The Leap

On Sunday I returned to the States from Munich where I spent two weeks visiting my boyfriend, M. We met a year ago this week in Chicago, hit if off, and have been riding the ups and downs of a long distance relationship ever since. We had promised that we wouldn't spend more than a year doing long distance and so we decided to discuss our plans during this most recent visit. Do we take the plunge and make the move?

The answer for both of us was clear. YES!

This was no spur of the moment decision. We have been through our share of ups and downs this year and both had to do a lot of soul searching before taking this big step. At times it appeared it was too overwhelming to go through with and at others it seemed like there was no way we wouldn't.

We work for the same company. He is based out of our Munich office and I am based out of our Boston office. We discussed the move in both directions and decided that if I made my promotion this year, which he will be up for next year, that I would go to Germany, at least at first, so he could make the next level in our company within his established network of colleagues.

I succeeded in my promotion and so I find myself starting the search for a project with my company in the ASG group (Austria, Germany, Switzerland) and hoping that I can find a mutually agreeable situation. There are options outside my company but I'd prefer to minimize stress by staying in a work environment I am familiar with.

I finished my resume this week and today I emailed it to the first contact I had been referred to from the Frankfurt office. We will see if that turns anything up. Now that the resume is completed I can start sending it off to my full list of contacts.

The goal is to be in Germany by February 1 of next year, less than 3 months away. I have little idea as to what to expect with this kind of project hunting experience but a friend recently was able to pull it off and has just started his work in Cologne after 4 months of searching. I have several other friends working over there too. I am optimistic that something will work out.

I could go without a job or project but I have thought long and hard about what I need to be happy with myself over there. One thing I kept coming back to was that I wanted a sense of independence from M. That included my own career, the ability to continue to support myself, my own social network and in time, the ability to converse in German, even if only in a rudimentary fashion. I could only picture being bored, lonely and resentful if I didn't have my own sense of purpose in Germany so I will do everything possible to maintain my employed status in this move. If the time comes, we can consider other options.

I intend to use this blog to post of my experience with trying to move to Germany and my experiences once I get there. Wish me luck!!