Having My Way

As we approach the end of the month, my mind has been thinking about the fact that I'm basically halfway through my time in Germany. Amazingly, I've been here 10.5 months already, which is how long I stayed the first time I studied here. Back then, it seemed like an eternity. But this time around, the time has flown by as if it were no big deal.

Well, get this. I decided over the past week that I want to relocate to Chicago after returning to the U.S. next year. After spending numerous working hours looking over our internal job postings, considering the feasibility of living here or there and commuting to one of our offices, and contacting former roommate Jeremy for his ideas, I committed myself to making it happen. I was thinking I'd probably ruffle some feathers by switching - or wanting to switch - divisions, but who cares? I'm all about ruffling a few feathers these days to get what I want.

Then, a day later, I find out my mentor back in the U.S. is leaving the company. So on Friday I had a final telecon with him and he actually flat out asked me where I wanted to go after returning. Weird stuff. The timing of all this is almost creepy. I mean, how often does somebody directly ask you "What do you want?" right after you make a decision knowing exactly what that is? I couldn't have been more prepared to answer. So I let the cat out of the bag and he seemed to think the company would be very open to relocating me there. His advice was that I should focus on saying I'd like to gain experience outside the automotive sector, which would naturally lead me to Chicago, where our other business units are located and/or headquartered. So he was going to make a note of it and plant some initial seeds with both HR and the vice president, who will, at least temporarily, take over mentoring duties. I was one happy camper after that discussion.

Wow. So far so good. This just might work out after all...