Becoming a mathematician

In 2004 Gerrit retired as professor of mathematics from Leiden University. In the evening there was a nice dinner party on the occasion with several speeches. As first Ph.D. student of Gerrit I was also asked to say a few words. The main point I made was that Gerrit had been for me the right man at the right time. At the end of the evening Gerrit was the last speaker. He thanked all the speakers one by one for their nice words. To me he said that I had exaggerated a little and as an independent student had found my own way. In this note I will discuss my Ph.D. period with Gerrit and maybe it will become clear why we both said what we said then.