Life Update Part 2 – Personal Life/Job and the biggest mistake I made on vacation

Buying a ticket to Hawaii and just leave for a month. Ok, I did a short 2 week stop in LA in order to visit some university campuses. I am thinking about doing my master in the states as they have great Social Media and Digital Marketing Master degrees. From UCLA, Standford, Pepperdine and USC, I instantly felt like home at USC. The campus looks like Harry Potter with the addition of having the most modern equipment every blogger could dream of!

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with its master in Social media is the only one of its kind. Their 88,000-squarefoot, five-story building called Wallis Annenberg Hall, in the heart of campus is designed in a way that it connects people and fosters creativity.

Just some months ago I would never have thought that there is a program like that available on this planet and I don’t mind the fact that it is in California at all. 😉 For me it was crucial to see the schools, checking out the buildings, feel the atmosphere and talk to people. A homepage doesn’t really tell you a lot about how a school really is and whether you are a match or not. (more pictures here)

Well, the admission guidelines are tough and I will have to work my ass off to make an impression and I’d better come up with something great!

So yeah this way the job-related update and one of my reasons I am currently traveling a lot in the states, mainly Los Angeles and San Francisco. The days before I flew to Los Angeles, I found myself in the library, borrowing some books, since I wanted to get back into reading, increasing my „ME-Time“, taking it slowly with Social Media.

In my bag, I had a book about Google, Girlboss, How to kill a mockingbird, Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Secrets of Silicon Valley; a quite balanced variety of books I always wanted to read but never took the time for it.

I think it was in my second week in the States where I traveled up to San Francisco and stayed there at a small but comfy AirBnB room in Menlo Park. It was Sunday when I arrived  and the village was empty as  the beach walk in Honolulu when there was an NFL game going on and all the peeps were conquering the numerous pubs lining up there. I googled for a breakfast cafe near by and picked the first one that looked more or less acceptable and was close by. I ordered a yogurt cup with chia seeds and fresh blueberries, a fresh pressed orange juice and a Maca smoothie, which was urgently needed after the last 3 days living of sourdough bread, hummus and dried fruits.

Super excited about my proper breakfast, I walked to the back of the cafe and started eating and reading my Google book.

Due to the non-presence of other people at the cafe it took me less than 20 seconds to see the 3 other people sitting in the cafe. There was a couple sitting at the window and a man at the table next to me. It took me another 20 seconds to recognize that the man sitting next to me was TIM COOK.

I am not really into stalking celebraties nor am I interested about their lives in hollywood but when do you get the chance to see Mr. Cook on a random sunday in a random cafe?

Thousands of thoughts were running through my head and I could hear Siri saying to me: „Sorry I can not understand what you mean.“  Since reading the google book and many others books about inspirational leaders and the tech industry in Silicon Valley, I have to admit that I could not let go of the thought of working for a pioneer company such as Apple or Google. Could there be a better chance getting you closer to your dream than having the CEO of such a company sitting next to you?As it is with most situations. They pass by too fast and just when they are gone the most intelligent and sophisticated sentences come to your mind. As for me, I just enjoyed the moment and was happy as it was. Call me a coward or foolish. On the other hand, what do you say at this moment to a complete stranger?

„Hey, Mr. Cook, I think I would be a perfect fit four your company. I totally identify myself with the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit and mentality  of Apple and I wish I could work for a company like yours once.“

Probably not.

Maybe I got a little too enthusiastic and influenced while reading all these empowering books. They give you the feeling that everything is possible and that you should think and dream outside the box in order to reach the unreachable. Maybe we need to do outstanding things we never did before so we can see results we’ve never seen before.

With these words in my head, I went back to my Airbnb, couldn’t help myself thinking.

 I screwed. There was this unusual situation that required an unusual action. And I was not creative, entrepreneurial or brave enough to make something out of it.

Good thing I believe in second chances.