Getting the Job

After Dave gave me the idea to work in Germany, Dave and I both contacted Benjamin about the possibility of me acquiring a co-op position at Empirica for the Sept-Dec term. Benjamin was right away interested in the idea, but wasn't really sure if it was logistically possible for his company. Empirica had never had a Canadian co-op before (they had only had European interns beforehand), so it was going to be difficult for them to work out a contract for me. I had taken 3 classes with Benjamin before, though, so he felt that he already had a good idea of what I was capable of, meaning I at least didn't have to worry about an interview (seeing as how we had basically had a 12 month interview already).

I decided to carry on with the normal co-op search (from within mycoop.ca), so I wouldn't end up jobless at the end of the term. During this time, my emails with Benjamin, and Benjamin's negotiations with his company continued until I was finally offered a contract for 3 months at 1000 Euros a month, around a week before the final co-op ranking day (decision day). This was both good and bad for me, good - because I was offered this amazing work-term opportunity, and bad - because it was for 1000 Euro a month (around $1500), which wasn't the greatest comparatively to the salaries that I would be making if I were to stay in Canada, which would be at least double that......and then I had to figure in the extra costs of moving across the world (i.e. plane tickets, storage, etc.)..... and then I had to figure in the fact that Lydia would also be coming with me, and it could be next to impossible for her to get a job in that time...... and then I had to figure in the fact that I was also really liking the other work term opportunities that I had through the normal mycoop.ca route...... so all in all it was a very complicated decision that I had about a week to make.

The decision process included a mad scramble on the Internet to figure out just how much money it would cost to fly and to live in Germany, a long talk with Lydia about how she would feel about moving to the foreign land, and in the end, a huuuuuuuuuge leap of faith, by saying what the $%Q#, let's go for it!

Finding a Job in Germany

Quite early before my last co-op term (I think it was mid-way before the term before the co-op term), I started contacting Dave about the possibilities of doing my last co-op abroad. I started out with just a couple of emails, and then once it was the term before my last co-op term (which was a school term for me), I started going to his office. At first we looked into getting a position at the WHO, but we quickly found that that looked to be next to impossible for an undergrad co-op student who only speaks one language. I believe their minimum requirement for taking in an unpaid intern was a Masters degree, at least bi-lingual, and 5 years international work experience, or something along those lines......not quite matching with my resume thus far. We then began to brain storm other possibilities, and one of the first ideas that came up was Dave's suggestion to work for my old professor, Benjamin Jung, who had just left UVic for Germany to work at a consulting firm for the European Union. At last word with Dave, Benjamin told him to keep in touch for possible co-ops (hence Dave's epiphany).

Working for Benjamin in Germany was quite the idea, especially considering that during his run at UVic, he was the most notorious professors for difficulty, and due to the fact that in Germany.....people speak German......and I don't. This didn't really bother me, however, since I had gone through 3 of Benjamin's classes, and although they were challenging, I managed to do fairly well in them. Also, through those classes, I had the chance to spend some time with Benjamin, both for school and away from school (HINF PUBCRAWL!!!!), and he wasn't always the hard-nosed professor he wanted to make himself out to be.... he's actually quite nice on his own time! I also didn't mind the German barrier, since I have found in my past travels, that even in non-English countries, one can normally get by on English, so that really wasn't (seeming to be) an issue either.