The menus were gorgeous, and the keyboard even more so (it has bloody flamingos on it! F L A M I N G O S!!!).

My sisters were jealous and have been trying to steal it ever since I got it, which was very fun. My flatmates and friends were worried about my sanity (not that it is the first time something like this happened), but then they picked up the phone and practically started a cult over it. All of the boys are now praising the almighty barbie phone and initiating new members by taking their shitty pixelated photo with the (pink) barbie frame filter that you can activate in the camera app.

I was marvelling at its many decoration and hidden Easter eggs when I received a call and discovered that nobody can understand what I say unless I literally scream. And mind you, I'm Italian, it's not like I talk quietly at the phone in the first place: when I say scream, I mean SCREAM.

I'm so sad. I don't know if there is a way to fix this (if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them). I think I'm gonna have to return it :(

(The Barbie Cult is going to kill me, I think, but I guess that there are worse ways to go)

Hello there!

I am slightly panicking a bit: I have been in contact with a potential supervisor that told me to come at a colloquium at the university I am applying to, which seems to be a normal step for foreign applicants in Germany (at least in this uni). I am getting a bit scared because I have not been told what to expect from the meeting, apart for the fact that there will be other aspiring doctoral students and that I will get some feedback on the project.

Looking through the university's website (UDK), I found that the colloquium should be "an oral examination lasting approximately one hour (...) Through the colloquium, the candidate must demonstrate knowledge in the examination subject corresponding to the standard of a Master’s examination or other customary final examinations in the major subject."

The thing is, my dumb brain keeps trying to make me panic about the last sentence. What exactly do they mean by "standard of a Master's examination"? My Master's thesis was in a different subject, although in a related field, and it took me a year to gather all the data and finish it. Do they expect me to present my PhD project with the same amount of knowledge as my Master's thesis or do they just want to check that I am at the level of a student that has completed a Master's thesis?

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, I am panicking haha. I guess what I'm asking here is: does anyone have any experience with a similar colloquium? What was it like?

Thank you!