Moving Across The World
In the 1950 my grandfather took a large risk in desire to find a better life for himself and his future family. He didn’t agree with the happenings in his homeland of Germany that he experienced while growing up. He embarked on a massive adventure and left his parents, siblings, and friends behind, to move to the US. In the US he made a life of his own as an entrepreneur, he fell in love, and started a family. In this family, he still represented the importance of our family heritage through stories, family activities, and even trips to visit family in Germany.
My Grandpa has always been a great inspiration for me. I’ve always been passionate about exploring my family heritage and love the country of Germany and my family that’s still there. During high school and college I studied German and I got a minor in international business during my Bachelor’s degree. To get this minor, I had to do an exchange program. I wanted to improve my German so I looked what options I had in Germany and in Austria. Germany didn’t have any opportunities for international business so I ended up embarking to Austria for a six month stay. I fell in love with the beautiful, mountainous country while I was there and longed to go back after returning home.
After I graduated I worked a marketing job for Fleet Feet Cincinnati that I loved. I was able to constantly inspire 60,000+ people at least twice per week to love running through engaging email newsletters, social media posts, and blogs. It was great motivating the people in the city I grew up in to engage in the sport that I love. Only 60,000 people though, wasn’t enough. I feel I can inspire people on a larger scale to run and love running. I began seeking the best opportunity for me to do that.
Through studying international business I learned a lot of different things about how marketing can be twisted and turned to target different segments, cultures, countries, etc. but still bring forth the same brand message and brand feeling.
I was spending some time in Munich after running the Berlin marathon last fall. I was sitting alone at a brewery after having missed a flight due to a late train. The brewery was quite crowded and there was a guy who was roughly my age that was sat with me. We were chatting and he told me he was a masters student from Berlin studying management but was also a photographer doing a photoshoot for Huawuei in Munich for a new phone release. I was fascinated and started asking questions about masters programs in Europe. After short conversation, I was sold on the idea pretty quickly. As soon as I returned to my hotel room that evening I began to do my research.
Through my research I found Vienna University of Economics and Business, ranked #10 in the world for their Marketing Master’s program. This seemed like a lofty target for me to get accepted into the program but I was confident. I reached out to my friend from my exchange program, Gabor, who attends the school, and asked him how likely it would be for me to be accepted. He told me to go for it and I did.
I was accepted into the only program I applied for. I took this as a sign that I needed to go for it. I spent the entire spring and summer of 2023 planning and trying to figure out how to make it work. I had to keep it a secret from my job as I wasn’t sure if I would be able to afford the move. I began to think back to my grandpa and the massive risk he took in moving to the US. He didn’t have very much money, he didn’t have anyone to meet up with him, he was going in blind. Money was the only factor holding me back from taking this step. I had a close friend in a city that I had visited many times, with family not far away in Germany.
I took the leap and made it happen.
Beginning on September 25th, I will begin my master’s program in Vienna.
