Sam and I have a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY! We may have just gotten back from our Semester at Sea adventure, but there is no rest for the weary as we get ready for our next adventure beginning in August.

We are so excited to announce that we are moving to Cologne, GERMANY!!!!!

I will be attending the Cologne Business School for a Master of Arts in International Tourism Management with a focus on Sustainability. It is a two year program including a summer internship in the field, and we will be living in Cologne throughout that time. 

I have been working in the tourism field for several years now and I am ready to take the next step forward in my professional development. I have a lot of ideas of what I might want to do with my degree, from starting my own tourism company to working in sustainable hotel design to consulting with brands on how to be more environmentally friendly. This is one of the reasons that I decided to go back to school — to help me narrow my focus and expand my skill set — and hopefully by the end of it, I will have a clearer idea about which corner of the field I would like to work in. 

I’ve been considering going back to school for a few years now, but with the end of Semester at Sea coming in May, the timing of going back now has worked out really well. The decision-making process leading up to this move has been long, so it feels surreal that is finally coming together. We planned our trip to Europe around the three schools that I applied to in Vienna, Cologne and Geneva, so that we could get a sense of each place before deciding which school was the best fit for us. In fact, I wound up doing my grad school interviews in person during those visits!  

Most of the big logistical pieces of our international move have fallen into place, such as selling our condo, finding an apartment in Cologne, and organizing our cats’ health certificates to clear them for relocation to Germany. As each step moves forward, my Asana task list twindles and the adventure that lies ahead of us feels more real. 

We leave the US on August 17th and we are doing our best to pack, spend time with family, and enjoy our last summer in Chicago. Lots of exciting changes ahead! We can’t wait to enter this next stage of our lives together!