Ich bin amerikanisch

Fifteen alcohol units (or so) and one stone (14 lbs. or 6.5 kg) later...I've returned from spending the last 3 days in the Altera Munich office for training (Focus Selling for the Alterans). If anyone ever wondered where all the beer and meat have gone, I found them. At first I was dreading the trip a bit since I wasn't feeling settled in London yet so I thought it was too soon to be taking off already. It turned out that the trip couldn't have come at a better time. Although admittedly I was completely knackered (practicing my English here) when I crawled into bed at 11pm last night. Three days of death by powerpoint and going through Heathrow (LHR) is enough to get to anyone.

Going to Munich this week afforded several good things: I got to see 2 familiar faces; spent 3 days with 10 other extroverted social people; got away from the Altera High Wycombe office; and ate and drank myself silly. It turned out that a sales guy from America (Hogan W. for the Alterans) got roped into giving the training. He used to be located in the San Jose office with me and I had a couple discussions with him in the past about transferring into a sales job. The other person I got to see was Chief (Dan B., again for the Alterans). Chief and I have been chatting on and off since I arrived in London because he made a similar move from San Jose to Munich 2.5 years ago. Chief definitely had it worse since he barely spoke German when he arrived and was hired to be out in front of customers. He too came alone without really knowing anyone so he let me whinge (practicing my English again) and moan for a bit as I cried on his shoulder. This was no easy task as Chief is 6'9" and I'm a mere 5'6" (yes I am!). It was great to get his insights on the move and see that he overcame the challenges.

So not to say that I haven't enjoyed my time in the Altera High Wycombe office but people do tend to stay within the same circles so you don't mingle with many others outside of your 2 cubicle radius (something that I plan to work on). They've also somehow managed to create the smallest cubicles I've ever seen, making it a much drearier space compared to the Munich office. So being at this sales training meant that for 3 days I was surrounded by 10 people who are paid to build relationships and interact with other people. Every night we'd have dinner and some beers together as we desperately needed to unwind from being in class all day. This was especially beneficial because I've now started building relationships with 10 people who I will be working closely with over the next 2 years. It also doesn't hurt that I've now got invitations to eat pain au chocolat in France, go snowboarding in Austria, and find some decent sushi in the Netherlands.

Finally, there's just no place like downtown Munich (at least no place I've seen yet). I haven't been to Munich in over 10 years and I'd forgotten what a beautiful city it is. The nickname for Munich is Millionendorf which means village of a million people. When you're there, you don't feel like you're in a major European city but more like you're among friends in a large quaint village. I was just amazed by the communal feeling and how clean it was everywhere, even down in the S- Bahn station. The locals did say that I'd need to spend some time down Maximilian Strasse next time though. It's apparently the equivalent of the Champs E'lysees in Paris or 5th Avenue in Manhattan in terms of retail shopping. I was also very fortunate to get good weather most of the trip as I hear it was pouring buckets in London this week.

By the way, if every trip in and out of Heathrow (LHR) is going to be like this, then I need a serious raise for emotional damages. Although I can't really complain since my VP in America flew out of Heathrow (LHR) with his wife and young daughter the week that the chemical bomb threat occurred in 2006, which is no laughing matter. In case you noticed, yes, the people behind that threat were located in High Wycombe.

Here are the pictures from Munich (also on the right-hand navigation).