Things have moved very fast in the last few days. On Wednesday I received a call from an executive I had worked with on a project several years ago. He is running a project in Basel, Switzerland and wants me to join one of the teams out there. It's a good offer with the potential to bring me to the next career level in my company if things go well. They would prefer that I be based out of Munich while I am working on the project so I may be employed in Germany rather than the US depending on how negotiations go in the next few days. I have until tomorrow at noon to decide if I want to take the project.
I can't believe how incredibly fast this all happened. It's been less than two weeks since I started networking and I already have an offer. On top of that they want me sooner than February 1st. They need someone to start on 12/1. I couldn't swing that due to my commitments on my current project and the time I need to take care of things here but after some negotiation I was able to arrange a start date of January 9th - less than 2 months away!!
All this occurred while I was at a meeting in Boston on Thursday and Friday. When I got back to my parents and told them the news it was horribly received. It wasn't easy to see their strong reaction against something that is both exciting and stressful to me. I'm doing a lot better a couple of days after the drama but things are strained with my parents. M. feels like they must hate him now and he wants to have a good relationship with them so he's upset too. So all in all this is not the ideal situation.
The best I can hope for right now is that in time and if things go well we will all learn to live with this decision. I don't dismiss the magnitude of what is going on here. I realize that this is a life altering move, not only for me but for my family and for M. I've spent over a year thinking about it, asking questions, listening to the experiences others have had, and reading whatever I could find about these types of moves and relationships. I feel this is the right decision for me so tomorrow I plan to take the project assuming we can work out a mutually agreeable situation for the move.
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6 comments:
Hi,
I found your blog off of CologneBound's. You might want to view the list of tips I gave him on my blog for when he moved to Germany, and you also might want to read the comments others have left on his blog.
J
Germany Doesn't Suck
Thanks, J
I appreciate the insight. Looks like you've been living abroad and traveling for many years. I travel a lot for work and for fun in the States but don't have extensive experience with Europe so all advice is welcome.
Glad to hear that 'Germany Doesn't Suck' and I've added your blog to my favorites so I can read more about your experiences. ;-)
Actually, 'Germany Doesn't Suck' is a title that holds a lot of meaning from when I lived in Poland. I assume you're seen the 'or does it?' part as well?
Honestly, my experiences might scare you away. I'm a bit cynical about living here.
Actually I think most of the reading I've done has leaned towards a more negative experience as far as living in Germany. It looks like you enjoyed your experience in Poland a lot more? In general, it seems like it's harder to find blogs written by people who enjoy living abroad than who complain about it or regret it. In your case is it more isolated to experiences in Germany, since you actually have somewhere else to compare it to?
Exactly. I absolutely loved Poland. I moved to Germany thinking I'd like it and to make more money. I don't regret moving here, but I'd rather be back in Poland. However, now that Poland is part of the EU, it's more difficult for Americans to live there.
I just found your blog and love it. I am in a slightly similar situation that you were in five years ago. It's great to read about someone who has already been through a successful long distance relationship!
Dominique
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