I don’t know how to start this entry, because it is truly emotional. I will try to keep it a bit less emotional otherwise I will talk more about my feelings rather than telling the story. Here we go;

I am leaving Munich and moving to Alicante. I moved to Munich on 2018 for a traineeship in the European Patent Office. Now I am moving to Alicante for European Union Intellectual Property Office. It is the second leg of this Pan-European Seal Traineeship Program.

Almost 1.5 years ago I saw an ad on our university page regarding to an international traineeship program. Why I was checking the university page at the time, I have no idea. It is not one of my most visited pages, I promise. I was interning at the Coca-Cola Company back then. Although, I was not sure what I wanted to do after university. To be honest I am still not 100% sure on that. Anyways not to get distracted from the main topic. I saw it, and I completed the requested courses collected the papers and applied without giving it another thought. I didn’t tell anyone because honestly, I didn’t think I would get in. Because it was written on the ad “the brightest of the brightest beyond Europe” and as a mediocre finance student I didn’t think I was good enough to get in. Well, something happened maybe magic, maybe luck, maybe both but I got in. I told my parents, my friends, that I am moving to Munich because I got into a traineeship, it wasn’t easy mostly for them. My grandmother is still waiting for me to come back and live in Turkey 🙂 They were not ready for me to leave that suddenly, that soon because I was just back from studying in London and they also wanted me to have something more stable at the time. Although, again I wasn’t ready for such stable life back then. (I am right now, I guess)

Moving to Munich, for a work that I have no idea about, well it was a bit scary. Still, it was more exciting than it was scary. Because I was and am still hungry for the experience! And this is once in a lifetime opportunity I am not just going to ignore it because I am scared or because my family thinks I shouldn’t. I believe in learning by experience. That is the reason I am trying to be open to new ideas new adventures and well new countries. It was one of the best decisions I have ever taken. I learned a lot I grew a lot. I experienced a lot, I made friends for life. I worked with one of the best teams possible. Honestly, I was so lucky, and I played my cards right and made the best out of it. Because at this point in your life being lucky is not enough. You can be lucky and get the opportunities but if you don’t play your cards right, those lucky moments will be just tiny moments without any outcome.

Then it was almost the end of the 1-year contract. I was looking for a stable job in Munich because I simply fall in love with the city. I might have found my city to build a family. I couldn’t get a position though. And I thought back then, why not apply for the second leg of the program for Alicante and keep looking for jobs. So, I did. And it happened again, well at the very end. I got an offer in the middle of August. Back then I was getting ready to go back to Istanbul, trying to find something worth moving back to Istanbul. I was also thinking of moving to our summer location and open a store/cafe. Well, it’s going to sound dramatic but in my darkest hours, I got the offer from EUIPO. For a weird position but I didn’t have the luxury to decline the offer since I didn’t have anything else planned. Well, I had the luxury to reject but I don’t reject opportunities. Also learning Spanish having another international office experience on my CV didn’t sound bad. Hopefully, it was the right decision to accept it.

So, this is the ”short” story of me moving to Alicante from Munich. Like really short one without the emotions making it hard to write. Since I fall in love with Munich, it is harder for me to leave now. I wanted to stay in Munich and maybe settle in a bit, I still want it. It somehow feels more of a home than Istanbul to me. The city has some sort of magical power that makes you fall in love with it that captures your soul. But as I always say “everything happens for a reason” maybe it was not my time to stay in Munich and grow old. Ahahah dramatic again! Believe me, I am doing my best right now, keeping my emotions excluded.

I am still young; I still have a whole future ahead of me. There is still a World for me to discover and experience. These opportunities don’t come often. That’s why I believe we should take on these opportunities while we can. Because there will be a time where we feel older, or there will be other things to consider before making a life-changing decision. But right now it is my time! It’s my time to experience, fail and learn and get back up on my feet. 

Thank you for one more time listening to me complain about life! Some more blog posts will come for Munich and my 1 year around Munich. But I wanted to make sure I was kind of up to date with the current situation. On my way to Alicante!